20,000 Lieux de MystèreNew site user here, hi. I’ve been reading “20,000 Leagues under the Sea” in Jules Verne’s original French (“20,000 Lieux sous les Mers”) for my first time, having never read a translation (many translations of his works tend to have the reputation of poor quality). The first few chapters were a little challenging, as I had to look up quite a few vocabulary words relating to maritime matters. Two particular words which still cause me curiosity are “scaphandre” and “loch”.
(1) “Scaphandre” — I understand this means a diving suit, and given “20,000 Lieux” was written 150 years ago, obviously Verne meant the old-fashioned style with a large brass helmet. However, I would think modern French would use something like “costume / tenue de plongée”, while, insofar as I’m aware, English has always referred to diving suits, both old and modern, as simply “diving suits”. Therefore, is “scaphandre” a conspicuously old word in French, and is it still ever used ?
(2) “Loch” — This seems to translate either as a Scottish lake (and what I always call a lake, being Scottish myself, yet that is obviously not what Verne meant), or as a ship’s “log” (I assume closer to his meaning). However, for me a ship’s log, in English, tends to be a book or journal, albeit perhaps nowadays kept in digital format. Nonetheless, in “20,000 Lieux” it seems to be some kind of equipment, and I think Verne even refers to it at least once as “loch électronique”. What is it ?
(3) Finally, it was only upon actually reading the book that I realised the error I had made for my entire prior life regarding what its title means — the “20,000 Lieux” refers to the submarine’s lateral travel around the world, and not to its depth. My erstwhile foolish misinterpretation was as much to do with my poor command of English as my bad French, since, in this context, both “lieu” and “league” mean the same, i.e. about 3½ miles, or 5½km. That said, I would suggest the English translation of the title might be more clearly rendered as “20,000 Leagues around the Sea Above”. There might be some nuance between “sous” and “au dessous de” in French, which English doesn’t really articulate (“under”, “underneath”, and “beneath” all mean pretty much the same, I think).
Bonjour, in the first example given,
J'habite à Paris depuis cinq ans, et ça me plaît toujours !
Translation: I've lived in Paris for five years, and I still love it!
Shouldn't it be "encore", since it means "still"?
Can I use " Jules m'apprendra à faire de la raquette à neige" instead of "Jules m'apprendra à faire du snowboard"
I chose “voir” and came up with an error. I’m also doing Duolingo and that says voir is the correct word when visiting someone, hasn’t even mentioned the word “rendre”. Confused here….
There are two examples of the verb, s'avérer, in this exercise:
1) Et les compétences que j'ai acquises comme avocate se sont avérées inestimables dans ce nouveau domaine.
2) Ce changement se sera avéré être la meilleure chose que tu aies jamais faite.
My dictionary translates s'avérer as "prove to be" or "turn out to be". In the second example, the infinitive être is added to s'avérer whereas in the first it is absent. Is être optional? If the 'to be' is included in the definition, why is être necessary in the second example?
New site user here, hi. I’ve been reading “20,000 Leagues under the Sea” in Jules Verne’s original French (“20,000 Lieux sous les Mers”) for my first time, having never read a translation (many translations of his works tend to have the reputation of poor quality). The first few chapters were a little challenging, as I had to look up quite a few vocabulary words relating to maritime matters. Two particular words which still cause me curiosity are “scaphandre” and “loch”.
(1) “Scaphandre” — I understand this means a diving suit, and given “20,000 Lieux” was written 150 years ago, obviously Verne meant the old-fashioned style with a large brass helmet. However, I would think modern French would use something like “costume / tenue de plongée”, while, insofar as I’m aware, English has always referred to diving suits, both old and modern, as simply “diving suits”. Therefore, is “scaphandre” a conspicuously old word in French, and is it still ever used ?
(2) “Loch” — This seems to translate either as a Scottish lake (and what I always call a lake, being Scottish myself, yet that is obviously not what Verne meant), or as a ship’s “log” (I assume closer to his meaning). However, for me a ship’s log, in English, tends to be a book or journal, albeit perhaps nowadays kept in digital format. Nonetheless, in “20,000 Lieux” it seems to be some kind of equipment, and I think Verne even refers to it at least once as “loch électronique”. What is it ?
(3) Finally, it was only upon actually reading the book that I realised the error I had made for my entire prior life regarding what its title means — the “20,000 Lieux” refers to the submarine’s lateral travel around the world, and not to its depth. My erstwhile foolish misinterpretation was as much to do with my poor command of English as my bad French, since, in this context, both “lieu” and “league” mean the same, i.e. about 3½ miles, or 5½km. That said, I would suggest the English translation of the title might be more clearly rendered as “20,000 Leagues around the Sea Above”. There might be some nuance between “sous” and “au dessous de” in French, which English doesn’t really articulate (“under”, “underneath”, and “beneath” all mean pretty much the same, I think).
The answer; Elle s'est cachée jusqu'à ce qu'il soit parti. surely means ' she hid until he was gone'. 'After' is not in the sentence . Is it implied? in English there is a subtle difference between the two sentences.
WRITE THE FOLLOWING TIME IN FRENCH USING MOINS LE QUART. 1. 3:45 2. 20:45 3. 21:45 4. 7:45 5. 23:45
How do we know that he was not carrying in dirty shoes that were expected to be clean.
How would one say, "He came in, the shoes were dirty.", not meaning HIS shoes?
There IS ambiguity as to whose shoes they belong to.
Like01 minute agoIs there somewhere to view my answers to the written exercises. I am a bit stumped as I pretty sure I managed (finally) to ace my last effort and would like to compare my responses.Thanks
The /d/ in "quand on aura" isn't voiced as it should be, so it sounds like a /t/. I couldn't figure it out because it sounded like 'quan t'en aura" which is nonsense. I think that needs to be re-rcorded so the /d/ is voiced as it should be. It has a distinct un-voiced plosive sound which is misleading.
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