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French trans. Bertrand Russell quote

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Spinchäeb Ape
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 Message 1 of 3
18 October 2012 at 11:12pm | IP Logged 
I found a Bertrand Russell quote in French. I've only just begun my study of French and am not skilled enough to translate it to English yet. Google translate isn't up to the task either. Its translation is clearly awkward. Perhaps there's someone here skilled at French who doesn't mind translating the short quote:

"Dans ce que je fais, j'essaie toujours de chercher le contrepoint. Du contrepoint naît l'harmonie, et de l'harmonie naît la possibilité."

Google's clunky translation is here:
"In what I do, I always try seek counterpoint. Born counterpoint harmony, and harmony comes the possibility."

Edited by Spinchäeb Ape on 18 October 2012 at 11:23pm

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emk
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 Message 2 of 3
19 October 2012 at 12:27am | IP Logged 
Here's my stab at it:

Quote:
In what I do, I always try to seek the counterpoint. From the counterpoint is born the harmony, and from the harmony is born the possibility.


The word order around naître is très soutenu as the French would say—very elevated and formal.

It's entirely possible that I've made a mistake here. If so, let's hope that some kind HTLALer can fix it.
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Ari
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 Message 3 of 3
19 October 2012 at 7:08am | IP Logged 
emk wrote:
It's entirely possible that I've made a mistake here. If so, let's hope that some kind HTLALer can fix it.

Looks good to me, except I'd say just "harmony" and "possibility", which sounds more idiomatical in English to me. Making them definite form "l'harmonie" and "la possibilité" is just how it works in French and not a special emphasis or anything. Sort of how you might go to "the theater" in English without implying a specific theater. My translation would be:

"In what I do, I always try to seek the counterpoint. The counterpoint gives birth to harmony, and harmony gives birth to possibility."

Edited by Ari on 19 October 2012 at 7:10am



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