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Glossary entry

French term or phrase:

l’ère des grands travaux

English translation:

the era of major construction (had dawned)

Added to glossary by ormiston
Apr 15, 2007 11:55
17 yrs ago
1 viewer *
French term

l’ère des grands travaux

French to English Other General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters country's history
Deux ans plus tard en l’espace de quatre mois il voyait mourir sa femme et deux de ses enfants. Ce qui ne l’empêchera pas de s’investir à fond pour développer la colonie. C’était venu l’ère des grands travaux.
Proposed translations (English)
3 +4 the era of major construction (had dawned)
4 +2 great construction era/period/phase
4 the era of great works
3 the time of major works/projects
3 "Great Works" years
3 time for major works
3 major development phase/period
Votes to reclassify question as PRO/non-PRO:

Non-PRO (1): Jim Tucker (X)

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Discussion

Stephanie Sullivan (asker) Apr 15, 2007:
(this is about colonisation of an island). Here's what follows: Avec l’objectif d’abord de construire une base navale et une ville a X et d’y transferer l’administration car jusqu’a 1730 les activités étaient concentrées autour de la région de Y.

Proposed translations

+4
45 mins
Selected

the era of major construction (had dawned)

this could get round Ian's dilemma
Peer comment(s):
agree Emma Paulay
3 mins
agree Assimina Vavoula
30 mins
agree Jennifer White
32 mins
agree katsy
32 mins
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "merci bcp a tous"
12 mins

the time of major works/projects

A bit more context would help. 'Time' could also be translated as era or epoch ... 'Grands travaux' often refers to public works, buildings and such. As there is a reference to a colony, perhaps that is the case ... Or perhaps, following the reference to people dying, it might be an idiomatic reference to the person having to work very hard on his own personal projects, whatever they might be ... 'Undertakings' could be another possibility for 'g.travaux', if there's a chance that this is a more idiomatic reference.
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+2
15 mins
French term (edited): l’ère des grands travaux

great construction era/period/phase

Great construction era, or great contruction period.
Example sentence:

The great construction era is over. We cannot rely on building our way out of trouble any more.

But the great construction period was over and the Marche was able to survive the architectural changes of the next few centuries relatively unscathed.

Reference:

http://www.sunadvocate.com/index.php?tier=1&pub=2006-09-05&page=opinion

http://www.marcheworldwide.org/html/baroque.asp?lingua=en

Peer comment(s):
agree Evi Prokopi (X)
9 mins
neutral Charles Hawtrey (X) : Not very happy with the word order - the distinction between "great construction" and "great era/period/phase" should be clearer.
17 mins
agree cristina estanislau
6 hrs
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15 mins

the era of great works

...the era of great works had arrived...

it's a literal translation, but one can hardly say it otherwise (unless someone can find a better expression)
Something went wrong...
33 mins

"Great Works" years

Something went wrong...
34 mins

time for major works

another idea
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1 hr

major development phase/period

Given that this has to do with island colonisation, I would be inclined to paraphrase "grands travaux" as something like "major development". This was a period when tremendous development, and presumably substantial growth, took place on the island as things were built, infrastrutures put in place and so forth. "Major development" could be a sort of covering phrase for all of that.
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