How's your French?

[khashka]

Je viens
Comme un chat
Par la nuit si noire.
Tu attends,
Et je tombe
Dans tes ailes blanches
Et je vole,
Et je coule
Comme une plume.

Si les grands yeux de mon Dieu
Ne me gardaient pas,
Je te volerais

Ne t'enfuis pas!
Tu as des ailes,
Le pouvoir de me quitter.
Tu es tombe - You fell
Du ciel comme un ange
Et j'ai peur
Que le ciel
Te reprenne.

Si les grands yeux de mon Dieu
Ne me gardaient pas,
Je te volerais.

Je viens
Comme un chat
Par la nuit si noire.
Je t'en prie,
Je t'en prie,
Je t'en prie,
Je t'en prie,
Je t'en prie,
Je t'en prie--
Ne t'enfuis
Pas!

Khash (and yes my typing is as bad as ever and no I didn't write it)

[Jara sang]

1. comme ci, comme ca

[StefanX]

2. Translated

I come
like a cat
through the night
so black.
You wait
and I fall
into your white wings
and I fly
and I flow
like a feather.

If my God's big eyes
weren't watching me,
I'd steal you away.

Don't run!
You have wings,
the power to leave me.
You fell - you fell
like an angel
from heaven
and I'm afraid
that heaven
might take you back.

If my God's big eyes
weren't watching me,
I'd steal you away.

I come
like a cat
through the night
so black.
I beg you,
I beg you,
I beg you,
I beg you,
I beg you,
I beg you,
Don't run
away!

(Edited - changed "the sky" to "heaven" - thanks CaliforniaPeggy!)

[CaliforniaPeggy]

6. Ah you're welcome! But oh boy your translation is a WHOLE LOT

BETTER than mine...

As I said, my French degree is 40 years old, and I'm just a bit rusty...

I am seriously embarrassed...but that's OK...I'm used to it!

Did you study it, or is it a native language for you?

:hi:

[StefanX]

7. Took it from 4th grade to 12th grade

Plus a semester in college. Have only visited France a couple of times but I love to read French books or magazines now and then. Occasionally get to use it in NY - mainly when talking to cabdrivers from French-speaking Africa, or immigrants from Haiti.

You got me on "le ciel" - means both "the sky" and "heaven".

But then you missed "voler" - means both "to fly" and "to steal"!

[CaliforniaPeggy]

10. You have studied it a lot..and probably more recently than I have...

My husband and I have been to France a couple of times, and after about 3 days, I find my French coming back...

It's buried, but deeply...I love the language; it's so beautiful...

As I said with my translation...I knew I was missing the feel, the sense of the poem..I was rushing...

Oh well...it was still fun...

Do you know who wrote this?

[auntAgonist]

32. It's a Kate Bush song ...

don't know the writer though.

[khashka]

34. Words and music by KaTe Bush

I did say up front it wasn't mine :)

I think it might be the best thing she ever did. It's beautiful and heartfelt.

I posted it in the hope that a certain person might read it, might understand French, might understand I meant it for him, might understand it expressed my feelings. (There are a mighty lot of mights in that hope aren't there?)

"Je t'en prie" can be translated not only as "I beg you" but also as "I pray to you".....

Khash,

[auntAgonist]

38. Yeah, I knew you'd said it wasn't your work

Peggy had asked if anyone knew who wrote it. I knew she sang it, but didn't know it was "hers" altogether.

thanks Khash !!!

:hi:

[khashka]

13. The only time I ever get to use my bad French

is with African taxi drivers! There must be a law: French speaking Africans MUST drive cabs. But when my French falters (badly) they laugh (with me)and they correct me gently and I don't feel stupid, I feel I made a friend.

Unlike the French, who would like to hang,draw and quarter me.

ciel - it was meant to be taken as both heaven and sky. The eternally sacred and the everyday mundane.

Voler means both fly and steal. There is an idiomatic usage which can also mean "take". In this case it means "take" or to be more poetic if less accurate "pounce upon" - going back to the cat imagery. She is a cat, he is an angel(bird), if God was not watching she would pounce on him, steal him, fly away with him in her jaws.

But I didn't write it. I only translated it.

Khash.

[Whoa_Nelly]

3. Like an angel falling from the sky

Deep stuff :popcorn:

[Sannum]

4. language, kissing, or toast?

:P

[CaliforniaPeggy]

5. Well, my dear Khash...

I do have a bachelor's degree in French...

Alas, it is 40 years old....Howwever, I do have un petit dictionnaire...

I come..
Like a cat
through the night so black
You wait
and I fall
In the white wings
And I fly
And I flow
Like a wave.

If the great eyes of my God
Do not protect me
I will fly to you

Do not hide yourself!
You have some wings,
The power to leave me.
You fell
From heaven like an angel
And I am afraid
That heaven
Will take you back.

If the great eyes of my God
Do not protect me
I will fly to you.

I am coming
Like a cat
Through the night so black.
I beg of you (times six)
Do not hide yourself!
Not!

This is a very crude translation...I'm not catching some of the message...but I'm hurrying as well..

[Tyranny_R_US]

8. Muy Bad :)

[khashka]

9. Cut me some slack!

My typing sucks and my French is so bad any Parisian would have me horsewhipped. (A few did!)


But come on! Don't I at least get an A for effort? I tried to transcribe it by ear. It can't be that bad.....

Khash.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

11. You certainly get at least a A for effort!

Especially considering that you transcribed it by ear! Wow...

I'd thought you read it somewhere...good grief, Khash...you did well!

Did you study French in college? or where?

:applause: :applause:

[khashka]

16. Six years of French....

High school and college. I suck major big time.

I do have some vocabulary and I do have some grammar. But spoken French usually baffles me. I can generally figure it out if it's written and I'm given a little time. Then again at other times, it's not like I'm hearing a different language... it's just there in my head. Which really sucks - I either should be able to do it or not, damn it!


Khash.

[StefanX]

12. I think Tyrrany_R_us was saying his French is "muy bad"...

...not Khashka's transcription job.

In fact, you transcribed it perfectly, Khashka - I don't see a single typo - just the accent missing on "tombé" but that's hard to type on American keyboards so it's good enough for internet usage!

(If you really want an accented e, hold down ALT and hit 1 3 0 in succession on the numeric keypad it will do "é". This works for PCs only - on a Mac it's something easier, I forget.)

Everything else is right. You got all the hard stuff:

- silent "s" on the end of "viens", "ailes", "blanches", "enfuis", "volerais"
- "-aient" past imperfect plural ending on "gardaient"
- subjunctive "reprenne"

If this were a dictation test in school you'd get a 99 (or 100 if we don't count accents).

[Tyranny_R_US]

14. Actually I was answering her (?) question

My french is MUY bad :P

[khashka]

18. His. His. His.

I'll forgive you this time.

I thought when I posted in a "how do you feel about snakes" thread that I owned a trouser snake that I was particular fond of the issue of my gender was settled. I guess you missed it. Not your fault.

Even waitresses who see me face to face call me Ma'am. And I have a beard and a moustache!

Khash.

[Bassic]

30. Yeah but they're just parisians

Every francophone on Earth (including all of France) dislike the Parisians, so don't worry about it ;)

[CubsFan1982]

15. Extremely limited.

All I remember from my one French course is how to count to thirty, and I'm not even sure about that.

un
deux
trois
quatre
cinq
six
sept
huit
neuf
dix
onze
deuze
treize
quatorze (sp?)
quinze
seize
dix-sept
dix-huit
dix-neuf
vingt
vingt et un
vingt-deux
vingt-trois
vingt-quatre
vingt-cinq
vingt-six
vingt-sept
vingt-huit
vingt-neuf
trente

I'm surprised I remember that much.

My "French oral" skills are more finely honed, though. :P

[CaliforniaPeggy]

17. Oh really! Whatever could you be referring to?!!!

:rofl: ...:evilgrin:

And BTW, your count to thirty was spot on! Congrats....

[khashka]

20. There are days when I think I only know 6 French words

and "menage a trois" are three of them....


Khash.

[tjwmason]

19. Bloody awful

Or in French terrible.

I got grade A at G.C.S.E. - but that was 10 years ago and I haven't done anything with it since. I can buy food in a market, and order in a restaurant, and say "Je suis un poisson" but that's about it.

[khashka]

36. Ah well

You're British. And the British will go to any lengths not to speak French. Even French words in English the Brits will refuse to pronounce "Frenchly".

Who said the Hundred Years War was over?

Khash.

[tjwmason]

37. As in bordeaux

When we started to drink the wine in abundance, we really didn't want to pronounce such an obviously French word, so we started to call is Claret.

Though in the words of the Queen's toast at a recent state banquet with the French "Vive la difference, et vive l'entente cordiale".

[Anarcho-Socialist]

21. Je parle francais un peux

[CaliforniaPeggy]

23. Et moi,

Je parle seulement un petit peux!

Comment ca va? :shrug:

[Anarcho-Socialist]

25. Ca va tres bien, merci. :-) Et vous?

[CaliforniaPeggy]

26. Tres bien, merci!

:hi:

[Anarcho-Socialist]

28. Salut!

:hi:

[Bassic]

31. Cool, tout le monde va bien,

Qu'est-ce que c'est chouette :)

[woofless]

22. Je ne pas parles Francais.

And I cain't spell it neither.

Woof

[seemunkee]

24. Tres Mal

Although in Costa Rica I kept getting my Spanish and French mixed up.

[Evergreen Emerald]

27. I remember a poem by Victor Hugo...

about visiting his daughter's grave. It was so lovely and sad. I don't think it was ever translated. It was called "Adele H."

[Bassic]

29. French is my first language.

Who wrote that song?

[khashka]

35. KaTe Bush

It was originally only released in France and Canada. Same with Le Baiser D'Enfant...

Le Baiser might be cleverer - she did it both in English and French while maintaing the same lyrical punch and pretty much the same rhyme scheme. In fact one is an almost literal translation of the other. It impressed the hell out of me....


Khash.

[ContraBass Black]

33. Jai etudie le francais pour quatre ans en lycee.

Mais, je ne le parle pas tres bien.

Jai ne employe pas les accentes parce que je suis...

Dmanit, I can't remmeber the word for lazy!

[ComerPerro]

39. Es muy bien.