French term
tout va bien madame la marquise
He just told her she looks tired, to which she responds that she is fine. He then sings this line of the song to her, in a friendly but unbelieving tone.
I understand what it is referring to (pretending everything is fine when actually it isn't), but I'm trying to find an English equivalent.
So far, I have found Harold McMillan's quote "You've never had it so good", but I'm not sure if an American audience will get the reference...
Any suggestions welcome! I think it should be an idiom or a quote with a similar context, but this is for subtitles, so no, I can't add explanations, brackets or foot notes ;)
May 3, 2021 20:55: Cyril Tollari changed "Level" from "Non-PRO" to "PRO"
PRO (3): philgoddard, Beatriz Ramírez de Haro, Cyril Tollari
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Proposed translations
It's a grey old day, but I've got rose-tinted glasses
See the discussion box.
Substituting one song for another won't work, because this is subtitles. And people won't understand the cultural reference if you do a literal translation, so I think you need to invent some lyrics to the French song.
agree |
Wolf Draeger
: Right thinking but maybe a plainer wording.
9 hrs
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It's colorful in the original,
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neutral |
James A. Walsh
: Good advice in general, but this sounds flat at best.
10 hrs
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Wolf thinks it's too colorful, so I've probably got it about right :-)
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I'm sure you're fine, tra la la la la la la
The original song goes "tout va très bien (four syllables), so, "I'm sure you're fine", in a teasing manner, then tra la's, or something similar.
agree |
Wolf Draeger
: Nice and simple! "Everything's fine, tra-la, tra-la, tra-la-la".
7 hrs
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agree |
Clair Pickworth
1 day 9 mins
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"Every little thing is gonna be alright" (perhaps) / "It's gonna be fine Madame marquise"
If you'd like a more technical explanation of my thought process here, it involves a bit of translation theory, and whether or not we ought to 'bring the text to the audience' or 'bring the audience to the text' (a somewhat reductive approach, but something I still find useful to keep in mind). The choice here is, however, a little less tricky than it might be if the quote were otherwise.
Because the reference is highly French in the first place, the anglophone target audience will have to either already know the reference, or else miss that it is one in the first place. But because the quote and it's intended meaning for the scenario at hand are directly translatable, I would leave it alone. If you change the quote, a lot about the context changes, and the reference loses it's 'originally intended meaning' anyway. This will be a translation choice which has to either value the tone of the passage or the fact that a reference is being made. If the reference is more important, don't change it (in my opinion), but if the tone is more important (nostalgia is at work, specific cultural context is at play) then maybe something everyone knows (like the Beatles) could work.
In my opinion however, changing the quote is a lose/lose, and I would translate it directly.
"Every little thing is gonna be alright"
It's gonna be fine Madame marquise
agree |
SafeTex
: I would go for "Every little thing is gonna be alright Madame Marquise"
9 hrs
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agree |
Clive Phillips
7 days
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All is well with Milady, in the Land of Make Believe
Her ladyship is putting a brave face on it, is she?
"Stiff upper lip" I was thinking of too, but that's probably too English.
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Note added at 12 hrs (2021-05-03 22:57:40 GMT)
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https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/ladyshi...
Used in Co Cork, Ireland, humorously but not maliciously, about girls and women who have got "notions" or are prima donnas, to bring them down a peg or two. If memory serves.
I think it's a good fit for "Madame la Marquise", because presumably Madam isn't a Marquess at all...
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Note added at 12 hrs (2021-05-03 23:01:19 GMT)
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Oops, sorry
marquise nf (titre nobiliaire) Marchioness, Marquessa
La marquise est l'épouse du marquis.
The Marchioness (or: Marquessa) is the wife of the Marquis.
https://www.wordreference.com/fren/marquise
neutral |
writeaway
: stiff upper lip is English, but surprisingly most Americans are very familiar with the phrase.... /yes, actors in the 1930's tended to have 'thespian' English accents that sounded more British than not. That started to fade away in the early 1940s
2 mins
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Yes, if you watch old American movies, you'd be surprised at how English the accents and expressions are.
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neutral |
Victoria Britten
: "Her ladyship" is great; not sure the whole thing will fit in a subtitle. Maybe just, "Stiff upper lip, her/your ladyship?"
1 hr
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Thanks Victoria! Good idea. What's the character and space limit, do you know?
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agree |
Clair Pickworth
1 day 1 hr
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Thanks Clair!
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Everything's fine, Madame la Marquise,
Je viens de trouver la traduction anglais de la chanson de Paul Misraki. Tom Lerher la chante en Anglais. Le terme que vous cherchez fait partie de ces paroles ; le lien est dans les réferences web ci-dessous. / I just found the English translation of Paul Misraki's song. Tom Lerher sings it in English. The term you're looking for is part of those lyrics; the link is in the Web references below.
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Note added at 4 days (2021-05-08 03:11:06 GMT)
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Please ignore the comma after Madame la Marquise. It was that way in the lyrics and I accidentally copy-pasted it with the term.
Reference comments
for fuller details
Yes, that is the one :) |
agree |
writeaway
11 mins
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agree |
Beatriz Ramírez de Haro
23 mins
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agree |
Rachel Fell
50 mins
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agree |
Conor McAuley
3 hrs
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agree |
Cyril Tollari
8 hrs
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agree |
Wolf Draeger
11 hrs
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One example of a published translation
I wonder how many French speakers familiar with the expression know where it comes from. Getting the irony across is probably more important than replicating the cultural resonance.
Page 55 in the EN, page 56 in the FR:
https://booksvooks.com/nonscrolablepdf/prisoners-of-the-sun-...
https://ia801907.us.archive.org/11/items/eFilingComics4/14-L...
Haddock (FR): Tout va bien ! ... Tout va très bien, Madame la Marquise !
Haddock (EN): Nothing to worry about!... Not a sausage!
Although here the irony seems to be used in the opposite sense from your video file (Haddock doesn't know of Tintin's plan whereas the husband does know what his wife is thinking).
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Note added at 11 hrs (2021-05-03 22:26:37 GMT)
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I just saw that the Tintin usage (in FR) is also mentioned in polyglot's ref; hadn't looked at it before I posted, sorry.
agree |
Conor McAuley
: GREAT research! Agree with your point about the irony (and the tone).
3 mins
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Discussion
Also, what are the exact lines being sung and how many characters and seconds are you limited to?
"So, everything's just fine, my dear" or something similar ("my dear" since it's husband and wife)
https://wikitranslate.org/wiki/All_Things_Are_Fine,_My_Fair_...
I think all you can do is invent some lyrics.
After that he says that she has not changed, to which she says that yes, she has, because she is taking the day off.
The McMillan quote won't cut it.