French enjoys a certain popularity beyond our borders.
As proof, the number of words that foreigners say in our language.
It's a different story when it comes to translating them into their mother tongue.
Recently, the use of the verb
“annoy”
by the President of the Republic with regard to the non-vaccinated caused a few migraines outside France: how to translate a word
“typically French”
?
If it is possible to find a metaphor or a word that comes closest to our language, certain terms and formulas resist the exercise of translation.
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"Answer"
We never stop talking about and analyzing the use of this verb that is not often punished by a head of state.
To the point that the foreign press took over the subject.
"To piss off"
,
"to annoy"
... The English-language newspapers struggled to find the right word, which would best convey the idea of
"covering, soiling with excrement"
, according to the French definition.
In everyday language, our verb means more generally:
"to annoy, disturb or strongly upset someone"
, which is difficult to translate with its trivial meaning.
"Enticing"
This is a word that has a French
je-ne-sais-quoi
.
"To attract, to seduce by engaging, enticing aspects"
,
"affrioler"
is derived from the Middle French adjective
friolet
,
"greedy, greedy"
, derived from
frying
, informs the French Academy.
It is translated into Spanish by
seducir
, which contains the idea of attraction, but remains on the surface of the idea of banter, of the codes of the amorous game which made the fortune of French novels of the 18th century.
The English translations
“to attract”
or “
to tempt”
contain this same imprecision.
"Fed up"
Composed of
“ras”
, from the Latin
rasus
which means
“to shave”
, and of
“bowl”
, taken in a pictorial sense, this formula illustrates the fact of being exceeded, of having had enough at the highest point. Would you dare to say that there is no better formula to qualify this feeling of exasperation and bubbling which characterizes the descendants of Gauls that we are? It evokes this container which fills up to the edge, to the extreme limit, without however overflowing. Figuratively,
"to be fed up"
translates this unpleasant feeling which increases in intensity, and threatens to make us explode at the slightest moment. English speakers translate it as
"to be fed up"
or
"be sick and tired"
, less evocative formulas, when the Germans say, according to the Larousse,
"Unzufriedenheit die"
, which literally means:
"dissatisfaction with something"
.
"Alert launcher"
The absence of equivalents for certain words says something about the country in question.
Thus the expression
"whistleblower"
, which designates an "
employee who reveals or reports, in a disinterested manner and in good faith, a serious risk for public health or the environment in the company
".
This concept is particularly popular in Anglo-Saxon countries, where it is said in one word:
"whistleblower"
(literally:
"person who blows a whistle"
).
It seems more complicated to translate it into Italian, according to the various online dictionaries consulted.
We find
"segnalante"
or
"informatore"
, which are more vague.
Same thing in Spanish, which does not have such an evocative formula.
"Pied-a-terre"
The literal translations offered by some online translation platforms are mostly approximate.
The expression
"pied-à-terre"
, this accommodation that one occupies on occasion, is for example translated into English by
"foot on the ground"
.
In reality, English speakers have difficulty finding a translation faithful to our formula.
There is indeed
"temporary"
or
"secondary housing"
, but nothing that reproduces as well this image of the foot that one barely puts down in a place before leaving.
For the anecdote, this formula was born in the 17th century, to
"designate a trumpet sound indicating to the rider that he had to dismount"
, relates the French Academy.