Parfum de culture / Culture parfum

English translation: Scent of culture

23:15 Mar 26, 2019
French to English translations [Non-PRO]
Cosmetics, Beauty
French term or phrase: Parfum de culture / Culture parfum
Bonjour pour un article de type cosmétique le titre ci-dessus me pose des interrogations.
Comment traduiriez-vous ces deux termes ? Il ‘agit s’un titre dans un magazine de luxe.
Véronique V.Varela
France
Local time: 12:52
English translation:Scent of culture
Explanation:
It does NOT mean "perfume culture." That would be "la culture du parfum" (for instance: http://www.sudeditions.com/fr/livre/la-culture-du-parfum-en-...

I read this as metaphorical. "Parfum de X" is often metaphorical in French (a hint, essence, flavor, touch, etc. of X). It's clearly metaphorical here, meaning essence or hint or touch, because culture doesn't have a smell. By contrast, literal examples would include things like un parfum de noisette/rose/etc. (a hazlenut/rose/etc. scent), le parfum de Celine Dion (the perfume sold under Celine Dion's name), etc.

Used metaphorically in an article that actually is about cosmetics and perfume, this reads like a play on words. To keep the play on words, I would avoid the usual metaphorical translations (hint, touch, etc.) and just use "scent," which can be metaphorical in English (to be on the scent, to scent blood, etc.) but can also literally refer to an odor, and is commonly used to describe the smell of perfume.



Selected response from:

Eliza Hall
United States
Local time: 07:52
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +3Scent of culture
Eliza Hall
5Perfume of Culture / Culture Perfume
Amany Saeed
3 +2Culture perfume / Perfume culture
Yolanda Broad


Discussion entries: 1





  

Answers


4 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5
Perfume of Culture / Culture Perfume


Explanation:
This is the same expression, there is another way to express it which is Fragrance of culture / Culture fragrance

Amany Saeed
Egypt
Meets criteria
Native speaker of: Native in ArabicArabic
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22 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +2
Culture perfume / Perfume culture


Explanation:
In French, the *de* indicates that the noun following the *de* modifies the preceding noun. Without the *de,* the following noun is still the modifier in French. In English, a modifier noun *precedes* the main noun. So *de culture* becomes the modifier, *de culture* and the phrase is *Perfume culture,* whereas in the second phrase, the modifier is *parfum,* so the translation becomes *perfume culture*. (I hope I have been clear!)

Yolanda Broad
United States
Local time: 07:52
Meets criteria
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  AcornTr_US
5 hrs
  -> Thank you.

agree  Carol Gullidge
7 hrs
  -> Thank you.

agree  James A. Walsh
11 hrs
  -> Thank you.

disagree  Eliza Hall: "Parfum de X" = perfume, fragrance, scent, or (metaphorically) flavor or hint or essence of X. "Perfume culture" would be "la culture du parfum" (e.g.: http://www.sudeditions.com/fr/livre/la-culture-du-parfum-en-...
21 hrs
  -> Thank you.
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

21 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +3
Scent of culture


Explanation:
It does NOT mean "perfume culture." That would be "la culture du parfum" (for instance: http://www.sudeditions.com/fr/livre/la-culture-du-parfum-en-...

I read this as metaphorical. "Parfum de X" is often metaphorical in French (a hint, essence, flavor, touch, etc. of X). It's clearly metaphorical here, meaning essence or hint or touch, because culture doesn't have a smell. By contrast, literal examples would include things like un parfum de noisette/rose/etc. (a hazlenut/rose/etc. scent), le parfum de Celine Dion (the perfume sold under Celine Dion's name), etc.

Used metaphorically in an article that actually is about cosmetics and perfume, this reads like a play on words. To keep the play on words, I would avoid the usual metaphorical translations (hint, touch, etc.) and just use "scent," which can be metaphorical in English (to be on the scent, to scent blood, etc.) but can also literally refer to an odor, and is commonly used to describe the smell of perfume.





Eliza Hall
United States
Local time: 07:52
Does not meet criteria
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Yolanda Broad: That's a nice explanation.
2 hrs
  -> Thanks.

agree  abe(L)solano
10 hrs

agree  Stephanie Kantorski
21 hrs
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