GambitGuild
Gambit => Gambit FanFic => Topic started by: Protege moi on June 29, 2007, 10:29:26 AM
-
Hey all,
I'm volunteering my time to fic writers who have questions about the French language, should they using it in their stories and the online translators just don't seem to be doing the trick!
The goal is to have a bit of an archive of common French sayings, etc. or provide help to those who want to stick it into a story and make sure it sounds right!
I think the general feeling is that no person is going to be writing entire sentences in French, but if for some reason there will be, I'll do my best to try and help out with that!
This thread is here as a tool, should writers wish to use it, and I don't want anyone to feel obliged that they have to.
I will check the thread every week day. If any Francophone out there wishes to volunteer a suggestion, please feel free. I'm also hoping if you find a mistake that you'll correct me.
Laissez les bon temps rouler!
-
This is for a Smallville fic (of all things!) but I would love to have a double check anyway:
Sois sage pendant nos absences, d'accord? = Be good (as in obedient) while we're gone, okay?
Also, when a kid has just mastered full sentences (maybe around 4 or 5) what kind of grammatical mistakes might she make? ie) confusing tenses and plurals
Thanks in advance!
-
Having discussed things with you, I think our best bet is:
'Soyez ob?issants pendant notre absence.'
As for errors in little kids with speech, I'm not so sure, as i've not spent a lot of time around French speaking toddlers. Any francophones who have, please feel free to imput.
But I can see confusing sounds, and yes, confusing tenses. Plurals are difficult to illustrate in speech, because often they're indicated by a silent 's' at the end of a word...it's not an audible mistake, but more one you would see on paper. they might, however, make gender mistakes.
again, i'm not certain on this, as i've never been around a kid developing language in french.
-
How many in the Guild are 'actual' Cajuns?
I think it would be cool to do a fan series in Cajun. aka a Gambit online perhaps comic book
anyone have an opinion on this???
-
I have no idea how many 'actual' Cajuns are in the Guild. Though, we do boast quite a few Francophones.
~V
-
Yeah I doubt there are any real Cajuns about. If you are one I dare you to come out!
I'll ask someone in the morning about the children's mistake thingies. After all this thread does concern some of my favourite people and many of my favourite topics, how could I not. Plus it'll give me a conversation starter in the office. Always a toughie when they're much older than you. And trust me adults make gender mistakes too! Fools of Tookes. Autoroute got one of mine confused the other day.
Ooh, I just realised that question was quite old! Tant pis, I'm asking anyway.
Alors mes filles, a demain
xLx
-
Salut, la!
Ca fait du longtemps! comment vas-tu? t'es toujours ? Paris, n'est-ce pas?
Is GambitMojo a femme? i'm so bad at judging that according to screen names.
Anyways, i'll be interested to know what you find out from your co-workers. ever the linguist, though the topic is old, it still is something i'd like to know.
that, and kids say the darndest things!
~V
-
Ja, je suis toujours a la capitale, just check out my freshly (or should I say, *Frenchly*, bwahaha) edited picture in ze gallery de la vie reelle. Ouais.
Oops, sorry for besexing GambitMojo. Forgotted you see.
Je vais bien, I gave my co-workers the question to mull over over the weekend. I'll see them again on Tuesday as I work elsewhere on Mondays. I shall do some recon in this other work too, worry-ye not. k then, ciao for now mesdamessieurs. See, good girl.
xLx
-
La (or should I say good girl?),
Tu me fais rire.
Hmm, a picture in the gallery...i'll have to go and check it out. i'll probably end up getting insanely jealous about it ;). i wanna go to france!!!
how many jobs do you have?!
~V
-
Well my coworkers were null in coming up with an answer. In the end, all got was
1> One kid, par exemple, says 'noir and noirte' instead of 'noir and noire'. Gender confusion at the age of 7 there.
2> Gender of less common words - not always easy eh...
3> long words - they add and subtract syllables as they wish
4> comical interpretation of words - they heard a word they didn't quite understand somewhere and used it in a unfitting context.
So pretty similar stuff to kids in all languages really. And of course it's particular to each kid. If they're well spoken then they're not likely to make more mistakes than the ones above.
Zere ve go.
xxx
-
*Pokes topic gently*
Ummm, is this dead? If it is I'm sorry, but I really wasn't sure where else to ask this, and it's been bugging me. In some of the stories I've been reading lately--filthy Remyslash fan that I am--Remy refers to his male lover as 'chere'. I know that's how he calls Rogue in canon, so I was wondering if the authors were just messed up on that or if 'chere' can indeed be unisex.
Also, stupid as it sounds, what key combination do I press to get the little accent-thingie over the second e?
-
If you want to be a grammar freak about it, cher would be masculine, chere feminine.
And no idea about the key combinations, but some of the latest versions of word and open source software writers are auto-correcting foreign accent marks.
-
? = alt+0233
? = alt+0232
? = alt+0234
? = alt+0235
hold down the alt key as you enter the numbers in sequence.
-
Or:
? = alt+130
? = alt+136
? = alt+137
? = alt+138
? = alt+131
? = alt+132
? = alt+133
? = alt+135
-
Ugh...could someone help me or back me up on this semi-debate I'm
having or something?! Please?
I'm on an Evo forum. Some chick asked what Cherie meant,
(spelled it sherie. LOL What?!) anyway, someone else came in
and said:
'Mon Ch?ri' means 'My Darling'
Then I said how I thought "mon cherie" meant "my dear".
Then he said:
You're close! 'Mon Cher' is actually 'My Dear'
This is an adjective, and Ch?ri is a noun.
What??
I've always thought
cher=male form of dear
chere=female form
Nothing about nouns or adjectives or "dear" and "darling".
What the heck is he talking about?! It should be noted
I've never been good with adjectives, nouns or anything
else. Never really learned them. So, I suck.
I know a noun is a person, place or thing, but
anything after that my eyes just glaze over.
Sad, I know.
*ahem* I wouldn't put it past him if he were all wrong.
Not to hold grudges, but the first time we talked, he
was a real jerk. Nicer to me now, but I'll never forget
that.
Thanks!
-
Okay, so the complicated answer:
You're all correct.
Cher/ch?re = dear.
Ch?ri/ch?rie = darling, love.
As soon as you put mon/ma in front of it, you say "my," or you're giving it possession. Your gentleman is correct that Ch?ri(e) is a noun and cher/ch?re is an adjective.
"Darling, could you hand me my purse please?" In this case, Darling represents your significant orther, and instead of naming them, you've given them a pet name. So that does fall into the person/place/thing category.
I think the confusion comes from the fact that in English, "dear" is both an adjective and a noun. The French use it as an adjective when it comes to applying "cher" to people. It is a quality of a person. They are...highly valued, emotionally, to us.
So, "ma ch?re" when it all gets broken down and examined is technically translated into "the person[noun] whom is important [adjective(dear)] to me."
I hope that helps.
V
-
Thank you, Protege!! That helps, absolutely.
Now I won't be getting into some big hairy argument. :)
-
Here's a great resource for Cajun French. http://www.lsu.edu/frenchstudies --Click on "Cajun French."
-
tried to fix the link, not quite sure whats up with it, but I think its them. :)
-
Hmm...let me see if I can fix it. Thanks for the heads-up.
-
(Sorry about the double-post)
Okay, not sure why it did that, but as you can see, I just linked to the Department's main site. It's weird, because I have the Cajun French page bookmarked and it comes up fine.
-
*chuckles*, at least you got it to work. I'm usually good at finding it but your solution worked much better. Thanks. :)
-
Oh these Latin derivatives. :)
-
Miss Misery, thanks for that! If I ever continue my Gambit story, I'll be sure to keep it in mind.
-
I have no idea how many 'actual' Cajuns are in the Guild. Though, we do boast quite a few Francophones.
~V
Born and raised. I have cousins that speak French. My father told me that he was not taught said his Grandmother would not allow it. I've lost my accent moving around the US, But I take my cooking with me. Now that my son is older thought about picking it up again.
-
I like the language and dialects of French and Spanish. Fun languages. I went to Peru for a week and by the time the trip was over, wow, I could converse easily with the residents. It was great! Now, I just need a trip to France. LOL
Oh, I love New Orleans!! Been there and loved it. I have wonderful art of Jackson Square and a Casino Boat. Ate the most expensive egg ever ... (probably the booze that came with.)
Wonderful time, everyone should visit New Orleans.
Edit: And I know how to say Lake Pontchartrain.(ponch-a-train) Pretty Lake too.
-
Was supposed to be in New Orleans starting tomorrow and through to the New Year, but COVID put a stop to that. It would have been my fifth trip there. I think I mostly travel to eat at different restaurants and NO has lots to choose from. I'd convinced my daughter she wanted to go because that's where Princess Tiana is from and she could have as many beignets as she wanted. Oh well, maybe next year...
-
Make sure you tour the Garden dist. Ann Rice had a house as well as Trent from NIN. I have not been back for some time. Riverwalk, Aquarium, and the zoo were the must-dos. I still drink the same coffee from home. Try CDM on Amazon same as the Cafe without the fancy bags :) . As a kid, we skipped school took the Ferry to the square. My friend still is a bartender Never left NO but ended up in my area. If your old enough pat's for a hurricane. Or try a hand grenade. The tours are fun. There is so much history from the different cultures landing in one port.
-
You're right, the Garden District is amazing. The Audubon Zoo is gorgeous, beautiful gardens before you even check out the Zoo.
Wow, TheNYCajun - you reminded me of stuff I did there. I had so much fun.
I know people think malls are malls but ... the one on riverway (Mississippi) relaxing.
I went with my MIL and there was a sax player in the park, she would ask me if we could sit and listen, so of course we did. It was amazing.
Pat's Hurricane is a must. The expensive egg is Brennigans. LOL
I missed out on a couple of tours but I loved all the stuff I did there.