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Luso
Hexaglot
Senior Member
Portugal
Joined 5820 days ago

819 posts - 1812 votes 
Speaks: Portuguese*, French, EnglishC2, GermanB1, Italian, Spanish
Studies: Sanskrit, Arabic (classical)

 
 Message 161 of 243
01 February 2013 at 3:46am | IP Logged 
Nice post.

A few comments:

1. Ami, entends-tu les cris sourds du pays qu'on enchaîne ?
=> Here, "pays" is singular, hence, country (not countries). There's also a subtle "jeu de mots", since "pays" can also mean "region", "countryside", "territory", etc.

2. Chantez, compagnons, dans la nuit la liberté nous écoute.
=> Sing, mates, in the night freedom can hear us (not the other way around).


As a personal note, I remember that in my 6th or 7th year of French the book Le Silence de la mer by Vercors was mandatory reading. It was about a French family that had to take in a German officer during the war. It's a very nice book, but I only found that out when I read it again some years later.

Right now I'm reading Uwe Timm's Johannisnacht for my German classes. I hope to enjoy this one the first time around.

Edited by Luso on 01 February 2013 at 3:49am

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songlines
Pro Member
Canada
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 Message 162 of 243
01 February 2013 at 5:35am | IP Logged 
Luso wrote:

1. Ami, entends-tu les cris sourds du pays qu'on enchaîne ?
=> Here, "pays" is singular, hence, country (not countries). There's also a subtle "jeu de mots", since "pays" can
also mean "region", "countryside", "territory", etc.

.
Ah; - the "du" before "pays" should have been my clue.   I realize I've also mistranslated "ami" as "friends", rather
then "friend".

Luso wrote:

2. Chantez, compagnons, dans la nuit la liberté nous écoute.
=> Sing, mates, in the night freedom can hear us (not the other way around).


Yes, I realized, when looking at the Wikipedia translation, that I had it entirely the wrong way round. (See my
double asterisked note.) Definitely tricky, this one. I like your translation of "compagnons" as "mates", by the
way.

Updated to add: Happy discovery: my library system has Vercors' book - in a bilingual edition!

Many thanks for your comments and help.





Edited by songlines on 01 February 2013 at 6:01am

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Luso
Hexaglot
Senior Member
Portugal
Joined 5820 days ago

819 posts - 1812 votes 
Speaks: Portuguese*, French, EnglishC2, GermanB1, Italian, Spanish
Studies: Sanskrit, Arabic (classical)

 
 Message 163 of 243
01 February 2013 at 6:31am | IP Logged 
songlines wrote:
I like your translation of "compagnons" as "mates", by the way.

(...)

Many thanks for your comments and help.


If I had seen the word "mates", I'd have translated it to French as "potes". More up-to-date.

"Compagnon" has a different connotation. For instance, in left-wing circles, the expression "compagnon de route" used to mean someone like-minded, although not necessary a member of the same party, or whatever. I like the expression, because it has an idealistic ring to it. Echoes of the Spanish civil war, or some other hopelessly romantic event like that.

One nice thing about the French language is this "nuancier", this "palette" of expressions.

By the way, you're welcome. :)

Edited by Luso on 01 February 2013 at 6:55am

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songlines
Pro Member
Canada
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Joined 4968 days ago

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 Message 164 of 243
02 February 2013 at 8:04am | IP Logged 
Summary from Jan 15th-31st:

Assimil: 80 minutes, French.
Films: 1 film; 111 minutes.
Flashcards: 20 minutes.
TV/podcasts: 79 minutes.
Reading: 110 pages.
Reading, bandes-dessinées: 324 pages; 4 BDs completed.

Tadoku-Bot total for January: 435 pages, with a ranking of 59.

Tried out a couple of different sources for my TV/podcasts: TFO, based here
in Ontario; and LCP, recommended by others here on Htlal.

Notable this past fortnight: Inspired by members of Htlal, most recently EMK and Quique, (and with special
thanks to GeoffW for his recommendation of Izneo), I've started reading
bandes-dessinées! Started with volume 1 of Blacksad, then the first three books in the Blake & Mortimer series.
Have rented the next two Blake & Mortimers, and borrowed the Volume 1 of five other series from the library.

Books included Bilbo, le Hobbit, as discussed earlier in this thread, and Yann Martel's l'Histoire de Pi,
which I've just begun (and am enjoying), in the hopes of reading both before I see their respective films. -
Especially important in the case of The Life of Pi, which I've heard is outstanding in 3D.   But I'm over the half-
way point for The Hobbit, so - since Peter Jackson will be splitting it up into a trilogy of films - I may watch
that now, anyway.

From the LCP, the La cité du livre's
Best of 2012
programme was quite interesting, and not toooo fast to follow, unlike some others of LCP's other programmes.
(Example of the latter: La presse
en debat, especially
when they start getting into the spirit of the debate. )


Edited by songlines on 02 February 2013 at 8:06am

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songlines
Pro Member
Canada
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 Message 165 of 243
04 February 2013 at 11:35pm | IP Logged 
Another song from my post post 78 about the transcripted
Service Protestant.

On ira tous au paradis, by Michel Polnareff.

Curt Smith Youtube cover.
Online source for lyrics:
en.lyrics-copy.com.

Text in square brackets I'm uncertain of; if someone can offer a better translation, I'd be grateful.
The online version of the text used abbreviated versions of words such as "même", "touts", etc. I've left the
spelling as it was.

On ira tous au paradis mêm´ moi
Qu´on soit béni ou qu´on soit maudit, on ira
Tout´ les bonn´ sœurs et tous les voleurs
Tout´ les brebis et tous les bandits
On ira tous au paradis
On ira tous au paradis, mêm´ moi
Qu´on soit béni ou qu´on soit maudit, on ira
Avec les saints et les assassins
Les femmes du monde et puis les putains
On ira tous au paradis


We’re all going to Paradise, even I
Those blessed or cursed, we will go.
All the good sisters, and all the thieves
All the sheep (fig) and all the crooks,
We’re all going to Paradise
We’re all going to Paradise, even I
Those blessed or cursed, we will go
With saints and killers
Worldly women and then prostitutes
We are all going to Paradise.

Ne crois pas ce que les gens disent
C´est ton cœur qui est la seule église
Laisse un peu de vague à ton âme
N´aie pas peur de la couleur des flammes de l´enfer


Don’t believe what people say
It’s your heart which is the only church
[Leave a small wave of your soul
Have no fear of the colour of the flames of hell] [???]

On ira tous au paradis, mêm´ moi
Qu´on croie en Dieu ou qu´on n´y croie pas, on ira...
Qu´on ait fait le bien ou bien Ie mal
On sera tous invités au bal
On ira tous au paradis
On ira tous au paradis, mêm´ moi
Qu´on croie en Dieu ou qu´on n´y croie pas, on ira
Avec les chrétiens, avec les païens
Et même les chiens et même les requins
On ira tous au paradis


We are all going to Paradise, even I
Those who believe in God, or those who don’t, all will go
Those who have done good, or evil,
We are all guests to the ball
We will all go to Paradise,
We will all go to Paradise, even I
Those who believe in God or whtose who don’t, all will go
With Christians and pagans
And even dogs, and sharks (figurative: ruthless people)
We are all going to Paradise.

On ira tous au paradis, mêm´ moi,
Qu´on soit béni ou qu´on soit maudit, on ira
Tout´ les bonnes sœurs et tous les voleurs
Tout´ les brebis et tous les bandits
On ira tous au paradis
On ira tous au paradis, mêm´ moi
Qu´on soit béni ou qu´on soit maudit, on ira
Tout´
Et puis...
Et puis...
Et tous les...
On ira tous au paradis

On ira tous au paradis, mêm´ moi
Qu´on soit béni ou qu´on soit maudit, on ira
Tout´ les bonnes sœurs et tous les voleurs
Tout´ les brebis et tous les bandits
On ira tous au paradis...
Surtout moi


….Especially me.



Edited by songlines on 06 February 2013 at 10:21am

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songlines
Pro Member
Canada
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Joined 4968 days ago

729 posts - 1056 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: French
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 Message 166 of 243
05 February 2013 at 12:24am | IP Logged 
I've previously mentioned Yann Martel, in connection with his
book What is Stephen Harper Reading? .

But most people will probably better know him as the Booker-Prize winning author of
The Life of
Pi
, which has of course now been adapted for the screen by Ang Lee.

Here's an interesting language-oriented quote from the book's dust jacket:

Quote:
Francophone, il écrit en anglais.... Yann Martel a dit: L'anglais est la langue dans laquelle j'exprime le
mieux la subtilité. Mais je dois dire que le français est la langue la plus proche de mon coeur. Et pour cette
raison même, l'anglais me donne une distance suffisante pour écrire.


My translation:
Quote:

Francophone, he writes in English. Yann Martel has said, "English is the language in which I best express
subtleties [nuances?]. But I must say that French is the language closest to my heart. And it is [even? even
more?] for that reason, that English gives me the necessary distance for writing."



Edited by songlines on 05 February 2013 at 6:16am

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Maïwenn
Diglot
Groupie
FranceRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 4128 days ago

56 posts - 72 votes 
Speaks: English*, French
Studies: German, Mandarin, Breton

 
 Message 167 of 243
05 February 2013 at 7:23am | IP Logged 
For the Yann Martel quote, I'd say the last sentence could be translated as "And (it is) for just that reason, English gives me a sufficient/necessary distance for writing."
For the "On ira tous au paradis" lyrics, vague à l'âme means a kind of sadness, generally heartbreak I think, but in this case maybe it just means to allow some emotions? At this site,
it is defined as "Difficulté d'être, mal de vivre sans cause bien définie."
Well done! :)
2 persons have voted this message useful





songlines
Pro Member
Canada
flickr.com/photos/cp
Joined 4968 days ago

729 posts - 1056 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: French
Personal Language Map

 
 Message 168 of 243
05 February 2013 at 5:45pm | IP Logged 
Maïwenn wrote:
For the Yann Martel quote, I'd say the last sentence could be translated as "And (it is) for just that reason, English gives me a sufficient/necessary distance for writing."
For the "On ira tous au paradis" lyrics, vague à l'âme means a kind of sadness, generally heartbreak I think, but in this case maybe it just means to allow some emotions? At this site,
it is defined as "Difficulté d'être, mal de vivre sans cause bien définie."
Well done! :)


Thanks, Maïwenn.   - Much appreciated. And that CNRTL: Centre National de Ressources Textuelles et Lexicales site looks like it might be a useful reference for intermediate and advanced learners (and native speakers, of course). I'll keep it in mind for the future..!

Edited by songlines on 05 February 2013 at 5:46pm



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