Christopher Schröder Nov 4, 2013:

If your readership is so knowledgeable, Charles, surely you don't need to spell out what colour the coalition is anyway!

jeffrey engberg Nov 3, 2013:

color metaphors blue-blue is a metaphor and as such risky-business in translation:
http://www.proz.com/translation-articles/articles/1831/
But if your translation is an internal document for a group of enlightend souls you can write what you want, they will understand. In my opinion, blue-blue would be fine in this case.
But I would caution the use of metaphors of this kind for any public documents. Just take a look at our informative and interesting discussion!
I think ProZ Kudoz is perfect for debates of this nature, where translators can wrangle with the tricky stuff before putting words on paper...

Charles Ek (asker) Nov 3, 2013:

I take issue with the notion that this is "highly misleading" in the U.S. What would an uninformed American think of the notion of the Liberal Party engaging in serious negotiations with the Conservative Party to form a coalition government at the expense of the Labour Party? "Liberal" is used as an epithet these days by the right in the U.S.

My whole point is that a assessment needs to be made by a translator of the intended reader's knowledge of circumstances in Norway (or any other country, for that matter). In this case, it's not Fox News watchers I'm translating for, it's business executives with deep, deep involvement in Norway.

Berit Anderson Nov 3, 2013:

I totally agree, Jeffrey! :)

jeffrey engberg Nov 3, 2013:

conservative coalition Conservative coalition seems to fit the bill.
I would avoid using the article "the" and stick with "a" because this is a descriptive term and not a name or title.
check out the wiki explanation:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_coalition

Berit Anderson Nov 3, 2013:

OK, right wing might be a bit too extreme for Høyre but I am sure Frp, which is a right-wing party, would be equally upset at being described as 'blue' in the US, where this colour is associated with the Democrats. My main issue is that an essentially descriptive term (an adjective) has been changed into a personal pronoun with a highly misleading descriptive value (in the US).

jeffrey engberg Nov 3, 2013:

Right wing? I do not think Høyre would appreciate the label of right wing.

jeffrey engberg Nov 3, 2013:

conservative Like I said, keep it simple.

Berit Anderson Nov 3, 2013:

Perhaps you are right. I have not seen it used in the UK, and I personally think it is a poor translation. I wouldn't use it. My preferred choice for the UK would be Conservative Coalition.

Charles Ek (asker) Nov 3, 2013:

The audience for this project is not average Americans. I can't say more than that.

The example of the practice at the New York Times and the English version of Aftenbladet is instructive here, in my opinion. Both have used the "red-green" reference in the past: http://tinyurl.com/pkd9bca and http://tinyurl.com/pdred44.

"Right-wing coalition" has connotations in American politics that would set Siv's hair on fire.

It's early days for "blue-blue coalition" – I'm betting it will appear more frequently in the months to come.

Berit Anderson Nov 3, 2013:

I would be extremely surprised if the average American knows anything at all about Norwegian politics, and even more so if they were aware that the colours red and blue refer to the opposite ends of the political spectrum to what they are used to. I, for one, will happily put my hands up and admit I have no idea which colours are associated with which political parties in most countries of the world. I would opt for a phrase that your reader would understand the meaning of even without having to do further research on the topic. If you think they wouldn't understand Republican Coalition, perhaps you could try Right-Wing Coalition?
As for your, question about The Greens, it's not the same. The Greens did not have counterparts in the US or the UK when they started, so a new name was obviously needed. 'Blåblå' refers to two parties on the Conservative/Republican/Right hand side of politics - it's not a new idea.

Charles Ek (asker) Nov 3, 2013:

There are no formal "Republican coalitions" in the U.S. (there's barely a Republican Party at times, currently. Bada bing!)
If an American reader is so insular as to transfer his or her blue state/red state labels to Norway, I have no sympathy for any resulting misunderstanding.
What would you have done with the Orange Revolution? The Greens in Germany? These are both hues that American news consumers have learned and adopted.

Berit Anderson Nov 3, 2013:

I very much disagree with such a literal translation. This might be understood in the UK, where the conservatives are associated with the colour blue. In the US, however, it is very misleading as the parties on the right are associated with the colour red. Personally, I would have opted for Conservative coalition in the UK or Republican coalition for the US.

Charles Ek (asker) Nov 2, 2013:

Going to use "blue-blue coalition" It appears that "blue-blue coalition" already has support: http://tinyurl.com/p5yp462
I'm going to use that and close the question.