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Spanky - Freutsch - the Shallow End | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Spanky Senior Member Canada Joined 5957 days ago 1021 posts - 1714 votes  Studies: French | Message 17 of 54 25 January 2012 at 2:18am | IP Logged | ||
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La semaine dernière, j’ai vu avec ma fille le pièce Waiting for Godot par Beckett, au Cultch théàtre. (By the way, even though we both love plays and she has an interest in drama, she still has not forgiven me for taking her to see this; perhaps that will come with the passage of time). Le pièce a composé au début en français (En attendant Godot), et je pense que ça sera amusant d’essayer de traduire des extraits en français encore.
Mes devoirs pour demain is the following (help yourself to a translation attempt as well if you are interested and perhaps we can compare draft translations – I have access to a bilingual version of the play for the purpose of checking my work and I can provide that): VLADIMIR: What about trying them. ESTRAGON: I've tried everything. VLADIMIR: No, I mean the boots. ESTRAGON: Would that be a good thing? VLADIMIR: It'd pass the time. (Estragon hesitates.) I assure you, it'd be an occupation. ESTRAGON: A relaxation. VLADIMIR: A recreation. ESTRAGON: A relaxation. VLADIMIR: Try. ESTRAGON: You'll help me? VLADIMIR: I will of course. ESTRAGON: We don't manage too badly, eh Didi, between the two of us? VLADIMIR: Yes yes. Come on, we'll try the left first. ESTRAGON: We always find something, eh Didi, to give us the impression we exist? VLADIMIR: (impatiently). Yes yes, we're magicians. But let us persevere in what we have resolved, before we forget. (He picks up a boot.) Edited by Spanky on 25 January 2012 at 2:20am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
 songlines Pro Member Canada flickr.com/photos/cp Joined 5210 days ago 729 posts - 1056 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French Personal Language Map | Message 18 of 54 25 January 2012 at 6:10am | IP Logged | ||
You made me laughing in recognition, Spanky. Fifteen years on, my best friend still hasn't forgiven me for having dragged him to see what we now call "The Deaf Movie": It was a documentary about deaf children in a school in France. Worse yet, because it was (as I best recall) almost entirely devoid of dialogue, I didn't even get much language-learning practice out of it! Like you at the Cultch*, we were somewhat trapped for the two hours (it felt much longer, believe me) of the film, as we were seated in a spot in the small theatre, from which it would have been incredibly disruptive to the other cinema-goers had we tromped out mid-film. (I sometimes think we Canadians are entirely too polite for our own good.) "With passage of time": perhaps in 2027...? (*Though I expect it would have been even more difficult for you, at a live dramatic performance. However, I have had many happy theatrical experiences at the same venue, including a magical production of Strindberg's The Dream Play, with actor/puppeteers manipulating large - approx. 3 ft. high- puppets.) Edited by songlines on 25 January 2012 at 9:08am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Jinx Triglot Senior Member Germany reverbnation.co Joined 5694 days ago 1085 posts - 1879 votes Speaks: English*, German, French Studies: Catalan, Dutch, Esperanto, Croatian, Serbian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Italian, Spanish, Yiddish | Message 19 of 54 25 January 2012 at 4:04pm | IP Logged | ||
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Ah, I love being reminded about "Waiting for Godot"! It was my favorite play when I was in high school, and it's still probably in my top five. I also find it fascinating (and linguistically very impressive) that an Irishman decided to write a play in French – and translate it himself! Quite a multi-talented fellow he was. Edited by Jinx on 07 February 2012 at 11:43am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Spanky Senior Member Canada Joined 5957 days ago 1021 posts - 1714 votes Studies: French | Message 20 of 54 07 February 2012 at 9:29am | IP Logged | ||
I had not been out to the Cultch before this year, but I recently saw productions in both the Historic theatre (Godot) and the smaller theatre (And Some of Them Lived – a crazy fun piece in which a bunch of fairy tales were mashed together). There is still a lot of puppet love going on at the Cultch – I believe they had both a sold-out, no kids allowed, apocalyptic giant marionette show (Penny Plain) late last year, and later this spring they will be presenting another puppet show, naturally one set in prehistoric times (Ignorance). There is an online collaborative dimension to the latter pending play - a “world-wide open creation puppet show project” – I don’t really know anything about it, but the link is here: Ignorance Edited by Spanky on 07 February 2012 at 9:31am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Spanky Senior Member Canada Joined 5957 days ago 1021 posts - 1714 votes Studies: French | Message 21 of 54 07 February 2012 at 9:39am | IP Logged | ||
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My first awful draft translation back into French of the excerpt set out above. I
guessed in a few places at what I did not know (which often works, given the high number of cognates between English and French) and then resorted (probably not enough) to wordreference.com. One thing I learned about myself during this exercise: that it never dawned on me until now that ich weiss nicht (see what I did there – slipped in some German, just to be all Freutschy) what the French for boots is. VLADIMIR: Que penses-tu de les essayer? ESTRAGON: J’en ai essayé tout. VLADIMIR: Non, je veux dire les bottes ESTRAGON: Est-ce que ça serait une bonne idée ? VLADIMIR: Ça passerait le temps (Estragon hésite). Je vous assure, ça serait une occupation. ESTRAGON: Une détente. VLADIMIR: Une récréation. ESTRAGON: Une détente. VLADIMIR: Essaie-toi. ESTRAGON: Tu m’aides ? VLADIMIR: Bien sûr, je t’aiderai ESTRAGON: Tous nos deux, nous faison pas mal, euh Didi? VLADIMIR: Oui, oui. Vas-y, nous allons essayer au début le gauche. ESTRAGON: Nous trouvons toujours quelque chose, eh Didi, pour nous donner l’impression que nous exigissons ? VLADIMIR: Oui, oui, nous sommes magiciens. Mais, continuons-nous avec ce que nous avons décidé, en avance de l’oublier. (Il tiens une botte.) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Spanky Senior Member Canada Joined 5957 days ago 1021 posts - 1714 votes Studies: French | Message 22 of 54 07 February 2012 at 9:43am | IP Logged | ||
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And here is Beckett's original text (at least I got the odd phrase right):
VLADIMIR: Si tu les essayais? ESTRAGON: J’ai tout essayé. VLADIMIR: Non, je veux dire, les chaussures. ESTRAGON: Tu crois? VLADIMIR: Ça fera passer le temps (Estragon hésite). Je t’assure, ce sera une diversion. ESTRAGON: Un délassement. VLADIMIR: Une distraction. ESTRAGON: Un délassement. VLADIMIR: Essaie. ESTRAGON: Tu m’aideras ? VLADIMIR: Bien sûr. ESTRAGON: On ne se débrouille pas trop mal, hein, Didi, tous les ensemble? VLADIMIR: Mais oui, mais oui. Allez, on va essayer la gauche d’abord. ESTRAGON: On trouve toujours quelque chose, hein, Didi, pour nous donner l’impression d’exister? VLADIMIR: Mais oui, mais oui, on est des magiciens. Mais ne nous laissons pas détourner de ce quenous avons résolu. (Il remasse une chaussure.) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Adrean TAC 2010 Winner Senior Member France adrean83.wordpress.c Joined 6169 days ago 348 posts - 411 votes Speaks: FrenchC1 | Message 23 of 54 07 February 2012 at 12:30pm | IP Logged | ||
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Not a bad shot Spanky. It's very snappy dialogue indeed. You can rewrite the whole text
in good time. I have a copy floating about although in English. Would love to watch Waiting for Godot en Francais. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Spanky Senior Member Canada Joined 5957 days ago 1021 posts - 1714 votes Studies: French | Message 24 of 54 08 February 2012 at 2:53am | IP Logged | ||
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Thanks Adrean,
I am emboldened to give another excerpt a try – perhaps a shorter piece, with less boots. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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