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...pèse le plus lourd dans la balance

English translation: what counts most heavily/carries the most weight

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
French term or phrase:...pèse le plus lourd dans la balance
English translation:what counts most heavily/carries the most weight
Entered by: Barbara Cochran, MFA

12:36 May 27, 2020
French to English translations [Non-PRO]
Art/Literary - Religion
French term or phrase: ...pèse le plus lourd dans la balance
Looking for a proper way to render this - in French it's kind of a common phrase

Extrait

" Cela me fait penser à la question que je vous ai posée il y a quelques semaines : étant donné les dégâts qu'un avion en vol inflige à la nature, cela vaut-il la peine, même pour un prédicateur spirituel, de faire le tour du monde comme ça ? Qu'est-ce qui pèse le plus lourd dans la balance : la sagesse que l'on veut partager, ou les dommages infligés à tant d'êtres à cause de la combustion du kérosène ?"
Hugues Roumier
France
Local time: 05:06
what counts more heavily/carries more weight
Explanation:
https://www.linguee.fr/francais-anglais/traduction/peser plu...

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Note added at 30 mins (2020-05-27 13:06:33 GMT)
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Actually, it's "what counts most heavily/carries the most weight".
Selected response from:

Barbara Cochran, MFA
United States
Local time: 23:06
Grading comment
Thanks Barbara
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
5 +3What matters most/has more value/
ABDESSAMAD BINAOUI
4 +2which is most importand?
Yvonne Gallagher
4 +1What weighs most (with)
Cathy Rosamond
4 +1what counts more heavily/carries more weight
Barbara Cochran, MFA
3 +1What ultimately counts more...
ormiston
4What weighs more
Cathy Rosamond
3 +1What weighs more heavily in the balance
AllegroTrans
4tip the scales/balance
Michele Fauble
4Do the pros/benefits [...] outweigh the cons/costs [...]?
Wolf Draeger


  

Answers


7 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
What weighs most (with)


Explanation:
What weighs most with somebody

Example sentence(s):
  • "Fear is What Weighs Most"
  • "But what weighs most with me ist that"

    Reference: http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/399411584370993665...
    https://books.google.fr/books?id=07INAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA360&lpg=PA360&dq=%22What+weighs+most%22&source=bl&ots=dP9QZExHyF&sig=ACfU3U2WM6HnRFp918OG
Cathy Rosamond
France
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in FrenchFrench

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  philgoddard: But it's more, not most, because there are only two options.
26 mins
  -> Thanks Phil. You're right.
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16 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +1
What ultimately counts more...


Explanation:
My stab at it

ormiston
Local time: 05:06
Native speaker of: English

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  katsy
1 day 6 hrs
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12 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +2
which is most importand?


Explanation:
either of these can be used

which is most importand? = most common


Or, higher register

which outweighs the other?

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 13 mins (2020-05-27 12:49:30 GMT)
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TYPO ALERT importanT

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Note added at 17 mins (2020-05-27 12:53:53 GMT)
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la sagesse que l'on veut partager, ou les dommages infligés à tant d'êtres à cause de la combustion du kérosène ?

You could also say

which is more important (in the broad scheme of things): the wisdom to be imparted (OR that should be shared) or the harm inflicted on so many beings because of jet fuel combustion?

Yvonne Gallagher
Ireland
Local time: 04:06
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 4

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Youssef Chabat: but more not most.it's a comparison between two elements. I think this is the most accurate translation
49 mins
  -> Thank you!
agree  katsy
1 day 6 hrs
  -> Many thanks:-)
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21 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +3
What matters most/has more value/


Explanation:
.that'll do

ABDESSAMAD BINAOUI
Morocco
Local time: 04:06
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in ArabicArabic, Native in FrenchFrench

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Youssef Chabat: the most. what matters the most regarding the given factors.
43 mins
  -> thanks Youssef
agree  Rebecca Reddin: What matters more[: X or Y]? My search in COCA for 'weighs' and 'more' resulted in 199 hits, virtually all of which referred to literal weight (e.g. tonnage) and not "how important/influential" X is.
2 hrs
  -> True. Thank You Rebecca.
agree  Sergio Lopes: Yep!
4 hrs
  -> Thank you.
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17 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
what counts more heavily/carries more weight


Explanation:
https://www.linguee.fr/francais-anglais/traduction/peser plu...

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 30 mins (2020-05-27 13:06:33 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Actually, it's "what counts most heavily/carries the most weight".

Barbara Cochran, MFA
United States
Local time: 23:06
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
Grading comment
Thanks Barbara

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Rocsana Guignaudeau
7 hrs
  -> Thank you, Rocsana.
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

39 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
What weighs more


Explanation:
Which of the two is more important

Cathy Rosamond
France
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in FrenchFrench
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +1
Qu'est-ce qui pèse le plus lourd dans la balance
What weighs more heavily in the balance


Explanation:
It reminds me of the question I asked you a few weeks ago: given the damage that a flying aircraft inflicts on nature, is it worth it, even for a spiritual preacher, to travel around of the world like that? What weighs more heavily in the balance: the wisdom that we want to share, or the damage inflicted on so many beings because ofdue to the burning of kerosene?

AllegroTrans
United Kingdom
Local time: 04:06
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 4

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  erwan-l
1 day 10 hrs
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3 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
tip the scales/balance


Explanation:
Common expression.

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Note added at 3 hrs (2020-05-27 15:48:30 GMT)
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tip the balance/scales
(also tilt the balance)

If something tips the balance or tips the scales, it is the thing that causes a particular situation to happen or a particular decision to be made, when other situations or decisions are possible:

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/tip-t...




Michele Fauble
United States
Local time: 20:06
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
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2 days 10 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
Do the pros/benefits [...] outweigh the cons/costs [...]?


Explanation:
Note that the FR is not weighing up the competing merits of two options but asking whether the benefits of a particular course of action outweigh the costs (or vice versa). The metaphor of a scale is central here and is easily transferable in translation.

Example sentence(s):
  • Do the pros of imparting wisdom outweigh the cons of harming so many human beings through pollution?
  • Do the costs of harming so many human beings through pollution outweigh the benefits of imparting wisdom?
Wolf Draeger
South Africa
Local time: 05:06
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English
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