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IS cadenassables
Dec 18, 2013 11:15
10 yrs ago
French term

apprentissage ébloui

French to English Art/Literary General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters
From the wikipedia page on French novelist Laura Alcoba
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laura_Alcoba

I'm trying to work out what exactly is meant by "ébloui" here. Any ideas? Thanks in advance...

En août 2013, elle publie Le Bleu des abeilles, roman inspiré de l’arrivée en France de l’auteur, à l’âge de dix ans. Le roman évoque notamment la correspondance qu’elle entretenait à l’époque avec son père, alors prisonnier politique en Argentine, la découverte de la France et l’apprentissage ébloui de la langue française.
Proposed translations (English)
4 +3 the awesome experience of learning French
3 +2 learning, bedazzled,
4 +1 her dazzling acquisition (of the French language)
4 remarkable, outstanding or brillant learning
3 awe-inspiring apprenticeship (in the French language)
Change log

Dec 18, 2013 11:20: writeaway changed "Field (specific)" from "Poetry & Literature" to "General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters"

Discussion

MamaG Dec 18, 2013:
awe-inspired is my last idea. Now to this stack of work on the desk...
polyglot45 Dec 18, 2013:
awesome in the BE and not AE sense of the term
Carol Gullidge Dec 18, 2013:
MamaG Hmmh! Maybe something along the lines of spellbinding/enrapturing experience (to use Polyglot's rephrasing). Rapt and mindblowing also seem possible, but each would require rethinking of the sentence structure
MamaG Dec 18, 2013:
@Carol, yeah., agree about rhapsodic, though that may be cultural (Brits always think Yanks are OTT, and we're blissfully oblivious to that particular characteristic sometimes). What word would express her enchantment with the process of discovering the French language? "Awesome" seems so dude-ish. But that is probably a generational thing. "Wondering" doesn't do it, either. "Passionate"? Seems too "active". I am picturing this lady "blown away" by it. "Inspired"?
polyglot45 Dec 18, 2013:
if this were familiar language I would say "mind-boggling" but it isn't
Carol Gullidge Dec 18, 2013:
rhapsodic hmmh - perhaps not. I think it would sound a little OTT here, but that's only my opinion
MamaG Dec 18, 2013:
http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/mind-blown I wanted to say "mind=blown"in this sense, but it's so hippie-ish. How about "rhapsodic" :)
polyglot45 Dec 18, 2013:
the author is éblouie with the experience of Learning Fernch. The adjective has simply been transposed from her to the "apprenticeship", a common stylistic device
Carol Gullidge Dec 18, 2013:
ébloui if this is to mean dazzling, brilliant, amazing, etc, as so many seem to think, then why didn't the author use "éblouissant"?

'scuse my error before!

Proposed translations

+3
23 mins
Selected

the awesome experience of learning French

is the meaning
Peer comment(s):
agree Carol Gullidge : yes, must be something along these lines
33 mins
agree Victoria Britten
50 mins
agree Verginia Ophof
1 hr
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Yes, I'm convinced that is the meaning, i.e. the experience of learning was "awesome", rather than her skills in the language (seems improbably boastful in the context of a semi-autobiographical novel). My final rendering would therefore be something like "her dazzling discovery of the French language". Many thanks to everyine who contributed."
+2
7 mins

learning, bedazzled,

I had the following (clumsy) construction from Fraigneu recently "retour d'Athènes ébloui et faisant part de mon éblouissement".

There I used "dazzled/bedazzlement".
Peer comment(s):
agree Philippa Smith : Yes, as in, she's learning French, a language that dazzled her.
5 mins
Thanks Philippa.
agree Alison Kapor (X)
5 hrs
Thanks Alison.
Something went wrong...
+1
20 mins

her dazzling acquisition (of the French language)

I understand it to mean that her acquisition of French is stunningly good or dazzling to onlookers (not to her - i.e. she isn't bedazzled by it).
Peer comment(s):
agree Marian Vieyra : Yes, I agree with this interpretation.
4 hrs
Thanks, Marian
Something went wrong...
14 mins

remarkable, outstanding or brillant learning

Used figuratively, "ébloui" means:
"Frapper la vue, l'esprit d'admiration."
From: http://www.cnrtl.fr/lexicographie/�bloui?

Also see: https://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/éblouir

It means that the author learned French very well.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 24 mins (2013-12-18 11:40:06 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Other possibilities include "impressive" or "prodigious."

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 41 mins (2013-12-18 11:57:48 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

I agree with Helen that this is about the appreciation that others have for her French skills.
Something went wrong...
4 hrs

awe-inspiring apprenticeship (in the French language)

'awe-inspiring' to avoid problems with the word 'awesome'. But why avoid the word 'apprenticeship'? The book is (partly) about discovering France and learning to speak French.
Something went wrong...
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