This site uses cookies. Some of these cookies are essential to the operation of the site, while others help to improve your experience by providing insights into how the site is being used. For more information, please see the ProZ.com privacy policy.
Cookie settings
séquelle antérieure étendue
colliers trilobés

Glossary entry

French term or phrase:

coopérant militaire

English translation:

military assistance/cooperation personnel

Added to glossary by Cassandra Delacote
Nov 2, 2018 09:51
6 yrs ago
5 viewers *
French term

coopérant militaire

French to English Other Military / Defense
Coopérant is most often translated as "aid worker"but I do not think it appropriate in this context.

I am adding context as well as a definition of the notion which I found on internet.

Context:
"Ainsi cet accord particulier sera modifié en XXX.
Cette modification voulait supprimer l’interdiction faite aux coopérants militaires français d’être de près ou de loin à toute préparation ou exécution d’opération de guerre, de maintien ou rétablissement de l’ordre ou de la légalité.
Autrement dit, il s’agissait de reconnaître que les militaires français pouvaient intervenir dans le conflit XXX


Definition:(trouvée sur un site web)
Qu’est-ce-qu’un coopérant militaire ?

Ce personnel militaire, qualifié de coopérant militaire, met en œuvre des projets de partenariats de coopération militaire structurelle établis et validés par les deux parties dans des conventions de coopération trisannuelles (SEM l’Ambassadeur de France pour la partie française et le Ministre des Forces Armées pour la partie malgache).

Les actions réalisées chaque année font l’objet d’un processus de planification et de pilotage commun impliquant les acteurs concernés des 2 parties. Celui-ci permet d’adapter annuellement le plan de coopération selon les évolutions, les priorités du moment et la capacité budgétaire de chaque partie.

Les coopérants militaires à Madagascar sont aussi chargés de coordonner et faciliter les actions de coopération opérationnelle émanant de l’État-major des Armées. Celles-ci sont mises en œuvre, dans le cadre de la coopération militaire régionale, en cohérence avec les actions de coopération militaire structurelle, essentiellement par les Forces Armées dans la Zone Sud de l’Océan Indien (FAZSOI) stationnées à La Réunion et à Mayotte."

I would really be grateful the right translation of this term.
Proposed translations (English)
3 +1 military assistance/cooperation personnel
4 +1 serviceman sent abroad for cooperation purposes
3 +2 military aid worker
4 a military technical assistant

Discussion

Cassandra Delacote (asker) Nov 3, 2018:
Thank you to all who have contributed very opportunely to this discussion. You are quite right, all the more so as the document I am translating is certainly not looking at the situation from the point of view of the colonisers, but is actually a "Marxist"appraisal of the situation. I will just wait a bit longer before choosing a translation.
ph-b (X) Nov 2, 2018:
About coope(é)ration I agree with Daryo about "unalduterated" and all that. However, it is worth keeping in mind, from a historical perspective, that when France granted independance to its Black Africa colonies in the late 50s and 60s, it just wasn't going to let them go just like that and that's when this coopération business started. De Gaulle himself created a ministère de la Coopération very early on (1959?). Coopération is a geopolitical concept which evolved over time (cf. "Francafrique"). All this to say that, as I commented at the end of my answer, "cooperation" seems to be the appropriate word here because it is a word-for-word translation of the French word describing the relationship that exists between France and its former colonies, whereas where other contries like the UK or the US are concerned, "assistance" (as opposed to coopération proper) better reflects the nature of the relationship between, say, the UK and its former colonies. I thought it would be helpful to point this out but this is really for native speakers to decide./Read: "Françafrique"
Daryo Nov 2, 2018:
in all this there is an underlying problem caused by the tendency to avoid using straightforward names.

The unadulterated meaning of "cooperation" is a relation of mutual support/coordinated action between more or less equal parties - not exactly the case with the "coopérants" coming to francophone African countries from abroad - that are rightly called in plain English "aid workers", not "cooperants".

Without knowing the exact nature/extent of the role of this "coopérants militaires" you could easily make them sound more benevolent/detached [or more involved] than they really are.

"military assistance" is more likely to be what they are doing, any term comprising "aid worker" makes them almost look like a bunch of pacifist do-gooders.
ph-b (X) Nov 2, 2018:
Military assistance The French may not say specifically that it is about aid, but that is what coopérant implies here. However, we're not talking about aid to third world countries. French military are not involved in that, even though they may repair the odd school, etc. - another govt body is in charge of that ("Secrétaire d'État chargée du Développement et de la Francophonie"). We're talking of "military aid", i.e. French military assistance to foreign states, e.g. "Opération Barkhane" in Sahel right now. Cf. Cassandra's definition: "projets de partenariats de coopération militaire structurelle". As for the agreement with Lebanon, military assistance is exactly what the French do there (https://lb.ambafrance.org/13eme-Commission-mixte-de-cooperat...
Nikki Scott-Despaigne Nov 2, 2018:
military worker As the FR does not seem to imply anything specific to "aid", then I think it is perhaps better to keep the term more general, as "military worker". The example I have in mind in the French army's cooperation agreement with Lebanon.
ph-b (X) Nov 2, 2018:
military aid personnel? From this quote, which appears to say roughly the same thing as the source text: "American military aid personnel have always been cautioned to avoid appearing to engage in anything that could be construed as combat, ..." The link is too long to post here, but if you copy the text in your search engine, you should be able to locate it.

Proposed translations

+1
7 hrs
Selected

military assistance/cooperation personnel


This is about the agreements signed between France and other, mainly African, states providing that the French will help with all things military. Coopération militaire and coopérants militaires are about French soldiers being sent to those countries to help build/organize a defence force.

This has nothing to do with aid workers. As I said in the dicussion zone, this is dealt with by a different French dept. Military cooperation/assistance, on the other hand, is looked after by the French Foreign Office (believe it or not):
La coopération de sécurité et de défense (DCSD) est une composante importante de l’action diplomatique de la France... elle reflète la cohérence dans la conduite de l’ensemble des actions de coopérations bilatérale mais aussi multilatérale de la France, dans les continuum "défense-sécurité" et "sécurité-développement".
La coopération de sécurité et de défense est portée par la DCSD. La direction elle-même est composée de diplomates, de militaires, de policiers et d’experts de la protection civile. Elle anime un réseau de plus de 300 coopérants répartis dans 140 pays
(https://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/fr/politique-etrangere-de-la-...

The text says it's important these people don't appear to be involved in any fighting as that would mean that France appears to take sides, which is not what coopération militaire is about.

My suggested translation is based on the following examples:

Alongside political, economic and personal ties, a core element of such influence and status became the defence and military cooperation agreements
(http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/100199/3/Rachel E Utley_Mali_...

"French military cooperation personnel are not permitted to report to their own superiors when they are informed of serious human rights violations"
(https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/164000/afr2001119...

Military Institutions and Coercion in the Developing Nations: The ...
https://books.google.fr/books?isbn=0226393194 - Traduire cette page
Morris Janowitz - 1988 - ‎History
U.S. military assistance personnel operating in new nations are either not prepared or not inclined to deal with basic questions of the political responsibility of the ...

Fiscal Year 1973 Authorization for Military Procurement, Research ...
https://books.google.fr/books?id=2aZLN2VMIewC - Traduire cette page
United States. Congress. Senate. Armed Services - 1972
... what are the comparative figures for the number of military assistance personnel provided by USSR, China, other Eastern European nations, other Communist ...

Disconsolate Empires: French, British and Belgian Military ...
https://books.google.fr/books?isbn=0819196436 - Traduire cette page
Alain Rouvez, ‎Michael Coco, ‎Jean-Paul Paddack - 1994 - ‎Political Science
Except for a small RAF contingent in Zimbabwe, all British military assistance personnel in sub-Saharan Africa are from the Army. West Africa: Nigeria formerly ...

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 7 hrs (2018-11-02 17:49:27 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Rereading this, I realize that when an English text talks about the French, the word "cooperation" is used, whereas when it talks about UK, the US, etc. the word "assistance" is used. So "cooperation" is perhaps a better word in this particular case.
Note from asker:
yes, I agree
Peer comment(s):
agree Daryo : this sounds like being the nearest to the mark.
2 hrs
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thank you for this answer and thanks to the others too for their suggestions, but this seemed to me, as Daryo says, the nearest to the mark in my context"
+1
12 mins

serviceman sent abroad for cooperation purposes

They will not take part in "war actions", but are nevertheless military personnel during their national service...
Not a very good translation but...
(Glossaire militaire édition 1982)
Note from asker:
Thank you and yes, you have the meaning, but it is quite a long phrase, especially as the term appears on a number of occasions. I was hoping for a more "compact" translation of the term...
Peer comment(s):
agree writeaway
2 hrs
Merci bien!
neutral philgoddard : This is way too long, and it's also sexist.
3 hrs
Sexist??? ;-)!!
neutral ph-b (X) : irat56, philgoddard faisait référence à serviceman. Il y a bcp de femmes dans l'armée, maintenant :-) and no, it's not about conscription, which no longer exists anyway :-)
6 hrs
neutral Daryo : and discriminatory to civilians, if you want to push that logic to limits // not necessarily a "servicemen" (or women) - you also have civilians employed by the army - no reason why they shouldn't be also sent if their technical speciality is needed ...
10 hrs
Something went wrong...
+2
1 hr

military aid worker

here are just a couple of examples from Google:

Sierra Leone: UK military worker contracts Ebola - Apanews.net
mobile.apanews.net/index.php/en/.../sierra-leone-uk-military-worker-contracts-ebola
12 Mar 2015 - A United Kingdom military aid worker has tested positive for the Ebola virus disease in Sierra Leone, the UK government confirmed Wednesday ...

Solingen hunting knife with sheath presented to a US military aid worker by liberated inmates 1988.112.64_a front. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Note from asker:
Yes, Daryo's response to this suggestion mirrors my own reserves, which is why I posted the question.
Peer comment(s):
agree philgoddard : Yes, it's a member of the armed forces who builds schools and hospitals rather than killing people.
26 mins
thanks Phil! That is what I had in mind, although others have suggested - not without reason - that the "aid" element is an overinterpretation
neutral Daryo : yes, this term does exist, but to which extent does it correspond to what "un coopérant militaire" is in this text? // "... reconnaître que les militaires français pouvaient **intervenir dans le conflit**" vs "aid worker" - goes together?
46 mins
thanks Daryo, and you could be right about the "aid" element
agree ph-b (X) : "military aid personnel" - would that work?/It does, but not as it is usually understood. I've added a note in the discussion section and "assistance" might be a good word.
2 hrs
thanks ph-b! I think it could if "aid" is indeed part of the solution. But comments from others are making me doubt whether in fact "aid" does indeed come into this
neutral Nikki Scott-Despaigne : "Military worker" without "aid" appears to be more common general term for this Not all "military workers" have an "aid" function. The source text does not suggest "aid" alone.
4 hrs
thanks Nikki! I do agree with you and Daryo :)
Something went wrong...
3 hrs

a military technical assistant

technical assistance in the military domain
Something went wrong...
Close search
Term search
  • All of ProZ.com
  • Term search
  • Jobs
  • Forums
  • Multiple search