It’s beginning to look a lot like…
It’s that time of year again! My tickets home are ordered, I’ve spotted the Coca Cola advert on TV, and I hear it’s snowing back up north (here in sunny Manch, the weather remains cold and grey as always).
It’s easy to get all hipster about Christmas and to focus exclusively on the negativity of the event. Commercialisation, consumption, corporations cynically using a religious festival for their own money-grubbing ends.
But y’know what? Screw it! I love Christmas, and I always have done! I’m not religious myself, but I love Christmas carols because that’s what we used to sing at the Academy, where everyone came together to sing the old classics for the Chrismas concert. I love the cold weather, the crunch of snow underfoot (or, if not that, the crisp snap of frozen grass beneath my feet on a chilly winter morning). I love getting together with my family, and catching up with them; these days much more important for me as I live a few hours’ train journey away. Working for a German company, I’ve grown to love the German Christmas Markets; I was fortunate enough to go to a genuine Weinachtenmarkt in Nurenburg once and, though again it was somewhat commercialised, it helped recapture some of the magic of Christmas I remembered from my childhood. Even the Christmas Markets here in Manchester are lovely and packed with continental food, produce and booze. It’s a warm, festive feeling, and it is quite awesome.
Have you guys got any local traditions, or imported traditions for Christmas? I’d love to hear about them!
M.
So can we get a translation of what carlita is saying. (I think its french)
As we’ve all seen before, my French is terrible, but I did try and make sure that this time the dialogue was reasonably accurate!
The first bubble should translate to: “Shanna! Here’s a bitch!”
The second bubble should translate to: “You’re pissing me off, you whore!”
I’m sure someone else will correct me if I’m horribly wrong, though 😛
At a school course level of translation, you did quite well ! lol
And here’s the part where I suggest some improvements for the sake of a more natural discussion: ;-P
There’s no french sentence equivalent to “Shanna! Here’s a bitch” The used expression would be: “Prend ça, Salope!” which is: “Take that, bitch!”, but they don’t teach that in school…
And it’s: “Tu me fais chier” you just used plural, and it’s a common mistake.
I’d offer to proofread your future french dialog if you want to; I hate to sound like I’m correcting someone who’s making an effort at a language he’s not familiar with, and when I comment like this, it’s always the way it seems. But I like your work, and if I can somehow help, I feel obligated to offer.
When I went to Paris the two phrases I could reliably use were “Les additions si vous plait” and “Parlez vous Anglais?”. That seemed to get me around reasonably well, but did nothing to improve my ability to converse in French 😛
I’m more than happy to take language corrections! I try to make it as accurate as possible, but as I’m not a fluent speaker myself I’m bound to make some horrendous mistakes, and I’m glad when people point it out. Means they’re paying attention and they care enough to correct me 😛 To be fair, even any Cantonese I manage to put down (once, I think, when Mara got REALLY angry) is going to be somewhat dodgy. If you spot something, please point it out! I only tend to use French with Carlita when she’s particularly emotional anyway. It’s easier to get a French ‘flavour’ by injecting French words into her English dialogue from time to time.
Anyway, thanks for the offer! If I have a larger block of translation that I need done, I may be in touch. Glad I was able to achieve school quality translation 😛 Glad to see you’re still reading, from the last time I needed French corrections 😛
M.
I was about to offer my help too for the french translation, but then I read Rage’s post. Trust him, I would have give you the same translation. ^^
He’s really accurate :3
I will quote my english teacher : “You know a language, when you know insult in this language”
If Rage need some help, I will be glad to offer mine too. It’s not a will to correct someone, but more a will to contribute to a great story. ^^
PS : Shanna is always hurted in a fight in every story’s arc you made, is there a reason why ? :3
Thanks for the offer to help, it really makes me feel great to know that you guys are all so awesome 🙂 Cantonese insults almost always seem to be unforgivingly harsh. I’ve actually refused to teach one or two on the basis that it could very well have gotten the asker chopped 😛
I’ve never actually noticed that Shanna gets hurt in every story arc. Let’s see… Beaten up in Truenamer… Maggot-beamed in Sister Sister… Punched in the kidneys in My Father’s Sins… Poisoned in Miscalculation… Revenge beaten in Dreamland… Hey, looks like you’re right 😛
It’s not out of any special chewtoy designation for Shanna; It’s really more that her temper almost always gets the better of her, and that she’s not as good at fighting as she thinks she is (though she is still quite good). She’s also a brawler, and so is most likely out of the characters to get involved in a physical fight.
At least we know where Fliss went. Is it wrong to feel like this asskicking is well deserved?
Boy, she’d really kick me around…when I had a cell phone I’d rarely answer it. If I’d bothered to be carrying it or had a charge. Besides isn’t being drunk off your arse still a decent alibi?
It seems thats its not, at least for Carlita anyway.
Anyway my famliy doen’t really have any traditions beyond my mom taking pictures of me and the rest of the famliy when we’re coming down the stairs and opening the presents (most of which are made in china). Christmas has become commercialised here in the states, it’s not uncommon for one to see chirstmas decorations in stores at halloween.