Refraction

Il faut vous enivrer sans trêve.
Mais de quoi?
De vin, de poésie, ou de vertu, à votre guise.
Mais enivrez-vous.

Stumbled onto Wikipedia’s article on perronismes, which reminds me of English mixed metaphors.

Never quite having fully grasped what a mixed metaphor was (and being unable to come up with them on demand), I found the examples presented here interesting. Perhaps they’re easier to see when it’s not your native language? Plus—it’s always a joy when such things can be translated correctly, with the right amount of awkwardness.

“Atteindre la lumière au fond du baril”
“To reach the light at the bottom of the barrel”

“La forêt vierge est une forêt où la main de l’homme n’a jamais mis le pied. ”
“Virgin forest is a forest where the hand of man has never set foot.”

And okay, because I’m weird like that, here’s the English version of Feist’s song translated into French.

I really like the “La même histoire” much better than this.
Read the rest of this entry »

I’m not really sure how I feel about the First Lady of France. After her supermodel career, she turned to singing, and though it’s often the case that crossovers of this kind end badly, she seems to be doing quite well for herself.
Read the rest of this entry »

Okay, one more. I can’t help it; I just heard this song on TV and it’s simply charming.
Read the rest of this entry »

Still procrastinating, thesis write up this time. I’ve translated all the easy songs off IT, I think, except this one.

(And even this one’s not that easy: how to fully express the meaning of “watershed” both as the geological feature and the idiomatic meaning of “turning point”? I don’t think I can.)
Read the rest of this entry »

I love the word “antebellum”, although I was always thrown by how the “-bellum” part made it about war, instead of beauty; we have so few other words with that root (“belligerent” is the only one that springs to mind) that it’s actually quite striking.

(As an aside: I love “antediluvian” too. Is there an “ante-” word for before the Fall of Adam and Eve? I seem to remember running across it once.)

I also think this is my favourite song off the new album.
Read the rest of this entry »

Got another one for you. I think this song from IT sounds the most like Vienna’s old stuff.
Read the rest of this entry »

Vienna’s new album was released in Europe last week. Here’s a quick translation of a song (“the emo sad song”) off it.

(And in other news: I miss my translation class terribly. I think the prof who taught it has retired now; he’s no longer listed on the department website anywhere, nor do I see his name on the French faculty list posted in BuTo. Pity. He was quick and witty and cutting, equally at ease in English and French, and made me want to do well. Not that I ever don’t want to do well. But I’m not as motivated in some classes.)

Read the rest of this entry »