Glossary entry (derived from question below)
Spanish term or phrase:
Prefectura
English translation:
Prefecture
Added to glossary by
AllegroTrans
Dec 1, 2016 16:29
7 yrs ago
182 viewers *
Spanish term
Prefectura
Spanish to English
Law/Patents
Law (general)
Venezuelan Death Certificate
"Despacho del Prefecto, Prefectura, Municipio Autónomo Sucre". This appears on a stamp-- I have that seen "Prefectura" can be translated as "Municipality" or "Prefecture." I have translated "Prefecto" in the document as "Registrar." Any suggestions to translate this for an American audience?
Proposed translations
(English)
| 4 +5 | Prefecture |
AllegroTrans
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| 4 -1 | Local authority |
neilmac
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| 3 -1 | county board |
Francois Boye
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References
| Local authorities |
neilmac
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Change log
Dec 8, 2016 22:52: AllegroTrans Created KOG entry
Proposed translations
+5
1 hr
AllegroTrans
United Kingdom
United Kingdom
Native in English
Specializes in field
United Kingdom
Sensible solutions
Native in: English (Variant: Wessexois) 
Works in: French to English, English, English to French
Related KudoZ points
:
1672
Selected
Prefecture
There is absolutely no need to try to "localize" this term. The official English translation is Prefectorate
Prefecture
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A prefecture (from the Latin Praefectura) is an administrative jurisdiction or subdivision in any of various countries and within some international church structures, and in antiquity a Roman district governed by an appointed prefect.
Venezuelan equivalent
Traditionally the prefecture as being the City Hall and the prefect as being the equivalent of a mayor and commissioner until recently; now the prefectures and prefect are analogous with the figure of Town Clerk.
Venezuela faces impact of electricity shortage | CCTV America
www.cctv-america.com/2016/05/04/venezuela-faces-impact-of-e...
4 May 2016 - Venezuela is facing electricity shortages due to partly drought and partly the lack ... points a map of Fukushima and its surrounding prefectures.
Prefecture
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A prefecture (from the Latin Praefectura) is an administrative jurisdiction or subdivision in any of various countries and within some international church structures, and in antiquity a Roman district governed by an appointed prefect.
Venezuelan equivalent
Traditionally the prefecture as being the City Hall and the prefect as being the equivalent of a mayor and commissioner until recently; now the prefectures and prefect are analogous with the figure of Town Clerk.
Venezuela faces impact of electricity shortage | CCTV America
www.cctv-america.com/2016/05/04/venezuela-faces-impact-of-e...
4 May 2016 - Venezuela is facing electricity shortages due to partly drought and partly the lack ... points a map of Fukushima and its surrounding prefectures.
Peer comment(s):
| disagree |
Francois Boye
: Show me a US County with a prefecture?
21 mins
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There are none. The term is from Venezuela and the 2 systems are entirely different. There are no "county boards" in Venezuela
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| agree |
neilmac
: First thing I thought of too...
1 hr
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thanks
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| agree |
Robert Carter
: Yes, I was confronted with this a while back and settled on "Prefecture" after fairly lengthy research - there's no real equivalent as far as I can tell, and it's definitely not "municipality".
2 hrs
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thanks
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| agree |
Jennifer Levey
: Yes. But future back-translators must be aware that this doesn't (necessarily) work both ways.
4 hrs
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thanks!
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| agree |
philgoddard
: Anything else would be a mistranslation in my opinion.
7 hrs
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thank you
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| agree |
patinba
19 hrs
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thank you
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| agree |
Richard Vranch
1 day 12 hrs
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thank you
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "¡Muchas gracias!"
-1
1 hr
Francois Boye
United States
United States
United States
An economic geek with social skills
Native in: French
Works in: English to French, French to English, Spanish to English, and 1 more.
Related KudoZ points
:
167
county board
Peer comment(s):
| disagree |
AllegroTrans
: you have totally "Americanized" a term which has nothing to do with the USA; your translation only serves to confuse this with another, entirely different system and administration// "county board" is NOT a translation, for Americans or anyone else
28 mins
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Did you read Asker? He said the following:'Any suggestions to translate this for an American audience?'
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-1
4 hrs
Local authority
It's just another name for a local, municipal or regional subdivision - in the USA the County sheriff's office might be the nearest equivalent. I suppose it depends on how well read or travelled the target audience is...
Peer comment(s):
| neutral |
Francois Boye
: see my comments below.
2 hrs
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I feel pretty neutral about them too. Vive la difference! :)
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| disagree |
AllegroTrans
: as an extremrly "rough" approximation, this might work as an "explanation" but not as a translation
3 hrs
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Asker wanted a dumbed down version that simple folks could get their heads around and think I delivered.
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Reference comments
4 hrs
Reference:
Local authorities
I think most educated and/or travelled people will be aware that a prefecture is some sort of local authority. A similar thing happens with 'cantons' in Switzerland - although Costa Rica and Ecuador also have sub- provincial entities called cantons.
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Note added at 17 hrs (2016-12-02 09:38:45 GMT)
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PS: As a European, "local" to me can mean the whole of Europe if I want to use it that way. Britain's backyard, if you like... :)
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Note added at 17 hrs (2016-12-02 09:43:51 GMT)
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Which part of "some sort of" do you people fail to grasp?
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Note added at 17 hrs (2016-12-02 09:38:45 GMT)
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PS: As a European, "local" to me can mean the whole of Europe if I want to use it that way. Britain's backyard, if you like... :)
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Note added at 17 hrs (2016-12-02 09:43:51 GMT)
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Which part of "some sort of" do you people fail to grasp?
Peer comments on this reference comment:
| disagree |
Francois Boye
: It all depends! In France, the prefecture is the central government administration within each department. As such, it is NOT a local authority.
3 hrs
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Then again it depends on how you define "local" - my definition in this case is very broad, virtually synonymous with "regional/provincial/county"... etc.
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| neutral |
AllegroTrans
: My understanding is that a "prefect" is an official of central, not local, government
3 days 3 hrs
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Discussion
You could explain a European monarch to an American as "something a bit like your President but he or she wears a crown" but that would not make for a translation.
My understanding of Asker's request is the following: which US administrative concept should I use to make my translation understandable by Americans?
In this global world, we do it all the time when we use our interlocutors' concepts to get across our message to foreigners.