plus cigale que fourmi
| 00:10 Mar 16, 2010 |
| French to English translations [PRO] Bus/Financial - Finance (general) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
| Summary of reference entries provided | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| |||
| La Tribune article |
| ||
| la fontaine |
|
| Discussion entries: 8 | |
|---|---|
Answers
37 mins confidence: 
the 'grasshopper' attitude of the French caused a drop in importations Explanation: Did you want a translation? I did not get the 'as opposed to ant' part in there. |
| ||
Notes to answerer
| |||
| Login to enter a peer comment (or grade) | |||
5 hrs confidence:
Litteral translation is not possible, but... Explanation: 1. The expression " plus cigale que la fourmi" infact throws light on the attitude of the French in certain situations. It's just highlighting the " failure" or "deriliction" of duty of a group of persons shouldering a responsibilty. " The French" is more of generalization. But for the sake of translation, the wording could be made like this, The failure of the French to " save it for a rainy day" caused a drop in imports. The connotation: The reference is to the moral of the story " la cigale et la fourmi", by Jean de la fontaine ( 1621-1694), Fables, premier recueil, 1668, i.e. "C'est garder une poivre pour la soif". 2. Going by the characters depicted in the above fable, one would observe that the syllogism ( arguement or a comparision) made here to the French people is totaly out of context. The reason: "La cigale est l'emprunteuse". La fontaine depicts the grasshopper as a borrower; borrowing was the only solution for it. - La priant de lui preter quelque grain pour subsister". The grasshopper never thought of working hard and earning for its future as against the " ant." If importing is a solution to save for a rainy day ( hard times), then, the quote is misplaced in the text. It amounts to characterising the French as "not working" and looking forward to "importation as the only solution" for their needs. This is a sensitive issue, particularly for a translator dealing with socio-economic issues. Even I could be wrong in putting up what occured to my mind on this translation. If I am wrong, I do at the very outset sincerely appologize. |
| |
| Login to enter a peer comment (or grade) | ||
7 hrs confidence:
Perhaps you could say something like: Explanation: the relaxed attitude of the French to privilege the quality of life has had a negative effect on the import business |
| |
| Login to enter a peer comment (or grade) | ||
1 day 13 hrs confidence:
more spendthrift than thrifty Explanation: The more spendthrift than thrifty behaviour of the French has caused imports to decrease. |
| |
| Login to enter a peer comment (or grade) | ||
9 hrs confidence: peer agreement (net): +1
peer agreement (net): +1"have it all today" attitude Explanation: Perhaps. "There will be nothing left for tomorrow (if we have it all today) By Harvey E. Fisk & Roger Davidson part 2 - song, music ..." www.faqs.org/.../there-will-be-nothing-left-for-tomorrow-if... - "... New York City journalist Rachel Lehmann-Haupt explores the expanding buffet of choices that exist for women hoping to "have it all" today. ..." www.yourtango.com/.../first-baby-then-love-if-career-allows - United States -------------------------------------------------- Note added at 9 hrs (2010-03-16 09:35:01 GMT) -------------------------------------------------- Possibly they are trying to argue that if you spend your time eating nice cheese, drinking wine, sunbathing, swimming and skiing rather than slaving away in the factory, the economy collapses and the country can't afford to import things. One could also argue that if the French motor industry is just after maximising its profits by outsourcing abroad so that its directors and shareholders can eat nice cheese ..., the economy collapses and as capital goods imports are actually more important than consumer goods imports the collapse is more serious. -------------------------------------------------- Note added at 1 day13 hrs (2010-03-17 13:37:57 GMT) -------------------------------------------------- Looking at this again, there is the slight problem that this implies that the French are into high consumption/greediness, which is not generally true when compared with certain other parts of the industrialised world. |
| |
| Login to enter a peer comment (or grade) | ||
Reference comments
13 mins peer agreement (net): +1 |
| Reference Reference information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ant_and_the_Grasshopper |
| |
| Login to enter a peer comment (or grade) | ||
8 hrs |
| Reference: La Tribune article Reference information: http://www.latribune.fr/journal/edition-du-1302/politique-fr... |
| |
| Login to enter a peer comment (or grade) | ||
28 mins |
| Reference: la fontaine Reference information: Maybe this will give you more ideas -------------------------------------------------- Note added at 1 day12 hrs (2010-03-17 13:02:41 GMT) -------------------------------------------------- La Fontaine poem in French and English http://www.bewilderingstories.com/issue209/cigale.html Reference: http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=837930 |
| |
| Login to enter a peer comment (or grade) | ||
Login or register (free and only takes a few minutes) to participate in this question.
You will also have access to many other tools and opportunities designed for those who have language-related jobs (or are passionate about them). Participation is free and the site has a strict confidentiality policy.
KudoZ™ translation help
The KudoZ network provides a framework for translators and others to assist each other with translations or explanations of terms and short phrases.
See also:
Search millions of term translations