Dec 19, 2012 18:03
11 yrs ago
3 viewers *
French term
vieille France
French to English
Art/Literary
Other
I'm sorry for what is a basic question (I am not a translator), but I want to make sure I do this right.
I am editing an English-language book in which an author lives for a time in France. The author speaks only a certain amount of French. In the sentence below, am I using "vieille" correctly? I know it is the feminine form of the word, but here it is applying in some way to a man. In the original, the author had "vieux France," but I thought that was wrong. Is it OK, or is it odd to call a man "very vieille France"? Many thanks. Here's the sentence (in English as below except for the French phrase):
At about the same time I became friends with M. B___, an old French man, very vieille France, very traditional.
I am editing an English-language book in which an author lives for a time in France. The author speaks only a certain amount of French. In the sentence below, am I using "vieille" correctly? I know it is the feminine form of the word, but here it is applying in some way to a man. In the original, the author had "vieux France," but I thought that was wrong. Is it OK, or is it odd to call a man "very vieille France"? Many thanks. Here's the sentence (in English as below except for the French phrase):
At about the same time I became friends with M. B___, an old French man, very vieille France, very traditional.
Proposed translations
(English)
2 +3 | fine as it is | Jonathan MacKerron |
4 +1 | old-school French | B D Finch |
4 +1 | with old-fashioned (French) values | Daryo |
Proposed translations
+3
32 mins
Selected
fine as it is
does it really need to be dumbed down?
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Note added at 1 hr (2012-12-19 19:31:44 GMT)
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but should be in parentheses
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Note added at 1 hr (2012-12-19 19:31:44 GMT)
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but should be in parentheses
Note from asker:
Thanks. This is it. And I probably should have put it in FR-FR, but wasn't sure if my English-only contextual babbling would be OK there. |
Peer comment(s):
neutral |
Daryo
: what about those who don't understand a word of French? Wasn't the point of translating to make it usable for those people?
21 mins
|
A book about France without a single word of French? Moreover, it says 'very traditional'!
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|
agree |
Helen Shiner
: You seem to be the only one who understands the question (perhaps it should have been posted FR-FR).
2 hrs
|
agree |
Michele Fauble
2 hrs
|
agree |
sktrans
8 hrs
|
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Thanks! Apologies if my question was unclear or should have been in FR-->FR (I didn't feel comfortable writing there in English.) Italics will definitely make it to the finished book, don't worry!"
+1
21 mins
old-school French
As the reason for "vieille" being feminine is that it qualifies "France", it is the phrase "vieille France" that is being applied to the man, which is fine. I agree with jmleger, but would suggest "very old-school French".
alive.atari.org/alive6/mjj_spr.php
"A very old-school french wiz-coder named Leonard is hooked on producing more non-masked 2-bitplane sprites on screen than anyone else - that's fine with me ..."
www.ballet.co.uk/magazines/yr_05/oct05/et_rev_bolshoi_0705....
" ... some (very) old-school French style bravura, and spectacular spectacle."
alive.atari.org/alive6/mjj_spr.php
"A very old-school french wiz-coder named Leonard is hooked on producing more non-masked 2-bitplane sprites on screen than anyone else - that's fine with me ..."
www.ballet.co.uk/magazines/yr_05/oct05/et_rev_bolshoi_0705....
" ... some (very) old-school French style bravura, and spectacular spectacle."
Peer comment(s):
agree |
Nikki Scott-Despaigne
: It's good this one has been posted, although I would probably now say that "French" can be dropped. "Vieille France" is fine for FR speakers but not for non-fluent lovers of France. "Old-school" is a good & can be seen when glossary post consulted. ;-)
1 hr
|
neutral |
ACOZ (X)
: You're right about this person being "old school" but I wouldn't use the expression here in proximity to "French". Too similar to "school French".
4 hrs
|
+1
1 hr
with old-fashioned (French) values
"vieille France" = France as it was before, maybe one or two generations before today.
When used as an adjective, it's mainly a reference to traditional / old-fashioned values.
When used as an adjective, it's mainly a reference to traditional / old-fashioned values.
Peer comment(s):
neutral |
writeaway
: old-fashioned? how old? I don't think it works in this context.
28 mins
|
old-fashioned values - can't get much more close to the idea of "vieille France"
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agree |
ACOZ (X)
: Yes, "vieille France" conjures up a picture of a rather formal person with excellent old-fashioned manners and ideas.
3 hrs
|
Merci!
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Discussion
Next, you might consider quote marks in the text: very "vieille France," very traditional.
I think that "very traditional" (or "very old school") explains the meaning. ;-)