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Claire D - 05:50am Oct 12, 1998 (1.)
Je suis surprise par l' apparition à plusieurs reprises
dans vos réponses de mots tels que electricity, wattage,
megawatt; en français, le mot qui irait bien avec cela
est "puissance" mais pas du tout "pouvoir"!
Comme quoi, la traduction est quelquechose de délicat!
J'ai pu constater que pour vous, comme pour les français,
pouvoir est associé à l'argent, autorité,
puissance. Cependant, vous associez également des idées
différentes, comme l'électricité. On remarque
aussi que vous parlez des "marines", entité importante
à vos yeux, si on en croit les apparences.
Just as in many of the other word associations, I see that
for the word "power," Americans have a more negative
outlook than the French. The french think of authority, government,
and strength, and although Americans also think of strength, words
such as dangerous, abuse, and corruption were prevalent in their
responses. I am wondering whether Americans think this way because
of the way our government is run or because of the way we view
control. Americans may see control as negative because of its
restraints on their freedom, while the French see it as merely
part of politics, and as a necessity for a strong, cohesive country.
I was amazed by how often the french side had the word "money/argent"
appear, where as the american side spoke of electric bills. I
guess the MIT got to few of us and when we heard power, we started
to integrate it, find source and come up with equations, not thinking
about the abstract, like politics or government (but those too
appeared some) And a quick remark on the marines, of course its
important to me, i'm in it and from an inside pointo f view, believe
me, there is plenty of power there.
Well, putting apart the electrical disgression which is only
a consequence of the fact that power can be translated both
as puissance and pouvoir, I think that Adeline has a point when
she speaks of control. For example, I do *not* believe that as
Krzysztof says marines have plenty of power. I merely think that
they are a powerfull mean to apply the government's power. I think
it is essential not to confuse the power and the use of power.
Coming back to Adeline, I think the differences in the viewings
of power is due to history and differing governments. I mean,
the US are a union of states, therefore a use of power from the
central power (government) is not always welcome -correct me if
i'm wrong- because it may be seen as an interference in domestic
affairs (because it's the part we are concerned with). Whereas
in France, we always have had a central power, and not until recently
a real democracy. However, the US have not really known too strong
a unique power, and as a consequence, it is my opinion that they
fear it more. (I do not say they are wrong, but it is known that
one fears what one does not know).And i believe that is the reason
why americans tend to see power (as we interpret it, ie central
power in government) as more dangerous than us.
salut,
Krzysztof que représentent pour toi les "marines"?
Est-ce que tu les considère comme des défenseurs
des Etats-unis? Dans les films américains, on voit souvent
des marines dans leurs beaux costumes d'apparat, et je pense que
les américains en sont très fiers. Mais, est-ce
que tu considères que l'armée a un pouvoir très
grand à l'intérieur même des Etats-Unis, un
peu comme un pouvoir politique? Est-ce que des agences comme la
CIA sont ressenties comme très influentes sur la société
améeicaine, comme ça semble être le cas dans
les films?