For Anyone Who Knows French

[Aaroneet]

Thought this might be interesting. Kinda random, though; I didn't quite know where to put this. As the title specifies, this is for anyone who is somewhat familiar with the French language. I just walked into a Kohl's near my home because my brother was seeing a movie and I needed to pass the time. While I was in there, I saw a sleeveless shirt with a French slogan on it to try to make it seem more "chique", however, the slogan was gramatically incorrect. Not in a miniscule way, but in the most general sense. The slogan read the following:

"Vous sont enigmatique." If I had a digital camera, I would have taken a picture of it.

I know that Kohl's is just out there for the money, but I thought that, if they're going to make shirts with slogans on them, shouldn't they at least gramatically correct in a general sense?

[Miss Happy Cat]

You would think that they would, but if they're selling to the general public that may not be familiar with the French language, they don't care.

[Aaroneet]

I know it's about the top dollar. At least it gave me a good laugh.

[Lady_Lacrimosa_Umbrae]

Hey, the other day I saw a T_shirt with spelling mistakes too (the slogan was in English), I don't remember what it said exactly... but it would have hurted the eyes of anyone who speaks English (and spells right, of course).
So it happens all the time... I guess they don't hire translators for that... :P (I'm a cool future translator by the way)

[Underwater Ophelia]

The problem isn't actually with the "vous sont" I believe, as that just means "You are" you=more than one person. The shirt is wrong because it needs an "s" at the end of the adjective.

Unless that was what you were saying. Lol.

[Romantic Raven]

Actually, there are two correct versions:

1) "Vous etes enigmatique" - if you are addressing your interlocutor in a polite manner. (An English equivalent for this grammar rule doesn't exist.)

2) "Vous etes enigmatiques" - if you are talking to a group of people.

[Underwater Ophelia]

Vous etes! I was wrong. That's right.

[Clockwork]

How they butcher the language!

[HumanePain]

Que tu es bete, Duckman! Mon pauvre petit vache verte qui mange drugs dans le noir.

[Miss Happy Cat]

Que? Je ne comprends pas. (Right now I'm thanking the 3 years of high school French I took to fill up my credit requirements for college...)

Did you mean to say, "Vous êtes stupides, Duckman! Mon petit, pauvre homme, la vache verte qui mange des médicaments dans le noir." Errr... I think that's right.

Je suis fini.

[HumanePain]

Originally Posted by Miss Happy Cat

Que? Je ne comprends pas. (Right now I'm thanking the 3 years of high school French I took to fill up my credit requirements for college...)

Did you mean to say, "Vous êtes stupides, Duckman! Mon petit, pauvre homme, la vache verte qui mange des médicaments dans le noir." Errr... I think that's right.

Je suis fini.

Mais oui, mon jolie jeune fille. Merci beaucoup.

^_^

[Underwater Ophelia]

Except I kinda doubt it'd be mange. Prendre? More likely? I'm not sure, it just makes more sense to me.
I'm not sure if they eat or take drugs in France.

[Miss Happy Cat]

You're welcome, HP. My French is a little rusty, it been years since I've actually spoken or read French until this past year.

Pendre would make more sense, but he may eat his drugs. What I mean is, if he’s sitting around in his underwear on a bean bag chair consuming frosted hashish brownies with acid laced sprinkles on top.

That just put the worst image in my head...

[Aaroneet]

Originally Posted by Underwater Ophelia

Except I kinda doubt it'd be mange. Prendre? More likely? I'm not sure, it just makes more sense to me.
I'm not sure if they eat or take drugs in France.

The problem is that French is oddly specific with its phrases/actions. They probably would say "eat drugs", but I'd have to look it up.

[Rae Ven Rae]

I was recently corrected on a mistranslation as well -- my comic is called La Petite Morte and I had been spelling MORTE with an "e" but it is more. MORT ...I am not certain what the difference is, but I am sure a Frenchman would know -- and probably point and laugh...

[Aaroneet]

I thought it was "morte"...

[Aaroneet]

Sorry about the double post..."Morte" is feminine, and "mort" is masculine.

[Rae Ven Rae]

Ohhh - well see-- then I think the story should have an E based on the story line

or maybe they figured, since I was a female writer it should be M-O-R-T -- I am sooo confused...

[Cappinator]

I live in Brussels, Belgium. I grew up speaking both Dutch and French. If you ever need something translated for your comic, Rae, feel free to ask.

French is the weirdest language in the world with regards to how it is written though. Both in France as in Belgium (where 40% of the people speak ONLY french), they have trouble writing their own language. English is incredibly easy to write, since most of the words are written as they sound (I said most). French is so difficult, even those who speak nothing but French, often don't know how to write it properly.

Though, I admit that saying "Vous sont" is about as wrong as you can get

"Morte" is correct if a female person is saying that she's dead. She'd say "Je suis morte". A man would say "Je suis mort". So you put the -e for female. But "death" as a noun is "la mort" and you wouldn't use the -e even if the word itself is female

Confused yet?

About the drugs. In French they would say "tu fais de la drogue": you do drugs. Maybe in some french regional slang they'd actually say "tu prends de la drogue", but I've never heard it said that way personally. They would naver use "eat" or "mange(r)".

[Cappinator]

naver=never if you're typing too fast, btw

[Rae Ven Rae]

Okay -- so the story is based on the Greek myth of Persephone and Hades, and La Petite Mort (e) is a double entendre *sp*, indicating the more sexual connotation of orgasm, but also, the a sleep spell that Death places on Persephone so he can seduce her. So, if I have this correct, because this is happening to her, it is feminine "Mort"?

[Aaroneet]

"Morte" is the feminine version. If you have two or more people in a story, and at least one of them is male, then it is masculine, hence you would say "mort". I think that's why the title was corrected.

[Rae Ven Rae]

Ohhhhhhhh! Thank you!

[Aaroneet]

Originally Posted by Cappinator

I live in Brussels, Belgium. I grew up speaking both Dutch and French. If you ever need something translated for your comic, Rae, feel free to ask.

French is the weirdest language in the world with regards to how it is written though. Both in France as in Belgium (where 40% of the people speak ONLY french), they have trouble writing their own language. English is incredibly easy to write, since most of the words are written as they sound (I said most). French is so difficult, even those who speak nothing but French, often don't know how to write it properly.

Though, I admit that saying "Vous sont" is about as wrong as you can get

"Morte" is correct if a female person is saying that she's dead. She'd say "Je suis morte". A man would say "Je suis mort". So you put the -e for female. But "death" as a noun is "la mort" and you wouldn't use the -e even if the word itself is female

Confused yet?

About the drugs. In French they would say "tu fais de la drogue": you do drugs. Maybe in some french regional slang they'd actually say "tu prends de la drogue", but I've never heard it said that way personally. They would naver use "eat" or "mange(r)".

"Faire" actually sounds right. I didn't know that "mort", as a noun, has no -e at the end.

[Aaroneet]

Or, if you were using "mort" as a noun, it would be "la mort", as explained earlier...