French: a nos quatre volontesEnglish translation: caters to all our needs 
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| GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW) | | French term or phrase: | a nos quatre volontes | | English translation: | caters to all our needs | | Entered by: | narasimha |
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French to English translations [PRO]
Marketing - Food & Dairy / play on words | | French term or phrase: a nos quatre volontes | As far as I know this is an idiomatic phrase that can have a variety of meanings. I think they mean it here as a sort of play on words. They are going to sell a fruit-serving set that can be adapted to any need, so to speak. So they are using the following phrase to give consumers the idea that this platter set can be adapted to many uses. Here is the phrase in context:
"...ce nouvel objet se plie ***à nos quatre volontés***.
I have played with the phrase and translated it several ways but I am looking for a close English idiomatic match, if possible rather than use a more literal translation.
All ideas invited and many thanks! |
| | | to satisfy all our needs/requirements | Explanation:
This new product molds itself to satisfy all our needs/requirements as though it has been made specially for us.It caters to all our needs. |
| Selected response from:
 narasimha
India
| Note from asker to answererThis was so hard! I cannot believe all the great ideas and every one of them would work. I had a hard time picking the best fit, but I love "caters to all our needs". I wish I had thought of that myself! Thank you everyone. Now this hard to translate phrase is immortalized here with excellent ideas for future translators.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer |
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4 mins confidence:   |
4 mins confidence: |
44 mins confidence: |
1 hr confidence: peer agreement (net): +1 |
2 hrs confidence: |
| [it's] everything you wished for [.... but wait there's more...]
Explanation:
something for Christmas, maybe not quite Ramadam (no disrespect intended), but should do OK for the tourists..
Peace to all !
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6 hrs confidence: |
| meets your needs à la carte!
Explanation:
To keep the French touch (with the French bit in italics, of course). Or you can play around with the first bit.... I suppose my idea is to use "à la carte"!
| Sylvia Smith
France
Native speaker of:  English
PRO pts in category: 8
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7 hrs confidence: |
| very/extremely versatile
Explanation:
Not sure why you need a close idiomatic match - it's not always possible! Seems to me English would express the idea in a more straightforward way. More idiomatic, but not a very close match, might be 'ticks all the right boxes', 'comes up trumps every time', but not sure how appropriate those might be without further context.
| MoiraB
France
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 4
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12 hrs confidence: |
| to satisfy all our needs/requirements
Explanation:
This new product molds itself to satisfy all our needs/requirements as though it has been made specially for us.It caters to all our needs.
| narasimha
India
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 4
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| Note from asker to answerer| This was so hard! I cannot believe all the great ideas and every one of them would work. I had a hard time picking the best fit, but I love "caters to all our needs". I wish I had thought of that myself! Thank you everyone. Now this hard to translate phrase is immortalized here with excellent ideas for future translators. |
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14 hrs confidence: |
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The translation workplace 
