undefined | Better HN

0 pointsnicolaslegland2y ago0 comments

In the version from Google Translate, "trop souvent" adds a notion of frequency like "too often" would, "avant" is shoehorned as a misplaced compulsory match for "before" when "too many times before" already felt like a ready-made phrase at this point.

In yours, "salua" would likely pass as a greeting, while "excessivement" would rather refer to the silly moves she made. Definitely harder to read for me.

I agree the "before" is the hard part to get right, I process "too many times before" as "too many times already", emphasis on reaching that number of times, given the song's context. Maybe we should treat "said […] before" as a smoothest form of "had said […]" to sing.

I'd go for "Elle a tant de fois dit au revoir" (9 syllabes).

Change my French mind.

0 comments

alcover2y ago

> "Elle a tant de fois dit au revoir"

Nice! And sounds better.

To be nitpicking, I'd propose "Elle a tant dit au revoir avant" (9 also), which retains the original 'before'.

MayeulC2y ago

Adieu is probably better in that context too: shorter, since we're golfing, and more to the point (definitive goodbye).

You could also insert déjà, which conveys the notion of before: Elle a déjà tant dit adieu. Well, this means so many times and not too many times, so you could say: Elle a déjà trop dit adieu (8). This could also be directly translated as she's already said goodbye too much. You can drop already/déjà, but lowers drops the emphasis on before. If you do so, Elle disait tant adieu (6) works.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse