English translation of "sa première fonction, toute théorique" - "His primary role (on paper at least) was to…"

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52 months ago

Barbara Cochran (a guest user) asked this question:

Language pair:	French > English
Subject:	General
Level of diffculty:	Easy / medium
Word or term in question:	sa première fonction, toute théorique
Context:	C’est à partir du début d’octobre 1940 que l’Einsatzstab Rosenberg joue un rôle capital dans le déroulement des opérations hitlériennes en pays occupés. Sa première fonction, toute théo- rique d’ailleurs, consistait à trouver et à saisir la documentation politique et le matériel culturel qui pouvaient être utilisés par le Parti contre ses ennemis déclarés : le Juif et le franc-maçon. Do you think it would be better to refer to it as a "conjectural", "speculative", or "putative task"? Thanks

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Complete list of answers and comments

52 months ago

MatthewHallisy wrote:

completely expected for that matter

My comment:

This sentence seems to serve to describe more in detail what he did. In the first sentence, it describes his official role in the government. In this sentence, it describes what he was tasked to do while there.

52 months ago

MatthewHallisy wrote:

He was theoretically commissioned (mainly) to find out and seize...

Comments by other colleagues on this answer:

52 months ago

wrote:

Another possibility: "He was basically commissioned (in theory actually) to ..." Basically is a better translation of "primaire".

52 months ago

English -French - English medical, scientific ++ wrote:

quite theoretical

My comment:

It was from the beginning of October 1940 that Einsatzstab Rosenberg played a major role in the conduct of Hitler's operations in occupied countries. Its first function, quite theoretical, was to find and seize political documentation and cultural material which could be used by the Party against its declared enemies: the Jew and the Freemason.

52 months ago

CMD wrote:

its first mission - a speculative (and fictitious) task - was to find and seize

My comment:

IMO "speculative" : for, initially, they "greed" for evidences in order to justify all actions and measures - evidences that they thought could have been found quickly and easily

52 months ago

martynback wrote:

His primary role (on paper at least) was to…

My comment:

If you say “on paper at least” it means that that was theoretically his main role but that in practice it wasn’t what he actually did

Comments by other colleagues on this answer:

52 months ago

martynback wrote:

Its not his!

The asker rated this answer best