Alas, many pupils and students neglect the basic principle that if their translation doesn't make sense in French (their native language) than the chances are that they've made a mistake... at their level we don't give them Ulysses or Bardolino to translate.
My colleague Mel is also marking exam scripts this week and she thought we might like to share the following.
The candidates had to translate a short paragraph of dialogue from
English to French. Part of the English read
"I was told you were dead"
Pupils' translations: Je t'avais dit que j'étais mort: "I told you I was dead",
Je t'avais dit que tu étais morte: "I told you you were dead"
Je voulais te parler quand je suis mort:."I wanted to talk to you when I was dead"
Very funny! Thank you so much for sharing!!
RépondreSupprimerYou're welcome.... a problem shared is a problem halved!
SupprimerOne final attempt at the same translation was
"J'étais venu te dire que tu étais morte, Tata."
I came to tell you that you were dead, Auntie: all very surreal......