Glossary entry (derived from question below)
French term or phrase:
Le couple franco-allemand
English translation:
Franco-German duo
French term
Le couple franco-allemand
Oct 5, 2009 17:12: SJLD changed "Level" from "PRO" to "Non-PRO"
Non-PRO (3): writeaway, Rob Grayson, SJLD
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Proposed translations
Franco-German duo
| agree |
writeaway
: Pierre Gerbet, The Franco-German duo and Europe Pierre Gerbet, Le couple franco-allemand et l'Europe http://www.ena.lu/pierre_gerbet_couple_franco-allemand_europ...
24 mins
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Thanks!
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liz askew
: I like it.How the balance of EU power finally changed - Telegraph
Yesterday was the moment when the Franco-German duo - racked by doubts and presiding over two of Europe's most sickly economies - accepted that they are now ...
www.telegraph.co.uk/.../How-
1 hr
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Thanks Liz!
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George C.
1 hr
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Thanks solarstone!
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Emma Paulay
1 hr
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Thanks Emma!
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mimi 254
1 hr
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Thanks Mimi!
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Nina Iordache
1 hr
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Thanks Nina!
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Anne-Marie Grant (X)
9 hrs
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Thanks Anne-Marie!
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Poland
Financial, Legal and Patent Translation
Native in: Polish 
Works in: English to Polish, Polish to English, French to English, and 2 more.
Franco-German alliance
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philgoddard
0 min
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| agree |
MurielP (X)
1 min
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| agree |
Susannah Bayley
: I can imagine context better now, I was imagining people as I am in a Franco-British couple...
2 mins
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| agree |
Evans (X)
4 mins
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| agree |
Lucy-Jane Michel
: Sounds best - my first reaction was the same as Susannah's...!
6 mins
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| agree |
Chris Hall
: By far the best solution that has been proposed thus far and I don't imagine that a better solution will be proposed.
8 mins
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| disagree |
writeaway
: alliance is a big term to use with all sorts of implications and don't see how you've pulled that out of the French
25 mins
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| neutral |
Rob Grayson
: This is a somewhat liberal interpretation which cannot be justified without further context
1 hr
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B D Finch
: An alliance is a formal relationship. This is a more informal co-operative relationship.
1 hr
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The Franco-German couple
| disagree |
philgoddard
: I think this sounds odd.
1 min
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Martin Cassell
: only if referring to two married people
3 mins
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Rob Grayson
: Agree with Martin's comment
1 hr
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Michel F. Morin
2 hrs
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MatthewLaSon
: If it's a married couple, yes. How else would you say it? You could also say "French-German couple" as well.
3 hrs
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liz askew
: I am a native English speaker and this sounds like it is referring to two people, not two nations.
3 hrs
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English translator/editor for 17 years
Native in: English
Works in: French to English, English
the Franco-German couple or the Franco-German pair
| disagree |
philgoddard
: Sounds odd.
1 min
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| neutral |
Martin Cassell
: only if referring to two married people
3 mins
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| neutral |
Rob Grayson
: Agree with Martin
1 hr
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| agree |
Michel F. Morin
: I can see the discussion is quite hot ! I agree with you Victoria (and Google too: 8420 hits on "the franco-german couple"). Obviously the idea is to present both countries as "married" (yes martin).
3 hrs
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MatthewLaSon
: Or "French-German couple"... this doesn't sound odd to me, I'm a native English speaker.
3 hrs
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Belgium
Conference Interpreter and Translator
Native in: Romanian (Variant: Romania)
Works in: Spanish to Romanian, English to Romanian, Romanian to English, and 4 more.
Franco-German partnership
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philgoddard
: This is good too.
1 min
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Thanks!
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jaynedmoore
1 hr
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Thanks!
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liz askew
: This would work, and is pretty innocuous. If this is a title of a book, this may be the way to go:)
3 hrs
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Thanks!
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Paul Malone
: Yes, of all the suggestions made, I too prefer this one; it sounds more natural to me than the others.
7 hrs
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Thank you, Paul!
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the French German (privileged) partnership
http://www.ip-global.org/archiv/volumes/2003/summer2003/the-french-german-partnership.html
Reference comments
10 Apr 2008 ... The deceptive duo of French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel could cut a climate-bashing backroom deal ...
www.greenpeace.org/.../franco-german-dodgy-deal-car-emissio...
Notre Europe: Prospects of the German EU presidency: Relaunch of ...
Prospects of the German EU presidency: Relaunch of the Franco-German duo? Synthèse de séminaire | 09/03/2007. On 1 March 2007 Notre Europe, ...
www.notre-europe.eu/.../prospects-of-the-german-eu-presiden...
GMF – Germany and Europe: New Deal or Déjà Vu?
14 Dec 2006 ... It is up to a new and modern thinking Franco-German duo to devise clear strategies in order to respond to these new challenges. ...
www.gmfus.org/publications/article.cfm?id=248
Discussion
You can explain the context in French if that's easier. But please do provide us with context as Martin requested.
the important concept could be the two countries seen as acting together (duo, alliance); the fact that they act together (alliance, partnership); how they work together (relationship, ties); how they feel about working together (relations, relationship).