Tips for French- English Translators (Beginner Level)

1) Translation of verbs avoir and être in English.

In French, Quel âge as-tu? 

The transliteration of the French verb avoir in English is verb to have. But the exact translation in English is,How old are you?  So, in English, verb to be is used while in French verb to have is employed.

2) Translation of verb avoir into verb to be in English.

J’ai tort.	I am mistaken.
Jacques a raison.	Jacques is right.
Céline a soif.	Céline is thirsty
Pierre a faim.	Pierre is hungry.
Il a peur.	He is scared.
Jean a froid.	Jean is cold.

3) The usage of definite and indefinite articles is different in English and French.

a) In English, articles are not to be used before abstract nouns while in French they are used.

- La patience est demandée dans les situations difficiles.

- Patience is required in difficult situations.

b) In some cases in English, possessive pronouns are used where articles are used in French.

- Il me regarde dans les yeux.

- He looks at me in my eyes.

c) In some cases in French, articles are used before the names of countries while in English, they are not to be mentioned.

- La France est un pays européen.

- France is a European country.

d) The days of week and the months of the year in French are proceeded by articles, but in English,they are not employed under any syntactic form.

- Le lundi est le premier jour de la semaine.

- Monday is the first day of the week.

- Le décembre est le dernier mois de l’année.

- December is the last month of the year.

e) In French, articles are omitted before the profession names while in English, they are added.

- Manon est professeur.

- Manon is a teacher.

f) Nouns have no articles when they are used with en in French meanwhile they may or may not be employed in English.

- Les flacons de neige tombent en hiver.

- Snowflakes fall in the winter OR  in winter.

4) Capitalization of words is a problem for some translators, since the rules differ in both languages.

a) The days of the weeks and the months of the year are not capitalized while they are to be so in English.

- Chaque mercredi, je joue au football.

- Every Wednesday, I play soccer.

- Nous mettons des vêtements lourds en janvier.

- We wear heavy clothes in January.

b) The two parts of a compound name in English has to be capitalized. On the other hand,in French, the second part is only capitalized.

- Il a pris son diplôme à l’université Sorbonne.

- He got his diploma from Sorbonne University.

c) All the words of the title in English texts have to capitalized except for prepositions , linkers, and articles.If the title starts with an article, it is to be capitalized.  In contrast, in French, The first letter of the first word of the title is only capitalized.

- Une étude comparative entre les stylistiques française et anglaise

- A Comparative Study between French and English Stylistics

d) Job tiles are capitalized in English whereas they are not capitalized in French.

- Trump, le président des États-Unies, est en voyage.

- Trump, the President of the United States, is on a trip.