"il y a l'air prostitue' au mensonge" - what on earth does this mean? it's a line in a poem. HELP please!!!!!!!!!
French speaking peeps HELP!
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 EuroMAFan |
French speaking peeps HELP! |
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Posts: 1935 (11/26/2009 4:56 PM) |
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 Jess116005 |
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Posts: 23518 (11/26/2009 5:03 PM) |
Altogether it doesn't make much sense to me, but il y l'air means he looks like, prostitue means prostitute and mensonge means lie.
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luusmeitli |
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Posts: 1957 (11/26/2009 5:03 PM) |
Well it being a poem it is really hard translating it to make sense....
it seems prostituted to lies if the "y" wasnt' there it would make more sense (he seems prostituted to lies) |
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EuroMAFan |
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Posts: 1936 (11/26/2009 5:05 PM) |
I know what all the words mean, it's the whole line together that I don't get. It's supposed to be strange sounding, but I don't really get it
at all. Here it is more in context:
Il y a des mots entrechoques, les levres sans visage, se parjurant dans les tenebres: il y a l'air prostitue' au mensonge, et la Voix souillant jusqu'au secret de l'ame |
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SnowGen |
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Posts: 2028 (11/26/2009 5:37 PM) |
Maybe I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure it means he's addicted to lying....
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EuroMAFan |
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Posts: 1938 (11/26/2009 5:38 PM) |
but it isn't 'he', it's 'il Y a ' - there is. so I don't understand what 'l'air' is referring to.
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enginerd314159 |
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Posts: 1719 (11/26/2009 5:45 PM) |
"il y a l'air" means "he seems like" or "he looks like." sort of like saying "he has the look of..."
eta: what i get from this is "he seems to be a slave to lies" but that could be totally off |
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EuroMAFan |
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Posts: 1939 (11/26/2009 5:53 PM) |
This is the whole text
Les dents serrées Je hais. Ne me demandez pas ce que je hais Il y a des mondes de mutisme entre les hommes Et le ciel veule sur l'abîme, et le mépris Des morts. Il y a des mots entrechoqués, des lèvres Sans visage, se parjurant dans les ténèbres Il y a l'air prostitué au mensonge, et la Voix Souillant jusqu'au secret de l'âme mais il y a le feu sanglant, la soif rageuse d'être libre il y a des millions de sourds les dents serrées il y a le sang qui commence à peine à couler il y a la haine et c'est assez pour espérer. |
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EuroMAFan |
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Posts: 1940 (11/26/2009 5:54 PM) |
I really wish I hadn't picked French translation this semester. I thought I was OK at French but actually I kind of suck :/
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lolaVici |
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Posts: 1315 (11/26/2009 6:12 PM) |
There are far too many lies in air.
Edited By: lolaVici
11/26/2009 6:25 PM.
Edited 3 times.
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luusmeitli |
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Posts: 1958 (11/26/2009 6:14 PM) |
Oh, in the context it makes more sense: the wind is prostituted by lies.
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EuroMAFan |
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Posts: 1941 (11/26/2009 6:24 PM) |
OK thanks......so basically the air prostitutes itself to the lies?
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thalie67 |
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Posts: 16422 (11/26/2009 7:44 PM) |
Do you need to translate only or to explain the poem? I found a very interesting explanation of the poem in French. It's a poem about the horrors of war
(it was done in 1943), a call for resistance. Translating a poem is crazy, because you can do the word for word, but you'll lose the hidden sense.
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