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détente

English translation: relaxation

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13:26 Jun 2, 2011

French to English translations [Non-PRO]
Art/Literary - Music

French term or phrase: détente

Au sujet d'une sonate de franz shubert (pour arpeggione), voici la phrase: Œuvre de détente, de charme, de caractère improvisé où l’esprit du lied imprègne chaque mesure, chaque thème, non seulement dans sa structure mais aussi dans son climat.
J'ai pensé á certaines possibilitées telles que "work of leisure" ou "recreation" ou même enjoyement, mais j'hésite quand au choix du terme. merci d'avance de me communiquer vos suggestions! Ega

Ega KudoZ activity Questions: 190 (5 open) Answers: 0
Local time: 08:01

English translation:relaxation

Explanation:
dictionary

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Note added at 2 hrs (2011-06-02 15:55:05 GMT)
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I still feel that "détente" means "relaxation", so if we stick to the original French then that is my translation.
David and writeaway are clearly unhappy with "relaxation", but are they also unhappy with the original French? Surely we are straying into personal interpretations of Schubert's music rather than translation of a text. There are of course conceptual paraphrases and reinterpretations: "serenity", "soothing", asker's "leisure" or "recreation" etc.
One thing is certain: it is more enjoyable to listen to the music than to read about it.

Selected response from:

Mike Birch
Local time: 07:01

Grading comment

merci!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided
5	relaxation	Mike Birch

Summary of reference entries provided
Listen	David Vaughn

Discussion entries: 1

Answers

3 mins confidence:

relaxation

Mike Birch
Local time: 07:01
Native speaker of:

English,

French
PRO pts in category: 8

Grading comment

merci!

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

neutral

David Vaughn: A reasonable general use translation, but I'm afraid it is a bit insulting in English applied to a work that is not purely soothing nor lightweight. In fact there are many allegro passages & even a bit of angst & a lot of contrast. / But it does get tense

12 mins

-> I don't think relaxation has to be soothing or lightweight. One might read a book containing many themes, or even play a game of tennis - just as long as it is not tense.

neutral

writeaway: Shubert composed relaxing works? interesting /but imo different wording is needed, not just the straight dictionary translation. it's the challenge of translating such texts

55 mins

-> Why should relaxation be pejorative? IMHO Schubert wrote a vast amount of relaxing music; this does not preclude deeper interpretations.

Reference comments

12 mins peer agreement (net): +1

Reference: Listen

Reference information:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oh1PuFo-c_M

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIYeAFPHhlA&feature=related

David Vaughn
France
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 176

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détente

English translation: relaxation

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détente

English translation: relaxation

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Reference comments

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KudoZ™ translation helpThe KudoZ network provides a framework for translators and others to assist each other with translations or explanations of terms and short phrases.

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The KudoZ network provides a framework for translators and others to assist each other with translations or explanations of terms and short phrases.