Glossary entry

French term or phrase:

ferment d'images

English translation:

catalyst for images

Added to glossary by cc in nyc
Jul 12, 2011 15:50
13 yrs ago
1 viewer *
French term

ferments d'images

French to English Art/Literary Photography/Imaging (& Graphic Arts)
An essay talking about contemporary photographer Chema Madoz...
This is the whole sentence:

Il diffère aussi en cela d’un Man Ray dont les objets « étranges » étaient davantage des sculptures par détournement de fonction et assemblage que des ferments d’images.

How on earth can I express this in English?! What could "ferments d'images" be? - a base/ foundation for images?
My attempt would be something like:
In that he is also different from Man Ray, whose 'strange' objects were more like sculptures in that they altered function and assembly of the objects, rather than being the basis for images.
Proposed translations (English)
3 +1 catalyst for images
Change log

Jul 12, 2011 15:58: Stéphanie Soudais (X) changed "Term asked" from "par détournement de fonction et assemblage/ ferments" to " ferments d\'images"

Aug 29, 2011 04:14: cc in nyc Created KOG entry

Discussion

Eleanor P (asker) Jul 12, 2011:
@Sam Thanks for the words of encouragement! The whole essay is full of phrases like the ones I'm asking about on Kudos - interesting but definitely a constant and time-consuming conundrum!!
Eleanor P (asker) Jul 12, 2011:
@Laura Thanks - in that case I might go for cc in nyc's suggestion of catalyst, which I thought was good anyway. It gets at least some idea of movement in there.
Sam Cogdell Jul 12, 2011:
I don't have an answer, either, but I truly wish more of my working time were spent working on this type of translation conundrum-- it's almost a koan for translators! One of the greatest things about Kudoz is stumbling across things I probably wouldn't have on my own... in this case, the work of Chema Madoz. Your text sounds very interesting and I think the rest of your translated sentence sounds great.
Laura Elvin Jul 12, 2011:
Ferment I don't have an answer for you, but 'ferment' implies 'agitation', 'excitement' so I think you have to convey something of that (rather than 'basis' which is far too neutral). Maybe something along the lines of 'turmoil', 'upheaval' etc....?

Proposed translations

+1
48 mins
Selected

catalyst for images

Or synergist, stimulant, stimulus, motivation...

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Note added at 3 hrs (2011-07-12 19:34:41 GMT)
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@ Eleanor: You're very welcome!
Note from asker:
Thanks cc in nyc, all of those are great suggestions for translating ferments - I think I'm going to go for either catalyst or stimulus.
Peer comment(s):

agree Yolanda Broad
3 days 22 hrs
Thank you.
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thanks ever so much, I chose either stimulus or catalyst in the end, can't remember which!"
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