Souvenirs d'enfance au goût du jour

Moi aussi je me fais éditeur.

Merci à la 'vraie' Martine pour le lien :)

No-brainer of the week - gotta love our government's thorough analysis

Whilst translating...

"Numerous statistical studies have led scientists to conclude that exposure to air pollution can increase the risk of lung and heart disease."

OR

"De nombreuses études statistiques ont incité les scientifiques à conclure que l’exposition à la pollution atmosphérique peut augmenter le risque de maladies respiratoires et cardiaques."

Duh. (T'es pas sérieux, toi-là, là?)

Almost as obvious as "Sticking your head under water may increase the risk of drowning"

Ne vous inquiétez point, francophones du Canada : je travaille d'arrache-pied afin de vous transmettre ces informations vitales dans votre langue, et n'ayez crainte, aucune subtilité ne vous sera épargnée :)

Guess which one I am?

If anybody knows who the artist is, please tell me! Someone from the office sent it to me and I don't know where it comes from!

Calling all cunning linguists

Here is short piece written by journalist Keith Nuthall, published in The Lawyer Magazine. Please feel free to comment! (I can sense a debate here...Blue! Choubine! waddaya say?)


"An initiative bound to irritate any lawyer practising in English, a highly connected Francophile international group is pressing for the French language to have precedence in any translation dispute regarding European law. Why? Well, it's simple, secretary of the Academie Francaise Maurice Druon told the European Parliament this week: "The language of Montesquieu is unbeatable." M Druon claimed that while "the Italian language is the language of song, German is good for philosophy and English for poetry, French is best at precision, it has a rigour to it. It is the safest language for legal purposes." His Committee for the Language of European Law (CPLDE), supported by former Romanian prime minister Adrian Nastase and Polish MEP Bronislaw Geremek, wants French versions of EU law used when there are disputes over translations. These have occurred, for instance over appointing the director of EU anti-fraud office OLAF: in French, the European Commission must consult MEPs and ministers; in German and Polish, it must secure their agreement."

Translation humour

Seen in a government job posting :

biolingual persons required

Oh! Me! Me! I only speak fairly traded languages!

Funny names, bis

You have to remember; these are actual names that I come accross whilst translating files.

Claire Lavoie

Now for English readers who do not "get it", it pretty much translates to "Get out of the way".

Hopefully, she will not marry someone like, say, Roger Ferré...

She could then be called Claire Lavoie-Ferré!!! (Get off the train track)

I'm sorry, a little French translation humour.... :)

Back to work now.

Funny names

Sometimes you come accross people who have hilarious names. Today, I learned about Bonnie Power's existence.

Do you think she works for Energizer Corporation?

Bonnie Power
Energizer Corporation

Now that's a name that keeps on going, and going, and....

All right, you got the picture. :)

Translation humour

A file to translate was sent to me today, with the ASAP mention on it, just a very little file, one of those less than 100 words that I can do in basically no time at all. It did, however, stimulate my (graphic) imagination skills as well as my litterary skills. As a translator, you always have to understand what the text is all about, and when you do marketing, you have to get the grasp of what the product actually is and what it does so you can "capture the essence" better and make it easily decipherable to the readers. This particular product gave me a hard time (pardon the pun) figuring it out. It's a...well...marketing text for a "pharmaceutical" product. See for yourself :

"XXXXX’s lubrication enhances personal intimacy and sexual pleasure, as well as relieves dryness. (OK, we know what they're talking about here....) XXXXX uses a unique pumping system for no-mess, no-spill lubrication in any direction" er....what??? are we still talking about lubrication or did they mix up their bodily fluids here? Lubrication in any direction? Meaning....No spills of lubricant in the area WHERE you put the lubricant, or around the unique pumping system?...or....a unique pumping system for a no-spill LUBRICANT USAGE CONSEQUENCE in any direction? Huh? Now that's an infomercial I want to see. I thought about making it funny for the French readers, but in the end, my professional conscience won. It's a shame though, don't you think? :)