0
SpoonfedBaby Posted 21 years ago
Grammar

My Translation of a French Text

0Hello,02br
02br
02br
00I translated a French text into English. My translation is not faithful to the original text but I would like to know if my sentences are grammatically right. Please, would you look at them?02br
02br
00Ma translation:02br
00 Suddenly the memory came back. That taste was of a small piece of a scone that my aunt Georgina had given me after having dipped it in her tea in New-York. The sight of the scone hadn’t brought back any memory until I tasted it. Maybe because I had seen them on so many occasions on the shelves of pasties shop since then that their images had left those days in New-York to be associated with newer ones. Maybe because those memories have been left for a so long time outside of the mind, nothing survived, everything got disaggregated. But when from a past that nothing has subsisted, after the death of people, after the destruction of things, still the smell and the taste stay to be remembered, waiting and hoping, to carry without flaw the immense estate which is the souvenir.02br
02br
00Original text:02br
00 Et tout d'un coup le souvenir m'est apparu. Ce goût, c'était celui du petit morceau de madeleine que le dimanche matin à Combray (parce que ce jour-là je ne sortais pas avant l'heure de la messe), quand j'allais lui dire bonjour à sa chambre, ma tante Léonie m'offrait après l'avoir trempé dans son infusion de thé ou de tilleul. La vue de la petite madeleine ne m'avait rien rappelé avant que je n'y eusse goûté ; peut-être parce que, en ayant souvent aperçu depuis, sans en manger, sur les tablettes des pâtissiers, leur image avait quitté ces jours de Combray pour se lier à d'autres plus récents ; peut-être parce que de ces souvenirs abandonnés si longtemps hors de la mémoire, rien ne survivait, tout s'était désagrégé ; les formes et celle aussi du petit coquillage de pâtisserie, si grassement sensuel sous son plissage sévère et dévot, s'étaient abolies, ou, ensommeillées, avaient perdu la force d'expansion qui leur eût permis de rejoindre la conscience. Mais, quand d'un passé ancien rien ne subsiste, après la mort des êtres, après la destruction des choses, seules, plus frêles, mais plus vivaces, plus immatérielles, plus persistantes, plus fidèles, l'odeur et la saveur restent encore longtemps, comme des âmes, à se rappeler, à attendre, à espérer, sur la ruine de tout le reste, à porter sans fléchir, sur leur gouttelette presque impalpable, l'édifice immense du souvenir.02br
02br
00Thank you very much,02br
02br
00Spoonfedbaby02br
01span02span0-
  

Top answer

0 Very Proustesque. 02br 02br 00 Here is what I would do to it:02br 02br 00 Suddenly the memory came back. That taste was of a small piece of a scone that my aunt Georgina had given me in New York after having dipped it in her tea.

  • 0 Very Proustesque.
  • 02br 02br 00 Here is what I would do to it:02br 02br 00 Suddenly the memory came back.
  • That taste was of a small piece of a scone that my aunt Georgina had given me in New York after having dipped it in her tea.
  • The sight of the scone hadn’t brought back any memory until I tasted it.
  • Maybe because I had seen them on so many occasions on the shelves of pastery shops since then, their images had left those days in New York to be associated with newer ones.
Free · every Monday

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

New words, one handy idiom, and a 2-minute quiz — delivered to your inbox to keep your streak alive.

4 Answers
0
0 Very Proustesque. How much does a scone resemble a madeleine?02br
02br
00 Here is what I would do to it:02br
02br
00 Suddenly the memory came back. That taste was of a small piece of a scone that my aunt Georgina had given me in New York after having dipped it in her tea. The sight of the scone hadn’t brought back any memory until I tasted it.
0
0 Tks, Mister Micawber.02br
02br
00 Every madeleine has the same scallop-shell shape.0-
0
0 QUOTE: pastery shops02br
02br
00"Pastery" ? 0-
0
0 Well, it's closer than 'pasties'!02br
02br
0-

Related Questions