By Dougal Campbell, French language tutor at Glasgow University, freelance translator and contributor to Harrap French titles

A one-off neologism and a daft image

One of the Masque et la plume critics (France Inter, 5 October 2008) dismissed Laurent Cantet's film Entre les murs as "une palmette". A winner of the prestigious Palme d'or, and therefore "un film palmé", but had I ever heard "une palmette" before? I think not; it's a dismissive diminutive, his criticism being essentially that this was a lightweight minor film which did not deserve the accolade of "la palme". A minor "Palme"-winner, perhaps?

Palm leaves being an ancient symbol of victory, there are many contexts in which "la palme" is in fact going to be translated by "award", "prize" or "decoration", from the mocking "on peut lui décerner la palme de la bêtise" (he wins the stupidity prize/the prize for stupidity) to "remporter la palme" (to be victorious, to win the prize).

"Des palmes" also being "flippers" for speedier swimming, and "les pieds palmés" being "webbed feet", this means that "un film palmé" briefly conjures up a deranged surreal image of a film which has something strangely duck-like about it.

Deep cultural and psychological differences...

...as revealed by the language? Translation jargon calls this kind of thing "modulation", when there is a difference of point of view, attitude or "mentalité" revealed by the different ways in which the two languages describe the same reality. For a long time my favourite was the translation of "Lost Property Office" by "Bureau des objets trouvés", with the happy French combination of implacable logic and radiant optimism.

Another two which I've been reminded of recently are not far behind: firstly, in the subtitles of the rather disappointing Feux rouges there is at one point the classic and perfect translation of "on est en république" by "it's a free country". Just how much does that tell us about the different histories and attitudes of the two countries?

Another one which I'm convinced is deeply revealing of English self-consciousness, clumsiness and inability to relate to people is the translation of "c'est simple comme bonjour" by something like "it's as easy as falling off a log". The English traditionally have difficulty with meeting and greeting new people, and saying hello (how? when? do you kiss? shake hands?) is clearly a major hurdle and far from simple.

Headlines and film titles

I have mentioned in recent columns the popularity among journalists of variations on "un train peut en cacher un autre" ("beware oncoming trains", but spelling out the cause of the danger). Another example came to mind; the translation of Roald Dahl's Revolting Rhymes, with its alternative rhyming versions of Cinderella and other childhood classics, is Un conte peut en cacher un autre.

The sub-editors of Le Nouvel Observateur are almost as keen on film references in their headlines as the Libération team. Recently (16 October) Le Nouvel Obs has had "Raymond sauvé des eaux" as the headline of an article about the French national team effectively saving Domenech from the sack. Le petit clin d'œil aux cinéphiles? Well, there was Boudu sauvé des eaux (Renoir, 1932), translated as Boudu saved from drowning.

The September 11th issue had, on the topic of problems connected with new appointments high-up with the Carrefour chain, "y a-t-il trop de pilotes dans l'avion?" Not sure if keeping the film reference would be the best solution here; Airplane! was translated as Y a-t-il un pilote dans l'avion?, itself modelled on "y a-t-il un docteur dans la salle?" so for this particular headline I would be more inclined to go for something like "too many cooks spoil the broth?"

Finally, in this area, and recalling the language of small ads as much as the film Desperately seeking Susan, the September 25th issue had "Afghanistan: recherche stratégie désespérément"; "Desperately seeking a strategy in Afghanistan" would work. English headline-writers don't go for the "noun + colon + rest of headline" template nearly as often as French ones do.

Adjectives as adverbs, all over the place...

The colloquial use of adjectives or indeed nouns as though they were adverbs has for decades now been a popular trick with journalists and ad-men. "Manger léger", "manger sain", "60 idées pour consommer malin", "on a joué collectif" – "to have a light meal", "to eat healthily", "60 tips to make you a smart consumer", "we showed team spirit/we played as a team"... and so on. And one almost-final example of this, again plucked from the subtitles of The Wire: "si on la joue fine" for "if we handle this right".

Lost and found in translation

Returning to The Wire for one example of register going seriously astray in translation; "le maire m’a dans le collimateur" for "the mayor's got his teeth in my ass".... not quite. "Dans le collimateur" is standard journo-speak, often used at least once in every bulletin whenever anyone is "keeping an eye on someone" or someone is "under close scrutiny" or "being watched closely", and newsreaders are unlikely to talk about teeth and asses... Maybe "y a le maire qui me harcèle grave", to return to adjectives being used as adverbs?

To finish, one moment which worked well in The Wire subtitles was the translation of a dismissive "you're no...", followed by the name of a "big hitter", as in Lloyd Bentsen's crushing 1988 put-down of Republican vice-presidential candidate Dan Quayle, "you're no Jack Kennedy". "Tu ne lui arrives pas à la cheville" was the subtitle for "you're no...". The name had just been mentioned, so that was all that was needed.

Please contact the author with any comments and similar amuse-gueule snippets of French, at D.Campbell@french.arts.gla.ac.uk

Copyright Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd 2008
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