Lu
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Post by Lu on Jan 9, 2007 10:00:25 GMT -5
I've started to read War And Peace by Tolstoj but I had to stop because I coludn't understand some parts written in french ;D I am not a polyglot at all! Can you help me? Thanks!
In the first chapter, Anna Pàvlovna receives a visit from Vasilij, they begin to talk and they say these sentences I can't translate: " Cette fameuse neutralité I think prussienne, ce n'est qu'un piége." ... " C'est un pauvre sire, ce baron, à ce qu'il parait" ... " le baron a été recoommandé à l'impératrice-mére par sa soeur" ... " Lafater aurait dit que je n'ai pas la bosse de la paternité" ... " et à vous seule je puis l'avouer" ... " La pauvre petite est malheureuse comme les pierres" ... " Ce sera dans votre famille que je ferai mon apprentissage de vieille fille"
The first chapter ends here!
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Isa
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Post by Isa on Jan 9, 2007 11:29:57 GMT -5
Here you go, hope it helps you enjoy the book!
"This famous Prussian neutrality was only a lure."
"It seems like this baron is a poor fellow"
"the baron was recommended to the Impress Mother by his sister"
"Lafater supposedly said that I don't have a gift for fatherhood"
"and to you only I can admit it"
"The poor little thing is sad as rocks" (that one doesn't translate very well, but you get the idea)
"I will make my old spinster apprenticeship in your family"
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Post by Dominique on Jan 10, 2007 6:13:18 GMT -5
"The poor little thing is sad as rocks" (that one doesn't translate very well, but you get the idea) Lol! I'm going to start using that phrase now I think, I like it, it's cute. Now when I advertise the bookclub I can tell people we have our very own french to english translator lol. Nice work Isa!
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Isa
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Post by Isa on Jan 10, 2007 8:43:30 GMT -5
lol, thanks!
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czarval
Collection of short stories published by an independent editor
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Post by czarval on Jan 18, 2007 1:14:36 GMT -5
I haven't found a really good translation of War and Peace. I would want one that has footnotes for that kind of thing. My Anna Karenina is like that.
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Lu
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Post by Lu on Jan 18, 2007 5:35:12 GMT -5
I've bought that edition of War And Peace because I wanted introduction and footnotes written by Leone Ginsburg, because I liked his introduction to Anna Karenina...after having purchased the book I've noticed that there was no translation from french!ahah..thanks.. Anyway I loved the introduction to War and Peace: very interesting!
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Lu
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Post by Lu on Jan 24, 2007 6:49:48 GMT -5
I'm going on reading War and Peace. There are other french sentences which I can't translate J'espere enfin, que ca a été la goutte d'eau qui fear déborder le verre. Les souverains ne peuvent plus supporter cet homme qui menace tout.
Et ccroyez-moi, ils subissent la punition pour leur trahison de la cause des Bourbons. Les souverains? Ils envoyent des ambassadeurs complimenter l'usurpateur.
"Je leur ai montré le chemin de la gloire ils n'en ont pas voulu; je leur ai ouvert mes antichambres, ils se sont précipités en foule"...Je ne sais pas à quel point il a eu le droit de le dire.
Si meme ca a été un héros pour certain gens, depuis l'assassinat du duc il y a un martyr de plus dans le ciel, un héros de moins sur la terre.
comment le pére envisagera la chose.
ne me parlez pas de départ, ne m'en parlez pas. Je ne veux pas en entendre parlerThanks for the helpl!!
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Isa
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Post by Isa on Jan 24, 2007 9:23:24 GMT -5
Here you go, hope it makes sense!
I hope, at last, that this was the last straw. The monarchs can no longer tolerate this man who threatens everything.
And believe me, they are being punished for their treason in the Bourbons case. The monarchs? They send out ambassadors to compliment the usurper.
"I showed them the road to glory, and they wanted none of it; I opened my antechambers for them, they rushed out in the crowd"... I don't know to what extent he was allowed to say it.
Even if he has been a hero for some people, since the murder of the duke there is another martyr in heaven, and one less hero on Earth.
how will the father consider that thing.
don't talk to me about leaving, don't talk about it. I don't want to hear about it.
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Lu
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Post by Lu on Jan 24, 2007 16:57:57 GMT -5
It makes perfectly sense, thank you! I'm enjoying this book and I like Tolstoj.
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Lu
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Post by Lu on Jan 26, 2007 6:10:10 GMT -5
I'm starting to get used with French, I found out that it is more simple to me to understand it if I think about sound of the words. In chapter 25 Julie and Marja write each other a letter (in french), I've just started to read the first letter and I can't understand the meaning of these two sentences: Pourquoi ne sommes-nous pas réunies comme cet été dans votre grand cabinet sur le canapé bleu, la canapé à confidences? Pourquoi ne puis-je, comme il y trois mois, puiser de nouvelles forces morales ans votre regard si doux, si calme et si pénétrant, regard que j'amais tant et que je crois voir devant moi quand je vous écris!thanks!
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Isa
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Post by Isa on Jan 26, 2007 7:56:35 GMT -5
That would make sense because even though I can't speak a word of Italian, between my knowledge of French and Spanish, I can sort of get the basic meaning when I read something in Italian. Maybe I should try learning Italian next! Anyways, here you go: Why are we not together on the blue sofa in your large office like we were last summer, the sofa where we would tell secrets? Why can't I find, as I did three months ago, new mental strength by looking in your soft eyes, so calm and deep, which I love so much and imagine I can see before me as I'm writing to you!
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Lu
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Post by Lu on Jan 26, 2007 8:24:10 GMT -5
I've never studied Spanish but I usually manage to get the meaning of something written in Spanish because it's not so different from Italian. Speaking French is easier than writing because it's pretty similar to the dialect of the place where I live. They're all Neo-Latin languages, aren't they? Maybe my knowledge of Latin shuold help me to understand them!
Thank you for the translation!!
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Lu
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Post by Lu on Jan 28, 2007 5:24:33 GMT -5
There are 2 sentences which I can't translate: Je vous avouerai que
Vous etes heureuse, puisque les dernières sont ordinairement les plus fortes! Maybe I got the sense of it but I don't know how to translate them. Thank you!
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Isa
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Post by Isa on Jan 28, 2007 9:35:14 GMT -5
The first one is: "I would admit that...", and the second one is: "you are happy, since the last ones normally are the strongest ones".
Makes sense? lol, this is fun!
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Lu
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Post by Lu on Jan 28, 2007 9:43:48 GMT -5
Make sense. thank you! I'm glad you have fun! You're also helping me. I am at page 108 now and a half of the page 196 is written in French...so more fun is coming! ;D
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