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Author
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Topic: Translating "shuttle launch" to French?
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SpaceCadet114
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posted 04-21-2008 12:45 PM
   
I was wondering if there is a specific word in French for Shuttle? Or for launch?
In my French oral my teacher and I have resorted to saying, "On a vu une lancee de fusee spatial." (I cannot do accents on this laptop!) It's supposed to say, "we saw a space shuttle launch", and I was wondering if anybody could tell me whether that's correct or not? I'm sure I remember somebody saying they spoke French, so I thought I'd post just to see!Thanks in advance for any help 
Kath |
eurospace
Member Posts: 2610
From: Brussels, Belgium
Registered: Dec 2000
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posted 04-21-2008 12:58 PM
shuttle = navette, navette spatiale
launch = lancement"Une fusée" would rather refer to a rocket.
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Jürgen P Esders
Berlin, Germany
International Director (Europe), Space Unit
Vice President, Weltraum Philatelie e. V.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Astroaddies |
music_space
Member Posts: 1179
From: Canada
Registered: Jul 2001
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posted 04-21-2008 06:49 PM
Well, since we are on the subject...How does "Abort" translate in French? ------------------
François Guay
Collector of litterature, notebooks, equipment and memories! |
music_space
Member Posts: 1179
From: Canada
Registered: Jul 2001
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posted 04-21-2008 06:51 PM
And, is there a English-French lexicon for space technology? |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42981
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 04-21-2008 08:32 PM
quote:
Originally posted by music_space:
And, is there a English-French lexicon for space technology?
If believe CNES prepared just such a publication, as I seem to remember flipping through it. I may even have a copy but if I do, its buried in a box somewhere... |
cspg
Member Posts: 6210
From: Geneva, Switzerland
Registered: May 2006
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posted 04-22-2008 12:30 AM
quote:
Originally posted by SpaceCadet114:
I was wondering if there is a specific word in French for Shuttle? Or for launch?
Regarding "On a vu une lancee de fusee spatial.", it's not correct. - "lancée" translates into "momentum, impetus";
- and "spatial" is unnecessary.
Correctly translated: "Nous avons vu le lancement d'une navette spatiale". You could also say, if you had witnessed the launch at the Cape: "Nous avons assisté au décollage d'une navette spatiale." (in English: we have witnessed a space shuttle liftoff.")As for "abort" (I think it was discussed on collectSPACE some time ago), the translated verb would be "avorter". The mission was aborted gives "la mission a été avortée." Problem: abort has some medical connotation which can make such statement a bit odd, although the term is being used in French. If you want to bypass the medical side to it, you might want to use "interrupt", which in French would be "la mission a été interrompue"; or "cancel" ("annulée" in French). When it comes to translation, it's all a matter of circumstances in which the event takes place and there are usually no word-for-word substitute! Try to translate "Abort to Orbit" for example. It probably be something "mise en orbite en catastrophe" which if translated back to English would be "catastrophic orbit insertion"... Now I'm having a headache!  Chris. |
Moonwalker1954
Member Posts: 245
From: Montreal, Canada
Registered: Jul 2004
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posted 04-22-2008 11:31 AM
quote:
Originally posted by music_space:
And, is there a English-French lexicon for space technology?
Francois, If you go to the "Agence Spatiale Canadienne" or to their website, they must have a bilingual publication about space terminology. I remember, back in the 70's, I used to have a small pamphlet translating the "space words" from english to french but that was mainly done for the Apollo program. As for "abort", I think the closest words would be "abandonner" ou "interrompre" just like Chris described. Pierre-Yves |
SpaceCadet114
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posted 04-22-2008 12:24 PM
Thanks Jurgen and Chris! |
eurospace
Member Posts: 2610
From: Brussels, Belgium
Registered: Dec 2000
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posted 04-22-2008 01:24 PM
Robert is correct about CNES having published a French-English/English-French dictionnary. Must be more or less ten years ago. Just as Robert's, mine must be somewhere in a closet or removal box here ...------------------
Jürgen P Esders
Berlin, Germany International Director (Europe), Space Unit
Vice President, Weltraum Philatelie e. V. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Astroaddies |
eurospace
Member Posts: 2610
From: Brussels, Belgium
Registered: Dec 2000
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posted 04-22-2008 01:26 PM
To add to Chris' excellent considerations, his headache and to complicate things: in German, "abort" is also the old fashioned word for what Americans would call a restroom. Now I do not elaborate any further .... ;-)------------------
Jürgen P Esders
Berlin, Germany International Director (Europe), Space Unit
Vice President, Weltraum Philatelie e. V. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Astroaddies |
Philip
Member Posts: 5952
From: Brussels, Belgium
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted 06-15-2008 09:10 AM
Lancement de la navette Spatiale |
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