Nov 20, 2011 17:59
12 yrs ago
1 viewer *
French term

se contenter de la puissance nécessaire

Non-PRO French to English Other General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters
In guidance about taking an environmentally friendly approach to organising events. This is in the section relating to lighting:

Éclairage : trouver la bonne lumière
L’éclairage, c’est la magie du lieu, le relief de l’événement. alors, comment répondre aux besoins
du spectacle/manifestation (puissance, fiabilité), qui demande généralement une grosse puissance
électrique, tout en consommant moins ?
- La lumière naturelle est gratuite, on peut chercher à l’exploiter au maximum, quitte à la compléter
: cela, outre les économiesd’électricité, apportera plus de bien-être aux visiteurs. En s’assurant
de la météo au préalable, on peut prévoir la luminosité et les sources complémentaires à ajuster
au cours de l’événement.
*- on peut se contenter de la puissance nécessaire* et exploiter les éclairages existants au lieu d’en
rajouter.
- n’allumer les lumières que si nécessaire.

I am a bit confused about the use "se contenter de" in this context.

Here is my suggestion for the majority of the sentence:
You can XXX power requirements and make use of existing lighting instead of adding to it.

My only idea would be to replace the the translation of se contenter as to settle for / accept with "accommodate" - but am still a bit befuddled
Change log

Nov 21, 2011 01:12: writeaway changed "Field (specific)" from "Other" to "General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters"

Nov 21, 2011 16:33: SJLD changed "Level" from "PRO" to "Non-PRO"

Votes to reclassify question as PRO/non-PRO:

Non-PRO (3): Rob Grayson, Susanna Garcia, SJLD

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Proposed translations

7 mins
Selected

do not use stronger lights than (really) necessary

I believe this to mean the strength of the lights - making do with the lowest strength you can get away with for a particular event.
Peer comment(s):

neutral Tony M : Right idea, but in technical terms we'd usually speak of 'powerful' rather than 'stronger' in a context like this.
16 mins
Something went wrong...
3 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Yes - I think this is what they were trying to get at - the reader is not being told to passively put up/make do with what there is, but to be actively ecological and limit consumption "
+4
2 mins

make do with

for instance
Peer comment(s):

agree Karen Vincent-Jones (X) : Yes, make do with the power / light sources available
2 mins
Chukran, or Sakha as we say in Oran.
agree Tony M : Apart from the slight negative connotation that 'make do' can sometimes have.
21 mins
Thx! Se contenter also describes a less than ideal solution
agree mimi 254
13 hrs
Thx!
agree Evans (X)
13 hrs
Thx!
Something went wrong...
6 hrs

You could just go with/opt for

Hello,

For some reason, I'm not a big fan of saying "make do with" here in English. I think we'd say more naturally "to just opt for" (the mimimum lighting power?)

se contenter = to just opt for (here)


I hope this helps.

Something went wrong...
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