Quote:
Originally Posted by Deepwaters
Cooney, the line "Jolie syndrome de l'amour," which you translated as "The beautiful syndrome called love," I think might better be read as "A pretty syndrome of love." And actually, if we want to stray from the literal, it might be referring to Juliet as a pretty symbol of love, since "syndrome" in French carries that connotation, but using this word instead of "symbole" gives it a medical sense and the implication of something diseased.
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I kept "syndrome" as I think it's actually saying that she has caught the "syndrome" of love, not that she is one of its symptoms or symbols. The symptoms are listed previously: she flees other men, and has Romeo perpetually in mind.
You are correct that jolie more often translates as pretty or lovely, rather than beautiful. For some reason, I just like "beautiful" more. For accuracy's sake though, I'd better go change that (I probably shouldn't editorialize in my translations, eh?).
The choice between "A ... of" and "The ... called" is, I think, a preference issue that could go either way. With the article dropped on the beginning of the line, it's up for grabs. "de l'" can go either way, as it's an expression that doesn't literally translate to English. It could either be "of the" or "called," depending on the context of the English sentence. I think most Americans would use "called" for the context of this particular line, regardless of which article is chosen for the beginning.