Underhill

Merci, Coco!

cocofromdijon

My pleasure Underhill, but I'm not sure this will help understanding how it works!

Keren

Coco, while you're here...
a quick question, this from an article following an opera performance:
"Enjeu de taille pour Christoph Prégardien..."
Prégardien is the singer, a wonderful tenor voice. Enjeu de taille? how would you translate that? my guess is the critic wanted to say that the role was a bit above his operatic abilities? am I right? thanks.

cocofromdijon

Hi Keren, sorry I left so quickly!
I think you are half right. The singer may be able to do it but he has a lot to lose if he doesn't succeed. my dictionary would translate by "he has got a lot of stake". Would big deal be ok?

Keren

Thanks, Coco. I think I understand the meaning now. Yes, he doesn't do opera very often but he's superb in other genres. Still, I liked his performance very much, I like people who take such risks.
There was a question here last year regarding this opera, the poster was going to be in Paris while the opera played and I advised him not to miss it. After watching the production on TV last Friday, I know I was right.

hanl

"Does the gender of a department name ALWAYS and invariably, in every case, follow the gender of the specific body of water or geographic feature (whether Dordogne river, Loire valley, or other) that it is apparently named after?"

I think the short answer is yes.

For example, the following departments all take the gender of the rivers/valleys they're named after: La Dordogne, Le Rhône, Le Cher, La Creuse, La Haute-Garonne, La Marne, Le Val de Marne, etc.


Re. Keren's question, I'd probably translate &quot;<i>enjeu de taille</i>&quot; as &quot;great challenge&quot;

(&quot;<i>de taille</i>&quot; = sizeable, great, huge)

Keren

Thanks, hanl, this is what I thought of when I first read that comment.

cocofromdijon

Bravo hanl! =D&gt;
It is always obvious when someone else found the exact answer!
Maybe I should buy another dictionary, it didn't mention challenge for enjeu and it was so obvious! (again)
Was &quot;big deal&quot; wrong then?

hanl

Coco, I'm a translator and &quot;enjeu&quot; is one of those words that can be tricky as it doesn't always mean what the dictionary says it means!! And the French use it a lot

I wouldn't say &quot;big deal&quot; is wrong though, as it certainly conveys a similar idea. In UK English it sounds more colloquial, however, and I think that perhaps it doesn't quite convey the same notion of something being challenging.

Still, these things are so subjective, that's what makes translation such an interesting job. (<i>Et un enjeu de taille </i> )

cmt

Thanks, Hanl. I'm glad you understood my question. I was having such a surprisingly difficult time explaining what I wanted to know.


&lt;&lt;&quot;Does the gender of a department name ALWAYS and invariably, in every case, follow the gender of the specific body of water or geographic feature (whether Dordogne river, Loire valley, or other) that it is apparently named after?&quot;

I think the short answer is yes.

For example, the following departments all take the gender of the rivers/valleys they're named after: La Dordogne, Le Rh&ocirc;ne, Le Cher, La Creuse, La Haute-Garonne, La Marne, Le Val de Marne, etc.&gt;&gt;

Shalott

In NYC we have Brooklyn, but The Bronx, and no one really knows why.
100 years ago, when someone gave their address they said &quot;I live at #1040 on
the Fifth Avenue, 'the' has since dropped off.
Sometimes, at least in English, usage has no explanations.

ira

Hi Shalott
&gt;100 years ago, when someone gave their address they said &quot;I live at #1040 on
the Fifth Avenue, 'the' has since dropped off.&lt;

From a song by I. Berlin:

&quot;on The Avenue/
Fifth Avenue/
The photographers will snap us....&quot;