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How would you say "I took the car to the store" in French. Somebody on proz pro

French translation: see below

15:39 Aug 27, 2000
English to French translations [Non-PRO]
English term or phrase: How would you say "I took the car to the store" in French. Somebody on proz pro
posed the translation "J'ai porte la voiture au supermarche." I said, "J'ai emmene... or perhaps "J'ai pris... Also, you say in French, "Je chante pour des enfants", not pour les enfants." Right? Please explain the meaning of "justement" in English. Finally, in French, if you say, "Etre vigilant au volant et le port de la ceinture securite sont autant d'elements pour aider a garantir la securite routiere. Autant d'elements=Suffisament d'elements. Right?
I just took entry exams to get into graduate programs in translation, and I have a ton of questions to ask. Some of the questions may seem ridiculously elementary, but I need to understand the linguistic intricacies of the French language.
Matt
French translation:see below
Explanation:
Matt

When you translate from one language to another the starting point is to be clear about what they are saying in the source language, in your case English. Everything depends on context.

In you first example, what you are probaly saying is "I took the car to go to the store" The choices then become easier because you have eliminated several such as "porté" or "emmené". The logical remaining choice is " J'ai pris la voiture pour me rendre au magasin (why supermarché?)

In your second example of the singer, it is again a question of context. If I make my living singing for children "des" is good. If I sing to my kids when I put them to bed it is "les". Context

Same story for "justement". It can mean "exactly" when your talking quantities or "right on" as an exclamation, to mention the first two which come ot mind.

Autant is another story, or rather..., you've got your context. I would say something like "... are both elements ..." or simply "... are elements..." Your suggestion of "suffisament" is, in my opinion, too limiting.

I hope you don't find me too critical and that this is fo some help. Good luck for your future in translation.

John
Selected response from:

John Garside
Canada
Local time: 16:00
Grading comment
You gave me the best answer. Thanks again. By the way, you live in France and you have Scottish parents. I am not stereotyping, but I lived in Europe for a while (France and UK)and those from the British Isles don't usually like the French and vice versa. I usually find more Americans interested in France. You are lucky, though. When you are born in the UK, France is readily accessible and you can work there. I like France and the UK both;they are my favourite countries in Europe. I am thinking about studying translation/interpretation in the UK. They have some great programs. The U.S. has a very limited amount of programs, particularly in French(Monterey Institute in California and NYU in New York City). They are some others, but these, I believe, are the best(unless you want to go to Quebec, Canada) which does not interest me in the least. Bye now.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
naJ'ai conduit la voiture au supermarché.
Maria Rusu
nasee below
John Garside
nasee below
Nikki Scott-Despaigne
naemmener, amener
Nikki Scott-Despaigne
nasee below
Louise Atfield


  

Answers


1 hr
J'ai conduit la voiture au supermarché.


Explanation:
Hanse - Nouveau dictionnaire des difficultés du français moderne

On ne porte pas sa voiture au garage, on l'y conduit.

Maria Rusu
Canada
Local time: 16:00
Native speaker of: Native in FrenchFrench, Native in RomanianRomanian
PRO pts in pair: 23

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
Yolanda Broad
nicolas (X)
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

1 hr
see below


Explanation:
Matt

When you translate from one language to another the starting point is to be clear about what they are saying in the source language, in your case English. Everything depends on context.

In you first example, what you are probaly saying is "I took the car to go to the store" The choices then become easier because you have eliminated several such as "porté" or "emmené". The logical remaining choice is " J'ai pris la voiture pour me rendre au magasin (why supermarché?)

In your second example of the singer, it is again a question of context. If I make my living singing for children "des" is good. If I sing to my kids when I put them to bed it is "les". Context

Same story for "justement". It can mean "exactly" when your talking quantities or "right on" as an exclamation, to mention the first two which come ot mind.

Autant is another story, or rather..., you've got your context. I would say something like "... are both elements ..." or simply "... are elements..." Your suggestion of "suffisament" is, in my opinion, too limiting.

I hope you don't find me too critical and that this is fo some help. Good luck for your future in translation.

John

John Garside
Canada
Local time: 16:00
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in FrenchFrench
PRO pts in pair: 61
Grading comment
You gave me the best answer. Thanks again. By the way, you live in France and you have Scottish parents. I am not stereotyping, but I lived in Europe for a while (France and UK)and those from the British Isles don't usually like the French and vice versa. I usually find more Americans interested in France. You are lucky, though. When you are born in the UK, France is readily accessible and you can work there. I like France and the UK both;they are my favourite countries in Europe. I am thinking about studying translation/interpretation in the UK. They have some great programs. The U.S. has a very limited amount of programs, particularly in French(Monterey Institute in California and NYU in New York City). They are some others, but these, I believe, are the best(unless you want to go to Quebec, Canada) which does not interest me in the least. Bye now.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
Yolanda Broad
Bruno Magne
nicolas (X)
Rivera
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

12 hrs
see below


Explanation:
Hello again Matt,

1-I took the car to the store :
Just as in English, there are lots of ddifferent ways of saying this, some of which are set out below :

-je suis allé(e) au magasin dans ma voiture
-j'ai pris ma voiture POUR ALLER au magasin (or even POUR FAIRE des courses)
-je suis allé(e) au magasin en voiture

(Be careful with means of trasnport. The French are beginning to mix up their preopositions her and use indifferently en, par, sur, dans, à. Pursists maintain that each means of transport has its own allotted preposition!)

2-"Je chante pour des enfants" or "pour les enfants".
If you do something for "des" enfants, you have restricted the group (children) to include only 'some' children. the use of "les" implies no restriction, thus for chldren in general. The begging question is for which children you sing!

3-Justement.
- a way of saying "exactly" just before launching into a speech on the whys and wherefors, almost to mean 'while we are on that subject...'
-precisely/exactly to express your agreement what someone has just said.

"Justement" cannot be used with quantities or dimensions. A couple of examples
(i) You can say a quantity is correct using "juste" when you have handed over the exact money for a purchase for example. The shopkeeper may say : "Merci, c'est juste".
(ii) If you are trying to squeeze your car through a small space and you are not sure that it is going to get through, teh you might say "C'est un peu juste". Infact, the French also say "C'est un peu 'just'", erroneously applying the meaning (and pronunciation of the English word 'just' to mean "juste"). Common practice anyway.

3-autant. Lots to say about this but if I am to restrict my comments to your example of autant d'éléments : it is simply used for emphasis her and could even not be translated at all, left out of your sentence together. You could argue for the use of "...are both elements..." as that is emphatic and related to qauntoity - which is what "autant" is all about. If you look in a dictionary you will find lots and lots of examlpes with autant.

A bientto,

Nikki


Nikki Scott-Despaigne
Local time: 22:00
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in pair: 882
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16 hrs
emmener, amener


Explanation:
One answerer to this and/or other questions points out that 'emmener' is to be used solely with taking people somewhere. 'Amener' is used for things and people in the sense of bringing someone/something along. The answerer (Muscade?) is quite correct to point this out of course.

Compare :
Voulez-vous que je vous emmène en voiture? (take)

with

On nous amène les enfants tous les matins. (bring)

The confusion obviously from lack of attention being paid to 'emmener' and 'amener' - of which I am no doubt guilty from time to time.

Nikki

Nikki Scott-Despaigne
Local time: 22:00
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in pair: 882
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1 day 24 mins
see below


Explanation:
In Canada we would say "J'ai pris l'auto pour aller au magasin". but if for instance you were to take the car to the car dealer, you would say "J'ai conduit l'auto chez le concessionnaire" or "je suis allé porter l'auto chez le concessionnaire", because in this case, it is the car that you are taking, aswhere in the first case, you use the car to go somewhere.

"Je chante pour des enfants" implies that you sing for some children, a group of children. "Je chante pour les enfants" means you sing for either your own children (the ones sometimes called "the kids"!) or for children in general. In English, you would have: "I sing for some children" as opposed to "I sing for the children" (the kids) or "I sing for children".

"Justement" can have many meanings. "Justement, j'arrive!", would be "in fact, I just arrived". But "c'est justement ça" would be "that's it precicely". "Il est justement courroucé" would be "he is justly angry". If you consult the dictionary, you might fing yet more meanings to this word. As someone else said, it's all in the context.

I disagree with the others as far as the meaning of "autant". In this case, I would translate it with: "being alert at the wheel and wearing a seatbelt, those are as many elements that will insure road safety". Therefore "autant" would be "as many" in this case.


Good luck in your translating carreer.

Louise Atfield
PRO pts in pair: 577
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