When I checked my inbox this morning, I noticed two messages from the American Translators Association (ATA). Both contained my membership number; one of the messages, however, directed me to the association’s website where I could create my profile. What could all this mean? Simply put, I am now an ATA Associate Member! It is a pleasure and privilege to offer and promote my language services south of the border. Because I have already received a surge of translation projects that require me to work from French into English (and I’m still getting them!), I decided to offer only Spanish into English services for American and, if need be, international clients, businesses, universities, and agencies or government services. If I’m lucky, I hope to offer translation services from Russian and German later this year. All I need to do is learn these languages. Wish me luck!

If you would like to consult my ATA profile, you may click here.

Since Quebec’s election campaign is underway, I decided to apply for jobs at Quebec’s chief electoral office, the DGEQ. Yesterday, I promised to keep you abreast of any terminological findings I uncovered with regard to elections. Today, I’d like to share some English equivalents of circonscription with you.

French electoral term: circonscription

Division territoriale effectuée en vue d’élections.

English equivalent(s):

constituency – A district, or riding, represented by a Member of Parliament (my italics).

riding – A parliamentary constituency (Canada)

            – A rural electorate for local government (New Zealand)

The aforementioned DGEQ provides this English equivalent: electoral division.

electoral division – A distinct territorial subdivision for holding a separate election for one or more seats in a legislative body. Generally, only voters who reside within the geographical bounds of an electoral district are permitted to vote in an election held there.

Sources:

Grand dictionnaire terminologique [http://gdt.oqlf.gouv.qc.ca/ficheOqlf.aspx?Id_Fiche=8450500], consulté le 7 mars 2014

Collins Dictionary [http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/riding], date accessed March 7, 2014

Wikipedia [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_division], date accessed March 7, 2014

What does this brief research tell us? On the national (Canadian) scene, journalists, writers, translators, and other specialists are happy to call circonscriptions “ridings.” This is the term you’ll see on Elections Canada voter cards in a federal by-election or general election. By briefly consulting the agency’s home page, I also discovered that the term “electoral district” is used. In Quebec, however, the DGEQ prefers to take another route, calling circonscriptions “electoral divisions.” Could this be the term journalists and professionals will decide to use in during the province’s 2014 election? We’ll just have to read newspapers or blogs, listen to live radio shows, or watch live election coverage on April 7 to find out!