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Ils innovent sans cesse, ils font la tendance

English translation: Always innovating, always trendy ...


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22:35 Oct 31, 2011
French to English translations [PRO]
Cooking / Culinary / Recipe
French term or phrase: Ils innovent sans cesse, ils font la tendance
Having received a recipe to translate by noon tomorrow afternoon (EST), I came across the above phrase that is giving me difficulty. No context precedes the phrase, which makes it difficult for me to determine what the object pronoun "ils" is referring to. Later on in the introduction, the words "invités" and "chaudrons" are mentioned, but I am not sure if the pronoun is referring to the guests or the cooking pots.

If it helps you any, below is the entire introductory paragraph:

- Ils innovent sans cesse, ils font la tendance, qui peu à peu devient notre quotidien culinaire. Inutile d’avoir une toque de chef pour se régaler et faire saliver vos invités. À vos chaudrons !

Do you have any idea how to address the issue of "ils"? Also, how would you go about translating short phrasal passages like "À vos chaudrons"? This makes me think of phrases often used in French such as "À vos places !" or "À table !"

Thank you all, as usual, for your attention and assistance to my queries in advance.
Dwain Richardson
Canada
Local time: 20:32
English translation:Always innovating, always trendy ...
Explanation:
One of the nice things about English is that we can leave words out on the assumption that their meaning is 'understood'.
Even when it's not (understood).
The French phrase, as quoted, translates quite nicely if you simply ignore 'ils'. What 'ils' refers to (if anything...) will be understood by the reader of the translation. And if (s)he is a non-native and doesn't understand, then no matter. After all, you are translating for native English-speaking readers, aren't you?

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Note added at 2 hrs (2011-11-01 00:53:08 GMT)
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I might have added that 'ils' refers to 'qui'.
Selected response from:

xxxmediamatrix
Local time: 20:32
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
3 +5Always innovating, always trendy ...xxxmediamatrix
Summary of reference entries provided
ils...chaudrons
Verginia Ophof

Discussion entries: 2





  

Answers


2 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +5
Always innovating, always trendy ...


Explanation:
One of the nice things about English is that we can leave words out on the assumption that their meaning is 'understood'.
Even when it's not (understood).
The French phrase, as quoted, translates quite nicely if you simply ignore 'ils'. What 'ils' refers to (if anything...) will be understood by the reader of the translation. And if (s)he is a non-native and doesn't understand, then no matter. After all, you are translating for native English-speaking readers, aren't you?

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 hrs (2011-11-01 00:53:08 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

I might have added that 'ils' refers to 'qui'.

xxxmediamatrix
Local time: 20:32
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 8
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  John Detre: but not sure about "trendy," which could be read as pejorative
4 hrs

agree  Gilla Evans: A good solution, though I would go for trendsetting rather than trendy, which suggests following fashion which is not the meaning of 'qui font la tendance' .
6 hrs

agree  emiledgar: "Always trendy, always cutting edge" faire la tendance is to be cutting edge not to follow the trend.
6 hrs

agree  casper: Good answer. You could've taken a higher CL, IMO
13 hrs

neutral  MatthewLaSon: I believe that "faire la tendance" means "trendsetting" here. Have a nice evening.
1 day47 mins

agree  Kelly Harrison
1 day19 hrs
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Reference comments


8 mins
Reference: ils...chaudrons

Reference information:
Inutile d’avoir une toque de chef pour se régaler et faire saliver vos invités. À vos chaudrons !

No need to have a chef's toque......to your pots !

"Chaudron"... old fashioned "cauldron"

so I see the "ils" as the pots. modern kitchen gear/utensils/pots as in pressure cookers/crock pots..etc'

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Note added at 11 mins (2011-10-31 22:47:00 GMT)
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Ils innovent sans cesse......They innovate constantly is also an indication

Verginia Ophof
Belize
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
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Changes made by editors
Oct 31, 2011 - Changes made by writeaway:
FieldArt/Literary => Other


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