{"id":3377,"date":"2020-09-01T22:09:49","date_gmt":"2020-09-01T22:09:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/FLD\/?p=3377"},"modified":"2026-04-12T04:16:01","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T04:16:01","slug":"beat-the-machine-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/FLD\/2020\/09\/01\/beat-the-machine-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Beat the Machine: September Translation Slam"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photo Credit: Unsplash<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\"\"<\/a>By Sam Mowry<\/em><\/p>\n

After a rollicking start to our Beat the Machine online translation slam, we\u2019re back with a new sentence! If you need a quick refresher, you can read about the premise in our inaugural post here<\/a>. Very simply, we\u2019re out to prove how much better human translators are than machines and maybe learn something from one another in the process.<\/p>\n

Here is the sentence for this month:<\/p>\n

Mais si les relations sont aujourd’hui plus conflictuelles que jamais, il \u00e9tait pour ainsi dire \u00e9crit dans le ciel que la formidable croissance \u00e9conomique chinoise des quarante derni\u00e8res ann\u00e9es, orchestr\u00e9e qui plus est, depuis huit ans, par un r\u00e9gime Xi particuli\u00e8rement autoritaire et expansionniste, finirait par d\u00e9boucher sur une lutte de pouvoir de grande envergure entre la Chine et un empire am\u00e9ricain qui n’est forc\u00e9ment plus ce qu’il \u00e9tait.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What was that I said last month about French being fond of long sentences? This one will give you ample opportunity to wade through and potentially break into as many shorter sentences as you see fit. The sky is the limit!<\/p>\n

For context, Xi refers to Xi Jinping, the President of the People\u2019s Republic of China, who has been in power since 2012. His name doesn\u2019t require any particular treatment, and \u201cXi regime\u201d would be a fine translation in this context (but feel free as always to get creative!).<\/p>\n

Here is the full paragraph the sentence came from:<\/p>\n

Que P\u00e9kin ne joue pas franc jeu en mati\u00e8re commerciale est notoire et que la dictature chinoise ait depuis longtemps \u00e0 l’ordre international un rapport \u00ab inad\u00e9quat \u00bb est incontestable. Que M. Trump joue la corde antichinoise \u00e0 l’approche de la pr\u00e9sidentielle, il fallait s’y attendre. Mais si les relations sont aujourd’hui plus conflictuelles que jamais, il \u00e9tait pour ainsi dire \u00e9crit dans le ciel que la formidable croissance \u00e9conomique chinoise des quarante derni\u00e8res ann\u00e9es, orchestr\u00e9e qui plus est, depuis huit ans, par un r\u00e9gime Xi particuli\u00e8rement autoritaire et expansionniste, finirait par d\u00e9boucher sur une lutte de pouvoir de grande envergure entre la Chine et un empire am\u00e9ricain qui n’est forc\u00e9ment plus ce qu’il \u00e9tait. Nous y voil\u00e0. Pour l’heure, l’ordre du monde est fa\u00e7onn\u00e9 par les faucons des deux c\u00f4t\u00e9s.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If you\u2019d like to read the full article from Le Devoir<\/em>, you may find it here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Here is Google\u2019s feeble attempt:<\/p>\n

But if relations are today more conflictual than ever, it was almost written in the sky that the tremendous Chinese economic growth of the last forty years, orchestrated moreover, for eight years, by a particularly authoritarian and expansionist Xi regime , would eventually lead to a large-scale power struggle between China and an American empire that is not necessarily what it used to be.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Submit your much better translation here<\/a> by September 30, 2020,<\/strong> and the blog post discussing it will go live in October!<\/p>\n

Please note the following:<\/p>\n