Cheb Mami feat. Zaho - Halili (Arabic/French)

This is a great song for anyone interested in Arabic.  I'd consider it fairly accessible for a Western audience (probably because Zaho is better known for French R&B) and its a great tune to work out to at the gym!

Music is a great way to connect with a language.  You can practice your pronunciation, test your comprehension, and it is easy to pick up and remember vocabulary as music is repetitive in itself, and if we like a song then we want to listen to it again and again.

Arabic has always presented me with problems, though, as a western speaker who is trying to self-teach.  I have, however, picked up one interesting grammar point through looking the Arabic transcript of this song, studying translations, and searching on google.

You can state personal ownership of a noun in Arabic simply by added the letter ي [i:] to the end of it

قلب  (heart) > قلبي (my heart)

حنين (longing, yearning, nostalgia) > حنيني (my longing, my yearning, my nostalgia)

It's a small lesson.  But it's a step in the right direction.  And so gratifying to have seen it myself within the lyrics of a song I enjoy.

FRENCH GRAMMAR: Indirect Object Pronouns

Indirect Object pronouns are often difficult to explain/understand as an English speaker.

In the image below featuring an androgynous "moi" I hope, if not to explain, then to illustrate the relationship between the indirect object pronoun "me" and "verb+à" constructions.

Sometimes in French a subject (elle) may wish to give/say something to (à) an object (moi)

The structure for saying and giving is:

Dire quelquechose à quelqu'un (to say something to someone)

Donner quelquechose à quelqu'un (to give something to someone)

...where quelquechose (something) is a direct object and quelqu'un (someone) is an indirect object

The à is a clue that the object that follows is indirect, as it forms a barrier between the verb and the object - allowing no direct relationship between the two to form.

...and the indirect object pronoun to represent "me" is ... "me"

...a lot of complicated grammar to explain a word that is the same in French as it is in English.

FRENCH IDIOMS: Pants and Wet Fingers

Please excuse the rather lewd-appearing post title - this post is actually an examination of English idiom "By the seat of one's pants".

Here we find yet another idiom that doesn't quite translate between French and English in the way one might expect, for there is no pantalon, and no culottes to be found in the French approximation.

...instead, we express it with a wet finger:

au doigt mouillé.

photo by ~Pawssou

The etymology behind the French idiom has actually shed some light for me on the problem of translating from one thing to the other:

They don't quite mean the same thing.

An action performed au doigt mouillé is one that is approximate; imprecise.

An action performed by the seat of one's pants is improvised; instinctive; intuitive.

The French idiom originates from the tradition of holding a moistened finger up to assess which way the wind is blowing - we can use this to tell us approximately in which direction the wind is blowing, but not precisely.

In a sense this could be seen as improvisation in the face of insufficient resources/tools, which is probably why au doigt mouillé is considered a reasonable translation of by the seat of one's pants.

all in all it is probably better to bring a more chaotic, less organised image to mind to help this one stick.  More like this:

artwork by  ~HooDooArt

A hand reaching through the water in an approximate, imprecise direction, resulting of the intuition and instinct of the person below the surface.

LANGUAGE THROUGH SONG - MIKA

For a full run-through of the song's vocabulary, I've set up a lesson on memrise:

you can get a basic account for free, and more lessons will be going up in the future!

For those of you not interested in having your language tools dictated to you, there are a few useful phrases and grammar points below.  If there are any other points you'd like clarification on, please do leave a comment!

VOCABULARY

elle dit = she says
elle me dit = she says to me

être fier = to be proud

danse! = dance! (singular, imperative)

c'est quoi ton problème = what is your problem?

c'est ta vie = it's your life

fais ce que tu veux! = do what you want! (singular, imperative)

nul = rubbish

pourquoi? = why?

ça (ne) va pas bien = I'm/it's not well

j'aime = I like

un truc = a thing

GRAMMAR

ADJECTIVES:

Adjective Placement

“une chanson contente ...

une chanson déprimante”

Unlike in English, French adjectives usually follow the noun they describe.

There are instances where adjectives precede nouns, and there are rules for these, but they are extremely loose and exceptions are numerous.

Happily, though, the placement of the adjective depends on the adjective itself, so if you see an adjective following a noun, it is an adjective that will always follow its noun. The same applies for noun-preceeding adjectives.

So content and déprimant are two to add to your “noun-following adjectives” list

Adjective Agreement

“une chanson contente ...

une chanson déprimante”

French nouns have genders, and French grammar is often called upon to represent this – so adjectives have to agree in gender with their noun.

The same applies for plural nouns.

In most cases this just means adding an ending to the default form (the singular, masculine form) of the adjective.

For feminine nouns, add an “e”

For plural nouns, add an “s”

For feminine plural nouns, add both (“es”)

The “une” before “chanson” indicates that this is a feminine noun, so we add an “e” in this instance to our adjectives: contente, déprimante

More agreement – "tout"

"une chanson que tout le monde aime".

This segment follows on nicely from adjective agreement.

The word “tout”, meaning all/everything, also needs to convey gender and number.

In the given example “tout le monde”, we are talking, figuratively, about everyone in the world.

The “le” in “le monde” shows us that this is a masculine, singular noun, so we use the “tout” form.

Here are the other forms:

tout – masculine singular

tous – masculine plural

toute – feminine singular

toutes – feminine plural

ZIGGY PLAYED ... A STICK - vocabulary (French/English)

 

ZIG (masculine noun)

‘un zig’ or ‘zigue’ is an colloquial term that, depending on one’s disposition, can either mean ‘mate/buddy’ or ‘guy’ in the sense of ‘some idiot/generic unpleasant person’.  For any french speakers a more accurate description can be found here.

Colloquial as it may be, literary references, in the above link, containing the word seem to be limited to late 19th century to mid 20th century, so it’s not going to be the hippest slang ever - using vocabulary like this may force finger-on-the-pulse, language-deforming ados (teenagers) in Paris to bring out their best ‘WTF?!!’ faces and call you a pédé (fag, queer) or other similar derogatory terms.  It might be best to just stick to the more common ‘mec’ (guy) and have a secret ‘ziggy’ giggle to oneself.  Correct me if I’m wrong.

For any non-British anglophones, the photo above is of puppets Zig and Zag that frequently appeared on Saturday morning television in the 90s.  No, I have NO idea at all which one is Zig and which is Zag, sorry.

And if you enjoy having fun with the old-fashioned and innuendo then you might want to try this one on for size:

MAZETTE

which, if you choose to believe Wiktionary, means ‘bad little horse’ and as an exclamation means ‘My Goodness!’ in the sense of ‘Isn’t that a big’un!’

Original Photo by lemontreefreak21

DISCUTER A BÂTONS ROMPUS

‘to talk about this and that’

Once again I love the imagery that this phrase throws up when one attempts to approach it in a literal sense:

- discuter - to discuss- un bâton - stick- rompu - broken

Unfortunately I’m not sure what significance the ‘à’ has in this idiom, but either way it’s amusing to think of people talking about broken sticks/talking until sticks break.

Another interesting variant of an idiom:

je m’en suis mordu les doigts - I could have kicked myself

although the literal translation means ‘I bit my own fingers’

Original Photo by WaterFallFairy

AVOIR DE L’OSEILLE

This phrase translates as ‘to be rolling in it’, ‘it’ being ‘money’.

L’oseille is slang for cash, or ‘dough’ - an appropriate English equivalent considering that the literal meaning of the word has nothing at all to do with its usage in this context.  In reality, l’oseille means ‘sorrel’, a herb sometimes used in cooking.  So, remaining faithful to the structure of the british idiom translated of the French ‘avoir de l’oseille’, one could be said to be rolling around in herbs, or the sorrel, to be more precise.

Another slang term relating to cash brings us back to our old friend the bâton or ‘stick’:

un bâton - ten thousand francs

So if one were to be terribly American along the tradtion of ‘Hey darlin’, you look like a million bucks’, one could be misconstrued as having said ‘Hey chérie, you like like a stick’

…But that’s supermodels for you!

HE MADE THEM DO IT! - Vocabulary (French/English)

Original Photo by Feeferlump

IL LEUR EN A FAIT BAVER


...Interesting to consider the impact of pronouns of the meaning of a phrase.  Without the ‘en’ in this phrase, a word that has no real meaning in isolation, the meaning would be changed from …

He gave them a hard time - Il leur en a fait baver

to….

He made them dribble - Il leur a fait baver.

…which, frankly, makes this phrase unforgettable!


Vocab:


baver - to dribble
en baver - to have a hard time


Also note, placing faire in front of a verb makes it passive as in the following examples:

Je range ma chambre  - I tidy my room
Mon père me fait ranger ma chambre une fois par semine - my dad makes me tidy my room once a week. 

Je me coupe des cheveux - I am cutting my hair
Je me fais couper des cheveux - I am getting my hair cut

As the English version of this often uses the verb ‘to make’ in the sense of ‘to force to do’, it isn’t as difficult to translate as first glances may suggest.

... OF CABBAGES AND CATS - Vocabulary (French/English)*

 

original image by SmeeeRAWR

bête comme chou

this little phrase means ‘really easy‘  or ‘easy peasy’ in English.

A literal translation, however, suggests that the French are actually saying ‘stupid like a cabbage’, a collection of words that is not all that silly when you consider English phrases along the lines of having a pea for a brain.  something that is ‘bête comme chou’ is, therefore, so easy that even a stupid person could do it.

French website expressio states that this phrase dates back to the middle of the 19th century where ‘le chou’ didn’t just mean cabbage.  It could also mean head as well as bottom (the one you sit on).  At the time an intelligence that was considerably less than average what attributed to the posterior, rather than the cranium.  We are therefore lead to believe that if a person who is ‘bête comme chou’ (in the old sense of the phrase) can acheive something, then it must be very easy to do.

Faire chou blanc

To draw a blank.

The literal translation for this phrase reveals quite a cabbage-y theme for this particular set of vocabulary: ‘to make a white cabbage’

However expressio traces the phrase back to the 16th century, where a game of skittles played with no points scored was called a ‘coup blanc’, where ‘coup’ was pronounced ‘choup’ in the berrichon dialect….so maybe it doesn’t have all that much to do with cabbages after all…

original photo by richie07

Donner sa langue au chat

To give in.

Literally, ‘to give one’s tongue to the cat’.   In English, of course, cats and tongues would be more associated with the, mostly rhetorical, question ‘cat got your tongue?’ suggesting that the askee is speechless.

The origin of the French, however is from the 19th century, before which the phrase  ‘jeter sa langue aux chiens’ (to throw one’s tongue to the dogs) was used.  The phrase was changed because we throw to scraps to dogs, things that have no value, which seemed inappropriate to the meaning of the phrase.  What is more, cats were associated at the time with keeping secrets, being unable to divulge them.  At the very least the phrase comes about from a desire to soften the impact of ‘jeter sa langue au chien’, by replacing ‘jeter’ with ‘donner’ and replacing the dog with a less ferocious animal.

Avoir un chat dans la gorge

To have a frog in one’s throat.

The only word to have got altered in translation here is the name of the animal.  In France the saying is ‘to have a cat in one’s throat’.  The interchangeability of nouns in such a way is not specific to the French language.  I recently read in Mona Baker’s textbook on translation In Other Words that the it rains old ladies and sticks in Wales, where we get cats and dogs.

Il n’y a pas un chat

The place is deserted.

Tis literally translates as: ‘There is not a cat/There is not a single cat’.  Is anyone else starting to notice a proverbial cat obsession?

KATE MILLER-HEIDKE - ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? (THE FACEBOOK SONG) - Paroles

They say everyone should have their heart broken at least once

    On dit que tout le monde doit souffrir un cœur brisé au moins une fois.

And that is how you grow emotionally

    et c’est comme ça qu’on se développe sur le plan émotionnel.

Well I have been misused by many, many, many men

    bon moi j’ai été maltraité par beaucoup, vraiment beacoup d’hommes

But nothing can compare to how you treated me.

    Mais rien ne compare à comment toi, tu m’as traité

At times it really felt as though the pain was here to stay

    Parfois il semblait vraiment comme la douleur ne disparaîtrait jamais

And though it’s many years ago I feel it to this day,

    Et bien que ça fait longtemps je me le sens ancore aujourd’hui

And now you wanna be my friend on Facebook

    Et maintenant, tu veux qu’on soit amis sur Facebook

Are you fucking kidding me?

    Dis-moi, tu te fiches de moi?

photo by ltmusicphotography

All the memories are flooding back to me now

    tous les souveniers remontent à la surface maintenant

All the ways you stole the light from my eyes

    Tous les façons que tu as volé la lumiere à mes yeux

I travelled so far just to get away from you

    J’ai voyagé si loin juste pour m’éloigner de toi.

‘Til this morning’s friend request surprise!

    Jusqu’à ce matin et la ‘friend request’ surprise

At times it really felt as though I’d never smile again

    Parfois il semblait vraiment comme je ne sourirais encore jamais

You narcissistic arsehole, oh you nasty nasty man

    espèce de connard narcissique, oh mauvais mauvais homme

And now you wanna be my friend on Facebook

    Et maintenant, tu veux qu’on soit amis sur Facebook

Are you fucking kidding…?

    Dis-moi, tu te fiches de moi?

photo by kyza

I don’t care what kind of cocktail you are,

    Je m’en fiche de quelle sorte de cocktail tu es

Or which member of The Beatles or which 1950s movie star

    Ou quelle membre de ‘The Beatles’ ou quelle vedette des années 1950

I don’t give a toss if you’re a ninja or a pirate

    ça m’est égal si tu es un ninja ou un pirate

I suspect you’d be a pirate, but I don’t wanna verify it

    J’ai l’impression que tu sois un pirate, mais j’ai pas envie de le vérifier

And I don’t give a shit what your stripper name is

    Et j’en ai rien à péter de ce que serait ton nom de strip-teaser

Or if your kitty had a litter

    ou si ton chat a mis bas

Look — Just follow me on Twitter

    écoutes – me suis donc sur Twitter

I don’t care about your family tree

    Je m’en fiche de ton arbre généalogique

And I certainly don’t want you poking me…

    Et je ne veux certainement pas que tu m’envoies un poke

again.

    encore

And now you wanna be my friend on Facebook

    Et maintenant tu veux qu’on soit amis sur Facebook

Oh you fucking, fucking fuck…

    Tu te fiches de moi, connard.

Click IGNORE.

    Clic. Ignore.

MR ROUX - PETIT RASTA - Lyrics

Les Paroles de cette chanson sont tellement génials.  De L’album “Si j’étais Grand et Beau”.  Voyez le joli clip de YouTube en bas

From the Album “Si j’étais Grand et Beau” (“If only I were big and beautiful”)  The lyrics of this song are amazing so I’ve tried to translate them below.  Some of the translation isn’t quite faithful but I tried to keep the rhyme where possible to make it more fun to read.  Enjoy the cute little YouTube video at the bottom of the article

T’es sympa petit rasta, t’es gentil, t’es mignon

     You’re cool lil’ rasta, so kind, cute, free of care

Avec tes jolies dreads dans tes cheveux blonds

     With such pretty dreads in your blonde hair

Tes pantalons et tes chemises bariolées

     And your multicoloured trousers and shirts

Que t’as achetés dans un festival d’artisanat népalais

     That you bought in a Nepalese fair

Petit Rasta t’es pour la paix dans l’humanité

     Lil’ Rasta you are for peace in humanity

Même si t’es révolté contre la société

     Even though you’re revolted by society

Parce que c’est vraiment pas cool la pauvreté

     Because, brother, war and poverty

Et la guerre, mon frère, faudrait l’arrêter

     Are really not cool.  Gotta make them history

Et quand tu vas voir des concerts de reggae

     And when you go to watch a reggae session.

T’aimes bien lever ton bras quand y’a des paroles engagées

     You put your hands in the air when the lyrics wake your passion

Qui disent ” Il faut légaliser la ganja ! “

     ”Ganja should be legalised”

Ou bien ” Les douaniers sont vraiment pas sympas “

      and “Down with customs officers” you all cry

Ils sont mignons tes slogans, petit rasta

     Lil’ Rasta your slogans are great

Merci pour ta contribution au débat

     Thank you for your contribution to the debate

Mais dis-moi, petit rasta…

     But tell me, Lil’ Rasta

Qu’est-ce que tu fais pour changer tout ça ?

     What do you do to change things?

Petit Rasta a les idées aussi belles que ses longs cheveux de rebelle

     Lil’ Rasta, your ideas are as beautiful as your long rebel dreds

Mais petit rasta deviendra grand et tout aussi gland que ses parents

     But Lil’ Rasta you’ll grow older and just as lame as your folks

Petit Rasta est un rebelle de canapé

     Lil’ Rasta is an armchair rebel

Dans lequel il passe l’essentiel de ses journées

     He spends most of his days sitting there

A écouter du reggae et à fumer

     Listening to reggae and smoking

Et à disserter sur la société

     and talking about society

Philosophe, philosophe, petit rasta

     Philosophical, philosophical lil’ Rasta

Le monde peut bien crever, c’est pas toi qui bougeras

     The world could well end and you wouldn’t lift a finger

La seule chose que tu fais, c’est engraisser un mafioso

     All you do is fund the mafia

En achetant ton mauvais marocco

     By buying your bad marajuana

Petit Rasta, t’es gentil, t’es mignon

     Lil’ Rasta, you’re kind, you’re sweet y’know

Mais quand tu m’as taxé une clope, moi j’t’ai dit non

     But when you taxed me a spliff, I told you where to go

Alors petit rasta était contrarié

     Lil’ Rasta, you were annoyed

Et m’a traité de bourgeois parce que j’étais bien sapé

     And told me I was materialistic ‘cos I was wearing decent clothes

Tu sais la classe, petit rasta, c’est pas une question de fric

     You know that class, lil’ rasta, is not a question of money

Regarde les cousins en Afrique 

     Just take a look at our African cousins

Faut pas jouer aux pauvres quand on a de la monnaie

     You shouldn’t play at being poor when you’ve got money

Simple question de décence, de respet

     It’s a simple question of respect and decency

Petit Rasta rappelle-toi que tu es né du bon côté de la pauvreté

     Lil’ Rasta gotta remember that you were born on the right side of poverty

Petit rasta, souviens-toi que d’où tu viens on a toujours eu le ventre plein

     Lil’ Rasta gotta remember where you come from and that you always have a full belly.

LAUGHTER IS INFECTIOUS - at least with one of these you won’t be…

Eine Freundin von mir war vor ein paar Monaten in Ibiza.  Kurz danach hatte ich Geburtstag und ich hatte die Freude, dieser Komediekondom als Geschenk zu bekommen - eigentlich wollte sie nur, dass ich ihn übersetze, denn die Bilder so lustig aussahen.  Los geht’s…

A friend of mine was in Ibiza for a few months this summer.  Shortly after her return it was my birthday and I had the pleasure to receive this comedy condom as a gift - it seems that she only really wanted me to translate it, as the pictures looked so amusing.  Oh well, here we go…

Une copine a passé l’été à Ibiza.  Quelques semaines après son rétour était mon anniversaire et j’avais le plaisir de recevoir ce préservatif comique comme cadeau - il semble qu’elle voulait simplement que je le traduis pour elle, car les images avaient l’air si drôles.  Bon, j’attaque…

Always keep this survival kit to hand, because women only want one thing!

Tenez ce kit de servie toujours prêt, car les femmes ne veulent qu’une seule chose.

Before use tear off the wrapper, but not too voraciously.

Avant l’utilisation, déchirez la pochette, mais pas avec trop de convoitise

Only put the condom on when in an erect state (it works better)

Utilisez ce condom seulement en état de excitation (ça fonctionne mieux)

So that there is no air trapped in the condom, make a (?) at the end  (unfortunately a hole in the packaging obscured this last word from me…lets hope there are none in the product)

Afin de ne pas laisser pénétrer des bulles d’air dans le préservatif, faîtes un (?) à l’extrémité (malheuresement un trou dans l’emballage a obscurci ce dernier mot…Esperons qu’il n’y en a pas dans le produit)

Roll the condom out to the indented number.  If you cannot see the number then your cock is too small.

Déroulez le preservatif jusqu’au numero dentelé.  Si vous n’arrivez pas à le voir votre bite est trop petite

Remove the condom after use

Enlevez le preservatif après l’utilisation

Before throwing the condom away, secure the contents in a seaman’s knot. (The link with ‘semen’ being all the more apparent in English)

Avant de le jeter, securisez le contenu avec un noeud dans le preservatif

PIRE - La Dissonance des Corps* - comic

ORIGINAL COMIC

“La Dissonance des Corps” HOMEPAGE

The text translates as:

“There are worse things than eyebrows

…deaf eyelashes”

which might seem a bit nonsensical without the original French image to hand where the wordplay is visible:

sourcils > sourds cils

eyebrows > deaf eyelashes

In French, the final two letters of 'sourds', would be silent, meaning that it would sound exactly the same as the 'sour' of 'sourcils'; which just about wraps up this word play on all levels: lexical and phonetic.