Glossary entry (derived from question below)
French term or phrase:
Ces observations gagneraient à être
English translation:
it would be worthwhile conducting a similar appraisal of
French term
Ces observations gagneraient à être
DOC: 1907 Museum catalog of ancient Egyptian mirrors.
CONTEXT: Le n° 44075 est plus renflé sur l'une que sur l'autre; le n° 44079, qui est un miroir gravé, est plan du côté face et convexe du côté revers; les nos 44066 et 44078 ont une face concave et l'autre convexe, mais d'une manière moins prononcée que dans les miroirs de Turin et du Louvre. ***Ces observations gagneraient à être continuées sur*** les disques des autres collections.
ATTEMPTS: It would be beneficial if such observations on disks from the other collections could be added to ours.
These observations could be made more valuable by including similar data from disks in the other collections.
Our data/observations could benefit from the gathering of similar data/observations from disks in other collections.
ISSUE: I have the gist and am having a heck of a time translating it well and accurately. To me observations don't generally benefit/gain by being anythinged!??? We would benefit from continuing our observations on..., but I don't think that's what he's saying.
Thanks in advance for any feedback!
| 3 +3 | it would be worthwhile conducting a similar appraisal of |
ormiston
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| 3 +1 | it would be advantageous if... were continued... |
Tony M
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| 3 | These observations should be continued |
Nikki Scott-Despaigne
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| Robert and Collins |
Philippe Etienne
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Aug 11, 2017 08:24: Jennifer White changed "Level" from "PRO" to "Non-PRO"
Non-PRO (3): writeaway, David Hayes, Jennifer White
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Proposed translations
it would be worthwhile conducting a similar appraisal of
| agree |
Tony M
10 mins
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| agree |
Nikki Scott-Despaigne
: I like "worthwhile" here. I agree that there are other solutions to using continued for "continuées". This is a "neutral +".
1 hr
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| agree |
Daryo
: that's the idea
1 hr
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it would be advantageous if... were continued...
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Note added at 4 minutes (2017-08-10 19:02:28 GMT)
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I think it's perfectly feasible to say that observations would benefit from being... (more plausible perhaps than 'gain'), but a total re-phrase is probably better overall.
Psychologist, Court-certified legal
Native in: English 
Works in: French to English
These observations should be continued
| neutral |
Tony M
: I think this rather changes the sense: the original sounds as if it is almost regretting that they have not bee continued, but hoping they might be; where as this sounds like a more peremptory recommendation.
9 hrs
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Oh, My intention is almost the opposite; that this is akin to advice. It is not intended to mean "should but will not", but "should be done"! ;-)
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Reference comments
Spain
In the reader's shoes since 2000
Native in: French (Variant: Standard-France)
Works in: English to French
Robert and Collins
■ vous gagnerez à ce que personne ne le sache : it'll be to your advantage ou it will be better for you if nobody knows about it
■ qu'est-ce que j'y gagne ? : what do I get out of it? ou gain from it? | what's in it for me?
■ vous gagneriez à partir en groupe : you'd be better off going in a group
■ tu aurais gagné à te taire ! : you would have done better to keep quiet!
| agree |
writeaway
: oeuf corse!
1 hr
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A CD plain dictionary is the business
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| agree |
Nikki Scott-Despaigne
: I think that sticking to the FR structure is heavy-going here and as a relaxed tone doesn't work in context, on the ide of "it'd be better to/if," etc., that's why I suggested "should". ;-)
1 hr
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The FR structure doesn't sound good in FR either with this passive voice. Regret, but also hope: if the study had been closed forever (eg. excavations before the building of a parking lot), would have read "auraient gagné" (conditionnel passé?)
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Discussion
IOW, "les observations" are not the data, but the collecting of data:
we examined the planeity / concavity /convexity of some mirrors [nous avons fait des observations], and it would be a good idea (... gagneraient à être ) to do the same with more mirrors, i.e. to observe (= study/examine) more mirrors (from other collections) to find out how many of these other mirrors are concave/convex ... as then the data we already have could be placed in a larger context and be more meaningful.
"Ces observations gagneraient à être .." taken literally would make as much sense as "le poisson demande une cuisson douce" or "le poisson demande à nager dans le vin" taken literally!