English term
It\'s a day there and back
Pourriez-vous m'aider à traduire cette phrase en français svp ?
Le contexte : deux amies discutent. L'une conseille à l'autre d'aller voir son enfant dans le couvent (où elle a été obligée de la placer. L'histoire se passe juste après la seconde guerre) Mais l'autre est réticente car c'est assez loin et que cela l'obligerait à s'absenter de son travail. D'où le dialogue suivant :
- I think you should go and see him (Je pense que tu devrais aller le voir.)
- It's a day there and back ! Comment rendre cela.
Merci d'avance pour vos réponses.
Non-PRO (1): AllegroTrans
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Proposed translations
Native in: English 
, French
Works in: English to French, French to English, German to French, and 4 more.
Il faut compter un jour pour faire l'aller-retour
| agree |
mchd
13 mins
|
| agree |
FX Fraipont (X)
14 mins
|
| agree |
writeaway
15 mins
|
| agree |
C. Tougas
51 mins
|
| agree |
Jean-Claude Gouin
1 hr
|
| agree |
Chakib Roula
1 hr
|
| agree |
katsy
3 hrs
|
| agree |
AllegroTrans
3 hrs
|
| agree |
Françoise Vogel
: ne serait-ce que pour ... (s'il n'y a pas de contrainte de longueur)
16 hrs
|
| agree |
Annie Rigler
18 hrs
|
| agree |
sporran
20 hrs
|
| agree |
Marion Hallouet
20 hrs
|
| agree |
JODIE DODGSON
1 day 4 hrs
|
| agree |
GILLES MEUNIER
1 day 21 hrs
|
Algeria
Shedding light out of words
Native in: Arabic , French
Works in: Arabic to French, Arabic to English, French to English, and 3 more.
Ca ne vous prendrai qu'une journée en aller-retour
| neutral |
polyglot45
: c'est la mère qui parle et donc elle insiste sur la perte de sa journée. Pas de "ne... que" alors
12 mins
|
| neutral |
AllegroTrans
: ne...que is the wrong stress
8 hrs
|
United States
Professional Language Services
Native in: French
Works in: English to French, French to English
Une journée (entière) de deplacement/voyage pour y aller et en revenir
| neutral |
writeaway
: a day there is back is short and snappy and pretty much spoken language. imo, there's no need for such an elaborate option. it's more written language anyway
11 mins
|
| neutral |
AllegroTrans
: too formal for spoken dailogue
8 hrs
|
|
Je vous l'accorde.
|
United Kingdom
Efficiency and finesse
Native in: French 
Works in: English to French, Russian to French, Latin to French, and 3 more.
l'aller-retour prend la journée
| agree |
Philippe Barré
: C'est bien plus concis.
2 hrs
|
|
Merci
|
|
| agree |
AllegroTrans
8 hrs
|
|
Merci
|
|
| agree |
Tony M
: I think 'prendre' works well for the implied negative notion of "it's going to take a whole day!"
16 hrs
|
|
Merci Tony
|
Discussion
I see all our answerers so far have interpreted this as being one day for the return journey; however, I believe another reading is also possible, and could even be more plausible.
After all, even just after the War, at least some employees would have had one day off a week (or at least, a month!); and at that period, being half a day away wouldn't actually necessarily be that far.
However, if the actual meaning was as I initially read it, i.e. one whole day to get there PLUS another day to come back, THEN it would start to make more sense; for one thing, that places it at a significantly greater distance, and would necessitate the potential expense of an overnight stop. In addition, few if any employees would have the luxury of TWO consecutive days off!
I think it is perfectly legitimate to read this as "It's a day there and (then another day to get) back".