# la problématique



## Prino

Bonjour
Est - ce qu'il y a une traduction pour "la problématique", Par exemple dans ce contexte:
"En 2007 il publie un livre qui s'intitule Management des services publics dans lequel il pose la problématique de la gestion saine de l’administration"?

Je pense à "To raise the issue of the good management of the public sector"

Qu'en pensez vous?
Merci


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## williamc

Bonjour,

"...the *questionable* management...?"


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## bh7

_...in which he addressed/investigated the problem(s)/topic of good management [practices] in the public sector_


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## Prino

Merci
Mais est-ce que *problem* ne parraît pas négatif ici


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## Keith Bradford

Bien sûr -- et problématique alors ?


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## Prino

Parce que moi, je concoit la problématique comme étant "at stake", pas forcement négatif.
C'est ce sur quoi porte une recherche
What do you think?


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## Keith Bradford

Alors là : _issue/matter/question_.

The difficulty is that I find many people use _problématique_ as a fancy way of saying _problem_.


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## Keith Lyons

Dear Folks:
Maybe this discussion is long over.  But, i would suggest:
(1) "la problématique" really does not translate into common, vernacular, everyday English;
(2) The closest one can get is "debate" (& NOT "problem")  -- but debate implies an answer, a solution, which, it seems to be "la problématique" does not.
(3) Streictly speaking, the closest English trem would be "dialectic" -- as in "The dialectic of the male-female issue is...".  But trhe problem with "dialectic' is that it is Very academic.
Maybe some things don't translate?
Yours:  Keith Lyons


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## Keith Lyons

I suggest "la problématique"  =  "the issues of the debate";
which leaves "la problématique" open-ended, as it is in French.
No?
Yrs.:    Keith Lyons


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## Prino

that' s great. In research techniques process, 'problematique' is the step which put forward the issue of the debate, as you have just explained. It figures out what is called 'problem'.

For example: when you finish your review of litterature, you come to your observation, in your very case (the subject of your studies). And you see if what you noticed matches what have been said in your litterature, or if it denies it.

So I thank you for this explanation


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## Keith Lyons

Dear Prino:

You're very welcome.
And please  keep on posing great questions like that!
As the Hollywood studio owner & movie producer
Samuel Goldwyn once said:   "For your information, I would like to ask a question.”
Yrs.: - Keith Lyons


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## Telephony

Pourrait-on traduire la problématique par "issue guideline" or "problem guideline" qui comporterait alors la notion de fil conducteur associé au problème à analyser?


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## Keith Lyons

Dear Telephony:

First, thank you for contributing to this string.

Second, your proposal of  "issue guideline" or "problem guideline" as a translation for "la problématique" is not without its charm & force.

But I personally find it rather understated, rather British in tone.  For me the use of "issue guideline" or "problem guideline" lacks the teeth & cut of "la problématique" in the original French; both a word & a concept which has a very intellectualy engaging and somewhat combative flavor to it.  That's why I proposed "issues of the debate"; which, considering your alternative, at the end of the day, might be best for an Australian, Candian, Jamacian, or USA audience.  
With the softer, gentler, watered-down  "issue guideline" or "problem guideline"  translation better for a British or Indian audience?
Culture conditions language, no?
Thank you!
-- Keith Lyons


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## Ray20

"la problématique" may be "the problematisation (BE)/problematization (AE)" - this is the attempt to identify what are the challenges or difficulties (in the proper management of public services). This is a little different from writing about the "problem of managing public services", which may not appear to some people to be a problem.


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## Keith Bradford

Problematization?   Oh, for goodness' sake, have we all forgotten how to write plain English?

_issue/matter/question/topic/subject/thing..._ any of these has got to be a better choice.


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## bh7

Just like you, Keith, I hadn't heard about "problematisation", but there are apparently quite a number of people who use the term to denote the dynamic process of formulating a problem.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Problematization

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Problematization

http://cwkoopman.wordpress.com/2007/12/05/working-definition-of-problematization/

http://www.iiz-dvv.de/index.php?article_id=453&clang=1

etc.


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## Keith Lyons

Dear All:

I, for one, agree wholeheartedly with Mr. Keith Bradford.
I.e., 





> " 'Problematization?'   Oh, for goodness' sake, have we all forgotten how to write plain English?"


Bravo.

For my money 'problematization' is academic gobbledygook. 
Of course, people write & speak (pontificate?) this way.   
Why?   
Well, maybe one answer is what George Orwell wrote in “Politics & the English Language”  (1946): 





> "The great enemy of clear language is insincerity.
> When there is a gap between one’s real and one’s declared aims, one  turns...instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms,
> like a cuttlefish squirting out ink...The whole tendency of modern prose is away from concreteness."



Thank you.  -- Keith Lyons.


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## Wodwo

I would say that both 'problematization' and 'problematique' have nuances that are not present in 'issues/problems' etc. and that, chief among these, is abstractness.

French loves an abstract, American English seems quite keen too, British English really doesn't like abstracts much at all. And mostly, it does fine without them.

In most contexts where 'la problématique' is used, 'issues' or 'problems' will do just as well. A 'problem' isn't necessarily a difficulty, it is also has a more philosophical but perfectly current sense as a question to be answered - eg. maths problem, but generally too.

'La problématique' means 'the set of questions and the way they are organized', and there may be a very few instances where that precise meaning needs to be conveyed, but in my experience 'the issues' generally carries that meaning within it anyway.


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## Treasure307

Would it be possible to use issue and not issues or set of issues. For example in France we now have to prepare our students for an oral exam in which they'll have to speak about a notion (such as myths and heroes or places and forms of power...). During this exam, they should not comment on documents but deal with an issue and answer the question that the study of the different documents raised. Am I clear enough?
So when we study a "question" to begin the chapter, what term should be use? The issue for this chapter will be....and if you use issues does it necessarily mean several questions?

thank you in advance for your enlightening answers,


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## Enquiring Mind

I think the word you need here is "topic".


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## bh7

Using "issues" would imply several questions, I think.  And I can't see why you couldn't use the singular:  "the issue for this chapter ...", "the issue addressed in this chapter...", "the issue to be discussed in this chapter ...", etc.

@Enquiring Mind:  I too would often use "topic" where "issue" or "issues" is now used.  "Issues" in NA has become in everyday use (certainly in spoken English, less so in writing) the preferred word for "problems".  People have stopped having problems;  they now have "issues", even if the "issue" in question is blindness, deafness, mental retardation, a serious illness, a criminal conviction, etc.  For some people "issue" is in fact the politically correct word replacing "problem";  they will go so far as to edit somebody's text to conform it to their own language use.


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## Treasure307

topic is a word I often use but this does not really raise a question neither does it translate "problématique" for me.
What do you think?


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## Wodwo

Back here three years later still pondering "problématique", and no, "topic" is not a translation of "problématique". On the other hand, "problématique" is sometimes used in French to emphasise complexity and intellectual effort where English might not bother (obviously these things are involved, but why draw attention to them?). So in Treasure307's example above:

For example in France we now have to prepare our students for an oral exam in which they'll have to speak about a notion (such as myths and heroes or places and forms of power...). During this exam, they should not comment on documents but deal with an issue and answer the question that the study of the different documents raised. Am I clear enough?
So when we study a "question" to begin the chapter, what term should be use? The issue for this chapter will be....and if you use issues does it necessarily mean several questions?

I think "topic" will do absolutely fine.


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## ph_l

Wouldn't 'concern' be appropriate here?
(a US colleague once explained "maybe you have a concern, but this is not an issue" to us Frenchies who kept 'raising issues' about harmless topics)


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## Wodwo

ph_l said:


> Wouldn't 'concern' be appropriate here?
> (a US colleague once explained "maybe you have a concern, but this is not an issue" to us Frenchies who kept 'raising issues' about harmless topics)



I don't think "concern" would be appropriate in Treasure307's example. A "concern" is something someone is worried about, whereas a "problématique" is an objective set of questions. As the US colleague's quip suggests, the difference between a "concern" and an "issue" is partly a matter of viewpoint: I see your "concerns" as your problem, whereas "issues" are for everyone.


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## ph_l

OK, thank you. I'll try to remember this till my next meeting...


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## Keith Lyons

ph_l said:


> OK, thank you. I'll try to remember this till my next meeting...




Dear curious people who have asked about “problématique”:

No, please.  “Concern” or “topic” or “issue” do not hit the target -- this very moving target of “problématique”.

I think it is one of those words that do not translate.  Conversely in French one says “le fair play”,  yes?

In linguistic terms what one also sees here with “problématique" this is a matter of the “etic” and the “emic”.
Plus “etic” and “emic” expose the anthropological fact that some cultures have words for qualities which other cultures do not have.

In sum, I think that the closest one can get to the French “problématique” in the English language is the phrase:
“the issues of the debate”.

It take a whole phrase to approximate the wealth of that one word.
And even then one doesn’t quite capture the deliciously elusive “problématique”.  No?    

Thank you kindly one and all.

--  Keith Lyons


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## Wodwo

In the case of "problématique", it can sometimes be translated as a single word (Keith Lyons does not explain what damage would be done to context or understanding by using "topic" for "problématique" in the context above) or it may be more useful to take the sentence itself and rework it from a French thought into an English one. All translation involves slight shifts of nuance - of course! But this doesn't mean that speakers of different languages can't phrase equivalent ideas in their own terms.


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## retjoun

I have translated "problématiques" for a good while as "*concerns*"


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## patbas

A nice debate indeed.
Personally, I like: "issues addressed in this chapter".
Is it possible to use "issues addressed" without specifying where (in English) ?


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## patbas

I forgot to specify that I am looking up for the translation in a title, which is very commonly used in France,  instead of within a text/sentence.


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## tartopom

_raised question_   ??


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## Keith Bradford

Questions raised.


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## Keith Lyons

Dear Guys,

Has anyone noticed that this discussion itself IS a problématique?   

Hence, whether this very French term can be translated as "issues debated" or "concern" or "concerns" or "raised questions" or "issues addressed" or "issue guideline" or "problem guideline".....
I think we can agree that a "problématiqe" is open ended?  With it questions are raised but unresolved.

Seems to me that's one reason why it's such a big deal, e.g., in French academic or philosophical analysis. 
Perhaps "problématique" is analysis itself?    That is, the study of
constituent parts of an intellectual or material whole into its parts and relationships?

"Problématique" is not a conclusion. It is question, not answer.

Thank you all!

--- Keith Lyons


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