Competition in this pair is now closed, and the winning entry has been announced. Discussion and feedback about the competition in this language pair may now be provided by visiting the "Discussion & feedback" page for this pair. Entries may also be individually discussed by clicking the "Discuss" link next to any listed entry. Source text in French Des livres, rien que des livres. Alignés sur les étagères. Empilés au sol.Entassés sur le moindre coin de table. Toutes les pièces en regorgent. A peine la place de circuler.C'est ici, dans cet appartement bourgeois du 16e arrondissement de Paris, que Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat a installé son bureau. Ici qu'il travaille face à son ordinateur, douze à quatorze heures par jour, à lire, traduire et préfacer les livres des autres et à écrire les siens. Le soir, il n'a qu'à traverser la rue pour rentrer chez lui. "Ma vie sociale est réduite au minimum", reconnaît-il.
A bientôt 50 ans, Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat est l'un des traducteurs français les plus demandés.[...]
Polyglotte ? Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat balaie le qualificatif d'un revers de main. Il ne parle aucune des langues qu'il traduit. "Même en anglais, je suis incapable de dire deux mots, assure-t-il. A part le latin et le grec, je n'ai jamais appris aucune langue étrangère. La plupart de mes contrats, je les ai signés sans connaître le moins du monde la langue que j'allais traduire. Il suffit qu'un éditeur me convainque de l'intérêt d'un livre pour que j'accepte de relever le défi. Vous ne pouvez pas imaginer dans quel état de tension je suis quand je me mets à travailler sur un texte auquel je ne comprends rien..."[...]
Sa méthode est toujours la même : allergique aux grammaires, il préfère s'"immerger" dans des dictionnaires et des livres en édition bilingue. Généralement, il ne lit pas à l'avance l'ouvrage qu'il doit traduire : "C'est indispensable pour garder une forme de spontanéité dans la traduction." Seul principe, il commence par traduire la fin : "J'ai une telle angoisse de la mort que je préfère me débarrasser de la fin dès le début", explique-t-il. [...] Ce "besoin vital de (s')exiler dans la langue des autres", il dit l'éprouver depuis toujours. | The winning entry has been announced in this pair.There were 24 entries submitted in this pair during the submission phase, 7 of which were selected by peers to advance to the finals round. The winning entry was determined based on finals round voting by peers.
Competition in this pair is now closed. | Books. Nothing but books. Lining the shelves, stacked on the floor. Piles of books on any free bit of table. Every room is bursting with books. There’s barely enough room to move around. It’s here, in this bourgeois apartment in Paris’ 16th arrondissement that Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat has his office. This is where he sits, in front of his computer, working twelve to fourteen hours a day, reading, translating and writing forewords for other people’s books, as well as writing his own. In the evening, all he has to do is cross the street to get home. “My social life is pretty much non-existent,” he admits. Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat, nearly 50, is one of the most sought-after French translators around […] A polyglot? Dauzat casts that label aside. He doesn’t speak any of the languages from which he translates. “I’m not even able to string two words together in English,” he confesses. “Latin and Greek are the only two languages I’ve ever learnt. I sign the majority of my contracts without knowing the faintest thing about the language I’m going to translate. All that an editor needs to do is convince me of a book’s appeal and I’ll accept the challenge. You can’t believe the amount of stress I’m in when I start working on a text that I don’t understand in the slightest…” […] Dauzat always relies on the same method. Averse to grammar, he prefers immersing himself – literally – in dictionaries and bilingual books. He doesn’t usually read the book that he has to translate beforehand, explaining that “it’s essential to keep a certain amount of spontaneity in the translation.” His only rule is that he starts by translating the ending. “I’m so scared of death that I prefer getting the end over and done with right at the beginning,” he explains. […] He admits to always having had this “need to retreat into – and even find refuge in – the language of others.” | Entry #35606 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Britishbritish
Winner Voting points | 1st | 2nd | 3rd |
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148 | 32 x4 | 9 x2 | 2 x1 |
Rating type | Overall | Quality | Accuracy |
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Entry | 3.88 | 3.82 (17 ratings) | 3.94 (16 ratings) |
- 8 users entered 12 "like" tags
- 11 users agreed with "likes" (16 total agrees)
- 2 users disagreed with "likes" (2 total disagrees)
In the evening, all he has to do is cross the street to get home | Flows well | Younes TAZI No agrees/disagrees | |
+2 1 My social life is pretty much non-existent, | Good term selection | Josephine Cassar | |
+3 Dauzat casts that label aside. | Flows well | catpfam | |
without knowing the faintest thing | Flows well | Corrina Pearce No agrees/disagrees | |
| Good term selection Better choice compared to "tension" in my opinion | Nat Dee | |
Averse to grammar | Flows well Good term selection | OUAHDI Mohamed No agrees/disagrees | |
- 8 users entered 13 "dislike" tags
- 19 users agreed with "dislikes" (37 total agrees)
- 2 users disagreed with "dislikes" (2 total disagrees)
+5 1 languages | Omission Foreign languages. He still speaks French | Thomas T. Frost | |
| Mistranslations An 'éditeur' of a book is usually called a publisher | Thomas T. Frost | |
+1 the amount of stress I’m in | Syntax the level of stress I’m under | OUAHDI Mohamed | |
| Syntax I like stress but "stress I'm under" or "I feel" is more natural | Margaret Morrison | |
| Mistranslations The source doesn't say anything about 'literally'. Unnecessary | Thomas T. Frost | |
+1 – and even find refuge in – | Other added in translation, not in original | Rosemary Soroos | |
| Books, books, and more books. Neatly arranged upon the shelves. Carefully stacked on the floor. Packed tightly into every inch of table space. Every room teeming with their presence. Hardly any space to move around. Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat has set up his office here, within the confines of this upscale apartment in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. It is where he devotes twelve to fourteen hours a day to his computer, immersed in reading, translating, and penning prefaces for other people's books as well as writing his own. Come evening, he needs only to cross the street to reach his home. “My social life is kept to a bare minimum,” he concedes. As he nears 50 years of age, Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat is among the most highly sought-after French translators. A polyglot? Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat brushes away the notion with a dismissive gesture. He doesn't speak any of the languages he translates. “Even in English, I am utterly unable to say two words,” he insists. “Except for Latin and Greek, I have never learnt any foreign language. I signed most of my contracts without having the faintest idea of the language I was going to translate. All it takes is for a publisher to convince me of a book's worth, and I’ll readily accept the challenge. You can't fathom the sheer tension I feel when I start working on a text that I don't understand in the slightest...” [...] His method remains unchanged: averse to learning grammar, he favours “immersing” himself in dictionaries and books with bilingual editions. As a rule, he doesn't read the book he has to translate beforehand: “It's crucial to keep a form of spontaneity in the translation.” His sole principle is to begin by translating the ending: "I have such a fear of death that I'd rather get rid of the ending right from the very start," he explains. [...] He says for as long as he can remember he’s experienced this "vital need to (take refuge in) the language of others." | Entry #36242 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specifiednone
Finalist Voting points | 1st | 2nd | 3rd |
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45 | 7 x4 | 6 x2 | 5 x1 |
Rating type | Overall | Quality | Accuracy |
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Entry | 3.47 | 3.50 (18 ratings) | 3.44 (16 ratings) |
- 4 users entered 8 "like" tags
- 9 users agreed with "likes" (18 total agrees)
+2 Books, books, and more books | Good term selection | Nat Dee | |
into | Good term selection I particularly like the way you have used 'upon', 'on' and 'into' here. | Sarah Bessioud No agrees/disagrees | |
| Good term selection Eliminates the repetition of "writing" | Nat Dee | |
+2 most highly sought-after | Good term selection | Nat Dee | |
+4 brushes away the notion with a dismissive gesture | Flows well | Corrina Pearce | |
+3 All it takes is for a publisher to convince me of a book's worth, and I’ll readily accept the challenge | Flows well | Nat Dee | |
- 5 users entered 17 "dislike" tags
- 12 users agreed with "dislikes" (42 total agrees)
- 3 users disagreed with "dislikes" (3 total disagrees)
upon | Spelling on rather than upon | Procol No agrees/disagrees | |
+6 teeming with their presence | Other "Teeming" doesn't really collocate with "presence" so it sounds quite clunky | Leighton Jacobs | |
+2 1 space | Other It would have been better to avoid the repetition of 'space' here. | Sarah Bessioud | |
+1 1 upscale | Other I'm not sure this fully reflects 'bourgeois' | Leighton Jacobs | |
+3 devotes twelve to fourteen hours a day to his computer | Mistranslations 'Devote to his computer' is not the same as the source 'working at his computer' | Leighton Jacobs | |
reach his home. | Spelling reach his home sounds starchy | Procol No agrees/disagrees | |
| Mistranslations This implies that he is purposefully not socialising, which is not what is implied in the source. | Leighton Jacobs | |
| Mistranslations Literal translation, "stress" or similar would be more idiomatic. | Leighton Jacobs | |
| Mistranslations Not necessarily accurate to the source, he may just not like 'looking up' grammar. | Leighton Jacobs | |
I have such a fear of death | Spelling Too literal | Procol No agrees/disagrees | |
| Mistranslations 'Get rid of' implies he's throwing it away rather than completing a translation. | Leighton Jacobs | |
-1 +5 2 says for as long as he can remember | Syntax He's been feeling this need for as long as he can remember, not saying it for as long as he can remember. | Sarah Bessioud | |
| Punctuation This shouldn't be in brackets. Remove the words in brackets and the sentence no longer makes sense. | Sarah Bessioud | |
| Books, nothing but books: lined up on the shelves, piled up on the floor, stacked up on smallest available surface. Every room is overflowing with them. There’s barely space to move. It is here, in this bourgeois-style apartment in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, that Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat has his office. Here that he sits in front of his computer, for twelve to fourteen hours a day, reading, translating and writing forewords for other people’s books and composing his own. In the evening, he has only to cross the road to get home. ‘My social life is reduced to a minimum’, he admits. At nearly fifty years old, Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat is one of the most sought-after French translators…[…] A polyglot? Pierre-Emmanuel dismisses the epithet with a sweep of his hand. He speaks none of the languages he translates. ‘Even in English, I’m incapable of stringing two words together’, he insists. ‘With the exception of Latin and Greek, I’ve never learnt a foreign language. I’ve signed most of my contracts without having the remotest knowledge of the language I was going to translate. A publisher only has to convince me of the importance of a book for me to agree to take up the challenge. You can’t image the level of stress I’m under when I start working on a text of which I understand nothing…’ […] His method never varies: allergic to grammar books, he prefers to ‘immerse’ himself in dictionaries and bilingual editions. He doesn’t usually read the book before starting to translate it: ‘It’s vital to keep a sense of spontaneity in the translation.’ His only principle is that he starts by translating the ending: ‘I have such an anxiety about death that I prefer to get the ending out of the way at the beginning’, he explains. [...] He claims that he has always felt this ‘vital need to exile [himself] in the language of others’. | Entry #35869 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Britishbritish
Finalist Voting points | 1st | 2nd | 3rd |
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44 | 4 x4 | 8 x2 | 12 x1 |
Rating type | Overall | Quality | Accuracy |
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Entry | 3.39 | 3.40 (15 ratings) | 3.38 (13 ratings) |
- 5 users entered 9 "like" tags
- 6 users agreed with "likes" (9 total agrees)
+2 1 forewords | Good term selection | Nat Dee | |
+2 Pierre-Emmanuel dismisses the epithet with a sweep of his hand | Good term selection | Nat Dee | |
+3 1 I’m incapable of stringing two words together | Good term selection | Nat Dee | |
b | Flows well Very readable, especially out loud. | Charles Ferguson No agrees/disagrees | |
+1 get the ending out of the way | Flows well | Procol | |
- 7 users entered 14 "dislike" tags
- 14 users agreed with "dislikes" (34 total agrees)
- 2 users disagreed with "dislikes" (2 total disagrees)
| Other Repeated use of 'up' in these three sentences could have been avoided. | Thomas T. Frost | |
+4 n smallest available surface | Other Something like "in every available space, however small" or "wherever they can be crammed in" would have sounded more natural. | Siobhan Hayes | |
smallest | Other every would be better here | Jackie Eales No agrees/disagrees | |
| Omission No mention of a table... | Nat Dee | |
+4 My social life is reduced to a minimum | Other Too literal - "I have barely any social life" would sound better, for example. | Siobhan Hayes | |
[ | Punctuation Space missing before the bracket | Thomas T. Frost No agrees/disagrees | |
| Other This word choice doesn't match the register of the source text | Leighton Jacobs | |
| Syntax Feels like a subjunctive is needed here. "His only principle is to start by..." perhaps | Elizabeth Slaney | |
+5 1 an | Grammar errors Grammar error: the determiner "an" is incorrect here. | Leighton Jacobs | |
| Mistranslations "Claims" is not the same as the source "says". | Leighton Jacobs | |
| Other Could perhaps have avoided the repetition of "vital" | Nat Dee | |
| Books, books and more books. Arranged on shelves. Piled up on the floor. Taking over every last corner of the table. Each room overflowing with books. Almost impossible to get around. Here, in this bourgeois apartment in Paris’s 16th arrondissement, Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat has set up his office. Here, he works at his computer, spending twelve to fourteen hours a day reading, translating, composing his own works as well as prefaces for other writers’ books. In the evening, he only has to cross the road, and he’s home. “My social life is virtually non-existent,” he acknowledges. At nearly fifty years of age, Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat is one of the most in-demand French translators. Polyglot? Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat dismisses the term. He doesn’t speak any of the languages he translates from. “I can’t even string a sentence together in English,” he assures me. “Apart from Latin and Greek, I’ve never learned a single foreign language. I’ve signed most of my contracts without knowing anything at all about the language I had to translate. All it takes is for a publisher to convince me that a book is worth translating, and I’ll take up the gauntlet. You cannot imagine how nervous I am when I start working on a text, and I don’t understand a word of it.” He always goes about it the same way: he is allergic to grammars, preferring to ‘immerse himself’ in bilingual books and dictionaries. He generally doesn’t read works before translating them: “I can’t read ahead if the translation is to have any spontaneity.” His one golden rule is to start by translating the end: “I’m so afraid of death that I prefer to get the end over and done with from the beginning,” he explains. He says that he has always felt this ‘urgent need to hide himself away in the words of others’. | Entry #35185 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Britishbritish
Finalist Voting points | 1st | 2nd | 3rd |
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35 | 2 x4 | 8 x2 | 11 x1 |
Rating type | Overall | Quality | Accuracy |
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Entry | 3.34 | 3.41 (17 ratings) | 3.27 (15 ratings) |
- 7 users entered 7 "like" tags
- 7 users agreed with "likes" (9 total agrees)
- 1 user disagreed with "likes" (1 total disagree)
+5 Books, books and more books | Good term selection | Nat Dee | |
+1 “My social life is virtually non-existent | Good term selection Flows well too | Josephine Cassar | |
most in-demand | Flows well Perhaps the best way to translate "les plus demandés" | Procol No agrees/disagrees | |
+1 I can’t even string a sentence together in English | Good term selection | Corrina Pearce | |
+1 I can’t read ahead if the translation is to have any spontaneity | Flows well | Kaplana1 | |
- 10 users entered 14 "dislike" tags
- 10 users agreed with "dislikes" (16 total agrees)
- 3 users disagreed with "dislikes" (4 total disagrees)
| Syntax Every would read more naturally here | catpfam | |
-2 +1 3 Almost impossible to get around. | Spelling Could have been closer to the metaphor of Spitting out/spilling out books | Susan McEwan | |
-1 +1 reading, translating, composing his own works as well as prefaces for other writers’ books | Mistranslations He reads, translates and writes prefaces for other people's books. He does not read and translate his own. | Sarah Bessioud | |
+3 2 take up the gauntlet | Other This term seems a little out of place here | Sheila Faber | |
” | Punctuation Missing brackets with ellipsis | Thomas T. Frost No agrees/disagrees | |
“ | Punctuation A text should normally stick to one type of quotes, single or double. Not both | Thomas T. Frost No agrees/disagrees | |
. | Punctuation Missing brackets with ellipsis | Thomas T. Frost No agrees/disagrees | |
| Punctuation Switches between double and single quotations | Angelica Burton | |
hide himself away | Spelling maybe no need for the "himself". | Procol No agrees/disagrees | |
| Mistranslations The source refers to 'language of others', not simply 'words of others' | Thomas T. Frost | |
| Books, nothing but books. Lined up on the shelves. Stacked on the floor. Piled up on every corner of the table. Every room crammed with them, barely space to move. Here, in this bourgeois apartment in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, is where Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat has set up his office. Here is where he spends twelve to fourteen hours a day working in front of his computer, reading, translating and prefacing other people’s books, as well as writing his own. In the evening, he only has to cross the street to get home. “My social life is almost non-existent,” he admits. At almost 50 years old, Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat is one of the most sought-after French translators. [...] Is he a polyglot? Pierre-Emmauel Dauzat dismisses the term out of hand. He does not speak any of the languages he translates. “Even in English, I cannot string two words together,” he insists. “Apart from Latin and Greek, I have never learned any foreign language. Most of my contracts I have signed without knowing anything of the language I am going to translate. I only need a publisher to convince me that a book is worthwhile, and I will agree to take on the challenge. You cannot imagine the tension when I start working on a text I do not understand at all...” [...] His method is always the same: allergic to grammar books, he prefers to immerse himself in dictionaries and bilingual books. Generally, he does not read the work he needs to translate in advance, as “it is essential to keep a sense of spontaneity in the translation.” His only rule is that he begins by translating the end. “I have such anxiety about death that I prefer to get the ending out of the way at the start,” he explains. [...] This “fundamental urge to retreat into the language of others” is something he says he has felt his entire life. | Entry #34936 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specifiednone
Finalist Voting points | 1st | 2nd | 3rd |
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28 | 2 x4 | 8 x2 | 4 x1 |
Rating type | Overall | Quality | Accuracy |
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Entry | 3.38 | 3.38 (16 ratings) | 3.38 (13 ratings) |
- 3 users entered 3 "like" tags
- 3 users agreed with "likes" (3 total agrees)
almost non-existent | Flows well | Kaplana1 No agrees/disagrees | |
+3 I cannot string two words together, | Good term selection | Nat Dee | |
- 9 users entered 12 "dislike" tags
- 9 users agreed with "dislikes" (21 total agrees)
- 1 user disagreed with "dislikes" (1 total disagree)
on | Spelling in the corner instead of on the corner | Ayayi Ajavon No agrees/disagrees | |
| Mistranslations Sounds overly literal, as 'le moindre coin' does not refer to where the edges meet but figuratively means 'all over the place' | Thomas T. Frost | |
| Other I would have preserved the original's deliberate staccato rhythm instead of spelling it out as a complete sentence. | Thomas T. Frost | |
-1 +1 2 Pierre-Emmauel Dauzat | Other I find the repetition of the man's full name cumbersome here, so shortly after the line above. | Sarah Bessioud | |
+4 1 Most of my contracts I have signed | Syntax Clunky order and incorrect tense, should be "I signed" | Leighton Jacobs | |
+3 1 tension | Mistranslations Literal translation, "stress" or similar would be more idiomatic. | Leighton Jacobs | |
+2 1 books | Other The repetition of 'books' could have been avoided here. | Sarah Bessioud | |
| Books. Nothing but books. Lined up on the shelves. Stacked on the floor. Piled up on every square inch of the table. All the rooms are crammed with them. You can barely squeeze past them. It is here, in this bourgeois flat in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, that Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat set up his study. Here he works in front of his computer, twelve to fourteen hours a day, reading, translating and writing prefaces for other people’s books and writing his own. In the evening, he just needs to cross the street to get home. ‘I have virtually no social life,’ he admits. Aged nearly 50, Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat is one of the most solicited French translators. […] Polyglot? With a wave of his hand, Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat brushes this label aside. He cannot speak any of the languages he translates. ‘I can’t even say two words of English,’ he says. ‘Apart from Latin and Greek, I’ve never learnt a foreign language. I signed most of my contracts without knowing the first thing about the language I was going to translate. A publisher just needs to convince me of the relevance of a book, and I accept the challenge. You have no idea how tense I am when I start working on a text I’m completely in the dark about …’ […] His method is always the same: allergic to grammar books, he prefers to ‘immerse’ himself in dictionaries and bilingual books. As a rule, he doesn’t read the work to translate in advance: ‘This is a must for the translation to be spontaneous in a certain way.’ His only principle is to translate the end first: ‘I’m so terrified of death that I’d rather be done with the end first,’ he explains. […] This ‘fundamental need to bury oneself in the language of others’ is something he claims always to have felt. | Entry #36202 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Britishbritish
Finalist Voting points | 1st | 2nd | 3rd |
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27 | 5 x4 | 2 x2 | 3 x1 |
Rating type | Overall | Quality | Accuracy |
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Entry | 3.37 | 3.36 (14 ratings) | 3.38 (13 ratings) |
- 4 users entered 5 "like" tags
- 8 users agreed with "likes" (8 total agrees)
- 3 users disagreed with "likes" (4 total disagrees)
Here | Flows well Good repetition reflecting the source | Angelica Burton No agrees/disagrees | |
-1 1 With a wave of his hand, Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat brushes this label aside. | Good term selection | Nat Dee | |
- 5 users entered 12 "dislike" tags
- 4 users agreed with "dislikes" (18 total agrees)
- 2 users disagreed with "dislikes" (4 total disagrees)
-2 +2 2 every square inch | Mistranslations Only piled up on parts of the table that weren't occupied by other things. | Sarah Bessioud | |
| Other Two sentences ending in 'them' could have been avoided. | Sarah Bessioud | |
-1 1 study | Mistranslations A 'study' is at home but he's not at home, so it has to be 'office' | Leighton Jacobs | |
| Spelling A “preface” is usually written by the author of a book | Nat Dee | |
| Mistranslations 'Relevance' is not the meaning in the source. | Leighton Jacobs | |
| Mistranslations 'In the dark about' means more 'unaware of' but the meaning in the source is more 'not able to understand' | Leighton Jacobs | |
-1 +1 1 work to translate | Mistranslations I think this should be 'the work to be translated' or similar. | Leighton Jacobs | |
he claims always to have felt | Spelling Very clumsy and unfortunate ending to what is a rather good translation. | Procol No agrees/disagrees | |
+1 1 claims | Other The word choice reads more skeptical about his truthfulness than the source | Angelica Burton | |
| Books, nothing but books. Ranged on the shelves. Stacked on the floor. Heaped on any spare bit of table. Every room is crammed with them. There is hardly space to move. It is here, in this middle-class flat in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, that Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat has established his office. Here where he works at his computer, twelve to fourteen hours a day, reading, translating and prefacing other people’s books and writing his own. In the evening he just crosses the street to get home. ‘My social life is at a low ebb,’ he admits. At the age of almost 50, Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat is one of France’s most popular translators. [...] A polyglot? Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat dismisses the label with a wave of his hand. He cannot speak any of the languages that he translates. ‘Even in English I’m unable to string two words together,’ he declares. ‘I’ve never learnt any foreign languages apart from Latin and Greek. I sign most of my contracts without any knowledge at all of the language I’m going to translate. A publisher only has to persuade me that a book is worthwhile for me to take on the challenge. You can’t imagine how stressed I am when I start working on a text that I don’t understand at all…’ [...] His method is always the same: because he is allergic to grammar books, he prefers to immerse himself in dictionaries and parallel texts. He does not usually start by reading through the book that he is going to translate: ‘It’s essential, so as to keep the translation as spontaneous as possible.’ His only hard-and-fast rule is to begin by translating the end: ‘I’m so afraid of death that I prefer to get shot of the end from the start,’ he explains. [...] He says he has always felt this ‘vital need to withdraw into the language of others’. | Entry #36170 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specifiednone
Finalist Voting points | 1st | 2nd | 3rd |
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24 | 3 x4 | 4 x2 | 4 x1 |
Rating type | Overall | Quality | Accuracy |
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Entry | 3.38 | 3.38 (16 ratings) | 3.38 (13 ratings) |
- 6 users entered 8 "like" tags
- 3 users agreed with "likes" (3 total agrees)
- 1 user disagreed with "likes" (1 total disagree)
+1 Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat dismisses the label with a wave of his hand | Good term selection | Nat Dee | |
‘Even in English I’m unable to string two words together,’ | Good term selection | Nat Dee No agrees/disagrees | |
vital need to withdraw into the language of others | Flows well | Procol No agrees/disagrees | |
- 7 users entered 11 "dislike" tags
- 7 users agreed with "dislikes" (12 total agrees)
- 4 users disagreed with "dislikes" (5 total disagrees)
+6 1 Ranged | Spelling I can only assume this was meant to be "arranged"? | Leighton Jacobs | |
-1 1 space | Mistranslations The idea is "no ROOM to move". | Debora Blake | |
+1 My social life is at a low ebb | Other makes it sound like his social life comes and goes and it is *currently* at a low point. That meaning is not in the original. | Rosemary Soroos | |
-2 1 France’s most popular translators | Mistranslations He is a French translator, but this doesn't necessarily mean he is a translator living in France | Sarah Bessioud | |
France’s | Mistranslations The source says 'French translators', not 'translators in France' | Thomas T. Frost No agrees/disagrees | |
-1 1 Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat | Other I find the repetition of this man's full name cumbersome here, so shortly after the line above. | Sarah Bessioud | |
| Punctuation I find the use of a colon followed by the word 'because' rather clumsy. A full-stop would have been better here in my opinion. | Sarah Bessioud | |
-1 +2 1 keep the translation as spontaneous as possible | Spelling The source text mentions "une forme de", which does not translate to keeping it as spontaneous as possible. | Sarah Bessioud | |
end | Other Perhaps using "end" and "ending" or "the last part" could have been a solution to avoid this repetition. | Sarah Bessioud No agrees/disagrees | |
| Non-finalist entries The following entries were not selected by peers to advance to finals-round voting. Books. Nothing but books. Everywhere. Lined up on the shelves. Stacked on the floor. Piled on every table corner. They overflow from every room, leaving little space to move. It is here that Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat has set up his office, in this plush Parisian apartment in the sixteenth arrondissement. It is here that he spends twelve to fourteen hours a day reading, translating, writing prefaces for others’ books. And writing his own books. At night, he has only to cross the street to return home. “I have a limited social life,” he comments. At almost 50 years old, Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat is one of the most sought-after French translators. […] A polyglot? Dauzat brushes off that descriptor. He speaks none of the languages that he translates. “I don’t speak more than a word or two of English,” he says. “Latin and Greek are the only foreign languages I’ve ever learned. I’ve signed most of my contracts without knowing the language I’m going to translate. A publisher simply needs to convince me of the value of a book, and I’m ready for the challenge. You can’t possibly imagine the tension that consumes me when I’m about to work on a text that I don’t understand.” […] He always follows the same method. He has an aversion to grammar texts, preferring to “immerse” himself in dictionaries and bilingual books. He seldom reads the text to be translated in advance, noting that “maintaining a level of spontaneity is crucial when you translate.” He is guided by just one principle: He translates the end of the text first. “I’m so apprehensive about death that I prefer to deal with the end at the start of the process,” he explains. […] He has always felt a “visceral need to exile himself in the languages of others.” | Entry #36298 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specifiednone
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Entry | 3.32 | 3.40 (15 ratings) | 3.23 (13 ratings) |
- 3 users entered 6 "like" tags
- 3 users agreed with "likes" (3 total agrees)
leaving little space to move | Flows well Nice phrasing | Leighton Jacobs No agrees/disagrees | |
| Flows well Good decision to use just the surname here, as is customary in newspaper articles. | Sarah Bessioud | |
brushes off that descriptor | Good term selection | Angelica Burton No agrees/disagrees | |
I don’t speak more than a word or two of English | Good term selection | Angelica Burton No agrees/disagrees | |
+2 maintaining a level of spontaneity is crucial | Good term selection | Angelica Burton | |
- 5 users entered 11 "dislike" tags
- 8 users agreed with "dislikes" (25 total agrees)
| Mistranslations 'le moindre coin de table' doesn't literally refer to the corners (where the edges meet) but more figuratively 'every possible space' | Thomas T. Frost | |
+4 1 plush | Other This doesn't really reflect the source term | Angelica Burton | |
| Mistranslations A “preface” is usually written by the author of a book | Nat Dee | |
| Other 'Books' could have been omitted here to avoid the repetition. | Sarah Bessioud | |
+2 1 comments | Spelling I would translate "reconnaît-il" as "he admits" or "he acknowledges" | Nat Dee | |
| Other "Descriptor" is specific to linguistics, so this is not an ideal choice for this context | Leighton Jacobs | |
| Omission 'le moins du monde' is missing from the translation. | Leighton Jacobs | |
| Mistranslations Literal translation, "stress" would be more idiomatic | Leighton Jacobs | |
| Mistranslations I don't think "apprehensive" is strong enough to capture the source sense of 'scared' | Leighton Jacobs | |
He | Other You have used 'he' at the beginning of six sentences in this paragraph. | Sarah Bessioud No agrees/disagrees | |
| Books, nothing but books. Lined up on shelves. Stacked up on the floor. Heaped up on the table in every last nook and cranny. Every room is chock-full of them, with barely space to move. It’s here in this bourgeois apartment in Paris’s 16th arrondissement that Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat has set up his office. It’s here he spends twelve to fourteen hours a day working at his computer, reading, translating, and prefacing the books of others and writing his own. At the end of the day, home is just across the road. “My social life is reduced to a minimum,” he admits. As he nears his 50th birthday, Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat is one of the most sought-after French translators. […] But he’s quick to brush off the label of ‘polyglot’. He doesn’t speak any of the languages he translates. “I can’t even string two words of English together,” he remarks. “Except for Latin and Greek, I never learnt a foreign language. I’ve signed most of my contracts without so much as a smattering of the language I was going to translate. All a publisher has to do is convince me of the book’s value and I’ll take on the challenge. You cannot begin to imagine how tense it makes me to start working on a text I understand nothing of…” […] He always follows the same method, his allergy to grammar books leading him to instead immerse himself in dictionaries and bilingual books. He doesn’t usually read a book before translating it: “This is essential to retain some kind of spontaneity in the translation.” His only rule is to start by translating the end. “Such is my angst about death that I prefer to get the end over and done with first,” he explains, claiming that he’s always felt this “vital necessity to take up exile in the languages of others.” | Entry #35137 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Britishbritish
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Entry | 3.19 | 3.06 (18 ratings) | 3.31 (16 ratings) |
- 6 users entered 8 "like" tags
- 5 users agreed with "likes" (6 total agrees)
one of the most sought-after | Good term selection | Corrina Pearce No agrees/disagrees | |
label | Good term selection | Nat Dee No agrees/disagrees | |
+2 “I can’t even string two words of English together,” | Good term selection | Nat Dee | |
smattering | Good term selection Nice word choice | Leighton Jacobs No agrees/disagrees | |
Such is my angst about death that I prefer to get the end over and done with first | Flows well | Kaplana1 No agrees/disagrees | |
take up exile in | Flows well | Kaplana1 No agrees/disagrees | |
- 4 users entered 11 "dislike" tags
- 7 users agreed with "dislikes" (15 total agrees)
Heaped | Other Not the best collocation as books are generally not 'heaped'. | Leighton Jacobs No agrees/disagrees | |
| Other Repeated use of 'up' in these three sentences could have been avoided. | Sarah Bessioud | |
| Other Literal translation, there are many more idiomatic ways of translating this source phrase. | Leighton Jacobs | |
+3 As he nears his 50th birthday | Other I can't help but feel that this is too precise. Just turned 49 could also be classed as "A bientôt 50 ans". | Sarah Bessioud | |
+2 1 But | Other I find it a shame here that you lost the question used in the source text. | Sarah Bessioud | |
+1 how tense it makes me t | Syntax Slightly awkward sentence structure here | Leighton Jacobs | |
+2 1 book | Other 'Books' used three times in two sentences. | Sarah Bessioud | |
+2 1 , | Other The source has a […], which means that the original article contains a section that was left out, so we should not join the parts before and after the omitted section | Thomas T. Frost | |
| Books here, there and everywhere; lined up on shelves, piled up on the floor and stacked up on tables anywhere they would fit. Brimming with books, there’s hardly an inch left to move in any room. But it’s in this bourgeois apartment in the haughty 16th arrondissement of Paris that Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat has set up his office. He works here, in front of a computer, for twelve to fourteen hours a day – reading, translating and prefacing the books of others as well as writing his own. ‘My social life is practically non-existent,’ he admits, only having to cross the road to get home in the evening. Almost 50, Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat is one of the most in-demand French translators. […] Is he a polyglot? Dauzat bats away the idea. He doesn’t speak any of the languages he translates. ‘I can’t even string a sentence together in English,’ he says. ‘Apart from Latin and Greek, I never learned a foreign language. I signed most of my contracts without knowing the slightest thing about the language that I was going to translate. Publishers only have to convince me that a book is worthwhile for me to agree to take up the challenge. You can’t begin to imagine how stressed I am when I start working on a text that I can’t make head nor tail of…’ […] His process is always the same. Allergic to grammar, he prefers to ‘immerse’ himself in bilingual books and dictionaries. He normally doesn’t even read a book before translating it because, in his own words, ‘it gives the translation some spontaneity.’ Dauzat has only one rule: always translate the ending first. ‘I’m so scared of death that I’d rather get the end out of the way at the start,’ he explains. […] He says that he has always felt this ‘natural urge to withdraw into the language of others’. | Entry #36188 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Britishbritish
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Entry | 3.14 | 3.06 (16 ratings) | 3.21 (14 ratings) |
- 4 users entered 5 "like" tags
- 4 users agreed with "likes" (5 total agrees)
+2 ‘I can’t even string a sentence together in English, | Good term selection | Lindsey Sidebottom | |
can’t make head nor tail of | Flows well | Kaplana1 No agrees/disagrees | |
gives the translation some spontaneity | Flows well | Kaplana1 No agrees/disagrees | |
| Flows well Good choice to use just the surname, and although his name doesn't appear in this paragraph in the source text, I feel this is a legitimate addition here as it improves the flow of the text. | Sarah Bessioud | |
- 4 users entered 8 "dislike" tags
- 8 users agreed with "dislikes" (15 total agrees)
- 2 users disagreed with "dislikes" (6 total disagrees)
-2 +1 2 up | Other Repeated use of 'up' in these three sentences could have been avoided. | Thomas T. Frost | |
to move in any room. | Other sounds awkward and clunky | Rosemary Soroos No agrees/disagrees | |
-1 +5 2 But | Mistranslations There is no 'but' in the source text. | Sarah Bessioud | |
| Mistranslations 'Bourgeois' does not in itself mean or imply 'haughty' | Thomas T. Frost | |
a | Mistranslations It is his computer in the source text. | Sarah Bessioud No agrees/disagrees | |
-2 +1 2 Is he a polyglot | Other I would have kept the original's staccato rhythm instead of turning it into a complete sentence. | Thomas T. Frost | |
| Books, nothing but books. Lined up on shelves. Stacked up on the floor. Piled up and covering every inch of table. Every room is overflowing with them, with hardly any room to move around. It's here in this bourgeois apartment in Paris's 16th arrondissement that Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat has his office. This is where he works at his computer, twelve to fourteen hours a day, reading, translating, and writing prefaces for others' books as well as writing his own. In the evening, all he has to do is cross the street to go home. "My exposure to the outside world is kept to a minimum," he admits. At nearly 50, Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat is one of France's most sought-after translators. [...] A polyglot? Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat dismisses the term with a wave of his hand. He speaks none of the languages he translates. "Even in English, I can't string two words together," he assures us. "Apart from Latin and Greek, I've never learned any foreign language. I've signed most of my contracts without the slightest knowledge of the language I was going to translate. All it takes is for a publisher to convince me of the merits of a book, and I'm ready to accept the challenge. You can't imagine the kind of tension I feel when I start working on a text I don't understand..." [...] His method is always the same: being averse to grammars, he prefers to "immerse" himself in dictionaries and bilingual books. Usually, he doesn't read the work he has to translate prior to translating it. "It's essential to keep a kind of spontaneity to the translation." The only rule he does follow is that he begins by translating the ending. "I'm so afraid of death that I prefer to get the ending out of the way right from the beginning," he explains. [...] He says he has always felt this "vital need to seek escape in the language of others." | Entry #34687 — Discuss 0 — Variant: USuseng
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Entry | 3.06 | 3.20 (15 ratings) | 2.92 (12 ratings) |
- 4 users entered 6 "like" tags
- 6 users agreed with "likes" (9 total agrees)
all he has to do is cross the street | Flows well Nice phrasing | Leighton Jacobs No agrees/disagrees | |
+4 Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat dismisses the term with a wave of his hand | Good term selection | Nat Dee | |
+1 I can't string two words together | Good term selection | Nat Dee | |
+4 1 All it takes is for a publisher to convince me of the merits of a book, and I'm ready to accept the challenge | Flows well | Nat Dee | |
- 4 users entered 11 "dislike" tags
- 9 users agreed with "dislikes" (16 total agrees)
- 3 users disagreed with "dislikes" (3 total disagrees)
| Spelling I feel that the repetition of 'up' in these three sentences should have been avoided. | Sarah Bessioud | |
| Mistranslations A “preface” is usually written by the author of a book | Nat Dee | |
+7 1 exposure to the outside world | Mistranslations Having no exposure to the outside world does not necessarily mean having no social life, which is what the source text says. | Sarah Bessioud | |
France's | Mistranslations The source says 'French translators', not 'translators in France' | Thomas T. Frost No agrees/disagrees | |
-3 1 I've signed | Mistranslations Incorrect tense, "I signed" is the source meaning. | Leighton Jacobs | |
tension | Other Literal translation, "stress" or similar would be more idiomatic. | Leighton Jacobs No agrees/disagrees | |
don't understand | Omission The source is 'ne comprends rien' so 'at all' should ideally be included.. | Leighton Jacobs No agrees/disagrees | |
grammars | Grammar errors Literal translation has caused grammar error as the word "grammar" always appears without an 's'.. | Leighton Jacobs No agrees/disagrees | |
| Other Unfortunate repetition of translate/translating in the one sentence. | Sarah Bessioud | |
| Books, books, nothing but books. Lined up on the shelves, piled up on the floor, stacked up on every inch of the table. Every room full to the brim, with barely enough room to move around. It’s here, in this bourgeois apartment in Paris’ 16th arrondissement, that Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat has set up his office. It’s where he sits for twelve to fourteen hours a day in front of his computer, reading, translating, and prefacing other people's books and writing his own words. In the evening, he merely has to cross the street to get home. "I don’t have much of a social life" he admits. At nearly 50, Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat is one of the most sought-after French translators[...]. Multilingual? Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat dismisses the adjective out of hand. He doesn’t speak any of the languages he translates. “I can't speak a word of English” he says. Apart from Latin and Greek, I’ve never learnt any foreign language, and I’ve signed most of my contracts without knowing a single word of the language I was about to translate. All it takes is for a publisher to pique my interest in a book for me to accept the challenge. You cannot imagine just how stressed I feel when I start to work on a text that I don't understand..."[...]. His method never deviates. Allergic to grammar books, he prefers to 'immerse' himself in dictionaries and in the bilingual editions of books. He doesn't normally read the work he has to translate in advance, because "it's vital to retain a sense of spontaneity in the translation". His only rule is that he begins by translating the ending. "I'm so afraid of death that I prefer to get the ending out of the way straight away" he explains. [...] I’ve always felt this "overwhelming need to retreat into the language of others," he says. | Entry #36073 — Discuss 0 — Variant: UKukeng
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Entry | 2.98 | 2.79 (14 ratings) | 3.17 (12 ratings) |
- 1 user entered 2 "like" tags
- 1 user agreed with "likes" (1 total agree)
dismisses the adjective out of hand. | Good term selection | Sheila Faber No agrees/disagrees | |
- 4 users entered 12 "dislike" tags
- 6 users agreed with "dislikes" (15 total agrees)
up | Other Repeated use of 'up' in these three sentences could have been avoided. | Thomas T. Frost No agrees/disagrees | |
prefacing | Mistranslations A “preface” is usually written by the author of a book | Nat Dee No agrees/disagrees | |
| Mistranslations According to the source, he writes books, not simply words | Thomas T. Frost | |
[...]. | Punctuation The full stop should precede the […], which indicates an omitted section, and there should be a space before the bracket | Thomas T. Frost No agrees/disagrees | |
[...]. | Punctuation Space missing before the bracket, and there should not be a full stop after the closing bracket | Thomas T. Frost No agrees/disagrees | |
| Punctuation The excerpt switches between double quotations and single | Angelica Burton | |
| Other The phonetic repetition of 'way' could have been avoided. | Thomas T. Frost | |
| Books, nothing but books. Stacked on shelves. Piled up on the floor. Teetering in heaps on the corners of tables. Every room was crammed full of them. Hardly enough room to move about. Here, in this staid apartment in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, is where Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat has set up his office. This is where he works in front of his computer, twelve to fourteen hours a day, reading, translating, penning prefaces to others’ books, and writing his own. In the evening, he need only cross the street to get home. “My social life has been reduced to a minimum,” he acknowledges. At almost fifty years old, Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat is one of the most sought-after French translators. […] Polyglot? Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat dismisses the word with a wave of his hand. He doesn’t speak any of the languages he translates from. “Even in English, I can barely say two words,” he affirms. “Apart from Latin and Greek, I’ve never learned any foreign languages. I signed most of my contracts without having the slightest understanding of the language I would be translating. All an editor needed to do was to convince me that the book was of consequence, and I’d take up the challenge. You simply can’t imagine how stressed I am when I start working on a text that I find utterly incomprehensible…” […] His method is always the same: allergic to grammar references, he prefers to “immerse” himself in dictionaries and bilingual editions of other books. Generally, he does not read the work he is translating in advance: “It’s crucial, to ensure the translation retains a certain spontaneity.” His only rule is to begin by translating the ending. “I have such a fear of death that I’d rather dispense of the ending right from the start,” he explains. […] This “visceral need to escape into the language of others,” he says he’s always felt it. | Entry #35080 — Discuss 0 — Variant: USuseng
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Entry | 2.96 | 2.92 (13 ratings) | 3.00 (11 ratings) |
- 3 users entered 3 "like" tags
- 2 users agreed with "likes" (2 total agrees)
+1 dismisses the word with a wave of his hand | Good term selection | Angelica Burton | |
+1 “I have such a fear of death that I’d rather dispense of the ending right from the start, | Good term selection | Nat Dee | |
- 5 users entered 12 "dislike" tags
- 8 users agreed with "dislikes" (22 total agrees)
- 2 users disagreed with "dislikes" (2 total disagrees)
| Mistranslations There is nothing in the source text to imply that they were teetering. In fact, piles of books are usually quite stable. | Sarah Bessioud | |
| Mistranslations 'le moindre coin de table' doesn't literally refer to the corners (where the edges meet) but more figuratively 'every possible space' | Thomas T. Frost | |
| Mistranslations A “preface” is usually written by the author of a book | Nat Dee | |
Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat | Other I find the repetition of this man's full name cumbersome here, so shortly after the line above. | Sarah Bessioud No agrees/disagrees | |
| Mistranslations An 'éditeur' of a book is usually called a publisher | Thomas T. Frost | |
+1 find utterly incomprehensible | Mistranslations This implies that there is a problem with the book, but it is PED who doesn't understand the language | Thomas T. Frost | |
| Books, nothing but books. Ranged on the bookshelves. Stacked on the floor. Heaped up on every last corner of the table. All the rooms overflow with them. There’s hardly room to move. Here, in this elegant apartment in the 16th arrondissement in Paris, Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat has installed his office. Here he works on his computer, 12 to 14 hours a day, reading, translating, writing prefaces for the books of others, and writing his own. At night, he only has to cross the road to get home. “My social life is reduced to a minimum”, he recognizes. At nearly 50 years of age, Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat is one of France’s most in-demand translators.[…] A polyglot? Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat brushes off the qualification. He doesn’t speak any of the languages he translates. “Even in English, I don’t speak a word,” he declares. “Apart from Latin and Greek, I’ve never learned any foreign languages. I’ve signed the majority of my contracts not knowing anything at all about the language I was going to translate. It’s sufficient for an editor to convince me of the importance of a book for me to take up the challenge. You can’t imagine the state of tension I’m in when I start to work on a text of which I don’t understand a thing…”[…] His method is always the same: allergic to grammar books, he prefers to “immerse” himself in dictionaries and books in bilingual editions. Generally, he doesn’t read the book he has to translate beforehand: “That’s essential to keep a form of spontaneity in the translation.” His only principle is that he starts translating the end first: “I’m so afraid of death that I prefer to have done with the end right at the start,” he explains. […] He says he has always felt that “vital need to exile oneself in the language of others.” | Entry #36037 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Britishbritish
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Entry | 2.94 | 2.88 (16 ratings) | 3.00 (13 ratings) |
- 1 user entered 1 "like" tag
on every last corner of the table | Flows well | Sheila Faber No agrees/disagrees | |
- 6 users entered 11 "dislike" tags
- 7 users agreed with "dislikes" (13 total agrees)
- 3 users disagreed with "dislikes" (3 total disagrees)
-1 +1 1 Here | Other Two consecutive sentences beginning with 'here' could have been avoided. | Sarah Bessioud | |
France | Mistranslations The source says 'French translators', not 'translators in France' | Thomas T. Frost No agrees/disagrees | |
[ | Punctuation Space missing before the bracket | Thomas T. Frost No agrees/disagrees | |
| Other I find the repetition of this man's full name cumbersome here, so shortly after the line above. | Sarah Bessioud | |
| Mistranslations An 'éditeur' of a book is usually called a publisher | Thomas T. Frost | |
[ | Punctuation Space missing before the bracket | Thomas T. Frost No agrees/disagrees | |
| Books, books everywhere. Lined up on shelves. Stacked on the floor. Piled up on every single table in sight. The whole place overflowing with books. You can hardly move around. This is where Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat set up his desk, in this bourgeois apartment of the 16th arrondissement in Paris. This is where he works on his computer, for twelve to fourteen hours a day, reading, translating, prefacing other people’s books, and writing his own. All he’s got to do to go home at night, is cross the street. “I don’t have much of a social life”, he admits. Almost fifty, PED is one of the hottest translators in France. Polyglot? Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat firmly dismisses the adjective. He doesn’t speak any of the languages he translates. "Even in English, I can't say two words," he says. "Apart from Latin and Greek, I've never learned any foreign language. I signed most of my contracts without the slightest knowledge of the language I was going to translate. All it takes is for a publisher to convince me of the merits of a book, and I'm ready to face the challenge. You cannot imagine the stress I feel when I start working on a text I don't understand..."[...]. He always sticks with the same method: allergic to grammars, he favors "immersing" himself in dictionaries and bilingual books. As a rule, he doesn't first read the work he has to translate: "It's vital if you want to keep some measure of spontaneity in the translation". His only rule: start by translating the ending: "I'm so afraid of death that I prefer to get rid of the ending right off the bat," he explains. [...] He says he’s always felt this "vital need to exile myself in the language of others". | Entry #35005 — Discuss 0 — Variant: USuseng
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Entry | 2.85 | 2.63 (16 ratings) | 3.07 (14 ratings) |
- 4 users entered 4 "like" tags
- 5 users agreed with "likes" (5 total agrees)
+3 “I don’t have much of a social life”, he admits | Flows well | Melanie Kathan | |
+1 firmly dismisses the adjective | Good term selection | JaneD | |
says | Good term selection In English, we usually forego fancy dialogue tags and simply use "said" | Kaplana1 No agrees/disagrees | |
+1 All it takes is for a publisher to convince me of the merits of a book | Flows well | Corrina Pearce | |
- 7 users entered 16 "dislike" tags
- 13 users agreed with "dislikes" (39 total agrees)
| Mistranslations The meaning of 'bureau' here is 'office'/'study', not the physical desk | Thomas T. Frost | |
| Mistranslations A “preface” is usually written by the author of a book | Nat Dee | |
| Other Clumsy phrasing | JaneD | |
+7 1 PED | Inconsistencies Abbreviated here, yet spelled out in full again below. | Sarah Bessioud | |
+6 1 hottest | Other 'hottest' is perhaps not the best choice or register for this text | Thomas T. Frost | |
| Mistranslations The source says 'French translators', not 'translators in France' | Thomas T. Frost | |
| Punctuation Two colons in one sentence could have been avoided by using a period here. | Sarah Bessioud | |
get rid of | Mistranslations "Get rid of" implies that he doesn't actually translate the end, rather than translating it first. | Kaplana1 No agrees/disagrees | |
| Other The repetition of 'vital' in this paragraph could have been avoided. | Sarah Bessioud | |
myself | Inconsistencies The switch from "he" to "my" is a bit jarring and could have been avoided. | Kaplana1 No agrees/disagrees | |
| Books, nothing but books. Lined-up on the shelves. Piled up on the floor. Squished up on the smallest corner of the table. Every room chock-a-block. Hardly any wiggle room. This is the plush apartment in the 16th arrondissement of Paris where Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat set up his office, where he works twelve to fourteen hours a day, staring at his computer, reading, translating, prefacing others’ books and writing his own. To go home in the evenings, he just has to cross the road. “My social life is down to a bare minimum”, he acknowledges. Nearing 50 years of age, Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat is one of the most sought-after French translators […] Polyglot? He brushes aside any such suggestion. He speaks none of language he translates. “Even in English, I cannot string two words together”, he insists. “Apart from Latin and Greek, I never learnt a foreign language. I signed most of my contracts without knowing the slightest thing about the language I was about to translate. All a publisher has to do is convince me that a book is worth my while for me to accept the challenge. You can't imagine the stress I feel when I start working on a text I don't understand..."[...] His method is always the same: allergic to grammar books, he prefers to "immerse" himself in dictionaries and bilingual books. Normally, he doesn’t read the work he has to translate beforehand. “This is essential for keeping a type of spontaneity in the translation.” The only principle he has is to begin by translating the end: "I have so much anguish about failure that I prefer to get the ending out of the way right from the start," he explains. [...] He says he has always felt this "vital need to bury himself in another’s language". | Entry #35819 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Australianausteng
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Entry | 2.81 | 2.69 (16 ratings) | 2.93 (14 ratings) |
- 2 users entered 3 "like" tags
- 6 users agreed with "likes" (8 total agrees)
- 5 users entered 13 "dislike" tags
- 11 users agreed with "dislikes" (38 total agrees)
- 3 users disagreed with "dislikes" (3 total disagrees)
+6 1 Squished | Mistranslations "Squished" is perhaps not the best translation her for "entassé"? | Nat Dee | |
| Other Repeated use of 'up' in these three sentences could have been avoided. | Thomas T. Frost | |
| Mistranslations I'm not sure 'wiggle room' can be used literally like this. It's meaning is nearly always metaphorical. | Leighton Jacobs | |
| Other This doesn't really reflect the source term | Angelica Burton | |
| Mistranslations A “preface” is usually written by the author of a book | Nat Dee | |
| Other English typically prefers the more idiomatic, 'doesn't speak any' | Leighton Jacobs | |
+5 a book is worth my while | Mistranslations "l'intérêt du livre" does not translate to it being "worth [the translators] while", but rather the book is of value in general | Nat Dee | |
| Mistranslations The source meaning is more 'a level of' than 'a type of' | Leighton Jacobs | |
+6 1 failure | Mistranslations 'Mort' means 'death', not 'failure' | Thomas T. Frost | |
| Syntax Awkward structure, 'the language of others' would be more idiomatic. | Leighton Jacobs | |
| Books, nothing but books. Lined up on the shelves, stacked on the floor, and piled up on every available corner of the table. Every room is filled with them, leaving barely enough space to move around. It is here, in this bourgeois apartment in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, that Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat has set up his office. It's where he works facing his computer, twelve to fourteen hours a day, reading, translating, and writing prefaces for other people's books and creating his own. In the evening, he only has to cross the street to return home. "My social life is kept to a minimum," he admits. Approaching 50 years of age, Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat is one of the most sought-after French translators. [...] A polyglot? Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat dismisses the label with a wave of his hand. He doesn't speak any of the languages he translates. "Even in English, I am incapable of saying two words," he asserts. "Apart from Latin and Greek, I have never learned any foreign languages. Most of my contracts are signed without knowing the slightest bit of the language I will be translating. It's enough for a publisher to convince me of the interest of a book for me to accept the challenge. You can't imagine the level of tension I experience when I start working on a text I don't understand at all..." [...] His method remains the same: allergic to grammar, he prefers to "immerse" himself in dictionaries and bilingual books. Typically, he doesn't read the book he needs to translate in advance: "It's essential to maintain a sense of spontaneity in the translation." His only principle is to start by translating the ending: "I have such anxiety about death that I prefer to get rid of the end right from the beginning," he explains. [...] This "vital need to (exile oneself) into the language of others," he says, he has felt it since always. | Entry #35563 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specifiednone
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Entry | 2.66 | 2.47 (15 ratings) | 2.85 (13 ratings) |
- 1 user entered 1 "like" tag
Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat dismisses the label with a wave of his hand | Good term selection | Nat Dee No agrees/disagrees | |
- 4 users entered 10 "dislike" tags
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- 1 user disagreed with "dislikes" (1 total disagree)
corner | Mistranslations 'le moindre coin' doesn't literally refer to the corners (where the edges meet) but means 'all over the place' | Thomas T. Frost No agrees/disagrees | |
| Other "TRANSLATIONESE" IT DOESN'T SOUND ENGLISH | Claire Balas | |
creating | Mistranslations Why not just 'writing'? | Thomas T. Frost No agrees/disagrees | |
-1 1 Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat | Other I find the repetition of this man's full name cumbersome here, so shortly after the line above. | Sarah Bessioud | |
are signed | Grammar errors 'are signed' – why the passive voice? Who signs them? *He* has signed them – in the past tense. | Thomas T. Frost No agrees/disagrees | |
| Grammar errors Dangling participle. The contract does not need to know anything about languages. | Thomas T. Frost | |
| Punctuation Incorrect use of brackets. Remove the words in the brackets and the sentence no longer makes sense. | Sarah Bessioud | |
+6 he has felt it since always. | Syntax AI-style literal translation that rings false. | Nat Dee | |
| Books, nothing but books. Lined up on the shelves. Piled up on the floor. Crammed in every corner. Every room is full of them. You can barely move around. This is where Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat has set up his office, in this smart flat in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. This is where he works at his computer, twelve to fourteen hours a day, reading, translating and prefacing books from others as well as writing his own. At night, he only needs to cross the street to return home. "My social life is very limited", he admits. At nearly 50 years old, Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat is one of the most sought-after French translators.[...] Multilingual? Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat brushes the term away with his hand. He does not speak any of the languages that he translates from. "I can't even speak two words of English, he assures. Apart from Latin and Greek, I have never studied any foreign languages. I signed most of my contracts without knowing anything about the language I was going to translate from. A publisher only has to convince me of the interest of a book for me to accept the challenge. You cannot imagine the state of tension I find myself in when I start working on a text of which I understand absolutely nothing..."[...] His method always remains the same: allergic to grammar books, he prefers to "immerse" himself in dictionaries and books in bilingual editions. He doesn't usually read the book he has to translate in advance: "It is essential to keep some form of spontaneity in the translation." His only principle is that he starts by translating the ending: "Death causes me such anguish that I prefer to get the ending out of the way at the beginning", he explains. [...] He says he has felt this "vital need to retreat into the language of others" all his life. | Entry #36007 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Britishbritish
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Entry | 2.63 | 2.56 (16 ratings) | 2.69 (13 ratings) |
- 2 users entered 2 "like" tags
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- 5 users entered 16 "dislike" tags
- 6 users agreed with "dislikes" (10 total agrees)
| Mistranslations 'entassé' means piled/stacked up rather than crammed | Thomas T. Frost | |
smart flat | Mistranslations This doesn't capture the same meaning as 'bourgeois' | Leighton Jacobs No agrees/disagrees | |
| Mistranslations A “preface” is usually written by the author of a book | Nat Dee | |
brushes the term away with his hand | Mistranslations Literal translation, unclear and not idiomatic. | Leighton Jacobs No agrees/disagrees | |
I can't even speak two words of English | Mistranslations Quite a literal translation, more idiomatic alternatives possible. | Leighton Jacobs No agrees/disagrees | |
tension | Other Quite literal too, 'stress' would be more idiomatic. | Leighton Jacobs No agrees/disagrees | |
of which | Inconsistencies In previous sentences, the preposition 'from' appeared at the end of the sentence whereas this has been structured differently introducing a level of inconsistency. | Leighton Jacobs No agrees/disagrees | |
[ | Punctuation Missing space before the bracket | Thomas T. Frost No agrees/disagrees | |
book | Other 'Book' repeated three times could have been avoided. | Leighton Jacobs No agrees/disagrees | |
some form of | Mistranslations Literal translation, which doesn't make all that much sense in the target language. | Leighton Jacobs No agrees/disagrees | |
Death causes me such anguish | Other Too literal | JaneD No agrees/disagrees | |
| Books, nothing but books. Lined up on the shelves. Piled on the floor. Squeezed onto any willing table corner. Every room overflowing with them. Barely any space to walk. It’s here, in this ritzy 16th arrondissement Paris apartment, that Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat set up shop. Where he works in front of his computer, twelve to fourteen hours a day, reading, translating and prefacing others’ books and writing his own. In the evening, he simply crosses the street to get home. “My social life has petered out to almost nothing,” he recognizes. Nearing 50, Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat is one of the most sought-after French translators.[…] A polyglot? Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat brushes that title aside. He doesn’t speak a single one of the languages he translates for. “Even in English, I can hardly say a few words, he assures. Apart from Latin and Greek, I’ve never learned a foreign language. I’ve signed most of my contracts without the smallest inkling of the language I was going to translate. It’s hard enough for an editor to interest me in a book before I agree to take up the challenge. You can’t imagine the stress I’m under when I set off working on a text I don’t at all understand…”[…] His method is always the same: averse to grammar, he prefers to “immerse” himself in dictionaries and dual-language books. Generally, he won’t read a work he has to translate in advance: “It’s imperative for me to stay spontaneous in my translations.” His one rule, starting by translating the end: “I have so much anxiety about death that I prefer getting the end over with right off the bat”, he explains. […] He says he’s always felt this “vital need to exile [himself] in others’ language”. | Entry #35090 — Discuss 0 — Variant: USuseng
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Entry | 2.55 | 2.40 (15 ratings) | 2.69 (13 ratings) |
- 4 users entered 5 "like" tags
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inkling | Good term selection | Kaplana1 No agrees/disagrees | |
stay spontaneous in my translations | Flows well Nice solution | Leighton Jacobs No agrees/disagrees | |
[himself] | Flows well | Kaplana1 No agrees/disagrees | |
- 5 users entered 15 "dislike" tags
- 11 users agreed with "dislikes" (24 total agrees)
| Other Unsure how a table can be "willing". Personification here seems unnecessary. | Leighton Jacobs | |
| Mistranslations 'le moindre coin de table' doesn't literally refer to the corners (where the edges meet) but more figuratively 'every possible space' | Thomas T. Frost | |
| Grammar errors If you use 'where' here, I feel that the sentences need to be joined in some form, e.g. a semi colon. | Leighton Jacobs | |
[ | Punctuation Space missing before the bracket | Thomas T. Frost No agrees/disagrees | |
smallest | Mistranslations slightest is better than smallest for inkling | Marjorie Anne No agrees/disagrees | |
+5 1 hard enough | Mistranslations Nothing in the source text to imply difficulty | Sarah Bessioud | |
| Mistranslations An 'éditeur' of a book is usually called a publisher | Thomas T. Frost | |
[ | Punctuation Space missing before the bracket | Thomas T. Frost No agrees/disagrees | |
, | Grammar errors This should really be a colon as it introduces information. | Leighton Jacobs No agrees/disagrees | |
| Books, nothing but books. Lined up on the shelves, stacked on the floor, in piles on the smallest table space available. Books overflow from every room, making it difficult to move around. This bourgeois apartment in Paris’ 16th arrondissement is where Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat has set up his office. This is where he spends twelve to fourteen hours every day in front of his computer, reading, translating and writing prefaces for books by other authors, as well as writing his own. In the evenings he has only to cross the street to get home. He admits that his social life has shrunk to a minimum. As he approaches the age of 50, Dauzat is one of the most in-demand French translators. … Multilingual? He dismisses this label with a wave of the hand. He speaks none of the languages he translates. He affirms that even in English, he cannot string two words together. “I learned no foreign languages except for Latin and Greek. I have signed most of my contracts without knowing anything about the language I was going to translate. All that I need to accept the challenge is for an editor to convince me of the value of a given book. You cannot imagine my stress levels when I set to work on a text which I do not understand at all … " … His methodology remains unchanged. Being ‘allergic’ to grammar textbooks, he prefers to immerse himself in dictionaries and books published in bilingual editions. Reading the text before he starts to translate is not his usual modus operandi. “It is essential to preserve a measure of spontaneity in the translation." His only rule is to start by translating the end. "Death makes me so anxious," he explains, "that I prefer at the outset to get the ending behind me." … "This compelling need to exile myself in a foreign language is something I have always felt." | Entry #35992 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specifiednone
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Entry | 2.51 | 2.40 (15 ratings) | 2.62 (13 ratings) |
- 2 users entered 3 "like" tags
- 1 user agreed with "likes" (1 total agree)
Paris’ 16th arrondissement | Good term selection | Angelica Burton No agrees/disagrees | |
| Flows well Good decision to use just the surname here, as is customary in newspaper articles. Repetition of the full name hinders the flow, especially as it is such a long one. | Sarah Bessioud | |
- 5 users entered 16 "dislike" tags
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+3 1 He admits that his social life has shrunk to a minimum | Other This is direct speech in the original text | Thomas T. Frost | |
+2 1 As he approaches the age of 50, Dauzat is one of the most in-demand French translators | Other The sentence sounds like a translation. Could have put "... is highly sought after...". The construction is very French. | Siobhan Curtin | |
| Other While the choice of using just the surname above was a good one, I feel that the translator's name needs to be used here (as in the source text), or at least in one of the paragraphs below to avoid overuse of 'he' and 'his'. | Sarah Bessioud | |
| Syntax English typically prefers the more idiomatic 'doesn't speak any' | Leighton Jacobs | |
+2 even in English, he cannot string two words together. | Punctuation This is a quotation in the source | Thomas T. Frost | |
+2 I learned no foreign languages | Other Clunky structure, "I didn't learn any foreign languages" would be much more idiomatic. | Leighton Jacobs | |
+3 1 editor | Mistranslations An 'éditeur' of a book is usually called a publisher | Thomas T. Frost | |
“ | Other Why is this on a new line? (And below) | Leighton Jacobs No agrees/disagrees | |
get the ending behind me | Other Awkward phrasing | Leighton Jacobs No agrees/disagrees | |
+4 "This compelling need to exile myself in a foreign language is something I have always felt." | Mistranslations This is not all speech in the original text. | Sarah Bessioud | |
| Books, nothing but books. Lined up on the shelves. Stacked on the floor. Piled up on every corner of the table. Every room is overflowing with them. Barely enough room to move around. This is where Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat has set up his office, in this bourgeois flat in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. This is where he works in front of his computer, twelve to fourteen hours a day, reading, translating and prefacing other people's books and writing his own. In the evening, all he has to do is cross the street to go home. "My social lifre is reduced to a minimum", he admits. At nearly 50, Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat is one of the most sought-after French translators. (...) Polyglot? Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat dismisses the adjective out of hand. He speaks none of the languages he translates. "Even in English, I can't say two words", he assures. Apart from Latin and Greek, I've never learned any foreign language. I signed most of my contracts withou the slighest knowledge of the language I was going to translate. All it takes is a publisher to convince me of the merits of a book for me to accept the challenge. You can't imagine the state of tension I'm in when I start working on a text I don't understand at all..." (...) His method is always the same: allergic to grammars, he prefers to "immerse" himself in dictionaries and bilingual books. As a rule, he doesn't read the work he has to translate in advance: "It's essential to keep a kind of spontaneity in the translation." The only rule is that he starts by translating the end: "I'm so afraid of death thyat I prefer to get rid of the end at the beginning", he explains. (...) He says he has always felt this "vital need to exile himself into the language of others". | Entry #35660 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specifiednone
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Entry | 2.43 | 2.12 (17 ratings) | 2.73 (15 ratings) |
- 2 users entered 2 "like" tags
- 1 user agreed with "likes" (1 total agree)
- 4 users entered 12 "dislike" tags
- 9 users agreed with "dislikes" (30 total agrees)
+4 every corner of the table | Mistranslations As previously mentioned by others "sur le moindre coin de table" doesn't literally refer to the corners of the table | Nat Dee | |
Barely | Syntax This does not follow well from the previous sentence. You need "There is barely enough room..." for example. | Sarah Bessioud No agrees/disagrees | |
grammars | Other Not the normal English term | Angelica Burton No agrees/disagrees | |
| Other Awkward phrasing here - something like "get the ending out of the way" would be better. | Siobhan Hayes | |
| Just books. All there is to see is books. Books lined up on the shelves. Piles of books on the floor. And books piled up at the corner of the table. All the rooms are full of them. They leave barely enough space to move around in. It was here, in this bourgeois apartment in the 16th district of Paris, that Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat settled his office. And this is where he works, in front of his computer, for twelve to fourteen hours a day, reading, translating, prefacing the books of others and writing his own. In the evening, he only needs to cross the street to go back home. "My social life is but minimal", he recounts. Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat, who will turn 50 soon, is one of France's translators most in demand. [...] Could we call Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat a polyglot? Well, this question is something he, apparently, deals with very nonchalantly. He does not speak any of the languages that he translates. "Even English, I can barely say a couple of words," he says. "Apart from Latin and Greek, I have never learned any foreign language. Most of my contracts, I signed them without knowing anything at all about the language that I was going to translate. For me it's enough for an editor to convince me of the interest people have in a book, for me to accept the challenge. You can't imagine the kind of tension I feel when I get to work on a text I know nothing about..." [...] His method is always the same: being allergic to the rules of grammar, he prefers to "immerse himself" in dictionaries and bilingual edition books. Generally he doesn't read a work that he is expected to translate in advance: "It is essential to maintain a form of spontaneity when translating." The only principle is that it starts with the translation of the end: "I'm so afraid of death that I prefer to deal with the end at the very beginning," he explains. [...] He talks of a "vital need to exile himself in the language of others," saying that it is something that he has always felt. | Entry #34937 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Britishbritish
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Entry | 2.27 | 2.00 (17 ratings) | 2.53 (15 ratings) |
- 2 users entered 2 "like" tags
I can barely say a couple of words | Flows well | Corrina Pearce No agrees/disagrees | |
- 6 users entered 19 "dislike" tags
- 8 users agreed with "dislikes" (28 total agrees)
| Mistranslations 'le moindre coin de table' doesn't literally refer to the corners (where the edges meet) but more figuratively 'every possible space' | Thomas T. Frost | |
in | Other "to move around" doesn't need to have "in" after it. | Sarah Bessioud No agrees/disagrees | |
| Spelling Why switch to past tense? | catpfam | |
prefacing | Mistranslations A “preface” is usually written by the author of a book | Nat Dee No agrees/disagrees | |
| Other This makes it sound as though his birthday is imminent - too literal a translation. | Sarah Bessioud | |
+3 1 one of France's translators most in demand | Other The description should come before "translators" | Angelica Burton | |
France's | Mistranslations The source says 'French translators', not 'translators in France' | Thomas T. Frost No agrees/disagrees | |
+2 Could we call Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat a polyglot | Other Very long-winded, compared to the shortness of the source text here. | Sarah Bessioud | |
| Mistranslations There is nothing in the source that means 'apparently'. It is stated as a fact that he dismisses the notion | Thomas T. Frost | |
language | Other "Languages" would be more natural here | Angelica Burton No agrees/disagrees | |
+3 Most of my contracts, I signed them | Syntax Doesn't sound natural | Sarah Bessioud | |
| Mistranslations An 'éditeur' of a book is usually called a publisher | Thomas T. Frost | |
+3 The only principle is that it | Mistranslations This is PED's principle, and 'he' starts, rather than 'it' | Sarah Bessioud | |
| “A translator can’t have it all”, by Thomas Wieder, Le Monde Books, books, and nothing but books. Lining shelves, piling up on the floor, crammed into the corners of tables... Every single piece of furniture is filled to the brim with them. There’s barely even room to walk. This is where, in a respectable little apartment located in Paris’ 16th arrondissement, Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat decided to set up shop. And this is where he works in front of his computer, for twelve to fourteen hours a day, reading, translating, and writing prefaces to his colleagues’ works, as well as writing his own. Come nightfall, he simply crosses the street to return home. “Social engagements are kept to a bare minimum”, he admits. Now almost 50 years old, Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat is one of the industry’s most in-demand French translators. […] Is he a polyglot? Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat shoos away that particular definition. He doesn’t speak any of the languages he translates. “Even in English, I can only say a handful of words”, he assures us. “Apart from Latin and Greek, I’ve never learned any other foreign language. For the majority of my contracts, I sign them without knowing anything at all about the language I’ll be translating. All it takes is for an editor to convince me of a book’s merit for me to rise to the challenge. You can’t imagine the stress I feel when I begin work on a text I don’t understand in the slightest...” […] His method is always the same. Due to an intense phobia of grammar manuals, he’d rather “immerse himself” in dictionaries and bilingual editions. Generally, he doesn’t read the work he’s translating in advance. “That’s an essential step in keeping some element of spontaneity within the translation”. His sole guiding principle is to start by translating the end. “The very thought of dying gives me so much anxiety, I prefer to polish off the ending right from the get-go”, he tell us. [...] He says he has always felt “a vital need to take exile in language of others." | Entry #35950 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Britishbritish
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Entry | 2.23 | 2.25 (16 ratings) | 2.21 (14 ratings) |
- 2 users entered 4 "like" tags
- 2 users agreed with "likes" (2 total agrees)
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- 7 users agreed with "dislikes" (69 total agrees)
- 1 user disagreed with "dislikes" (1 total disagree)
+4 1 “A translator can’t have it all”, by Thomas Wieder, Le Monde | Other Where did this come from? | Angelica Burton | |
| Mistranslations entassé means piled/stacked up, rather than crammed | Sarah Bessioud | |
+4 into the corners of tables | Mistranslations This seems to imply that the books are somehow inside the table, which they are not. | Sarah Bessioud | |
| Mistranslations 'le moindre coin de table' doesn't literally refer to the corners (where the edges meet) but more figuratively 'every possible space' | Thomas T. Frost | |
+5 1 piece of furniture | Mistranslations pièce = room, not piece of furniture | Sarah Bessioud | |
| Other The original text does not describe the apartment as small | Nat Dee | |
| Mistranslations A “preface” is usually written by the author of a book | Nat Dee | |
+3 1 colleagues | Mistranslations I don't believe this is the best choice of word, considering the text goes on to explain that he signed contracts with publishers. | Sarah Bessioud | |
nightfall | Spelling Nightfall varies throughout the year. This implies that he knocks off earlier in winter than in summer, which is not something we may assume. | Sarah Bessioud No agrees/disagrees | |
| Other This is more specific than the source - no indication he's actively discouraging it | Angelica Burton | |
+3 1 shoos away | Other The source reads more as dismissive, this word choice is stronger | Angelica Burton | |
+5 For the majority of my contracts, I sign them | Other Doesn't flow as well as it could do, incorrect use of 'for' at the beginning of the sentence. | Sarah Bessioud | |
+5 1 editor | Mistranslations An 'éditeur' of a book is usually called a publisher | Thomas T. Frost | |
+5 1 an intense phobia | Mistranslations I feel that this is far too strong to express 'allergique'. | Sarah Bessioud | |
| Other The fact that he doesn't read the book beforehand means that it cannot be described as a 'step' in the process. | Sarah Bessioud | |
| Mistranslations 'Polish off' means to quickly consume something, so this doesn't work here. | Leighton Jacobs | |
| Books and books, nothing but only books. Lined up on the shelves. Piled up on floor. Crammed on every corner of the table. All rooms are overflowing with them. Barely enough room to move around. It’s here, in this middle-class apartment of 16th administrative district in Paris, that Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat has set up his office. It’s here where he works, facing his computer, twelve to fourteen hours a day, reading, translating and prefacing books of others and writing his own. In evening, he has to just cross the street to return home. He admits, "I hardly have a social life". Almost 50 years, Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat is one of the most popular French translators […] Multilingual? Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat disregards of being qualified. He does not speak any of the languages that he translates. He says, "Even in English, I am unable to say two words". Apart from Latin and Greek, I have never learnt any foreign language. I have signed most of my contracts without knowing the least bit about the language that I was going to translate. All it takes is, one publisher convincing me of the value of a book, so that I accept taking up the challenge. You cannot imagine the state of tension I am in when I start working on a text, which I am unable to understand..."[...] His method is always same: allergic to grammars, he prefers "immersing himself" in bilingual edition of dictionaries and books. Generally, before translating he does not read the book in advance: "It is essential to have a form of spontaneity in translation". One and the only principle, he starts with translating the end: "I have such a death fear that I prefer getting rid of the end at the outset", he explains. [...] He says, this "vital need of exiling oneself in the language of others", has always been felt by him. | Entry #36280 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specifiednone
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Entry | 1.69 | 1.44 (18 ratings) | 1.93 (15 ratings) |
- 1 user entered 2 "like" tags
I hardly have a social life". | Flows well | Corrina Pearce No agrees/disagrees | |
- 6 users entered 18 "dislike" tags
- 10 users agreed with "dislikes" (40 total agrees)
+1 1 Books and books, nothing but only books. Lined up on the shelves. Piled up on floor. Crammed on every corner of the table. All rooms are overflowing with them. | Other Unidiomatic throughout - translator is not a native speaker of English | Sinéad Moore | |
+7 1 nothing but only | Other Pleonasm. 'Nothing but' already means 'only' | Thomas T. Frost | |
| Mistranslations 'entassé' means piled/stacked up rather than crammed | Thomas T. Frost | |
+4 16th administrative district | Omission This should have the definite article in front of it. | Sarah Bessioud | |
| Mistranslations It's not about the direction. He's in front of it, that's the turn of phrase. | Margaret Morrison | |
prefacing | Mistranslations A “preface” is usually written by the author of a book | Nat Dee No agrees/disagrees | |
+3 disregards of being qualified | Mistranslations Clunky expression | Thomas T. Frost | |
, | Punctuation What follows is a restrictive clause, so no comma here | Thomas T. Frost No agrees/disagrees | |
[ | Punctuation Space missing before the bracket | Thomas T. Frost No agrees/disagrees | |
| Other 'Before' and 'in advance' imply the same thing, so only one of these is needed. (Rephrasing would, however, be required.) | Sarah Bessioud | |
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