20,000 Lieux de MystèreNew site user here, hi. I’ve been reading “20,000 Leagues under the Sea” in Jules Verne’s original French (“20,000 Lieux sous les Mers”) for my first time, having never read a translation (many translations of his works tend to have the reputation of poor quality). The first few chapters were a little challenging, as I had to look up quite a few vocabulary words relating to maritime matters. Two particular words which still cause me curiosity are “scaphandre” and “loch”.
(1) “Scaphandre” — I understand this means a diving suit, and given “20,000 Lieux” was written 150 years ago, obviously Verne meant the old-fashioned style with a large brass helmet. However, I would think modern French would use something like “costume / tenue de plongée”, while, insofar as I’m aware, English has always referred to diving suits, both old and modern, as simply “diving suits”. Therefore, is “scaphandre” a conspicuously old word in French, and is it still ever used ?
(2) “Loch” — This seems to translate either as a Scottish lake (and what I always call a lake, being Scottish myself, yet that is obviously not what Verne meant), or as a ship’s “log” (I assume closer to his meaning). However, for me a ship’s log, in English, tends to be a book or journal, albeit perhaps nowadays kept in digital format. Nonetheless, in “20,000 Lieux” it seems to be some kind of equipment, and I think Verne even refers to it at least once as “loch électronique”. What is it ?
(3) Finally, it was only upon actually reading the book that I realised the error I had made for my entire prior life regarding what its title means — the “20,000 Lieux” refers to the submarine’s lateral travel around the world, and not to its depth. My erstwhile foolish misinterpretation was as much to do with my poor command of English as my bad French, since, in this context, both “lieu” and “league” mean the same, i.e. about 3½ miles, or 5½km. That said, I would suggest the English translation of the title might be more clearly rendered as “20,000 Leagues around the Sea Above”. There might be some nuance between “sous” and “au dessous de” in French, which English doesn’t really articulate (“under”, “underneath”, and “beneath” all mean pretty much the same, I think).
In the book "Grammaire en dialogues. Niveau intermédiaire" by Claire Miquel, chapter 12, there's a dialogue which starts:
Benjamin : Quand est-ce que j'aurai une moto?
Le père : Je te l'ai déjà dit : quand tu auras passé ton bac.
Benjamin : « Quand j'aurai passé mon bac », c'est dans longtemps ! C'est dans six mois !
From my point of view, there's no much sense to promise anything for taking (being at) an exam instead of succeeding it. Could you please clarify this?
I just heard someone in the show "Lupin" say what sounded like "merce" instead of "merci". Is "merce" an actual truncated form (like "ta" in English), or did the actor / character just trail off at the end of the word because she was distracted ? (It's the cop who's just taken Lupin into custody, & is transporting him by car, & she's talking with a petrol station attendant.)
Also, how common, & how slangy is "cimer" ?
I love how she can roll the r three or more times on the word "cruel"! J'aime comment elle peut rouler le r trois ou plus temps avec the mot "cruel". (Did I get this correct?) ;)
Is it “il est au Kansas” or “Il est dans le Kansas”
How are noun cardinal numerals formed, and what is to be determined when putting 'de'
New site user here, hi. I’ve been reading “20,000 Leagues under the Sea” in Jules Verne’s original French (“20,000 Lieux sous les Mers”) for my first time, having never read a translation (many translations of his works tend to have the reputation of poor quality). The first few chapters were a little challenging, as I had to look up quite a few vocabulary words relating to maritime matters. Two particular words which still cause me curiosity are “scaphandre” and “loch”.
(1) “Scaphandre” — I understand this means a diving suit, and given “20,000 Lieux” was written 150 years ago, obviously Verne meant the old-fashioned style with a large brass helmet. However, I would think modern French would use something like “costume / tenue de plongée”, while, insofar as I’m aware, English has always referred to diving suits, both old and modern, as simply “diving suits”. Therefore, is “scaphandre” a conspicuously old word in French, and is it still ever used ?
(2) “Loch” — This seems to translate either as a Scottish lake (and what I always call a lake, being Scottish myself, yet that is obviously not what Verne meant), or as a ship’s “log” (I assume closer to his meaning). However, for me a ship’s log, in English, tends to be a book or journal, albeit perhaps nowadays kept in digital format. Nonetheless, in “20,000 Lieux” it seems to be some kind of equipment, and I think Verne even refers to it at least once as “loch électronique”. What is it ?
(3) Finally, it was only upon actually reading the book that I realised the error I had made for my entire prior life regarding what its title means — the “20,000 Lieux” refers to the submarine’s lateral travel around the world, and not to its depth. My erstwhile foolish misinterpretation was as much to do with my poor command of English as my bad French, since, in this context, both “lieu” and “league” mean the same, i.e. about 3½ miles, or 5½km. That said, I would suggest the English translation of the title might be more clearly rendered as “20,000 Leagues around the Sea Above”. There might be some nuance between “sous” and “au dessous de” in French, which English doesn’t really articulate (“under”, “underneath”, and “beneath” all mean pretty much the same, I think).
Salut à tout le monde. J’suis nouveau ici, mais pas à l’apprentissage français. En fait, je l’apprends depuis environ de 40 ans (d’abord au lycée, bien sûr), ce que je trouve un peu gênant, car je le parle toujours mal. Auparavant, mon français était meilleur, et j’ai même habité en France, et étudié en fac là-bas, pendant toute une année (il y a presque 30 ans). Je crois que cette expérience doit avoir imprimé la langue à mon cerveau, en quelque sens, puisqu’il me semble qu’elle me revient assez vite, même si j’ai l’impression d’en avoir oublié beaucoup — en fait, il ne s’agit pas d’être oublié, mais plutôt caché, ou enterré au dessous de plusieurs ans d’abandon. Par contre, j’ai aussi appris l’espagnol pendant trois années il y a environ de dix ans (quand j’étais plus agé), et j’étais assez fort en celui-là (peut-être brevement même plus fort qu’en français), mais je suis certain que j’en ai vraiment oublié tout. Selon le petit examen sur ce site, je suis maintenant au niveau B2 en français. Malgré que j’aie fait des erreurs bêtes et évidentes, que j’ai reconnues tout de suite en les revoyant, cet examen-là n'éprouve pas l’oral, alors en somme je dirais que c’est juste. Peut-être que mon niveau passé fut plus élevé, plus proche à C1, mais je peux pas dire en verité.
"Je n'en reviens pas" and "on se met en route". I have had huge difficulty in determining these outcomes. Are they particularly skewed ? I had no particular difficulties anywhere else in the text.
Having returned to the text at the conclusion of the dictée, I have found the text to be perfectly clear. Some gobbledygook must have been coming from my computer !
The translation for "the latest season" is given as "la dernière saison." When reading the grammar lesson for dernier, I thought this would mean the final season of the show (i.e. the show has concluded and they are not planning to produce anymore seasons).
I had interpreted "the latest season" to mean the most recent (i.e. previous) season, so I used "la saison dernière" but this was marked incorrect.
Can someone explain further? Thanks!
He had been able to tell him in the end.
I put:
"Il avait pu le lui dire finalement."
My sense is there's an implicit "it" in the sentence, it should be: "I was able to tell *it* to him", otherwise the sentence is incomplete.
I know it can be omitted in English, but French generally seems to be fussier (or at least kwiziq is :-) ) about these things. Is this a colloquialism or is it technically correct?
Thanks!
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