Leslie D Nov 25, 2012:

This is the link as promised: http://www.equiressources.fr/nc/formations/je-recherche-une-...

Clive Jones (asker) Nov 25, 2012:

Many thanks Nikki. I've already drafted an email to the client!

Nikki Scott-Despaigne Nov 25, 2012:

I too had a bit of a job here, feeling a bit that the kid in the back who pipes up "What's the question again?"

Your client is best placed to explain how "agri/agro" is being used. I would have assumed "agriculture/agroalimentaire" and would have answered "agricultural and food science".

Before being abe to answer helpfully, we come back to the questions raised by Tony at the start : in order to answer the question, we need to know what the question is. The foregoing is not is reference to the muddly bit about the question in the header and the fact that it does not appear in the body of the text forming your question. No, I am referring to what the writer of the original is meaning by "agri/agro". I think you can only get that information from your client.

Clive Jones (asker) Nov 24, 2012:

To cc in nyc
Thanks for your comment. The fault was mine in making the original question ambiguous. Your help much appreciated (:-))

cc in nyc Nov 24, 2012:

Ah... Now I get it... and I agree with Tony.
Thank you for the explanation! :-))

Clive Jones (asker) Nov 24, 2012:

Hi cc in nyc. Please read the last two comments - you're not the only one to have been confused (:-(( . The title is "Directeur Reseau Agricole et Agrofourniture". Later in the text, it states that the candidate must have "une formation Ingénieur Agri/Agro". The last two words are the ones causing me problems. Tony suggests they are short for the words in the title i.e. "Agricole" and "Agrofourniture" in which case I would put "Agricultural/Supplies". Does this clarify my original query?

cc in nyc Nov 24, 2012:

@ Clive I'm getting increasingly confused... What is the term that you want to translate, here, and what is the French sentence in which it appears? ;-)

Tony M Nov 24, 2012:

Right! I don't see why that would be invalid as a question term, though it does sound on the face of it a bit like two terms; but I feel sure you could have explained that OK, or if all else fails, post as FR monolingual first, for an explanation, and then seek the translations for either or both terms separately in FR > EN.

Given that it appears that way just before in your source text, that's certainly how I instinctively read it. And after all, 'agricole' and 'agrofournitures' are fields that are really quite distinct from 'agroali.', so I see no reason why the latter would have suddenly been dropped in there like that — especially as you say it also occurs elsewhere in your text.

Clive Jones (asker) Nov 24, 2012:

The confusion is that I thought that just asking "agri/agro" was not a valid query so I titled the question "agroalimentaire". Looking at your suggestion that "agri" is short for "agricole" and "agro" for "agrofourniture", it seems plausible. Hope this answers your query.

Tony M Nov 24, 2012:

@ Asker I don't doubt it, although I think your customer is in the minority, judging by the occurrences of translations of this term I have found on the 'Net; I think 'food processing' is a little narrow...
However, I remain convinced that the agri/agro you have here refers back to the previously-mentioned "Agricole et Agrofourniture".

So I really can't see why, if you already have a customer-validated translation for the question term (which I doubt occurs in your text anyway), you are asking that term again?

Clive Jones (asker) Nov 24, 2012:

Hi Rosa. It's the "agri/agro" which is causing me aggro!

Clive Jones (asker) Nov 24, 2012:

Hi Tony
I translate regularly for an agricultural/agribusiness company and they confirmed some time ago that "agroalimentaire" should be translated as "food processing". The co-operative grows its own crops and processes them. In addition, one of the requirements for the post reads "Vous disposez de conaissances technique et reglementaires en agroalimentaire". That's why I presumed that "agri" is connected to "agriculture" and "agro" to "food processing". No sneaky background note, I'm sorry to say (:-))

Tony M Nov 24, 2012:

Source text Clive, there is an inconsistency in your question; your text mentions 'agricole' and 'agrofourniture', but the question term 'agroalimentaire' does not appear?
Your Ingénieur Agri / Agro is possible agricole / agrofourniture — what makes you think that 'agroalimentaire' is involved here at all?

Either you are getting muddled up, or else you have important extra context up your sleeve that you aren't sharing with us ;-)