ContributorsLinks
Archives
PayPal |
10.21.2006Young Mr Elie is incorrect
My young bruundian friend over-estimates my French - the second half of the first sentence is a mystery to me." First Friend to provide a translation in the commenst along with a Snail address will receive an Alivia Biko CD - My regular readers in Europe?
Pp "bonjour ca va je suis content de vous ecrire encore et aussi vous nous manquez I think you andarstand what I am righting at school it is ok moi et james et anna et elie peggy dit bonjour a derek et a olivieram very happy parce que vous allez venir demain. ok god bless you. Elie"
Comments:
Peggy,
I had to look up manquez, so this doesn´t count as an entry (I have two copies of Alivia´s CD - and love it!), but Mr. Elie and friends miss you. Raye # posted by
 : October 22, 2006 6:16 AM
Here's my best guess, but I can't say I quite understand how the "vous allez venir demain" bit fits in, (can it count as an entry anyway?):
"Hello, how are you? I am happy to be writing to you again and we miss you as well. I think you understand what I am writing, [I am?] at school. It is okay. Me and James and Anna and Elie. Peggy say hello to Derek and to Olivier. [I] am very happy because you will come again tomorrow[?]. Ok God bless you. Elie" # posted by
: October 23, 2006 6:22 AM
Our Friend Alice in the UK wins the prize and will receive the CD by slow boat. Around the cape.
the "you will come again tomorrow" bit makes fine sense because Elie is writing in French but thinks in Kirundi. They have no word for the near future except 'tomorrow'. I will be there December 29th, which is soon!
Peggy,
"Se Manquer" - it's a reflexive verb. A little info on reflexive verbs can be found here: http://french.about.com/library/weekly/aa021900L.htm They look confusing with the additional pronoun thrown in, until you understand how these work. In this case, "vous nous manquez" is "you we miss" (vous me manques = you I miss, vous ils manquent = you they miss, etc). Rachel # posted by
: October 25, 2006 9:33 AM
French teacher misses the boat...
For fun, I typed it into Babel Fish Translation on the web. It came out as: hello Ca goes I am content with you ecrire still and also we miss you Ha ha ha. (I love those translation websites)
The last time I was preparing to go to Africa, I tried putting on eof my handouts through Babelfish and showed it to young Elie's father who said "you do not need to try this anymore!" Burundians do not give negative feedback easily, often or well so that was clear damnation.
Post a Comment
When I got their I found that it was easy to have my students do translation for extra credit or small change and I got most of my handouts into Kirundi, Kiswahili and French. << Home |
