Hey guys! I'm working on a romance set in Paris, France, but know absolutely no French! I'm looking for someone that would be able to help me out with translations. I don't trust google to tell me the correct translations. Also, I may have some other questions that will come up from time to time. It would be better if you are on this website frequently, but I'm welcoming any help that I can get. Thank you!
French is my second language, and I'm quite fluent. I would be happy to help, and I'm on here quite frequently. :)
Thanks so much! I don't have anything at this second, but I'll message when I do. (you're a lifesaver :))
No worries! Feel free to reply here or to send a private message through the Inbox. (You will need a username for that, though.)
I know some French as well, although I'm not as good at speaking it as I used to be. I'm here if you need a second opinion at all.
Thank you!
How do i direct message?
Are you on mobile or computer? Mobile has a 'letter' icon up in the top right that takes you to private messages, and computer has an 'Inbox' link in the same location.
Inbox or mail icon, then type in: a title, recipients without their @, and a message.
If you’re messaging me, you would type Riorlyne into the ‘Participants’ field.
ok thank you
I've taken a couple years of French immersion so I can have a basic conversation. I could help a tiny bit if you need someone else
I'm not the best with French, but I know a small bit. Also, if you need to just look up a single word or short phrase, then www.wordreference.com is your best bet. Trust me, this site has saved my rear on so many tests.
I can help proofread it if you want ! (I'm french)
Lilka, that would be amazing! Exactly what i need. Im not ready yet, but when i am, I'll definetly need that help.
I don't know French, but I know google translate is wicked awesome, if all else fails.
^Yeah, although Google Translate tends to be more accurate when you use less words. In other words, it's great if you only need to translate like, 1-3 words, but any more than that I would would get someone to double check it. French seems to translate to English pretty well on Google translate, but I was always told in school not to use it (or any other online translators) for our assignments. Partly because then you're not really learning, but also because sometimes things don't translate well. I've found that sometimes it'll give you a word that's technically not wrong, but also not the word that you want to be using.
Like for example, here's a line from my story translated into French:
"Déclaré" means "Declared." It's not technically wrong, but it's not the word I want to use in this scenario. I've also never heard "du genre." Maybe it's a European French thing (I learned French in Canada. Apparently there's a difference). Google is telling me it translates into "Of the kind" which seems a little formal for this character (I would have used "comme ça" which literally means "like that"). There's a few other things that I'm kinda iffy on, so there might be more inaccuracies.
TL;DR please be careful using online translators.
(regarding 'du genre', I would have put 'quelque chose de ce genre', meaning 'something of that kind'. I've never come across 'du genre', and I learned European French. But I have to agree that 'comme ça' fits much better with the informal nature of the dialogue.)
Another vote for being careful with online translators. They're better at fully formed, formal-type sentences, or if you want to know the French word for some common noun or verb, but they're especially iffy when it comes to slang, idioms, or dialogue (because so often dialogue is full of slang and idioms and the sentences are not fully formed).