Alizee's Song Titles Translation

[rcs]

To anyone who may know. We have such great translations for all of Alizee's songs. But, I was wondering if some of the song titles themselves could be translated, or are they specifically french titles without an english equivalant?

[garçoncanadien]

Some of the translations are already provided on the videos page, but the missing ones are as follows:

Moi lolita = me, lolita
L'alizé = the trade wind
Ella, elle l'a = a combination of french and spanish that means she's got it
La isla bonita = spanish for The Beautiful Island
A contre courant = against the current
Toc de mac = Corsican french for "it's killer" or "it's fantastic"
Youpidoo = hooray, yippee
Mon maquis = my maquis
Gourmandises = delicacies
Amélie m'a dit = Amélie told me

[aFrenchie]

About the lyrics, I don't know if I should try to improve some that I've found here. I think most of them have been made with an online translator and it can't be any good that's sure! But it would be a huge pain in the ass for me since there are many many puns and many many French allusions that wouldn't work in English.

French allusion example in J'en Ai Marre:
J'en ai marre de ces cyniques,
Et dans les prés, les colchiques,

There's a children song in France that NOT ONE French child has missed and that is called "Colchiques dans les prés" ("Autumn crocus in the meadows"). Farmer obviously uses that song as a reference (she would hate that old tune now? ) and that would give in English: "In the meadows, (I'm fed up with) Autumn crocus"! Eh? why that when you don't know the old children song?

Now, translator mistakes example in Moi Lolita:

C'est pas ma faute à moi
Si j'entends tout autour de moi
Hello, helli, t'es A (L.O.L.I.T.A.)

giving this in your current translation:

It's not my own fault
If I hear everything around me
Hello, helli, you're A (L.O.L.I.T.A.)

1. A mistake that only a translator would do: "tout" in French (in the 2nd line) may mean either "all" or "everything" depending of the rest of the sentence and unfortunately the translator wrongly chose the latter. I'm sure this is not the same for you:
Correct: It's not my own fault if I hear all around me: "L" "O" "L" "I" "T" "A"
Wrong: It's not my own fault if I hear everything around me: "L" "O" "L" "I" "T" "A"

2. Second: inevitable of course! "Hello, helli, t'es A" is words assembled to simulate the spelling of "Lolita", but as the French spell those letters of course. So "you're A" sure won't do it, even in English . Could have been put: "Hello Hell Eye Tee A" instead (means nothing but the original line in French neither!)

And I've seen many other bits like that in other songs!

[Impurator]

I'd actually enjoy reading that sort of "proper translation" quite a bit, aFrenchie. I'm trying to improve my French and it is my understanding that the songs are peppered with colloquialisms and pop culture references, so it would help me to have them explained.

Thanks in advance if you do

[aFrenchie]

Ok Impurator, I'll illustrate other things like that here if you want. To others: tell me if you're interested too. The more of you the more motivated I will be to do it...

I forgot to mention some pun examples in my post above.
"A Contre Courant" is great for that! This song is all about puns with the electricity theme...

Here are two of them:

1. "Mets-moi au courant"
"Mets-moi au courant" that is translated "Keep me informed" in your lyrics version. The translation is correct but you could wonder why she says that. You could have guessed though by her "Mes Courants Electriques" title. In French, Courant means Stream here -> Electric Stream = Electric Energy, Electricity
Other locutions:
Couper le courant: to cut off the power
Courant alternatif: alternating current

2. "Les corps-circuits..."
"Les corps-circuits" in French means... nothing! It just sounds like "courts-circuits" that means "short circuits" in English! (electricity again )
Translation in your page here:
"The body currents..." corps = body indeed, "circuits" not really "current" though! but as a whole no pun possible...

[dvtq]

Only lolita , i think someone should explain it , i dont know how to do that though i understand it

[brad]

this is good stuff frenchie... it is hard to translate alizee's songs because there are so many double meanings.

i always liked a lot of the interpretations / translations found here ...

http://mf-international.com/viewtopic.php?t=1074

I adapted some of those to J'en ai marre and included them on this video.

http://moi-alizee.us/play/?v=32

Can you watch that video and see if the subtitles are completely wrong anywhere? i understand it is not a word for word translation, but i wanted to change it enough so it actually made some sense in english.

look it over and tell me all the problems .. lol (if you have time).

i would love to get more of these 'interpretations' of the songs, since you lose so much meaning in just a literal translation.

[garçoncanadien]

completly should be spelled completely

"I'm fed up with those who whine": crying is a stronger word than whine, maybe you could convey the stronger meaning there?

otherwise, one vote for great subtitles!

[garçoncanadien]

And afrenchie, tell us about the puns and idiomatic expressions please! I'd be one eager pair of ears/eyes.

[aFrenchie]

Brad,

If I compare your own J'en Ai Marre lyrics and those in your 1st link above, I'd say that there are better things in yours and better things in his!
It's too difficult anyway. I've given it a little try myself in a brand new version and I finally prefered to give up. Too many "imageries", double meanings impossible in another language, etc. Farmer is good for that!
They did the best thing to do for the "real" English version (I'm Fed Up): rewrite everything from scratch!

Some interesting things if you want to improve it (I've seen nothing good in both translations for those):
- "Des extrémistes à deux balles": in this sentence "2 balles" is for "2 Euros" (well, in fact for "Francs" before the Euro but it's still used!) like when you say "buck" for Dollar, so litterally: "Extremist not worth 2 bucks", I'd say something like "laughable extremists" or simply "stupid extremists"
- "Qui m’expédient dans l’cafard": VERY weird, it's not good French for sure (Farmer's dialect! ). Although, I'm sure of the meaning: "avoir le cafard" (or "sombrer dans le cafard") = "to feel low / glum / blue", so -> "That make me feel <choose-one-the-best-word-here>"
- "Y’a comme un hic": my dictionary says: hic = snag (could it be good?). Anyway, explanation is always better than word for word attempts: we say "Y a un hic" in French when there's a little problem, a little worry, something unexpected. "Comme" = "Like", so I'd try "there's like a little snag" (if snag is ok for you???)