Glossary entry (derived from question below)
French term or phrase:
seront de tous les combats, dont
English translation:
were in the forefront of every struggle, including
- The asker opted for community grading. The question was closed on 2019-07-11 19:54:07 based on peer agreement (or, if there were too few peer comments, asker preference.)
Jul 8, 2019 17:23
4 yrs ago
French term
seront de tous les combats, dont
French to English
Social Sciences
General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters
Fortement politisés et revendicateurs, les étudiants seront de tous les combats, dont ceux qui mèneront à l’affirmation nationale des Franco-Québécois.
Proposed translations
(English)
Change log
Jul 8, 2019 18:02: writeaway changed "Field" from "Art/Literary" to "Social Sciences"
Proposed translations
+8
1 hr
Selected
were in the forefront of every struggle, including
As Marco says, there are many ways to translate "de tous les combats". You could certainly do it more literally: "fought in every battle", for example. But "être de tous les combats" is a set phrase, expressing the idea they could always be counted on to get stuck in and fight the good fight, as it were; at least, that's how I understand it. So I think a more hyperbolic, non-literal version like "in the forefront" is legitimate. But you could say something like "were involved in every fight". And I think "fight" would be perfectly OK instead of "struggle"; it's a matter of taste.
What I do think is important is the verb tense. "Seront" and "mèneront", in the future, follow from a historic present narration of past events. This is common in French but nearly always creates an unnatural effect in English, in my opinion. If you use past tense narration, as English naturally does, "will be" will logically become "would be" or "were to be". But even that seems awkward and unnatural to me. I think the idiomatic way to express this is English is with a simple past tense.
"Dont" means "including": every struggle/fight, including those that led to...
''In every nation of the western world, even in the nations behind the Iron Curtain, miners have been in the forefront of every struggle for social justice"
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=WDNF_9eYszgC&pg=PA78&lpg...
What I do think is important is the verb tense. "Seront" and "mèneront", in the future, follow from a historic present narration of past events. This is common in French but nearly always creates an unnatural effect in English, in my opinion. If you use past tense narration, as English naturally does, "will be" will logically become "would be" or "were to be". But even that seems awkward and unnatural to me. I think the idiomatic way to express this is English is with a simple past tense.
"Dont" means "including": every struggle/fight, including those that led to...
''In every nation of the western world, even in the nations behind the Iron Curtain, miners have been in the forefront of every struggle for social justice"
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=WDNF_9eYszgC&pg=PA78&lpg...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "thank you!"
+1
14 mins
...the students would participate in all battles, among which those that would lead...
There are many ways to translate this.
-1
41 mins
the students will take part in every fight that leads to
When it's a question of student demonstrations and activities over here in the US, we talk about them being in a "fight" for equal rights, "the cause". etc.
Peer comment(s):
disagree |
Daryo
: ... including .... , not "every" // not ALL fights are those "leading to ..."
10 hrs
|
2 hrs
be on the warpath/ fight the good fight
I'm not sure the phrase is to be taken literally. It's an idiom which describes how somebody takes part in a struggle or debate.
Peer comment(s):
neutral |
AllegroTrans
: I think you may be waxing a tad too lyrical here
1 day 2 hrs
|
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