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  3. Business/Commerce (general)

mal maîtrisé

English translation: poorly understood

19:43 Jun 1, 2008
French to English translations [PRO]
Bus/Financial - Business/Commerce (general) / information security
French term or phrase: mal maîtrisé
I'm translating the programme for a conference on information security in Europe intended for companies. This terms appears in the name of one of the groups of talks taking place (the names of the individual talks are also listed below for context).

I am aware of the most common translations for the verb maitriser (control/master etc.), but none of them seem to fit here. Could "use" be an possible translation: "...used incorrectly by companies" ? I'm really not sure how to translate this correctly and in a sufficiently snappy way (given that this is the title of a group of talks):

Ces outils de communication **mal maîtrisés**
par l’entreprise - Les enjeux

Modérateur : XXXX

- La face cachée de Google

- Enjeux de l’e-réputation

- Bienvenue dans les mondes virtuels


Many thanks in advance.
Black & White
Local time: 22:24
English translation:poorly understood
Explanation:
Just an idea, and I accept that you may want to go for something closer to the literal meaning of "maîtriser". It just seems to me that "understood" might often be used to describe this kind of situation in EN, and if you "master" something then that implies that you fully understand it.

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Note added at 6 mins (2008-06-01 19:49:56 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Sorry, I meant to rate this medium confidence but must have hit low by accident.
Selected response from:

Rob Grayson
United Kingdom
Local time: 22:24
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
2 +8poorly understood
Rob Grayson
3 +4Under-used by businesses/companies
Mark Nathan
4not fully mastered
Nadia Ayoub
4underexploited
Patrice
4insufficiently mastered (tools of communication)
Ellen Kraus
4poor manipulation of communication tools
MatthewLaSon
3inadequate command of (communication tools)
Euqinimod (X)
3misused
helena barham


  

Answers


6 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 2/5Answerer confidence 2/5 peer agreement (net): +8
poorly understood


Explanation:
Just an idea, and I accept that you may want to go for something closer to the literal meaning of "maîtriser". It just seems to me that "understood" might often be used to describe this kind of situation in EN, and if you "master" something then that implies that you fully understand it.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 6 mins (2008-06-01 19:49:56 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Sorry, I meant to rate this medium confidence but must have hit low by accident.

Rob Grayson
United Kingdom
Local time: 22:24
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 444
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Martin Cassell: my thought
25 mins
  -> Thanks, Martin
agree  c_rouizi
38 mins
  -> Thanks
agree  Patrice
1 hr
  -> Thanks, Patrice
agree  Scribae-Ling (X)
2 hrs
  -> Thanks
agree  AllegroTrans
2 hrs
  -> Thanks, AT
agree  Jennifer Levey: Your modesty does you credit - you should have hit confidence '4' at least.
3 hrs
  -> Thanks!
agree  Adsion Liu
6 hrs
  -> Thanks, Adsion
agree  Charles Hawtrey (X): Good one, Rob. "Maîtriser" is often tricky to render in EN.
19 hrs
  -> Thanks, Charles
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14 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +4
Under-used by businesses/companies


Explanation:
Isn't the intention to suggest unused potential?
Or "poorly managed" (slightly kinder than Rob's suggestion).

Mark Nathan
France
Local time: 23:24
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 62

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  mchd
6 mins
  -> Thanks
agree  Aude Sylvain
13 mins
  -> Thanks Aude
agree  swanda
1 hr
  -> Thanks
agree  Patrice: or under-utilized....my first thought as well
1 hr
  -> Thanks
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53 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
inadequate command of (communication tools)


Explanation:
So that they fail to take full advantage thereof.

Euqinimod (X)
Local time: 23:24
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in FrenchFrench
PRO pts in category: 50
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
not fully mastered


Explanation:
why not?

Nadia Ayoub
Egypt
Local time: 00:24
Native speaker of: Arabic
PRO pts in category: 4
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
underexploited


Explanation:
another option

Patrice
United States
Local time: 14:24
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 23
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
insufficiently mastered (tools of communication)


Explanation:
or insufficient mastery of the ....

Ellen Kraus
Austria
Local time: 23:24
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in GermanGerman
PRO pts in category: 34
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4 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
poor manipulation of communication tools


Explanation:
Hello,

My try...

poor manipulation of....(they don't know you to use them)

I hope this helps.



--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 4 hrs (2008-06-02 00:12:57 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

These poorly manipulated communication tools

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 4 hrs (2008-06-02 00:13:13 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

http://www.luminetx.com/OurCompany/Press/RecentMediaAttentio...

MatthewLaSon
Local time: 17:24
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 175
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9 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
misused


Explanation:
misunderstood


helena barham
France
Local time: 23:24
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 4
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