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Translations/correction
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Message de vaiana posté le 06-09-2022 à 05:08:53 (S | E | F)
Hello everyone
Here are some new sentences I have just translated 
Would you mind checking up on them and shedding light on my mistakes please? 
1. Les déchets seront recyclés, n'est-ce pas ?
(The) rubbish will be recycled, won't it?
I would write "the" if the speaker talks about specific rubbish (for instance someone's rubbish), and no article if he talks about rubbish generally speaking ...
2. Il y avait deux ou trois vêtements étalés sur le lit.
There were two or three pieces of clothing spread over the bed.
3. Te souviens-tu exactement de la date du début de la construction de la pyramide du Louvre ?
Do you precisely remember the date of the beginning of the building of the Louvre pyramid?
4. Toute la région a été détruite par un très violent ouragan.
A substantially violent hurricane knocked down the area all the way through.
Does "knocked the area down" sound natural?
5. Parmi l'ensemble des destinations, il a choisi un coin reculé au cœur des Andes dont on n'avait jamais entendu parler auparavant.
He chose a remote place in the core of the Andes from among all the destinations, which we had never heard of beforehand.
6. Tout le quartier doit être transformé en centre commercial.
The whole neighborhood is to be turned into a mall.
7. La cabane a été incendiée par un vagabond, apparemment.
A wanderer is said to have set the shed on fire.
8. Ces verres ont été mal lavés ! Il y a des traces de rouge à lèvres !
These glasses have been badly cleansed! They remain covered in lipstick stains!
9. Les avions auraient été achetés il y a quinze ans alors qu'ils étaient déjà endommagés.
The aeroplanes are claimed to have been purchased fifteen years ago, even though they were already damaged.
10. Le scandale auquel il a été mêlé ne va pas tarder à faire les gros titres de la presse.
The scandal he has been meddled in is going to hit the press headlines soon.
11. Si tu n'arrives pas à t'endormir, tu pourrais essayer de lire au lit plutôt que de prendre tant de somnifères.
If you can't manage to fall asleep, you might want to try to read in your bed instead of taking so many sleeping pills.
12. Je crois qu'elle n'est tout simplement pas intéressée par la question de savoir s'il faut réduire ou supprimer la consommation de tabac maintenant.
I think she is quite simply not interested in the question of knowing whether tabacco consumption has now to be reduced or forbidden.
Thanks 
Message de vaiana posté le 06-09-2022 à 05:08:53 (S | E | F)
Hello everyone
Here are some new sentences I have just translated 
Would you mind checking up on them and shedding light on my mistakes please? 
1. Les déchets seront recyclés, n'est-ce pas ?
(The) rubbish will be recycled, won't it?
I would write "the" if the speaker talks about specific rubbish (for instance someone's rubbish), and no article if he talks about rubbish generally speaking ...
2. Il y avait deux ou trois vêtements étalés sur le lit.
There were two or three pieces of clothing spread over the bed.
3. Te souviens-tu exactement de la date du début de la construction de la pyramide du Louvre ?
Do you precisely remember the date of the beginning of the building of the Louvre pyramid?
4. Toute la région a été détruite par un très violent ouragan.
A substantially violent hurricane knocked down the area all the way through.
Does "knocked the area down" sound natural?
5. Parmi l'ensemble des destinations, il a choisi un coin reculé au cœur des Andes dont on n'avait jamais entendu parler auparavant.
He chose a remote place in the core of the Andes from among all the destinations, which we had never heard of beforehand.
6. Tout le quartier doit être transformé en centre commercial.
The whole neighborhood is to be turned into a mall.
7. La cabane a été incendiée par un vagabond, apparemment.
A wanderer is said to have set the shed on fire.
8. Ces verres ont été mal lavés ! Il y a des traces de rouge à lèvres !
These glasses have been badly cleansed! They remain covered in lipstick stains!
9. Les avions auraient été achetés il y a quinze ans alors qu'ils étaient déjà endommagés.
The aeroplanes are claimed to have been purchased fifteen years ago, even though they were already damaged.
10. Le scandale auquel il a été mêlé ne va pas tarder à faire les gros titres de la presse.
The scandal he has been meddled in is going to hit the press headlines soon.
11. Si tu n'arrives pas à t'endormir, tu pourrais essayer de lire au lit plutôt que de prendre tant de somnifères.
If you can't manage to fall asleep, you might want to try to read in your bed instead of taking so many sleeping pills.
12. Je crois qu'elle n'est tout simplement pas intéressée par la question de savoir s'il faut réduire ou supprimer la consommation de tabac maintenant.
I think she is quite simply not interested in the question of knowing whether tabacco consumption has now to be reduced or forbidden.
Thanks
Réponse : Translations/correction de gerondif, postée le 07-09-2022 à 15:05:14 (S | E)
Hello
1. Les déchets seront recyclés, n'est-ce pas ?
(The) rubbish will be recycled, won't it?
I would write "the" if the speaker talks about specific rubbish (for instance someone's rubbish), and no article if he talks about rubbish generally speaking ... ok
2. Il y avait deux ou trois vêtements étalés sur le lit.
There were two or three pieces of clothing spread over the bed.
3. Te souviens-tu exactement de la date du début de la construction de la pyramide du Louvre ?
Do you precisely remember the date of the beginning of the building of the Louvre pyramid?
il serait plus léger de dire, même si ce n'est pas une traduction littérale :
Do you remember exactly ( the date) when they started building the Louvre Pyramid ?
4. Toute la région a été détruite par un très violent ouragan.
A substantially violent hurricane knocked down the area all the way through.
Does "knocked the area down" sound natural? Not really , to me anyway. knock down s'applique à un bâtiment vertical au départ.
The whole area was destroyed /devastated by a very violent hurricane.
5. Parmi l'ensemble des destinations, il a choisi un coin reculé au cœur des Andes dont on n'avait jamais entendu parler auparavant.
He chose a remote place in the core of the Andes from among all the destinations, which we had never heard of beforehand.
Of all the destinations, he chose a remote corner at the heart of the Andes nobody had ever heard of before.
before is different from beforehand adv (previously) à l'avance loc adv au préalable loc adv avant adv
6. Tout le quartier doit être transformé en centre commercial.
The whole neighborhood is to be turned into a mall.
7. La cabane a été incendiée par un vagabond, apparemment.
A wanderer is said to have set the shed on fire. / The shed was torched /put on fire by a vagrant, apparently.
8. Ces verres ont été mal lavés ! Il y a des traces de rouge à lèvres !
These glasses have been badly cleansed! They remain covered in (with) lipstick stains!
cleanse pour des verres ? on parle de wash up, washing up pour la vaisselle.
These glasses were not washed up very well / were washed up rather poorly. There are still traces of lipstick on them.
9. Les avions auraient été achetés il y a quinze ans alors qu'ils étaient déjà endommagés.
The aeroplanes are claimed (said) to have been purchased fifteen years ago, even though they were already damaged.
The planes were reportedly bought ... would alledgedly have been bought...
10. Le scandale auquel il a été mêlé ne va pas tarder à faire les gros titres de la presse.
The scandal he has been meddled in is going to hit the press headlines soon.
to meddle in signifiant mettre son nez dans les affaires, il passe mal en voix passive.
The scandal he was involved in / mixed with will shortly hit the press headlines
11. Si tu n'arrives pas à t'endormir, tu pourrais essayer de lire au lit plutôt que de prendre tant de somnifères.
If you can't manage to fall asleep, you might want to try (why don't you try to) to read in your bed instead of taking so many sleeping pills.
12. Je crois qu'elle n'est tout simplement pas intéressée par la question de savoir s'il faut réduire ou supprimer la consommation de tabac maintenant.
I think she is quite simply not interested in the question of knowing whether tabacco consumption has now to be reduced or forbidden.
Réponse : Translations/correction de traviskidd, postée le 07-09-2022 à 18:58:01 (S | E)
Hello!
2) I think I would more naturally say "spread out on". ("Over" implies either a vertical separation, or hanging over two opposite edges.)
3) I agree with gerondif; all those "of the"s hurt my eyes
4) I agree with gerondif. You should usually try a direct translation first. No need to translate "très" by "substantially", or "toute" by "all the way through".
5) Instead of "corner at" I would say "spot in".
7) I would say "set on fire", or "set fire to".
8) Cleanse = purify, and "there are traces" is not the same thing as "covered in". (You see? When you depart from a direct translation, you risk translating incorrectly! No need to complicate your life like that
)9) Here the French conditional should be translated with "reportedly" (if there are indeed credible reports) or "allegedly" ("were allegedly bought" is fine) or "supposedly" (if you doubt whether it's true).
10) I would say "mixed(/caught/tangled) up in".
11) I would more naturally say "If you can't fall asleep" or "If you're having trouble falling asleep".
try + infinitive (goal), try + V-ing (method)
12) tobacco
"Have to" is a special structure that cannot be separated by an adverb. (In any case, I would more naturally use "should" ("il faudrait"), or "must" (if "il faut" must really be translated directly).)
See you!
Réponse : Translations/correction de vaiana, postée le 08-09-2022 à 04:16:44 (S | E)
Hello to both of you
and 
on my topic Let's delve right into the funny translations
1. Les déchets seront recyclés, n'est-ce pas ?
(The) rubbish will be recycled, won't it?
2. Il y avait deux ou trois vêtements étalés sur le lit.
There were two or three pieces of clothing spread out on the bed.
"Over" implies either a vertical separation, or hanging over two opposite edges.
I thought it was proper to use "over" when talking about something scattered on something else.
Why do we say "all over the place" or "all over the world," then? There is neither vertical separation nor hanging
3. Te souviens-tu exactement de la date du début de la construction de la pyramide du Louvre ?
Do you precisely remember the date when they started building the Louvre pyramid?
4. Toute la région a été détruite par un très violent ouragan.
A very violent hurricane devastated the whole area.
A substantially violent hurricane knocked down the area all the way through.
Besides "to knock down," could you tell me what is wrong with my first attempt, please?
You should usually try a direct translation first.
You're meticulous
I don't like to model my translations on the French initial sentences, or using lots of words that resemble their French equivalents (same roots), which I call the "easy options." Oftentimes, I try putting in an effort to draw out synonyms from my brain and phrase the sentences as they come to my mind ... Under the context of an English exam it would probably not be a good way of doing, but here it's more of an exercise aiming at enhancing my English skills so it doesn't really matter, does it? 5. Parmi l'ensemble des destinations, il a choisi un coin reculé au cœur des Andes dont on n'avait jamais entendu parler auparavant.
Could I say "From among all the destinations, he chose ..."? I know that "to choose" is often followed with "from among" whenever more than two items or destinations or whatever are offered.
"At the heart"/ "at the core"
Is there any substantial differences in meaning?
And I think the French "on" here means "nous," a place just can't have remained "unknown to mankind" (general "on" in French) until 2022
6. Tout le quartier doit être transformé en centre commercial.
The whole neighborhood is to be turned into a mall.
7. La cabane a été incendiée par un vagabond, apparemment.
A wanderer/ vagrant is said to have set/ torched the shed on fire.
The shed was set/ torched on fire by a vagrant, apparently.
8. Ces verres ont été mal lavés ! Il y a des traces de rouge à lèvres !
These glasses have been badly washed up/ cleaned! There are still stains of lipstick on them!
They remain covered in (with) lipstick stains!
If the French sentence would have been "elles sont couvertes de traces de rouge à lèvres," why should I have written "covered with" rather than "covered in"?
Just like in the sentence "the beach is covered with sand," why "covered with" and not "covered in"?
9. Les avions auraient été achetés il y a quinze ans alors qu'ils étaient déjà endommagés.
The (aero)planes were allegedly purchased fifteen years ago, even though they were already damaged.
10. Le scandale auquel il a été mêlé ne va pas tarder à faire les gros titres de la presse.
The scandal he has been tangled up/ involved in is going to hit the press headlines.
I think that if I write "is going to," I needn't add "soon" at the end of the sentence , need I?
11. Si tu n'arrives pas à t'endormir, tu pourrais essayer de lire au lit plutôt que de prendre tant de somnifères.
If you can't fall asleep, you might want to/ you'd better/ why don't you try to read in your bed instead of taking so many sleeping pills.
Yet "can't manage to" and "might want to" are quite common in spoken English, aren't they?
12. Je crois qu'elle n'est tout simplement pas intéressée par la question de savoir s'il faut réduire ou supprimer la consommation de tabac maintenant.
I think she is quite simply not interested in the question of knowing whether tobacco consumption has to be reduced or forbidden now.
I think she is quite simply not interested in the question of knowing whether tobacco consumption must now be reduced or forbidden.
Genuine thanks to both of you for all of your reading material and help
that makes me happy See you soon!
Réponse : Translations/correction de traviskidd, postée le 08-09-2022 à 18:13:29 (S | E)
Hello!
2) I think "all over" would be an exception, meaning "almost everywhere, and possibly anywhere". It implies (more or less) a "covering" which would imply hanging over edges (if only there were edges to hang over
).3) I think I would say "when they started construction on", if you mean the formal project and not simply the action of building.
4) If it's just a mental exercise for you, then by all means, use whatever synonyms you like. But then your sentences won't really be translations, and (like I said) you risk changing the meaning substantially.
5) "Core" is a more specific word. Apples have cores (the part you can't eat). The planet Earth has a core (made of molten iron I believe).
7) "Torched" or "set on fire", not "torched on fire".
8) "If the French sentence
"Covered with" implies something intentional or natural.
I would just say "traces of lipstick" or maybe "lipstick traces".
9) Although it is a "futur proche", "going to" doesn't always imply "soon", so better to put it. I would probably say "will soon be hitting". (The expectative future V-ing.)
10) I personally wouldn't say "can't manage to" (maybe that's more of a British thing). I might say "can't seem to". "Might want to" is OK.
Again, try + infinitive (goal), try + V-ing (method)
11) "not interested" (OK, or "uninterested")
"The question of knowing" directly translates "la question de savoir", but seems redundant. You could say "the question (of) whether", or "knowing whether".
See you!
Réponse : Translations/correction de vaiana, postée le 10-09-2022 à 01:07:58 (S | E)
Hello Travis, thanks for the follow-up reply
2. Could I have written "spread all over the bed" instead, then? Or is it a little bit "sketchy"?
5. Do you sometimes use the world "core" when talking about a city or whatever wide place?
8. "If the French sentence had been..." (As you say in French, "Les si n'aiment pas les -rait") Yes, of course!
"Covered with" implies something intentional or natural. Thanks for the explanation. Do you make any distinctions between "to cover with" and "to cover by"?
From my understanding, "to cover in" describes more of a covering made from fluid substance (blood, beverage, sauce, etc.). I don't know whether this is right.
These glasses have been badly washed up! There remain lipstick traces on them!
Is "to wash up" also used in the U.S.? The online dictionary WordReference says it's only used in the U.K. when it comes to dishes.
10. Le scandale auquel il a été mêlé ne va pas tarder à faire les gros titres de la presse.
The scandal he has been involved/tangled up in will be soon hitting the press headlines.
I would probably say "will soon be hitting". Do you see any differences between "is soon going to hit" and "will be soon hitting"?
11. Si tu n'arrives pas à t'endormir, tu pourrais essayer de lire au lit plutôt que de prendre tant de somnifères.
If you can't (manage/seem to) fall asleep, you might want to try reading in your bed instead of taking so many sleeping pills.
See you!
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