This section contains articles on translation-related topics by Astradul members, selected from back numbers of the (now discontinued) hard-copy Newsletter. The page will feature one article at a time, but visitors will also have access to the backlist of previously featured articles.

Here is the first one, "Losing your Latin?" by Polly Hammel. We hope you enjoy it and look forward to receiving any other examples you can think of (via the "Questions diverses" forum for members or 'contact at astradul.org'  for other site users).

LOSING YOUR LATIN?

 

Have you ever waited six months for an appointment with your physician only to find not your trusted health provider but a locum tenens in the examining room? Have you ever been subpoenaed and after hours of preparation end up ad-libbing because you couldn't remember the version you'd planned to repeat verbatim? Not that either question makes sense per se….

It's nonsense of course – I daresay it's a non-sequitur…. but think about how you would translate this nonsense into French, and you'll realize that many Latin terms don't overlap between French and English. Or if they do, how much more common they are in one language than in the other, usually in English.

On second thought, though, I doubt that many English-speaking children throw Latin words around as casually as pint-sized French kids do when their tournament, race or class ranking ends in a tie ("Maman, Mathieu et moi on était ex æquo au tournoi!"). In French someone whose exact name we don't know or prefer not to mention is a quidam, whereas English hasn't much of an alternative to "fellow" or "individual".

Per se, on the other hand, is used in English but not in French, as in: "Research shows that it is not divorce per se that harms children, but the continuing conflict between parents." "It is not teenage pregnancy per se which government ministers are concerned about, but the financial dependency on the state which it creates."

Other Latin words are used in both languages, but with different frequency or in different registers. While the English-French dictionary entry for a priori gives only a priori, indicating that it is a scholarly word used mainly in logic and statistics, the French-English entry gives not only a priori in the philosophical sense but also some more colloquial translations: "in principle", "on the face of it"; and "bias", "preconceived idea", indicating that it is used more commonly in French than in English.

Other Latin words are used in both languages but unequally: in French there are alternatives, but not in English. De facto and de jure are used in French, for example, but are just as apt to be rendered "en fait" and "en droit". On the other hand, in English not only is the Latin retained in legal contexts ("The country has de facto independence now, and will soon be recognized de jure by the world's governments." "The President aims to create a de jure one party state.") but it's used in general contexts as well. You wouldn't be surprised to hear someone say: "The city is rapidly becoming the de facto centre of the financial world" or "English is de facto the common language of the world today". In Australian English, a de facto is a person with whom someone lives as a wife or husband, although they are not married, as in: "They've invited Joanne and her de facto for lunch on Sunday."

Ad hoc is another Latinism the two languages use differently. In French one says "c'est l'homme ad hoc", meaning "parfaitement qualifié". Or "il faut un instrument ad hoc", meaning "adéquat", "destiné expressément à cet usage". In English one says "We deal with problems on an ad hoc basis" or "The group met ad hoc, whenever the need arose". French translations: "ponctuel", "à l'improviste", "au cas par cas", "adapté aux circonstances". But in both languages one can have an ad hoc committee, one which is created for a particular purpose only.

Another English Latinism is quid pro quo – not to be confused with the French quiproquo! In English it is used conversationally to mean "récompense" or "contrepartie", as in: "What did she get as a quid pro quo for her silence?" or: "The government has promised food as a quid pro quo for the stopping of violence." It sounds a lot like the French quiproquo, which is also about "something for something" – only a different kind: a misunderstanding or mistaken identity, as in: "Il y a quiproquo, nous ne parlons pas du même étudiant."

Below is a non-exhaustive list of some other Latin terms used in English that would not be left in Latin when translating into French. A few are fairly formal or specialised, mainly for legal contexts (though I spare you the list of legal terms such as quantum meruit, respondeat superior, revocable ad nutum, and iura novit curia). But most are almost as common as……. the musca domestica!

Ad infinitum: à n'en plus finir

Ad-lib: improviser

Affidavit: déclaration écrite sous serment

Bona fide: authentique, valable, sérieux; (legal) de bonne foi

Caveat: avertissement, mise en garde; (legal) notification d'opposition

Cum laude,: (Univ) avec distinction,

Magna cum laude, summa cum laude: mention très bien, mention très honorable

e.g. (exempli gratia): par exemple

et al.: et autres

et. seq.: et suivants

fiat: un décret, une décision arbitraire ou autoritaire; (finances) un cours forcé

in camera: (legal) à huis clos

i.e. (id est): à savoir

In flagrante delicto: (legal) en flagrant délit

Locum tenens: remplaçant (de médecin, dentiste)

Non sequitur: illogisme; propos incohérent, qui manque de suite

Per annum: par an

Per capita: par habitant

Per diem: par jour

Per se: en tant que tel, en soi

Postmortem: autopsie

Prima facie: à première vue, de prime abord, a priori (legal: "to make a prima facie case": produire des éléments suffisants)

Pro bono: à titre gracieux (used for legal work or other services)

Re: au sujet de; (in letter heading:) objet

Quidnunc: (introuvable dans les dictionnaires bilingues!): person eager to learn the latest news and scandal, a busybody, a gossipmonger

Subpoena: (jur) citer/citation à comparaître en qualité de témoin

Verbatim: textuellement, mot par mot

Versus: contre, par rapport à, en contrepartie de

It's enough to make you "lose your Latin"!

Polly Hammel