Jun 4, 2002 08:27
21 yrs ago
French term
qui s'est régulièrement transformée en boite de lenteur
French to English
Tech/Engineering
Hello again! Heaps of disagreement on what this means (same "engine text" from last question). Difficult one indeed!
Here goes:
Referring to the RS3 engine.
Condamné à travailler dans le noir et dans le dos de deux homme-volants, il doit aussi cohabiter avec un boîte de vitesses semi-automatique et complètement sadique, qui s'est régulièrement transformée en boîte de lenteur (en vue d'une arrivèe triomphale, par exemple, comme l'autre dimance, au Grand Prix du Canada...).
Did "it gradually turned into a 'slow box' in preparation for it's trimphant entry in the Canadian Grand Prix."
Verb tense and meaning are confusing here. The preceding verb is in the present tense.
It can't mean "regularly turned into..."
I've been bothered by this from a translation professional who disagrees with me.
Cheers again
MATT
(I would love to show this short text to anyone who would be interested nuances "hidden meanings."
Here goes:
Referring to the RS3 engine.
Condamné à travailler dans le noir et dans le dos de deux homme-volants, il doit aussi cohabiter avec un boîte de vitesses semi-automatique et complètement sadique, qui s'est régulièrement transformée en boîte de lenteur (en vue d'une arrivèe triomphale, par exemple, comme l'autre dimance, au Grand Prix du Canada...).
Did "it gradually turned into a 'slow box' in preparation for it's trimphant entry in the Canadian Grand Prix."
Verb tense and meaning are confusing here. The preceding verb is in the present tense.
It can't mean "regularly turned into..."
I've been bothered by this from a translation professional who disagrees with me.
Cheers again
MATT
(I would love to show this short text to anyone who would be interested nuances "hidden meanings."
Proposed translations
(English)
Proposed translations
+1
1 hr
Selected
a transmission that turned into a failed mission
As David Siret said, it a pun on "boîte de vitesse". This is patently the sort of entertaining hype sports journalism of the better variety loves to publish. I reccomend you maintain the tone.
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "great thinking! "
+1
8 mins
Florence Bremond
France
France
Native in French
France
Art of the French language
Native in: French (Variant: Standard-France) 
Works in: English to French, French
Related KudoZ points
:
753
-
'régulièrement' ici ne veut pas dire progressivement, mais à intervalles réguliers (sous entendu :juste au moment où on avait besoin d'accélérer, forcément la boîte de vitesses n'a pas fonctionné comme elle aurait dû)
je dirais par exemple 'each time it was needed'
je dirais par exemple 'each time it was needed'
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Arthur Borges
: yes: at regular intervals but I feel the slowing down is deliberate...
3 hrs
|
+5
37 mins
rephrase
"boîte de lenteur" is obviously a pun on "boîte de vitesses", and can't be reproduced literally in English, as we don't say "speed box". Try to find some other phrase giving the idea of a truly awful, unreliable gearbox.
Don't worry about the use of the present tense just before, this is common in French even when recounting past events.
The "arrivée" is the finish of the race (not "entry").
Don't worry about the use of the present tense just before, this is common in French even when recounting past events.
The "arrivée" is the finish of the race (not "entry").
1 hr
which, each time it was needed, failed to deliver
The previous suggestions sound spot on. Sounds to me something like this: "Forced to work in the dark and behind the two drivers(?), it also has to live with (or "put up with") a semi-automatic and utterly sadistic gearbox, which, each time it was needed, failed to deliver (in sight of a winning finish, for example, like the Sunday of the Canadian Grand Prix)."
+1
3 hrs
Arthur Borges
China
China
China
Non-ethnocentric, Concise & Punctual
Works in: English, Swedish to English, French to English
Related KudoZ points
:
404
that regularly shifted into slowpoke gear...
in the run-up to, say, a hero's arrival last Sunday at the Canadian Grand Prix.
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Florence Bremond
5 mins
|
|
Ah, nothing like a note of moral support to go with after-lunch coffee..
|
4 hrs
that regularly switched to low gear
(just when it approached the finish line, for example, like the Sunday at the Canadian Grand Prix).
The other answers are great and maybe you will use a combination of them. I merely wanted to add my own to say that the important thing in the text is the "personification" of the motor. And of the "boite de vitesse" which acts like a spoiled child.
You can write in the past or present.
The other answers are great and maybe you will use a combination of them. I merely wanted to add my own to say that the important thing in the text is the "personification" of the motor. And of the "boite de vitesse" which acts like a spoiled child.
You can write in the past or present.
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