Glossary entry (derived from question below)
French term or phrase:
repérage des astres
English translation:
star plotting
Added to glossary by
Bashiqa
Oct 7, 2011 14:12
12 yrs ago
French term
Bulgaria
The original in all but the language
Native in: English 
Works in: French to English, Bulgarian to English, Esperanto to English, and 1 more.
repérage des astres
French to English
Science
Astronomy & Space
GPS
From a brief explanatory text about GPS systems.
Here's the context:
"Initiés il y a bien longtemps grâce au repérage des astres, les systèmes de géolocalisation évoluent rapidement. En effet, ces systèmes, aujourd’hui basés sur une mesure de temps de parcours d’un signal émis à partir de satellites, sont rendus de plus en plus précis, notamment grâce à l’utilisation de techniques d’amélioration du calcul de position."
I understand it as meaning ascertaining the coordinates of stars, but I can't think of the term for it.
Here's the context:
"Initiés il y a bien longtemps grâce au repérage des astres, les systèmes de géolocalisation évoluent rapidement. En effet, ces systèmes, aujourd’hui basés sur une mesure de temps de parcours d’un signal émis à partir de satellites, sont rendus de plus en plus précis, notamment grâce à l’utilisation de techniques d’amélioration du calcul de position."
I understand it as meaning ascertaining the coordinates of stars, but I can't think of the term for it.
Proposed translations
(English)
Change log
Oct 12, 2011 06:50: Bashiqa Created KOG entry
Proposed translations
57 mins
Selected
star plotting
*
Note from asker:
| Thanks for your help. |
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
31 mins
Ronald van Riet
Native in English
Works in field
technical translator to English & Dutch
Native in: Dutch (Variant: Netherlands) 
, English (Variants: US, British, UK)
Works in: English to Dutch, Dutch to English, German to Dutch, and 1 more.
Related KudoZ points
:
4
the shooting of stars
what is meant is celestial navigation based on the shooting of stars, i.e. determining the angle between the star and the horizon, allowing fairly accurate global positioning
Note from asker:
| Thanks for your help. |
Peer comment(s):
| neutral |
philgoddard
: "Celestial navigation" is the correct answer in my opinion, but "the shooting of stars" is not correct English. maybe you're getting mixed up with "shooting stars", ie meteors.
7 mins
|
+1
1 hr
star tracking
Suggestion..
Note from asker:
| Thanks for your help. |
+1
1 hr
NOT ascertaining the coordinates of stars
That's Point 1.
Point 2: The translation will depend how far back you consider longtemps goes.
People have been navigating with a reasonable degree of accuracy for centuries, if not longer.
If we go further back, they might have been able to navigate no better than with reference to the North Star. On a clear night, even I could walk consistently north or east or west or, looking backwards from time to time, south, but I would hardly call that navigation by the stars. Similarly, if I can see the North Star, I know I'm somewhere in the northern hemisphere; if I can see the Southern Cross (more difficult to navigate by), I know I'm south of the equator. But that's as far as it goes. I'm sure a serious astronomer transported to a mystery location could figure out pretty well what part of the world he is in though, and navigate his way back home.
The French, with initiés in the plural referring to systèmes does suggest something somewhat involved, though I would not be sure this is deliberate.
I'd turn the sentence round a bit and keep it general/long-yeared:
Geolocation systems, whose roots, lying in identification of known stars, go back beyond time immemorial, are evolving rapidly.
Point 2: The translation will depend how far back you consider longtemps goes.
People have been navigating with a reasonable degree of accuracy for centuries, if not longer.
If we go further back, they might have been able to navigate no better than with reference to the North Star. On a clear night, even I could walk consistently north or east or west or, looking backwards from time to time, south, but I would hardly call that navigation by the stars. Similarly, if I can see the North Star, I know I'm somewhere in the northern hemisphere; if I can see the Southern Cross (more difficult to navigate by), I know I'm south of the equator. But that's as far as it goes. I'm sure a serious astronomer transported to a mystery location could figure out pretty well what part of the world he is in though, and navigate his way back home.
The French, with initiés in the plural referring to systèmes does suggest something somewhat involved, though I would not be sure this is deliberate.
I'd turn the sentence round a bit and keep it general/long-yeared:
Geolocation systems, whose roots, lying in identification of known stars, go back beyond time immemorial, are evolving rapidly.
Note from asker:
| Thanks, Bourth, well-considered and solidly argued (as ever). However, my hunch is that the "longtemps" doesn't go all that far back. Googling Bashiqua's "star plotting" brings it up as a standard term in celestial navigation and seems to make sense in the context. And plotting does, after all, mean establishing and drawing coordinates, so I think I'll stick to my guns there. |
1 day 5 hrs
French term (edited):
grâce au repérage des astres
through (visual) identification of the stars
My interpretation is that this is contrasting those in a time who relied more on their knowledge of the inner science of astronomy , moreso visually, than via technology of nowadays
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