Some language help please, if anyone has the time.

Sep 03, 2015 16:45

I was pointed here by Orange_fell in Linguaphiles ( Read more... )

~languages: french

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Comments 15

calenture September 3 2015, 23:02:44 UTC
"Fils de pute" is "son of a bitch" and "C'est des conneries" is "That's bullshit". But I'm Canadian, so I don't know for sure if someone from Paris would say either of those.

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Thanks! walkrodarkness September 3 2015, 23:14:58 UTC
That sounds good enough to me. If I get a better response later on, I can always update it.

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cafecomics September 7 2015, 07:32:56 UTC
They would.

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goose_entity September 4 2015, 01:56:43 UTC
"putain!" literal translation would be "whore!" but it is more expressive in French.

There's also the old standby of "MERDE!" screamed at volume, possibly repeated several times ;)

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Maybe. walkrodarkness September 4 2015, 02:30:12 UTC
I know I'd heard "merde" before. To me, it doesn't quite scream the defiant nature of the character in the scene. "Putain" might be closer, but it still isn't coming close to what might be said I think.

In a moment of weakness, I checked Google Translate and it came up with "Baiser que le bruit" when I asked it for "f that noise". I dunno, is there some generally defiant French phrase or idiom that might have been used?

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Re: Maybe. lied_ohne_worte September 4 2015, 03:37:53 UTC
That Google translate "result" is nonsensical. My French is not sufficient for suggesting an expression to use, but even so I can tell that much. It literally translates to "[to] kiss that [the] sound" (the "that the sound" you'd use in a relative clause, not "that sound there"). Google Translate would only work if there was an actual, literal equivalent of that expression in French. Just for fun I tried English -> German, and it didn't even translate "fuck", although we definitely have equivalent words.

Also, if you're looking for people to help you translate profanity so you can use it in your writing, it would be helpful if you gathered your courage and wrote that profanity out. I suspect not everyone here who isn't a native English speaker will even know what "f that noise" is supposed to stand for, and you might get more help from exactly those people who aren't native speakers.

(Good tip: If you google "baiser que le bruit", you get a grand total of two results. That indicates that it's not an actual thing in the French

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Re: Maybe. reynardo September 4 2015, 04:27:30 UTC
Don't forget that "Baiser" is literally "To kiss", but colloquially "to fuck". Therefore, standing in the middle of the street and yelling "BAISE-TOI!" does not actually mean "I kiss you."

On the side, my husband had a WOW druid called "Baisebois", and about once a week, he would get a quiet DM from someone saying "you _do_ know what that means, don't you?"

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syntinen_laulu September 4 2015, 07:01:47 UTC
I suggest you spell the girlfriend's name 'Francesca', as 'Franchesca' would be pronounced 'Frankeska' in France and in Italy, which is presumably where this girl comes from. Unless it's a plot point that her name is spelt funny?

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Welll..... walkrodarkness September 4 2015, 13:04:09 UTC
She's actually American, so spelling errors and "uniqueness" are bound to happen. But thanks for the point. Actually both names are placeholders for the actual characters. I'd have hated for anyone to figure out what was happening before I get it posted.

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violetta_jones September 4 2015, 10:34:34 UTC
Funnily enough, there's a French idiom that's perfect for that specific character. "Tu parles", literally "you talk" and translating to an ironical "yeah, right", is used when someone doesn't exactly agree with something that's just been said. It also perfectly rhymes with "Charles", which is probably why it's often added to that idiom : "Tu parles, Charles". Please note that this idiom is kind of old-fashioned nowadays, but Charles has been an old-fashioned name for a while in France, so it might fit ( ... )

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Thanks! walkrodarkness September 4 2015, 13:09:28 UTC
"Ta gueule" sounds good. Given the rest of the characters in the scene won't have quite the local understanding of French (Charles is not in America, not France during this scene), it feels right.

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cafecomics September 7 2015, 07:37:59 UTC
A general "Allez vous faire foutre!" (go fuck yourselves) would be a rough equivalent to "Fuck that noise!/To hell with that!"

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