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I am doing a translation on global integration among entrepreneurs. There is one sentence that makes me very confused:

Talk about the outside of the topic before going straight to the main idea.

I don't know what word to use to describe that "outside" exactly, it's like on the edge, not off-topic nor going too deep into the main idea. What word should I use?

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  • peripheral, tangential, extraneous, etc. Do these do the job for you?
    – user405662
    Commented Nov 2, 2021 at 2:32
  • What language are you translating from and what language to?
    – Tinfoil Hat
    Commented Nov 2, 2021 at 4:17
  • We're only guessing, but scope is a biz buzzword for the size or breadth of a project, it's outside: what's in scope, what's out of scope.
    – Yosef Baskin
    Commented Nov 2, 2021 at 18:16
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    Thank @user405662 so much, that's exactly what I'm looking for. It comes from a Vietnamese article and our lecturer told us to translate it into English.
    – Victorique
    Commented Nov 3, 2021 at 11:59

2 Answers 2

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Talk about the outside of the topic before going straight to the main idea.

Their reference to the main idea tells you what they mean by the outside. Context.

  1. Talk about the general idea, from higher level view, before going into the finer details, the main idea.

  2. Talk about the ideas as more general concepts that might apply any place, before discussing the specific ideas unique to your example.

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Frame the topic before going straight to the main idea.

Frame (v.)

Create or formulate (a concept, plan, or system): the staff have proved invaluable in framing the proposals. Oxford New American Dictionary

To draw up the plans or basic details for; outline; to frame a policy. Collins (print)

To establish the context for and terminology regarding (a subject of discussion or debate), especially so as to exclude an unwanted point of view: The question was framed to draw only one answer. AHD

Framing is a way of structuring or presenting a problem or an issue. Framing involves explaining and describing the context of the problem to gain the most support from your audience. Community Tool Box; "Re-framing the Issue"

Although some candidates like to dive right in to discuss the material they read for the seminar, most prefer having the instructor provide prefatory remarks to frame the topic before inviting questions and comments. Brent Willock; Comparative-Integrative Psychoanalysis (2011)

The story framed the topic that to locate models worthy of emulation today, we must look to educators. Robert Garmston; The Astonishing Power of Storytelling (2018)

The paper framed the topic of the government of banks with the notion that government ownership of banks can be explained for 'developmental' reasons or 'political' reasons. J. Knox-Hayes and ‎D. Wójcik; The Routledge Handbook of Financial Geography (2020)

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