Alternate translations: Moi Lolita, L'Alizé, Gourmandises

[Cooney]

As I said in my previous "Alternate Translations" thread...

In going through all the translations I've run across of various songs, I've discovered that I have various disagreements with many of them. They'll prove useful on one front, but seem completely wrong on another. It may be pretentious of me to think I can correct translations that have been accepted for years, especially given my own partial knowledge of the language, but I know at least a couple of my changes are accurate. As for the rest... well... if I turn out to be wrong, I'm sure someone will let me know, and I'll learn some new lessons that will help with translating our lovely lady's third album whenever we do see it.

I have three translations I'm posting at the moment, each in its own post below. I've tried to keep the meanings as close as possible to the original, while taking the necessary minor steps to make the words flow in English. This means I may have dropped or added articles, reversed the order of nouns and their adjectives, or occasionally switched in a word that I believe captures the meaning of an idiomatic expression or phrase for which there is no possible translation that reads well.

For each song I've put in a few line notes at the end of the translation, explaining my change to what is traditionally used, or else commenting on a problem I ran in to. Hopefully they're useful in understanding my process, and even more hopefully, these translations will prove useful to my fellow Alizée fans in appreciating the music we love so well!

Regards,
Cooney

PS (I welcome feedback with open arms. If you disagree, have a question about a line, or know better than I do... by all means say something! It's how I learn, and will help us all).

[Cooney]

Moi... Lolita

Me, my name is Lolita
Lo, or Lola as well
They're one and the same.
Me, my name is Lolita
When I dream about wolves
It's Lola who bleeds.
When I make a slip of the tongue, I have it:
A giggling fit, as crazy (1)
As a phenomenon.
My name is Lolita,
"Lo" of life, "Lo" for a diluvial love life. (2)

It's not my fault,
And when I give up (3)
I see the others,
All ready to pounce on me (4)
It's not my fault, not mine,
If I hear all around me,
L O L I T A (5)
Me, Lolita

Me, my name is Lolita
A school-girl, in stockings
The color of methylene blue (6)
Me, my name is Lolita,
Quick-tempered, and not
Half cotton, half wool. (7)
Not a word, don't say
To my mother that I
Am a phenomenon.
My name is Lolita
"Lo" of life, "Lo" for a diluvial love life.

It's not my fault,
And when I give up
I see the others,
All ready to pounce on me
It's not my fault, not mine,
If I hear all around me,
L O L I T A
Me, Lolita

It's not my fault,
And when I give up
I see the others,
All ready to pounce on me
It's not my fault, not mine,
If I hear all around me,
L O L I T A
Me, Lolita

Lo-li-ta (x8)

It's not my fault,
And when I give up
I see the others,
All ready to pounce on me
It's not my fault, not mine,
If I hear all around me,
L O L I T A
Me, Lolita

It's not my fault,
And when I give up
I see the others,
All ready to pounce on me
It's not my fault, not mine,
If I hear all around me,
L O L I T A
Me, Lolita

It's not my fault,
And when I give up
I see the others,
All ready to pounce on me
It's not my fault, not mine,
If I hear all around me,
L O L I T A
Me, Lolita

1: "Un fou rire aussi fou" – “Un fou rire” refers to an uncontrollable giggling fit - she's made a slip of the tongue and is embarrassed. "Aussi fou" could mean "as crazy" or possibly "also crazy" (though I think the word order is reversed for that). With the next line being what it is, I opted for "as crazy."

2: "Lo" is pronounced the same as "L'eau," which means water. The line is a play on words, and can be read as "Water of life, water for a diluvial love life" Diluvial is a biblical reference to Noah's flood, I believe. You'd better be ready for a lot of loving! This also helps justify the earlier lines “LO ou bien Lola, Du pareil au même,” whose value I know has been questioned.

3: "Je donne ma langue au chat" literally translates to "I give my tongue to the cat." It is an idiomatic expression used to mean "I give up" or "I have no answer" when dealing with riddles and similar things.

4: "Se jeter sur qqn" means to pounce upon or set upon somebody. Thank you aFrenchie for the clarification of "Prèts" in this context as meaning "ready."

5: I think this has been gone over a thousand times, but just to make sure I'm not skipping it. This is also written as "Hello helli t'es a" (Hello, helli, you are has) which is a nonsense expression pronounced the same as the French letters L O L I T A. The closest English equivalent I can come up with would be a British pronunciation of "Hello Hell, High Tea, Eh?" where all the leading H's are swallowed ('ello 'ell, 'igh tea, eh?)

6: The French use "blue" in the same way we use "green" to mean inexperienced or novice. To say she is a school-girl, deep methylene blue, is, I believe, the same as saying "Just an inexperienced school-girl." A very Lolita image.

7: Somewhere I think I saw an explanation of the "mi-coton mi-laine" line as being a phrase meaning "not wishy-washy," but I cannot locate the reference, so will not presume to use that meaning. It works literally as well,

[Cooney]

L'Alizé

All the winds,
Sweep away the heartaches
Me, I'm like the wind
My understanding moving a thousand miles an hour (1)
No doubt I make decisions too fast
That's ok, so be it
It's exactly that, I move about
I'm growing, love is too. (2)

It's at the mercy of the winds
That I like to roam,
Me, I'm like the wind
I kiss everything, an army (3)
Of dreams and of cornflowers
Draws me inside
I know what I know
Even if I cry all the time,
So say...

Stop
Telling me that the wind has changed (4)
It's not true
Please
Stop
Saying of adolescence: it's
Only "What we don't yet know," because me,
I've found my love
It's a breath, it's gentle, a wind of love:
It's light, it's the Alizé, (5)
Me, I say that love
Is drunk in full. (6)
What she wants, Alizée always has.

Like the wind
Carries away the heartache
In a hurricane
A thousand mile per hour whirlwind, (7)
I am, no doubt, like him
It's ok, I am
At the gateway to my life
I'm growing, love is too.

It's with the four winds
that I like to be housed
Me, I'm like the wind,
I carry away my secrets
In a Garden of Eden
I stretch out inside
I know that this marriage (8)
Will last a long time
So say

Stop
Telling me that the wind has changed
It's not true
Please
Stop
Saying of adolescence: it's
Only "What we don't yet know," because me,
I've found my love
It's a breath, it's gentle, a wind of love:
It's light, it's the Alizé,
Me, I say that love
Is drunk in full.
What she wants, Alizée always has.

It's ok
It's ok
It's ok
It's ok

Stop
Telling me that the wind has changed
It's not true
Please
Stop
Saying of adolescence: it's
Only "What we don't yet know," because me,
I've found my love
It's a breath, it's gentle, a wind of love:
It's light, it's the Alizé,
Me, I say that love
Is drunk in full.
What she wants, Alizée always has.

1: The line could be "A spirit moving 1000 mph," but as the next line talks about making decisions and judgements quickly, I prefer aFrenchie's suggested reading of her ability to understand and intellectualize the world

2: I think the sense of the line is that "I am growing, my love is too," but the lyrics lack a possessive as far as I can see. It might be implied (several words are dropped in the song, in order to make things fit), but the line as is simply refers to Love in general.

3: This set of lines caused me problems. I wasn't sure where exactly the D.O. fell, so had to make guesses based on the wording. I translated as "I kiss everything, an army / Of dreams and of cornflowers / Draws me inside," but it could well be "I kiss an entire army / of dreams and cornflowers. / I dive right in." I prefer the former, as it makes the phrasing more fluid, but it could go either way (or a third way I haven't thought of).

4: I'm not sure if "Arrêtez / De me dire" means "Stop / telling me..." or "Stop / to tell me..." Given the rest of the verse, "telling" makes much more sense in my opinion. I believe "to tell me" would use "pour" instead of "de" as well.

5: We are fortunate that we can still use the proper name "Alizé" in translation in order to maintain the play on words, without losing function. "Alizé" is the general French word for "tradewind," but it does also refer to a specific one, and the name is used in English. One can say "the Alizé" without changing the meaning.

6: Literally, "drunk down to the dregs." I use "drunk in full" as it is more widely understood - many people, sadly, wouldn't know what drinking to the dregs means.

7: "Tourbillon" is the noun, whirlwind. It's tempting to use it as a verb, to generate "a hurricane whirling 1000 mph," but that would require a conjugation of the verb "tourbillonner."

8: The word in the lyrics is "hymen" (hymen), not "hymne" (hymn). I only bring this up because I think this was consciously changed in at least one other translation, due to the translator being worried about the fact that "hymen" maintains its meaning in French for a part of the female anatomy. However, it also has the added literary meaning of "marriage," which is what it's used for here.

[Cooney]

Gourmandises

When you think of me,
You, the wolf of the Steppes, (1)
Down deep inside of you
Do you feel ecstasy? (2)
"I'm yearning so much for you" (3)
You say it without cease,
"And take care of me"
Tell me if that hurts.
Oh wolf, are you there for me?
You made the promise,
And if I offer myself to you,
It's as thousands of tender kisses.

There are the kisses
The first
Taste like sea spray (4)
Taste like melancholy,
There are the kisses stolen
In the trains of Tsarinas. (5)
The kisses of a summer
Where the hand is led forward
But the kisses of Alizée
Are the true delicacies

When I think of you,
You, the wolf of the Steppes
I am not afraid of you,
Does that worry you? (6)
"Take that path there,"
You say it without cease
"Oh! Bed down near to me
And devour me with your eyes, my princess!"

For the kisses
The first
Taste like sea spray
Taste like melancholy
For the kisses stolen
In the trains of Tsarinas.
The kisses of a summer
Where the hand is led forward
But the kisses of Alizée
Are the true delicacies.

Oh wolf, are you there... (7)
Oh wolf, are you there...
Oh wolf, are you there...
Oh wolf, are you there...
Oh wolf, are you there...
Oh wolf, are you there...
Oh wolf, are you there...

There are the kisses
The first
Taste like sea spray
Taste like melancholy,
There are the kisses stolen
In the trains of Tsarinas.
The kisses of a summer
Where the hand is led forward
But the kisses of Alizée
Are the true delicacies

There are the kisses
The first
Taste like sea spray
Taste like melancholy,
There are the kisses stolen
In the trains of Tsarinas.
The kisses of a summer
Where the hand is led forward
But the kisses of Alizée
Are the true delicacies

1: "Steppenwulf" is not an English word, therefore I shan't translate it that way. I actually feel like it loses some of its force that way, without having the word "wolf" independantly. Wolf imagery is used repeatedly in Alizée's songs, and I don't wish to change that by importing words we don't need. Also worth noting is the fact that "my wolf" is an affectionate in French, equivalent to the American "My chickadee" or "My darling."

2: "Ivresse" is a great word, combining intoxication, drunkenness, excitement, and ecstasy. We use "intoxicated" as a good thing in the same way, but I didn't want to risk misunderstanding it as "do you feel drunk” (on alcohol)?

3: Literally, "I'm so hungry for you." Depending on my mood, I'd translate this as the grammatically poor "I want you so bad..."

4: "Embruns" is the word for spume, or sea spray. We might sometimes call it "salt spray" instead, which definitely suggests the perhaps off-putting nature of those first kisses.

5: I have no idea what this means. I toyed with putting in another word for "Trains," but I just couldn't find a noun that wasn’t just me inventing something. Is this a cultural reference for a book or rhyme? Anybody?

6: Literally, "does that oppress you?" I don't think I've strayed in suggesting it refers to oppressing in the form of causing worry.

7: I use the interrogative here. It's possible it is "Oh wolf, there you are," but I don't believe so at this point.

[aFrenchie]

One at a time : "Moi.. Lolita" :)

4: "prêt" may mean a lend when it's a noun. "prêter" is the verb (=to lend)
Here, it's an adjective and it means "ready" (sometimes "willing").
So "Tout prêts à" = "all ready to"

"A school-girl, deep":
You used "deep" for "bas"... In other translations, I've also seen "below". And they're both wrong. :)
Here "bas" is a noun and means "stockings", and "aux" means "whose" or "with".
I'd say "A school-girl, whose (or with) stockings" (.....) "that are blue like methylene(??) (see EDIT)" (I've added "that are", or you would have to invert words positions and put blue before stockings in English)

6: I doubt that "bleu" has the "green" sense here. Only the color for me (and surely not "jeans" like I've seen in other translations :blink:)

"C'est pas ma faute à moi":
"à moi" is a way to accentuate that it's her fault and not someone else's. I'd say in English, to insist on this: "it's not my fault, (it's) not mine!"


EDIT: in fact, it's a wordplay between the color and the chemical compound:
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bleu_de_m%C3%A9thyl%C3%A8ne
English: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methyl_blue

EDIT2: WOW, read the whole page of the French wiki link above: there is a note about Alizée's "Moi.. Lolita"! :D

[aFrenchie]

L'Alizé

1: "L'esprit à mille à l'heure":
Esprit means mind indeed, but also "intellect", "mental capacity", "understanding". Here, it'd rather be one of these.

"so be it" is good for "tant pis". However I'm used to translate it "too bad" myself.

3: "embrasser" means "to kiss" 95% of the times, but in the 5% left, it may be "to embrace", "to hug". Maybe that here.

4: I'm not sure if "Arrêtez / De me dire" means "Stop / telling me..." or "Stop / to tell me..."
What's the difference? For me they're both the same but it must be my poor English. Anyway in French, she does ask people to stop telling her (etc...)

"Saying of adolescence "it's
What they don't know,"
Literally, the original version says in a very weird way (even in French) something like: "saying that adolescence is (or "means") only "that we don't know"...". Try to make better than the original! (less "childish") :D

6: "boire jusqu'à la lie" is a common expression in French. To be precise, "la lie" is the deposits of yeast you find in the bottom of a bottle of wine: http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lie
English wiki calls that the "lees" (??): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lees_%28fermentation%29 (see French references though)
Here the expression literally means to drink (your wine) until only the "lie" (lees?) is left in your glass (or in the bottle :)). And the metaphor is "to drink in full" indeed, or "to consume something entirely".

"I am, no doubt, like her"
It's "like him" :)

[aFrenchie]

Gourmandises

1. Also worth noting is the fact that "my wolf" is an affectionate in French, equivalent to the American "My chickadee" or "My darling."

Quite rare and old though, and only a woman would call her man like this, not the other way around I think (at least I wouldn't! :))

2. perfect understanding ;)

5. Probably an allusion to something (in literature, movie,...). But I don't know.

[maareek]

L'Alizé

4: I'm not sure if "Arrêtez / De me dire" means "Stop / telling me..." or "Stop / to tell me..."
What's the difference? For me they're both the same but it must be my poor English. Anyway in French, she does ask people to stop telling her (etc...)

"Stop/telling me" and "Stop/to tell me" would be completely different statements in English. "Stop telling me" would indicate that you know the information already or don't care and don't want to hear it.

"Stop/to tell me" would indicate that you want the person to stop what they're doing and tell you something. So, they're pretty much complete opposites in English.

Great work/information again guys, very informative and a good diversion with the lack of news. ;/

[Cooney]

aFrenchie, I am very much in your debt. Thank you so much for all the time you take helping me with these! Your ability to explain stuff, even in English, is remarkable.

One at a time : "Moi.. Lolita" :)
4: "prêt" may mean a lend when it's a noun. "prêter" is the verb (=to lend)
Here, it's an adjective and it means "ready" (sometimes "willing").
So "Tout prêts à" = "all ready to"

Good, good. That's the word I was thinking it meant, but I couldn't find a form of it in my dictionary that worked that way. "Offering to pounce," in English, is way of saying "preparing to pounce," but if I can change it to "ready to pounce" without further problems, I'll do so, as it's clearer.


"A school-girl, deep":
You used "deep" for "bas"... In other translations, I've also seen "below". And they're both wrong. :)
Here "bas" is a noun and means "stockings", and "aux" means "whose" or "with".
I'd say "A school-girl, whose (or with) stockings" (.....) "that are blue like methylene(??) (see EDIT)" (I've added "that are", or you would have to invert words positions and put blue before stockings in English)

D'oh! I didn't run across that one, and it didn't even occur to me that they'd be using "bas" as a noun. I had read the entire Wikipedia article on the different versions of Methylene blue, and am aware of what it is, but foolish me... I never read the French one that I should have! With the word "stockings" in there, it becomes immediately clarified.

6: I doubt that "bleu" has the "green" sense here. Only the color for me (and surely not "jeans" like I've seen in other translations :blink:)

EDIT: in fact, it's a wordplay between the color and the chemical compound:
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bleu_de_m%C3%A9thyl%C3%A8ne
English: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methyl_blue

EDIT2: WOW, read the whole page of the French wiki link above: there is a note about Alizée's "Moi.. Lolita"! :D

Yeah, the "tight jeans" translation just made me wonder... it simply cuts an entire line, and invents a slang for itself. Stockings the color of Methylene Blue works though - thanks.

"C'est pas ma faute à moi":
"à moi" is a way to accentuate that it's her fault and not someone else's. I'd say in English, to insist on this: "it's not my fault, (it's) not mine!"

Ok, that works. I wasn't sure it was an emphatic or a seperate part of the phrase. I'll edit it.


L'Alizé

1: "L'esprit à mille à l'heure":
Esprit means mind indeed, but also "intellect", "mental capacity", "understanding". Here, it'd rather be one of these.

Ok, I'll tinker with it :-)

"so be it" is good for "tant pis". However I'm used to translate it "too bad" myself.

I usually do translate it that way as well. "Too bad" has a somewhat harsh, or sarcastic ring to it in English though, while "so be it" is more accepting and polite. One says "too bad" if one does not care about the feelings of the person you're talking too, and uses "so be it" if accepting something that may not be ideal.

3: "embrasser" means "to kiss" 95% of the times, but in the 5% left, it may be "to embrace", "to hug". Maybe that here.

We talk about wind "kissing" things in English, so I think the kiss part works, given the previous line. "Me, I'm like the wind / I kiss everything" would be the equivalent of "Me, I'm like the wind / I touch everything"

4: I'm not sure if "Arrêtez / De me dire" means "Stop / telling me..." or "Stop / to tell me..."
What's the difference? For me they're both the same but it must be my poor English. Anyway in French, she does ask people to stop telling her (etc...)

To say "Stop telling me" means that somebody is already saying something to you, and you don't want them to keep saying it.

To say "Stop to tell me" means that somebody has not yet told you something, and you want them to stop what they are doing and start telling it to you.

"Saying of adolescence "it's
What they don't know,"
Literally, the original version says in a very weird way (even in French) something like: "saying that adolescence is (or "means") only "that we don't know"...". Try to make better than the original! (less "childish") :D

Hehe, ok, thanks for the clarification. I'll look in to it.

6: "boire jusqu'à la lie" is a common expression in French. To be precise, "la lie" is the deposits of yeast you find in the bottom of a bottle of wine: http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lie
English wiki calls that the "lees" (??): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lees_%28fermentation%29 (see French references though)
Here the expression literally means to drink (your wine) until only the "lie" (lees?) is left in your glass (or in the bottle :)). And the metaphor is "to drink in full" indeed, or "to consume something entirely".

Aye, what the English call the lees, and the french la lie, we call the "dregs" in American. Unfortunately, I'd be surprised if more than 1 in 4 Americans knew that. There is a matching expression, "to drink to the dregs," but it's very rare and unusual. "Drink in full" is something far more widely known, hence the unfortunate need for substitution.

"I am, no doubt, like her"
It's "like him" :)

Oops! I thought "lui" was usable for both "him" and "her," is there a way to tell? My guess would be that it's referencing "le vent," which is masculine, and therefore I should have used "him?"

Gourmandises

1. Also worth noting is the fact that "my wolf" is an affectionate in French, equivalent to the American "My chickadee" or "My darling."

Quite rare and old though, and only a woman would call her man like this, not the other way around I think (at least I wouldn't! :))

Hehe, well, Alizée being female, I'll maintain the possibility of a double meaning. Thank you for the background though, I hope not to make a fool of myself in France when I visit some day :-)

2. perfect understanding ;)

Woot! Thanks :-)

5. Probably an allusion to something (in literature, movie,...). But I don't know.

Hehe, lyric-quest. I must find the hidden Alizée reference with all speed!

Thanks again aFrenchie for all your time and help, I very much appreciate it. Once I get these fully fleshed out and relatively clean in style, I may send them the way of the Alizée fanpage "official translations" to see if they're interested. It seems a lot of their stuff still is computer-translated.

[riva2model64]

thanks for your contributions, Cooney and aFrenchie

and yup, mareek is right about stop/telling me and stop/to tell me

[garçoncanadien]

EDIT2: WOW, read the whole page of the French wiki link above: there is a note about Alizée's "Moi.. Lolita"!

mdrrrrrrr Cooney les chimistes connaissent Alizée ;)

[RMJ]

EDIT2: WOW, read the whole page of the French wiki link above: there is a note about Alizée's "Moi.. Lolita"! :D
And what a coincident that it was added there two days ago... :rolleyes:

[Cooney]

And what a coincident that it was added there two days ago... :rolleyes:

Was it added just two days ago? Is there a way to tell?

As I said, I hadn't actually read the French wiki until after aFrenchie posted it, only the English wiki's. I didn't have anything to do with it, as far as I'm aware, if that's what you're saying :-) I could only dare to dream that I have such influence.

Obviously, garçoncanadien, the chemists have good taste!

[aFrenchie]

"Stop/telling me" and "Stop/to tell me" would be completely different statements in English. "Stop telling me" would indicate that you know the information already or don't care and don't want to hear it.

"Stop/to tell me" would indicate that you want the person to stop what they're doing and tell you something. So, they're pretty much complete opposites in English.
To say "Stop telling me" means that somebody is already saying something to you, and you don't want them to keep saying it.

To say "Stop to tell me" means that somebody has not yet told you something, and you want them to stop what they are doing and start telling it to you.
Ok. So she's saying "Stop telling me...".
In French: "stop to tell me" would have been "arrête et dis-moi"

Oops! I thought "lui" was usable for both "him" and "her," is there a way to tell? My guess would be that it's referencing "le vent," which is masculine, and therefore I should have used "him?"
It can be "him" or "her" when it's before the verb, like "je lui donne". Here you don't know. If you accentuate, like we've seen before, you could tell either "je lui donne à lui" or "je lui donne à elle".
In the song she says "je suis comme lui" (him), if it was "her", she would have said "je suis comme elle"
I know it's confusing, welcome to French lessons :)

Hehe, well, Alizée being female, I'll maintain the possibility of a double meaning. Thank you for the background though, I hope not to make a fool of myself in France when I visit some day :-)
You still could say "ma louve", why not :). Original but you can invent anything you want when you're alone with your gf ;)

And what a coincident that it was added there two days ago...
Didn't see that. It's funny indeed :)
Or do you mean that I added it myself?? :blink: I didn't have a clue three days ago (17th) about this and was still searching yesterday (see my "that are blue like methylene(??)" in my previous post :))

Was it added just two days ago? Is there a way to tell?
Yes, see the "historique" tab and do comparisons between versions. Do you know you can change yourself anything you want in the wiki pages? Use the "Edit this page"/"Modifier" button :)

By the way, the note says:
"The expression "Bleu de méthylène" is usually used only to name the chimical compound, not the color. The exception is the song Moi... Lolita by Alizée where the singer defines herself as a "Collégienne aux bas/Bleus de méthylène"."

[RMJ]

Yea, you can see it form wiki's history. You can watch the old versions of each page and see what was changed.

And indeed, the page was updated 17th of November, 2006. And the addition was the Lili part at the end. It was updated by someone from Île-de-France (I tracked down the IP)... Maybe Lili was updating her info. :blink:

Heh, or maybe not. :) But anyways, same guy (or gal) did several other changes to wiki's pages, mostly related to math and chemistry (hmmm.... Lili is good at sciences ! )

Here is compare with current version and the version before Nov 17th. The additions shows on right with blue background (on top of the page).
http://fr.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bleu_de_m%C3%A9thyl&diff=11816303&oldid=9967950

Here is other pages he/she changed:
http://fr.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Contributions&target=86.205.91.80

I couldn't fully understand his/her logic to change all those pages. Tho, I didn't read them all through, so I might have missed some obvious connection. Tho, like said, they relates to math and chemistry...



edit:
And nah.. I didn't really think it was Cooney since I knew the change was made from Paris (or near by). And I knew you, aFrenchie, didn't do it either. :)

Oh, and Cooney, like aFrenchie said, you can modify,too, modify wikipedia. That's how the whole thing works. The one who has new informations adds it there.

[aFrenchie]

It was updated by someone from Île-de-France (I tracked down the IP)... Maybe Lili was updating her info. :blink:
For those who might think that "Île-de-France" ("Island-of-France") could mean Corsica among others, it's actually the Parisian region :)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%8Ele-de-France_%28r%C3%A9gion%29

But anyways, same guy (or gal) did several other changes to wiki's pages, mostly related to math and chemistry (hmmm.... Lili is good at sciences ! )
She would have to be good at sciences indeed! :rolleyes:

And I knew you, aFrenchie, didn't do it either. :)
You knew I suck at science? :D

[Cooney]

Ok. So she's saying "Stop telling me...".
In French: "stop to tell me" would have been "arrête et dis-moi"

Very good! Glad to see that the thing that made the most sense is, in fact, what it means.


It can be "him" or "her" when it's before the verb, like "je lui donne". Here you don't know. If you accentuate, like we've seen before, you could tell either "je lui donne à lui" or "je lui donne à elle".
In the song she says "je suis comme lui" (him), if it was "her", she would have said "je suis comme elle"
I know it's confusing, welcome to French lessons :)

That's fair enough - it's not as confusing as some word rules I've seen! Garçoncanadien also was kind enough to PM me with some help on this one. Hopefully I won't screw it up in the future!

You still could say "ma louve", why not :). Original but you can invent anything you want when you're alone with your gf ;)

Haha, this is true ::grins::

Didn't see that. It's funny indeed :)
Or do you mean that I added it myself?? :blink: I didn't have a clue three days ago (17th) about this and was still searching yesterday (see my "that are blue like methylene(??)" in my previous post :))

Interestingly, my dictionary does actually include "bleu de méthylène" as its own entry. I was familiar with it as a bio-chemical product already, but was searching for a way to use it in song. I don't know how I missed "bas" meaning "stockings." It's the first definition provided, and I just looked right over it.

Yes, see the "historique" tab and do comparisons between versions. Do you know you can change yourself anything you want in the wiki pages? Use the "Edit this page"/"Modifier" button :)

By the way, the note says:
"The expression "Bleu de méthylène" is usually used only to name the chimical compound, not the color. The exception is the song Moi... Lolita by Alizée where the singer defines herself as a "Collégienne aux bas/Bleus de méthylène"."



Yea, you can see it form wiki's history. You can watch the old versions of each page and see what was changed.

And indeed, the page was updated 17th of November, 2006. And the addition was the Lili part at the end. It was updated by someone from Île-de-France (I tracked down the IP)... Maybe Lili was updating her info. :blink:

Heh, or maybe not. :) But anyways, same guy (or gal) did several other changes to wiki's pages, mostly related to math and chemistry (hmmm.... Lili is good at sciences ! )

Here is compare with current version and the version before Nov 17th. The additions shows on right with blue background (on top of the page).
http://fr.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bleu_de_m%C3%A9thyl&diff=11816303&oldid=9967950

Here is other pages he/she changed:
http://fr.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Contributions&target=86.205.91.80

I couldn't fully understand his/her logic to change all those pages. Tho, I didn't read them all through, so I might have missed some obvious connection. Tho, like said, they relates to math and chemistry...

I knew Wiki was changeable by people, but I just hadn't realized there was a way to pull up old versions and see the edit date. I guess I hadn't paid that much attention.

edit:
And nah.. I didn't really think it was Cooney since I knew the change was made from Paris (or near by). And I knew you, aFrenchie, didn't do it either. :)

Oh, and Cooney, like aFrenchie said, you can modify,too, modify wikipedia. That's how the whole thing works. The one who has new informations adds it there.

Glad to see I am clear of suspicion :-P I'm equally glad to see Alizée related adjustments stemming out of France so recently. We fans are still alive!

Overall, it looks like I made fewer mix-ups this time around than with my last set of three. That's enough to make me happy! With the exception of the stockings issue in ML, I think I was actually close enough on things this time for it to mostly make sense in the appropriate fashion :-) I'm trying to decide what the next three will be. Youpidou will be one of them, I know that. I'm trying to pick the other two out of Veni Vidi Vici, A Quoi Rêve Une Jeune Fille, Tempête, and L'e-mail a des ailes. Heck, it may end up somewhere else entirely - I'm hoping to have all 21 main songs, plus a couple others, done by mid-December (though I promise not to spam the boards with them all!)

[RMJ]

You knew I suck at science? :D
Yup. :p

But hey, you know geography well ! You knew where the Île-de-France is. Altho, I gave hint in that edit in my post. ;) But still, not bad for native. :p

[aFrenchie]

But hey, you know geography well ! You knew where the Île-de-France is.
I would be a complete idiot if I didn't know that! :blink:

[RMJ]

True that, hence the wink and tongue. :p

[O Rly]

Too long didn't read.

....


j/k, was a nice read, thx

[aFrenchie]

Too long didn't read.

....


j/k, was a nice read, thx
I'm aware that not everybody will read all those explanations because it's long and boring ;)
I just hope that it's useful for those interested in learning French, even if it's only 2% of you... :)

[madraven]

I'm aware that not everybody will read all those explanations because it's long and boring ;)
I just hope that it's useful for those interested in learning French, even if it's only 2% of you... :)

My problem is that I do find it interesting and I am interested in learning french, beyond my current and rather shameful level. However, in the process I ignore other, more pressing, tasks that I have to do! (i.e. term paper and such).
So thank you, aFrenchie, for providing me with a distraction.:)

[brad]

I'm aware that not everybody will read all those explanations because it's long and boring ;)
I just hope that it's useful for those interested in learning French, even if it's only 2% of you... :)

personally I LOVE this kind of stuff. This is by far the most valuable content on the forums (IMHO). I can't tell you how great it is having native French speakers (who also speak great English) on the forums to give us some special insight on the lyrics and French culture in general.

A lot of this stuff makes so much more sense after reading your small details about different things (like the wolf thing in L'alize for example). That never made sense to me before, now I get exactly what she is saying :)

[aFrenchie]

personally I LOVE this kind of stuff. This is by far the most valuable content on the forums (IMHO). I can't tell you how great it is having native French speakers (who also speak great English) on the forums to give us some special insight on the lyrics and French culture in general.
Thanks Brad :)

[Ben]

personally I LOVE this kind of stuff. This is by far the most valuable content on the forums (IMHO).
I agree. I haven't had time to read this whole thread carefully yet, and I'm sure I'll have more comments once I have, but I was skimming it before and was very impressed. New insight into Alizée's work (as opposed to her personal life) is always great.

[maareek]

This is possibly my favorite stuff on the entire site. I love hearing it. It helps everybody with the language and with Alizée's music, both noble goals. :)

[O Rly]

I'm aware that not everybody will read all those explanations because it's long and boring ;)
I just hope that it's useful for those interested in learning French, even if it's only 2% of you... :)

No, i read it all, i like this stuff. It's interesting to read.

[giaguzman]

"3: "Je donne ma langue au chat" literally translates to "I give my tongue to the cat." It is an idiomatic expression used to mean "I give up" or "I have no answer" when dealing with riddles and similar things."

Je donne ma langue au chat literally translates to i give up the cat.
We all know what "i give up the cat means in america."

[AlizeeNEO]

Gotta learn French. Maybe someday I will get Rosetta Stone see if that helps. Cant go any worse than school.

[mzracing76]

I am learning french by listening to ALIZEE and PRISCILLA (Prissou). that and my 23 friends from France on Facebook, LOL. comin along quite nicely.
MZ

[LoupDeSteppes]

Gourmandises

5: I have no idea what this means. I toyed with putting in another word for "Trains," but I just couldn't find a noun that wasn’t just me inventing something. Is this a cultural reference for a book or rhyme? Anybody?


Tsarinas it's a Russian train station that is located by a park in Moscow :)

[Rev]

Look up Tsar.

[Alex Rien]

5: I have no idea what this means. I toyed with putting in another word for "Trains," but I just couldn't find a noun that wasn’t just me inventing something. Is this a cultural reference for a book or rhyme? Anybody?



trains de tsarines.

tsarines - that`s from old russian word tsarin (queen).

So "Dans les trains de tsarines" - "In the queens trains"

[Scruffydog777]

trains de tsarines.

tsarines - that`s from old russian word tsarin (queen).

So "Dans les trains de tsarines" - "In the queens trains"

I have some opinions, but they can't be discussed in the open. We have our rules. You have to take into consideration who wrote the songs?

[Alex Rien]

You have to take into consideration who wrote the songs?

Mylene Farmer. Her lyrics have a hidden meanings with sexual implication.

[Alex Rien]

5: I think this has been gone over a thousand times, but just to make sure I'm not skipping it. This is also written as "Hello helli t'es a" (Hello, helli, you are has) which is a nonsense expression pronounced the same as the French letters L O L I T A. The closest English equivalent I can come up with would be a British pronunciation of "Hello Hell, High Tea, Eh?" where all the leading H's are swallowed ('ello 'ell, 'igh tea, eh?)



That`s a reference to Serge Gainsbourg song "Elaeudanla Teïtéïa".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Kkc--aYns8