Author Topic: French language help  (Read 2284 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline Zera

  • LV8 Addict (Next: 1000)
  • ********
  • Posts: 737
  • Rating: +82/-7
  • Monochrome Artisan
    • View Profile
French language help
« on: February 14, 2010, 02:55:38 pm »
I am trying to find the proper way to word a particular phrase. I am not clear on possessive forms of words, and whether or not normal sentence order can be arranged to sound more... poetic. Some poetic works in English will liberally arrange words in the sentence order, but English syntax is already flexible enough that the reader can understand the meaning without much hassle. I'm not sure how and if this can be done in French.

What I am trying to translate is something like, "Coda: With Memoria's Dream Eternal," or, "Coda: With Memoria's Dreaming Eternal." What I've come up with so far is, "Coda: Au Memoria du Rêve Èternel." (that *should* mean, "With the Dreaming of Memoria Eternal") It probably sounds awkward. I may have arranged the syntax badly, as well.

There are also a couple of other strings. I feel pretty confident I may already have these correctly written, but they are:

Prologue: La Roman de Chevalerie de Mâyâ ("Prolog: The [Romance (legend; poetic epic)] of Maya")
Seconde Mouvement: Vérité Réprimée ("Second Movement: Repressed [Truth / Verity]") - I wanted this to say "A Repressed Truth," but I'm not sure what the proper article is for "A." (if there is any distinction at all)

I'm also curious if there might be a more poetic way of ordering chapters or events in a story, aside from calling them "chapters."

I know we have some resident native speakers of French here.

Would appreciate any help. :-[

To throw in a bit of clarification, here are the four chapters of the story as they might appear in English:

First Chapter / Prolog: The Romance / Legend of Maya
Second Chapter: A Repressed Truth / Verity
Third / Final Chapter: With Memoria's Dream Eternal
(Optional / Additional) Chapter: All'inizio è la Morte (which is the only Italian string, as opposed to the other chapters; roughly meaning, "It Begins with Death") I don't know a good way to translate something like, "Appended Chapter," or "Extra Chapter."
« Last Edit: February 14, 2010, 02:57:37 pm by Zera »

Offline DJ Omnimaga

  • Clacualters are teh gr33t
  • CoT Emeritus
  • LV15 Omnimagician (Next: --)
  • *
  • Posts: 55941
  • Rating: +3154/-232
  • CodeWalrus founder & retired Omnimaga founder
    • View Profile
    • Dream of Omnimaga Music
Re: French language help
« Reply #1 on: February 14, 2010, 11:27:01 pm »
Ouch these seems quite hard, even for me x.x

In RPGs, there are so many words that won't exist in french, it makes things much harder x.x, so much that even professional games aren't translated properly x.x

Offline TIfanx1999

  • ಠ_ಠ ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
  • CoT Emeritus
  • LV13 Extreme Addict (Next: 9001)
  • *
  • Posts: 6173
  • Rating: +191/-9
    • View Profile
Re: French language help
« Reply #2 on: February 14, 2010, 11:51:49 pm »
In English there are many ways to express the same thing, so when translating to another language, things may not translate directly depending on word choices.
@Zera: for the original results, what did you do? Did you run it through an online translator?

Prologue : Le romance du Maya, Prologue : La légende du Maya, Prologue : L'épopée du Maya
Deuxième mouvement: Une vérité réprimée, Chapitre 1: Une vérité réprimée
Troisième mouvement : Avec le rêve éternel de Memoria, Chapitre final : Avec le rêve éternel de Memoria, Chapitre 3 : Avec le rêve éternel de Memoria, Mouvement final : Avec le rêve éternel de Memoria

Above are the variations I found. Someone can verify if they are correct.
« Last Edit: February 15, 2010, 12:10:32 am by Art_of_camelot »

Offline Zera

  • LV8 Addict (Next: 1000)
  • ********
  • Posts: 737
  • Rating: +82/-7
  • Monochrome Artisan
    • View Profile
Re: French language help
« Reply #3 on: February 15, 2010, 03:02:59 pm »
Quote
Did you run it through an online translator?

No. I just compared phrases from actual book or film titles that were in French, as well as looking at some general syntax and common words. An online translator would do a terrible job. The syntax and wording are usually so off that the entire meaning is lost. There is essentially no point in online translators.

Offline DJ Omnimaga

  • Clacualters are teh gr33t
  • CoT Emeritus
  • LV15 Omnimagician (Next: --)
  • *
  • Posts: 55941
  • Rating: +3154/-232
  • CodeWalrus founder & retired Omnimaga founder
    • View Profile
    • Dream of Omnimaga Music
Re: French language help
« Reply #4 on: February 15, 2010, 11:28:23 pm »
First Chapter / Prolog: The Romance / Legend of Maya
would become "La Romance / Légende de Maya". In the case where Maya would design the people, it would be "des Mayas" (plural)
Second Chapter: A Repressed Truth / Verity
"Une Vérité Réprimée". That sounds a bit weird, though, even in english...


Third / Final Chapter: With Memoria's Dream Eternal
not sure about that one yet. Memoria doesn't exist in french. Dream Eternal, assuming you mean Eternal Dream, would be Rêve Éternel in french, though.