I've been working on a new batch of translations for my employer, and the word that I'm hesitating on right now is ''ventre''. I think I will translate it as stomach. I have a degree in Biology, so I know that a stomach should be the actual organ, but I've checked some online dictionaries and they do have ''the abdominal region'' as one of the definitions.
Most of the time if you look up a French-English translation for ''ventre'' it will give you ''belly''. You even have Émile Zola's ''Le Ventre de Paris'' translated as ''The Belly of Paris'', which I think sounds terrible. When I hear someone talk about a belly, the image coming to my mind is that of a paunch. I think most people who are using this word nowadays are using it in a context more like that. Perhaps it's time for the bilingual dictionaries to update.
Friday, April 29, 2011
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Unpacking my adjectives
I just returned from a week in Scotland. I am happy to be back in France, going through Irn Bru withdrawal and recovering from severe fish-and-chips (and mushy peas) induced indigestion.
While I was over in Scotland, I identified a few terms that have been confusing me:
Britain, Great Britain, the UK, British.
Britain is England and Wales.
Great Britain is that land mass that contains England, Scotland and Wales.
The UK is the clump of those three countries PLUS Northern Ireland.
For the definition of British, I have:
''of or pertaining to Great Britain or its inhabitants''.
Meaning that Scottish things could be British. Like fish and chips maybe. But not haggis (which was alright by the way, not too exciting, it just tastes kind of peppery).
All in all, I had quite a few experiences in Scotland: I read chick lit on the shores of Lock Ness, I did a workshop in wire-strung clarsach at the Edinburgh International harp festival, I bought a ''jumper'' (what we would call a sweater) in a charity shop, I rode at the top of double decker buses, I ate food that I had heard mentioned on Coronation Street (sausage roll, eccles cake), I got mild shin splints...
While I was over in Scotland, I identified a few terms that have been confusing me:
Britain, Great Britain, the UK, British.
Britain is England and Wales.
Great Britain is that land mass that contains England, Scotland and Wales.
The UK is the clump of those three countries PLUS Northern Ireland.
For the definition of British, I have:
''of or pertaining to Great Britain or its inhabitants''.
Meaning that Scottish things could be British. Like fish and chips maybe. But not haggis (which was alright by the way, not too exciting, it just tastes kind of peppery).
All in all, I had quite a few experiences in Scotland: I read chick lit on the shores of Lock Ness, I did a workshop in wire-strung clarsach at the Edinburgh International harp festival, I bought a ''jumper'' (what we would call a sweater) in a charity shop, I rode at the top of double decker buses, I ate food that I had heard mentioned on Coronation Street (sausage roll, eccles cake), I got mild shin splints...
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