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  3. General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters

faire oublier

English translation: making the audience forget all thoughts of his illustrious colleague

13:43 Oct 25, 2006
French to English translations [Non-PRO]
General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters
French term or phrase: faire oublier
Context first: an article about an opera singer who stepped in at a moment's notice (40 minutes before the curtain went up!) to successfully replace the leading performer at an opera at the NY Met.

"Le chanteur a réussi l'exploit de faire oublier son illustre collègue."

My translation is "He succeeded in rising above his illustrious colleague's reputation."

I think I may be slightly off-track, hence all suggestions welcome.

Thank you.
Sandra Petch
Local time: 23:23
English translation:making the audience forget all thoughts of his illustrious colleague
Explanation:
Just a suggestion :-)

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Note added at 2 hrs (2006-10-25 15:59:33 GMT)
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Hi Sandra - hard to say whether it's "overly long", that's a rather subjective statement! In any case, CMJ's alternative (which I find equally good) will give you the same number of words or more.

If reducing the length is paramount then you could always remove "all thoughts of" from my suggestion....
Selected response from:

Rob Grayson
United Kingdom
Local time: 22:23
Grading comment
2 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +11driving all thoughts of... from their minds
CMJ_Trans (X)
3 +8making the audience forget all thoughts of his illustrious colleague
Rob Grayson
4As you suggest.
Rosemary Harvey (X)
3 -3he managed to supplant his famous colleagues
Virgile


Discussion entries: 2





  

Answers


4 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
As you suggest.


Explanation:
No, I think you are right. The performance was good enough to mean that people didn't miss the performer who had fallen ill - or they had 'forgotten' her because the new performer was so good.

Rosemary Harvey (X)
Local time: 22:23
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
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11 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +11
driving all thoughts of... from their minds


Explanation:
he even succeeded in driving all thoughts of the other singer from their minds

CMJ_Trans (X)
Local time: 23:23
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 231

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Rob Grayson: Yep, I like yours too!
3 mins
  -> thx
agree  Carol Gullidge
5 mins
agree  Nicky Over
7 mins
agree  MoiraB: yes, this pips it for me
15 mins
agree  Rosemary Harvey (X): This is also a good way of saying it
17 mins
agree  Deschant
33 mins
agree  Kathryn Strachecky
1 hr
agree  sporran
2 hrs
agree  Sophie Raimondo
14 hrs
agree  tatyana000
18 hrs
agree  Fiorsam
22 hrs
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3 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +8
making the audience forget all thoughts of his illustrious colleague


Explanation:
Just a suggestion :-)

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 hrs (2006-10-25 15:59:33 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Hi Sandra - hard to say whether it's "overly long", that's a rather subjective statement! In any case, CMJ's alternative (which I find equally good) will give you the same number of words or more.

If reducing the length is paramount then you could always remove "all thoughts of" from my suggestion....

Rob Grayson
United Kingdom
Local time: 22:23
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 64
Notes to answerer
Asker: Hi Rob - Good suggestion but would you agree it becomes overlong when worked into the entire sentence: "The singer succeeded in making the audience forget all thoughts of his illustrious colleague"?


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  a05: making the public forget his...
5 mins
  -> Thanks
agree  Marc Glinert: yes this is fine..quiet day Rob?!
6 mins
  -> Thanks Marc....not particularly, a bit manic actually - just trying to break up the monotony...
agree  Jana Cole (X)
9 mins
  -> Thanks, Jana
agree  Ingeborg Gowans (X)
10 mins
  -> Thanks, Ingeborg
agree  Nicky Over
15 mins
  -> Thanks, Nicky
agree  Rosemary Harvey (X)
25 mins
  -> Thanks
agree  Fiorsam: Why add "all thoughts" when - I'll go with the flow since yours is the best so far - but then I would say "put aside" all thoughts.:-)
40 mins
  -> Of course you're entitled to your opinion....in my opinon my rendering is more natural and idiomatic
agree  Assimina Vavoula
1 hr
  -> Thanks!
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): -3
he managed to supplant his famous colleagues


Explanation:
Not too sure, but may give some better ideas...

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Note added at 9 hrs (2006-10-25 23:28:29 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

To try to keep a journalistic style, and go around the negative connotation of supplant, something around the line could work (or does it go too far out?):

Just by the strenght of his talent, he manage to supplant his illustrious colleague.
or he managed to supplant his colleague just with his talent...

Virgile
Australia
Local time: 07:23
Native speaker of: French
PRO pts in category: 4

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  Rob Grayson: Supplant tends to have negative connotations // 17 people think the other answers are OK....Hats off for getting other ideas off the ground - don't take the disagree to heart, it's nothing personal ;-)
22 mins
  -> I know it has, as I said, I am trying to get better ideas off the ground as the answers given are not that great. When I said they are not that great I meant that they could be shorter to reflect the journalistic style and the rythm of the original text.
disagree  Rita Bilancio: not supplant because it has a negative meaning
1 hr
  -> The answers given so far reflect the meaning but are not that good in a journalistic context...
disagree  Sophie Raimondo: The subtlety of the original sentence is lost
12 hrs
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