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les trois coups

English translation: Curtain up! / Ring up the curtain!

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GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)

French term or phrase:	les trois coups
English translation:	Curtain up! / Ring up the curtain!
Entered by:	Tony M

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21:50 Apr 3, 2011

French to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Cinema, Film, TV, Drama / theater

French term or phrase: les trois coups

I know what this is, http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_trois_coups but I am not sure how to translate it here, should I go for something literal? Would an English-speaking audience understand the reference? Is this even practiced in theaters in the English-speaking world? Googling around, I am starting to think this practice is mostly French? I was thinking about something like "Hush... the curtain is about to rise!"

This is from a list of events in a tourism brochure (France):

Festival de théâtre à XXXX
Rendez-vous sous la voûte céleste, dans des lieux enchanteurs - châteaux, manoirs et autres prieurés - pour aller à la rencontre de pièces et d’acteurs de théâtre.
Entendez-vous les trois coups ?

That's the entire context for this event.

Lori Cirefice KudoZ activity Questions: 48 (none open) (3 closed without grading) Answers: 105
Local time: 09:35

Curtain up!

Explanation:
I'd be inclined to get right away from the expression, which is meaningless in EN and has no real parallel in the English-spekaing theatre.

Otherwise, though it's not exactly the same, you might say "Orchestra and beginners, please!"

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Note added at 1 heure (2011-04-03 23:19:30 GMT)
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Sorry, I only just spotted that this was one of the terms originally suggested by DLyons, in a post now hidden (as posted in the wrong box) — so apologies and all credit to her/him for this one!

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Note added at 9 heures (2011-04-04 06:59:01 GMT)
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On dit que la nuit porte conseil, et...

There's another expression which might be even more apposite here:

"Ring up the curtain!"

I really don't think there's any meaning / significance to the source text "can you hear...?" — it would of course be quite a different matter if it said "Away from the clamour of the city, you might just hear..."

Selected response from:

Tony M
France
Local time: 09:35

Grading comment

thank you! exactly the kind of input I was looking for
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

4 +6

Curtain up!

Tony M

4 +1

the swish of the curtain

Jenny Forbes

3 +2

Take your seats

kashew

bell / 3 minute bell or warning / chimes

LaraBarnett

three knocks

Cristina Talavera

You can almost hear the curtain rising!

polyglot45

Answers

13 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +2

Take your seats

Explanation:
*

kashew
France
Local time: 09:35
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 4

Notes to answerer

Asker: this could work too

11 mins confidence:

bell / 3 minute bell or warning / chimes

Explanation:
I have always called these bells:

"BAR BELLS
Bar Bells are rung in public areas of the theatre to warn the audience that the performance is about to start/continue. Usually operated from the prompt corner and sometimes followed by Front of House Calls. The bells are also used as a warning to FOH staff that the interval is about to commence or that the show is about to end."
http://www.theatrecrafts.com/glossary/results.php?searchtype...

In my experience after the interval there is usually there is something like 3 chimes at 3 minutes before the start, 2 at 2 minutes and 1 chime at 1 minute. This may or may not happen at the very beginning of a play, but I don't think this details would misinterpret the text. More info on what people call these on answers.yahoo.com

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070918130102AA...

I think "les trois coups" might get lost on an English readership.

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Note added at 12 mins (2011-04-03 22:02:52 GMT)
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"...can you hear the three minute bell chime?"

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 13 mins (2011-04-03 22:03:32 GMT)
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"...Can you hear the 3 minute bell chime?"

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 20 mins (2011-04-03 22:11:21 GMT)
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On the other hand, if the English alternative is not a good option, you could alter the sense slightly and say:
"Can you hear the warning announcement/call?"

LaraBarnett
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:35
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 16

Notes to answerer

Asker: thank you

8 hrs confidence:

You can almost hear the curtain rising!

Explanation:
You can almost hear the orchestra warming up

I think you need to change the style slightly for a more "English" feel

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 8 hrs (2011-04-04 06:25:29 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

perhaps forget the orchestra if it is just theatre

polyglot45
Native speaker of:

English,

French

Notes to answerer

Asker: nice - thanks!

1 hr confidence:

peer agreement (net): +6

Curtain up!

Tony M
France
Local time: 09:35
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 299

Grading comment

thank you! exactly the kind of input I was looking for

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)

agree

xxxmediamatrix

20 mins

-> Thanks, R!

agree

DLyons: Thanks for the attribution Tony! Think I have to agree with us on this :-)

2 hrs

-> Thanks a lot, DL!

agree

Robin Salmon: Maybe "the curtain-up signal" to make it fit.

5 hrs

-> Thanks, Robin! Trouble is,in EN we don't have a curtain up signal... :-(

agree

silvester55: Yup , Robin is right , regarding the source text " do you hear ....?" well i admit you have more experience in translation than i do , so i take your word for it .

5 hrs

-> Thanks, Silvester! But that's the whole problem, and the point of my saying "get away from the original"

agree

Gilla Evans: "curtain up" is good. "orchestra and beginners please" wouldn't work here as that is a notification to performers rather than to the audience.

9 hrs

-> Thanks, Gilla! I agree, although I do think "O&B please!" has now pretty much passed into popular culture, albeit with a meaning slightly skewed from what we need here — but always with the idea of "The show is about to start!".

agree

Lisa McCreadie

11 hrs

-> Thanks, Lisa!

11 hrs confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

the swish of the curtain

Explanation:
Just another suggestion. When I was a theatre-besotted girl, there was a novel by Noel Streatfield (writer of "Ballet Shoes") called "The Swish of the Curtain", about theatre-besotted girls. So, "Can you hear the swish of the curtain?" might fit here.

Jenny Forbes
Local time: 08:35
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 3

Notes to answerer

Asker: Thanks Jenny, so this is not the Pamela Brown book? Streatfeild also wrote one called "Curtain up"! I was never besotted with theater myself, but I loved eating those English caramels at the Ashland Shakespeare festival when I was a teen ;-)

17 hrs confidence:

three knocks

Explanation:
http://www.abacci.com/books/book.php?bookID=3743
Chantecler by Rostand

Cristina Talavera
Local time: 09:35
Works in field
Native speaker of:

English,

Spanish
PRO pts in category: 4

Notes to answerer

Asker: thanks - but I've decided a literal translation is not needed here

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Changes made by editors

Apr 5, 2011 - Changes made by Tony M:
Created KOG entry	KudoZ term => KOG term

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English translation: Curtain up! / Ring up the curtain!

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English translation: Curtain up! / Ring up the curtain!

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KudoZ™ translation helpThe KudoZ network provides a framework for translators and others to assist each other with translations or explanations of terms and short phrases.

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