espérer un Au Revoir - hope to see you soon ( translation glossary) Linguistics,

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GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)

French term or phrase:	espérer un Au Revoir
English translation:	hope to see you soon
Entered by:	Patrick McKeown

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3:39am Apr 1, 2005

French to English translations [PRO]
Linguistics

French term or phrase: espérer un Au Revoir

from a personal letter that I'm translating. This is the very last paragraph.

Toute la famille d'Alsace, de Forstheim, et d'ailleurs vous transmet ses cordiales et amicales salutations.
Vous avez aussi le Bonjour de xx, notre jeune interprète ..
Et qui sait, on continuera à espérer un Au Revoir.

The man writing the letter is involved in humanitarian work. He and the recipient of the letter have previously discussed their dismay at Bush's election. Could this possibly be a reference to that?
My hunch is that this sentence will only make sense in context, so that's why I'm explaining some background details. Another detail: the recipient of the letter also previously visited the author of the letter, in France.

Tegan Raleigh

KudoZ activity
Questions: 496 (7 open)
Answers: 91

United States

Clarification request(s) and response

Dylan Edwards: 7:28pm Apr 2, 2005: Does the last sentence follow on immediately from the sentence beginning "Vous avez le Bonjour de..."? Isn't there a connection between the Bonjour and the Au revoir? Here's hoping we'll also have a "goodbye" from the interpreter... -
Dylan Edwards: 7:29pm Apr 2, 2005: i.e. the circumstances under which we need the interpreter are (at least for the time being) over? -
Dylan Edwards: 7:35pm Apr 2, 2005: Obviously a guess, because I don't know the context in which the interpreting is taking place, but it would be so nice to make a logical link between the "Bonjour" and the "Au revoir"! -
Tegan Raleigh (asker): 2:50am Apr 4, 2005: hmm... interesting suggestion, Dylan. Despite everyone's excellent suggestions, the meaning of the passage still eludes me. For the project, I went on with, "Hope to see you soon," because it seems like the most natural way to end a letter.
Dylan Edwards: 8:26am Apr 4, 2005: Yes, it was still puzzling me a bit, because it's right at the end of the letter. -

"hope to see you soon"

Explanation:
... in the sense that writer would like to be in a position to wish au revoir to his/her corespondent, but that the person would have to visit again in person for that to be possible, so it's a kind of wistful or wishful remark ...

Selected response from:

Patrick McKeown
Italy

Note from asker to answerer

4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

3 +9

"hope to see you soon"

Patrick McKeown

4 +5

and, who knows, maybe one day we'll meet again

xxxCMJ_Trans

3 +3

let's go on hoping we'll meet again

Tony M

3 +2

hope for a Good-bye.

A-C Robertson

(who knows) we always expect to see you again

Genevieve Altun

Just a thought, not for grading

Kelvin Wu

Answers

1 min confidence:

peer agreement (net): +2

hope for a Good-bye.

Explanation:
In the Bush context, it could be hoping for a good-bye for Bush...for him to leave the presidency for good?

A-C Robertson
United States
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

French,

English
PRO pts in category: 4

9 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +9

"hope to see you soon"

Explanation:
... in the sense that writer would like to be in a position to wish au revoir to his/her corespondent, but that the person would have to visit again in person for that to be possible, so it's a kind of wistful or wishful remark ...

Patrick McKeown
Italy
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 4

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

agree

writeaway: my thoughts too. (no time to answer.....)

23 mins

-> Thanks, writeaway.

agree

Rita Heller: hope that we will meet again: thanks, "parting is such sweet sorrow" :-)

34 mins

-> now that's much better than my suggestion!

agree

Sarah Walls

1 hr

-> thanks, Sarah

agree

Assimina Vavoula

1 hr

-> Thank you

agree

Michele Fauble

1 hr

-> thanks, Michele

neutral

A-C Robertson: I hate putting "disagree" so I use neutral...but the "et qui sait" makes me think the writer is referring back to the "meat" of the matter, which is the dismay at the extension of Bush's presidency. I'd like to say goodbye to Bush too! :)

2 hrs

-> Thanks for the input, Anh-Chi

agree

NewCal: yes for sure

2 hrs

-> Thank you, Newcal

agree

Gayle Wallimann: I really don't think that it has to do with Bush, the writer is just hoping "until we meet again".

2 hrs

-> Thanks Gayle

agree

Shaila Kamath

23 hrs

-> Thanks divya (both of you!)

agree

Clothilde: For sure, I would not see much more into it than a simple wish to meet again.

3 days8 hrs

-> Thanks, Clothilde

1 hr confidence:

(who knows) we always expect to see you again

Explanation:
expectations

Genevieve Altun
France
Native speaker of:

French

2 hrs confidence:

peer agreement (net): +5

and, who knows, maybe one day we'll meet again

Explanation:
here's hoping....
It has nothing to do with "goodbye"!

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Note added at 2005-04-01 08:12:24 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Dusty: Very interested in your comment. In truth I see absolutely no negative inference in my proposal. The thought never crossed my mind. For me, in the French, it is clear that they are saying \"here\'s hoping\" = we will go on hoping that one day we may meet again. I don\'t see any \"let\'s go on hoping\" however in there. The more I think of it, the less I see the \"who cares\" element that you seem to read into my suggestion. But maybe I\'m alone in my thinking

xxxCMJ_Trans
France
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 32

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

neutral

A-C Robertson: I never heard the expression in my whole life... :-| it's certainly stranger than saying "ce n'est qu'un au revoir" or something...don't you think?

8 mins

-> are you referring to the French or the English?

agree

Ian Burley: Perfectly acceptable expression, in British English in any case. Plus, it has the advantage of respecting the rather staid style of the French original

34 mins

agree

Tony M: I lke the "here's hoping...", but personally, I'd simply leave out the "maybe"...

2 hrs

-> For me no - they are hoping but do not seem to suggest that the others are also!

agree

writeaway: with your comments as well-don't see any all-in involvement either.

3 hrs

agree

Patrick McKeown: I like this one

6 hrs

neutral

lien: ce n'est pas faux, mais la façon dont il le dit est moins directe, par pudeur peut-être (noter l'utiilisation du "on" au lieu de "je"), ou pour ne pas tenter le destin ; sous-entendu "j'espère que nous nous reverrons plusieurs fois dans le futur".

6 hrs

agree

Michele Fauble

15 hrs

3 hrs confidence:

Just a thought, not for grading

Explanation:
Could the "Au Revoir" have anything to do with the "jeune interprète", as in the writer is hoping for a farewell from an unwanted house guest? This might be too fanciful.

Kelvin Wu
United States
Native speaker of:

English,

Chinese

3 hrs confidence:

peer agreement (net): +3

let's go on hoping we'll meet again

Explanation:
I feel sure this is referring to a renewed personal encounter, as so many answerers have already said; I just wanted to add that the 'on continuera à espérer...' not only seems to confirm this theory in my view, but also deserves not to be just overlooked --- it seems to me the writer is saying "let's keep our hopes up" or "let's not give up hope of one day seeing each other again"

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 4 hrs 2 mins (2005-04-01 07:42:17 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

In response to CMJ\'s comment:

I didn\'t feel my suggestion was all THAT \'stilted\' as you say, though I was deliberately trying to reflect the tone and style of the original. But I do think there is an important distinction to be made in the meaning between mine and your own answers. I do like the colloquial way you\'ve chosen to express it, but at the same time I feel you may have added an unwanted nuance. For me, the problem is that \'maybe\' --- it kind of suggests \"And hey, you never know, maybe we just might see each other again one of these days...\" --- in other words \"..but I\'m not holding my breath, and I really don\'t care either way\"

But my interpretation of the French was very much more that the writer genuinely DOES wish to see the person again, even if the chances are fairly slim: \"We must keep our hopes up that, despite all the odds, we are going to see each other again one of these fine days\"

I\'d be very interested to hear from others whether or not they read the same into it as I do, and whether they think this distinction is important or not?

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 5 hrs 37 mins (2005-04-01 09:16:47 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Writeaway and CMJ have brought up some very interesting points there! Isn\'t it funny how someone can read something into a text (or a reply) that another person doesn\'t see at all?

I\'d thought that \"on continuera à espérer...\" was intended in the sense of \'nous\', i.e. BOTH the writer AND the recipient, and hence I\'d read it in the sense \"Nous devrions continuer à...\"; but perhaps as CMJ suggests, it is the expression of only the writer\'s wish (a more literal use of \'on\' = \'one\')?

Tony M
France
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 15

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French: espérer un Au Revoir

English translation: hope to see you soon