Translating S4ME Fact Sheets into French

MaudSac said:
Thanks, your explanation is very helpful!
This paragrapah is rather complicated to translate for French people without being confusing. For us, it's the "readaptation à l'effort" that is an issue, there is no different wordings for that.
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I don't think pacing up means graded activity. I think we can translate graded activity using « activités graduées ».

****Dans le guide de l'instut national d'excellence en santé et services sociaux (INESSS), on indique : « Il ne faut pas appliquer de programmes d’activités ou d’exercices physiques ou cognitifs ni d’interventions dont les paramètres de durée et d’intensité sont fixes ou augmentent de façon continue.» C'est la définition, je crois, des programmes « GET». So we can also use « activités dont la durée et l'intensité augmentent de façon continue »

Please also see the thread Pacing and pace up for the discussion on translating pacing up to french.
 
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MaudSac said:
I'm not sure to understand "graded activity". Is it a synonym of pacing up ?
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Martine said:
I don't think pacing up means graded activity. I think we can translate graded activity using « activités graduées ».
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Pacing up and graded activity are essentially gentler forms of GET. Some details may vary - notably there's more flexibility than in hardcore GET - but the key point is that for all three the goal is to gradually increase activity. That’s in contrast to pacing as recommended for ME where an increase in activity may in some individual cases become possible due to natural improvement or whatever - but it’s never the goal

All the different names just serve to confuse people. What names are being used in the French-speaking world? Are there already separate French terms or do people use the English ones? If there aren’t already established separate French terms it may not be helpful to invent any now

@Utsikt's suggestion of referencing the English terms in translations is worth considering, not just for the French translations here but in general. Non-native English speakers are likely to come across the English terms on the Internet but may not grasp the nuances

Would either of these work as an explanatory phrase?
augmentation graduelle de l’effort
augmentation graduelle de l’activité

ETA: fixed quotes, I had mixed up my own thoughts with the quotes I was responding to, which made for a rather confusing post
 
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The PEM sheet looks good. I didn’t notice any major issues though I’m a bit too foggy right now to be reliably language-switching so don’t take my word for it. A couple of things to consider:
  1. In the title there’s only ‘PEM’ but in the text it’s the French version MPE, maybe change the title to first list ‘MPE’, then follow this with ‘PEM en anglais’
  2. I’d have gone with voisin rather than voisinage for neighbour, but that’s not really important
  3. I’m also wondering about this sentence: Le terme médical « malaise » signifie « se sentir malade » It’s a direct translation of the English text but my sense is that in French malaise as a medical is more strongly linked to feeling faint than to feeling ill? I could be wrong, best to check with someone with a medical background, but if I’m right, maybe you could add something along the lines of ‘in the context of ME’ or even just the word ‘here’, i.e. “Le terme médical « malaise » ici signifie « se sentir malade »”
 
Ravn said:
  1. I’m also wondering about this sentence: Le terme médical « malaise » signifie « se sentir malade » It’s a direct translation of the English text but my sense is that in French malaise as a medical is more strongly linked to feeling faint than to feeling ill?
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Same intuition. Atleast where I live “faire un malaise” means feeling very lightheaded and maybe fainting.
 
Ravn said:
hat names are being used in the French-speaking world? Are there already separate French terms or do people use the English ones? If there aren’t already established separate French terms it may not be helpful to invent any now
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The main term used in French is "réadaptation à l'effort". There is no specific protocol like GET in France for ME/CFS as the disease is not recognised by authorities. GET is only known by pwEM involved in advocacy and (bad) science.

"réadaptation à l'effort" is also the term used in the LC guidelines published in 2024.
 
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Based on your feedbacks, I would suggest to translate :

A rehabilitation approach to ME/CFS encourages people to gradually increase their activity over time, to try to help them return to normal levels of activity. One such treatment, 'graded exercise therapy', has been widely studied and not shown to help. In large surveys, many people have reported becoming much worse after it. There is no evidence that other versions, such as 'graded activity' or 'pacing up', are effective or safe. Some guidelines recommend against this approach.​

by :

Certaines approches de réadaptation encouragent les personnes atteintes d’EM/SFC à augmenter progressivement leurs activités au cours du temps, afin de les aider à retrouver un niveau normal d’activités. L’une d’entre elle, la réadaptation à l’effort par exercices gradués (Graded exercise therapy, GET, en anglais), a largement été étudiée et ne s’est montrée d’aucune aide. Dans des enquêtes de grande envergure, de nombreuses personnes ont rapporté que leur état s’était considérablement détérioré après y avoir eu recours. Il n’existe aucune preuve que d’autres approches similaires basées sur l’augmentation progressive de la durée et de l’intensité des activités soient efficaces ou sûres. Certaines lignes directrices déconseillent ces approches.​
 
MaudSac said:
Based on your feedbacks, I would suggest to translate :

A rehabilitation approach to ME/CFS encourages people to gradually increase their activity over time, to try to help them return to normal levels of activity. One such treatment, 'graded exercise therapy', has been widely studied and not shown to help. In large surveys, many people have reported becoming much worse after it. There is no evidence that other versions, such as 'graded activity' or 'pacing up', are effective or safe. Some guidelines recommend against this approach.​

by :

Certaines approches de réadaptation encouragent les personnes atteintes d’EM/SFC à augmenter progressivement leurs activités au cours du temps, afin de les aider à retrouver un niveau normal d’activités. L’une d’entre elle, la réadaptation à l’effort par exercices gradués (Graded exercise therapy, GET, en anglais), a largement été étudiée et ne s’est montrée d’aucune aide. Dans des enquêtes de grande envergure, de nombreuses personnes ont rapporté que leur état s’était considérablement détérioré après y avoir eu recours. Il n’existe aucune preuve que d’autres approches similaires basées sur l’augmentation progressive de la durée et de l’intensité des activités soient efficaces ou sûres. Certaines lignes directrices déconseillent ces approches.​
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Looks good to me @MaudSac
 
rvallee said:
I find that "augmentation graduelle de l’activité" works best.
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I agree.

It seems that some of you prefer the adjective 'graduelle' to 'progressive' (perhaps because it's closer to the English term 'graded' ?). They have a similar meaning and both are used in the French context of 'réadaptation à l'effort'. "progressive" may be more flexible than "graduelle", but the idea is still to increase the activity/exercise level.

I had a look at CL french guidelines and at some articles written by our French ME psychosomatic eminences :
  • In the CL physio sheet published by HAS French health autorities, they recommend "réentrainement à l’effort" (and "mené de façon progressive")
  • Brigitte Ranque seems to translate GET by "activité physique graduelle / thérapie d’exercice graduel" in this article (2024) and promotes "réhabilitation à l'effort" for CFS in this older one (2020). @Martine : your translation for GET is "Thérapie par exercices gradués" and I think it's a better translation. In any case, this wording is almost never used in the French context.)

As far as I know "Réhabilitation à l'effort", "réadaptation à l'effort" and "réentrainement à l'effort" are synonyms. These are the common names of the therapy prescribed to French pwME to get them out of their so-called deconditioning. (Maybe, some other therapy names are used in other French-speaking countries like Quebec or Switzeland ?)

So, when translating GET, I suggest using "Thérapie par exercices gradués" as proposed initially by Martine, and using 'progressive' or 'graduelle' alternately in the other sentences. And as suggested by @Utsikt and @Ravn, I set the names of some other similar therapies in brackets.


In green the changes I made :
Certaines approches de réadaptation encouragent les personnes atteintes d’EM/SFC à augmenter graduellement leurs activités au cours du temps, afin de les aider à retrouver un niveau normal d’activités. L’une d’entre elle, la thérapie par exercices gradués (Graded exercise therapy, GET, en anglais), a largement été étudiée et ne s’est montrée d’aucune aide. Dans des enquêtes de grande envergure, de nombreuses personnes ont rapporté que leur état s’était considérablement détérioré après y avoir eu recours. Il n’existe aucune preuve que d’autres approches similaires basées sur l’augmentation progressive de la durée et de l’intensité des activités (telle la réadaptation/réentrainement à l'effort, le "pacing up", ...) soient efficaces ou sûres. Certaines lignes directrices déconseillent ces approches.
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MaudSac said:
The main term used in French is "réadaptation à l'effort". There is no specific protocol like GET in France for ME/CFS as the disease is not recognised by authorities. GET is only known by pwEM involved in advocacy and (bad) science.

"réadaptation à l'effort" is also the term used in the LC guidelines published in 2024.
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I've seen some French use the term "rééducation à l'effort", apparently it's what some health care services use.

Not sure whether it's the same thing in France, but in Quebec it would be a similar root to "éducation physique", aka gym class at school. I think in the US it's also usually called physical education. Although personally I find it very insulting, and I'm not entirely convinced it's not somewhat a bit on purpose.
 
rvallee said:
I've seen some French use the term "rééducation à l'effort", apparently it's what some health care services use.

Not sure whether it's the same thing in France, but in Quebec it would be a similar root to "éducation physique", aka gym class at school. I think in the US it's also usually called physical education. Although personally I find it very insulting, and I'm not entirely convinced it's not somewhat a bit on purpose.
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It's another synonym for "réadaptation à l'effort".
A therapy that consists of training an individual who is deconditioned or excessively sedentary due to his or her health condition or illness.
 
Ravn said:
The PEM sheet looks good. I didn’t notice any major issues though I’m a bit too foggy right now to be reliably language-switching so don’t take my word for it. A couple of things to consider:
  1. In the title there’s only ‘PEM’ but in the text it’s the French version MPE, maybe change the title to first list ‘MPE’, then follow this with ‘PEM en anglais’
  2. I’d have gone with voisin rather than voisinage for neighbour, but that’s not really important
  3. I’m also wondering about this sentence: Le terme médical « malaise » signifie « se sentir malade » It’s a direct translation of the English text but my sense is that in French malaise as a medical is more strongly linked to feeling faint than to feeling ill? I could be wrong, best to check with someone with a medical background, but if I’m right, maybe you could add something along the lines of ‘in the context of ME’ or even just the word ‘here’, i.e. “Le terme médical « malaise » ici signifie « se sentir malade »”
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Thanks for your feedback, it is a mistake for the title. I made the change, and added (PEM, en anglais) at the end of the first dot :

« Les personnes atteintes d’EM/SFC ont des épisodes durant lesquels elles sont plus malades que d’habitude, à la suite d’un effort physique ou mental. C’est ce qui est appelé malaise post-effort ou MPE (ou PEM, en anglais). »

2. Ok, for voisins.

3. Good idea for malaise. This seems to me to be a better translation.

Martine
 
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