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lustre d'antan

English translation: former heights

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GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)

French term or phrase:	lustre d'antan
English translation:	former heights
Entered by:	Travelin Ann

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14:17 Mar 7, 2011

French to English translations [PRO]
Bus/Financial - Economics / Japanese economy

French term or phrase: lustre d'antan

Hi

I actually asked a similar question before, but the excellent answers don't quite fit this context which is Japan's economy:

"Le Japon ne pourra pas retrouver son lustre d'antan de sitôt, en déclin depuis le début des années 1990s"

I find English tends to be more straightforward when writing about the economy, hence "bygone splendours" and the like doesn't, to my mind, fit here. I'd also like something that will link to the following part, i.e. something which can be "in decline since the early 1990s."

Thanks very much!

Sandra Petch KudoZ activity Questions: 501 (none open) (77 closed without grading) Answers: 555
Local time: 02:36

recent heights

Explanation:
something one hears/reads quite often in the US

Or "former heights" if the reference is not too recent

Selected response from:

Travelin Ann
Local time: 20:36

Grading comment

Perfect, thank you.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

4 +6

former glory

jmleger

5 +2

former luster/lustre

philgoddard

return to the XXX economy of yore

Sara Freitas

3 +2

bygone splendor

silvester55

4 +1

former zenith

Barbara Cochran

former prestige

Monica Rightenour

glory days

Karen Vincent-Jones

glory days

kashew

heady heights

polyglot45

Recover the sparle/lustre/shine

Oliver Toogood

recent heights

Travelin Ann

Discussion entries: 4

Answers

22 mins confidence:

recent heights

Explanation:
something one hears/reads quite often in the US

Or "former heights" if the reference is not too recent

Reference: http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id...

Travelin Ann
Local time: 20:36
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 4

Grading comment

Perfect, thank you.

2 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +6

former glory

Explanation:
for instance

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 20 mins (2011-03-07 14:37:18 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

I am sure The Economist lets a cliché slip by on occasion. Would be fun to open the latest edition and look for some... Chiche!

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 24 mins (2011-03-07 14:41:51 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Although he was an unloved prime minister in 1995-97, he earned sympathy for carrying the can for Mr Chirac, who himself faces trial in a linked corruption case next week.

Carrying the can in the current online edition of The Economist. Does that qualify as a cliché expression?

jmleger
Local time: 19:36
Native speaker of:

French

Notes to answerer

Asker: Thanks! This did cross my mind, but is it something you would read in, say, The Economist? Just a question!

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

agree

Alistair Ian Spearing Ortiz

2 mins

agree

Wendy Streitparth: Same thing came to mind instantly.

6 mins

neutral

Richard Nice: there's a problem, even if already present in the original: a former glory in decline is a tautology... (reply to reply: true, if you read the syntax that way...)

22 mins

-> In decline since the beginning of the 90's, Japan is unlikely to recover soon it's former glory blah, blah.. what tautology? No tautology. None at all.

agree

silvester55

40 mins

disagree

Oliver Toogood: I agree with Richard, that it is unlikely to fit in the context here.//No,CMW, read the asker's own comments as well as the context.

42 mins

agree

cmwilliams: yes, appropriate in the context.

48 mins

agree

Wendy Leech: "...unlikely to return to its former glory any time soon"

1 hr

agree

xxxBourth: I was going to say "the following part" needs to be made "the preceding part", but I see Asker has worked on that.

1 hr

neutral

philgoddard: I think "glory" is too strong a word - if it says lustre in French, you should say lustre in English.

1 hr

-> This is such a worn-out cliché that you can't take glory to its full strength. In fact it's even ever so slightly ironical

neutral

cc in nyc: Sounds idiomatic, but I think the Asker is looking for something else. :-(

3 hrs

-> I don't want to press the point, but the original sounds pretty idiomatic to me as well.

agree

Maria Licursi

6 hrs

42 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +2

former luster/lustre

Explanation:
I don't see the point of trying to find near-synonyms when there's a perfectly good English equivalent.

philgoddard
Local time: 19:36
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 8

42 mins confidence:

Recover the sparle/lustre/shine

Explanation:
Le Japon ne pourra pas retrouver son lustre d'antan de sitôt, en déclin depuis le début des années 1990s
"Japan, in decline since the early 90's, will not be able to recover its former sparkle straight away"
"Antan" is most usually translated as "Yesteryear",(or Days of Yore) as in the repeated line "Mais où sont les neiges d'antan", in the poem by Francois Villon entitled "Ballade des Dames du temps jadis".

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 47 mins (2011-03-07 15:04:44 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Typo, sorry 'SparKle'

Oliver Toogood
Native speaker of:

English

48 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +2

lustre d\'antan bygone splendor

Explanation:
Although I agree with JMLeger , but this is also a possibility

silvester55
Local time: 03:36
Native speaker of:

French

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

disagree

Oliver Toogood: Did you read the asker's context beneath the question? Anyway, this isn't about ruined former palaces, castles, and stuff.//Exactly Phil! You didn't read the question asker's own context or comments.That's why it merits a disagree.!

8 mins

agree

philgoddard: Don't see how this merits a disagree, or why ruined castles have anything to do with this.

13 mins

-> thks phil

agree

kashew: TOKYO (MarketWatch) -- Investors betting the yen's ***glory days*** against the dollar are over might want to prepare for an encore by the Japanese currency in the coming weeks. "

35 mins

-> thks kashew

agree

Helen Shiner: Perfectly fitting and certainly not meriting a disagree (particularly from someone who has himself posted an answer).

1 hr

-> very strong "disagree" comment from oliver , haha , thks Helen

neutral

cc in nyc: I would agree, except that the Asker has already discounted it for this context. :-(

2 hrs

1 hr confidence:

heady heights

Explanation:
We are unlikely in the near future to see the return of the Japanese economy, in decline since xxx, to its former heady heights

polyglot45
Native speaker of:

English,

French
PRO pts in category: 11

1 hr confidence:

glory days

Explanation:
TOKYO (MarketWatch) -- Investors betting the yen's glory days against the dollar are over might want to prepare for an encore by the Japanese currency in the coming weeks.

kashew
France
Local time: 02:36
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 16

1 hr confidence:

lustre d\'antan former prestige

Explanation:
Japan will not be able to find again the former prestige, being in decline since 1990.

Monica Rightenour
Local time: 20:36
Works in field
Native speaker of:

English,

Romanian

2 hrs confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

former zenith

Explanation:
HTH

Barbara Cochran
Local time: 20:36
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 4

1 hr confidence:

return to the XXX economy of yore

Explanation:
replace XX with happier/more prosperous/more dynamic/growth...is there not a concept mentioned elsewhere, like just before or just after this sentence in your source text) that you could pull in here to qualify "economy"? If you want to replace the abstract "lustre d'antan" with something more concrete that works better in English, in my opinion you need to take a more holistic approach to the text and not translate sentence-by-sentence (i.e. pull in a concept *not* specifically included in this sentence but that is referenced elesewhere in the text).

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 4 hrs (2011-03-07 18:24:50 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Actually having a hard time seeing how to fit "former" anything into this sentence...since it does reference the pre-1990s period. How about simply saying something like "return to its pre-1990s zenith" to steal part of Barbara's answer, which I kind of like (zenith-lustre = light).

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 4 hrs (2011-03-07 18:28:00 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

"Le Japon ne pourra pas retrouver son lustre d'antan de sitôt, en déclin depuis le début des années 1990s"

It will be some time before Japan's economy climbs out of its downward spiral and returns to its pre-1990s zenith

It will be some time before Japan fully recovers from the downward spiral it has seen since its pre-1990s heyday

Sara Freitas
France
Local time: 02:36
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 4

4 hrs confidence:

glory days

Explanation:
I think this would work, and is less cliched than 'former glory'

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 4 hrs (2011-03-07 19:08:50 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Whoops- sorry Kashew, didn't notice you'd got there first!

Example sentence(s):

Manchester's glory days as the epicentre of Brisish popular music ended when the Hacienda closed down.

Reference: http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/theatreblog/2011/feb/01/roya...

Karen Vincent-Jones
United Kingdom
Local time: 01:36
Works in field
Native speaker of:

English

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Changes made by editors

Mar 8, 2011 - Changes made by Travelin Ann:
Edited KOG entry	Sandra Petch's old entry - "lustre d\'antan" => "former heights"

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English translation: former heights

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English translation: former heights

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