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Le présent billet a été rédigé par Jonathan Goldberg et traduit de l’anglais par René Meertens, dont le blog est http://vieduguide.blogspot.com.

Le Président Obama a
prononcé son discours sur l'état de l'Union (State of the Union
Address) mercredi soir, marquant ainsi la fin de la première année de son
mandat.

Sur le plan linguistique, on peut se demander pourquoi son
discours est appelé « address », et non « speech », deux mots rendus en français
par « discours ». Les lecteurs sont invités à expliquer la raison du choix du
mot « address ».

S'il est question de « State of the Union » et non de
« State of the Nation », cela est dû au fait que la Constitution des Etats-Unis
prescrit que « The President shall from time to time give to the Congress
Information on the State of the Union… »

Le Président a prononcé, comme
il en a l'habitude, un discours d'une grande clarté dans un anglais éloquent.
Cependant, le mot « shuttered » était surprenant et probablement erroné. Il
figurait dans la phrase suivante :

« Many businesses have shuttered.
»

Consultons le Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged
6th Edition 2003 :

Shutter (tr.) 1. to close with
or as if with a shutter or shutters

2. (Miscellaneous
Technologies / Building) to equip with a shutter or shutters

Il importe
de relever que ce verbe est transitif. Comme on le sait, les verbes transitifs
sont suivis d'un complément d'objet direct. Or, dans la phrase « Many businesses
have shuttered », le verbe « to shutter » est manifestement intransitif.

A première vue, il s'agit d'une question purement grammaticale mais,
pour toute personne soucieuse de la correction de la langue anglaise, les mots «
have shuttered » choquent, et l'expression « have been shuttered » est bien plus
naturelle. Il aurait encore été meilleur de dire « have closed their shutters ».
La même idée aurait pu être exprimée de façon plus succincte au moyen des mots «
have shut ».

Les verbes « to shut » et « to shutter » ont la même
racine. Jusqu'en 1540, un  «shutter » était une personne qui fermait quelque
chose. Depuis 1683, la définition de ce mot est « moveable wooden or iron screen
for a window ». « To shut » a notamment comme synonyme « to close ». Il est
difficile d'indiquer clairement la différence qui existe entre ces deux mots
car, dans certains contextes, ils sont interchangeables (par exemple, to
shut the door, to close the door), alors que dans d'autres contextes, seul
l'un d'entre eux est correct (par exemple, « He closed his comments with an
appeal » ; « He told her to shut up»).

La situation se complique
lorsqu’on examine le substantif « close », qui signifie généralement «
conclusion » ; par exemple « He brought the show to a close ».

L’adjectif « close » se prononce différemment du verbe ou du nom
correspondant et a un sens bien différent, à savoir « near » ; par exemple « He
was near/close to victory ». Cependant, selon l’Online Etymology Dictionary
(etymonline.com), l’adjective « close » provient du latin clausus,
participe passé de claudere, qui signifie « arrêter, attacher, fermer
». Cela nous ramène à nos observations initiales concernant « to shut » et « to
shutter ». Le mot latin clausus a été adopté en ancien français sous la
forme de clos, et à la fin du XVe siècle, le sens de l’adjectif anglais
close est devenu « near » c’est-à-dire «closing the gap between two
things».

A première vue, le chevauchement partiel du sens des verbes
anglais «to close» et « to shut » n’existe pas en français, car « fermer »
correspond à ces deux verbes. Vive le français ! Mais attention : dans plusieurs
cas où l’on utiliserait «to close» ou «to shut» en anglais, le français
retient d’autres solutions, en fonction du contexte, par exemple :

route
closed to traffic               route interdite à la circulation

to
close the proceedings          mettre fin à OU clore

to close the
meeting                 lever la séance

to close the
gap                       réduire l’intervalle OU combler le fossé

to
close ranks                          serrer les rangs

to shut somebody in
a room    enfermer quelqu’un dans une chambre

Shut your
mouth!                     Ta gueule !

Vive les complexités et les pièges
des deux langues, ainsi que la difficulté de traduire de l’une à l’autre.

Les lecteurs sont invités à laisser leurs commentaires.

Canal Académie

Canal Académie est la première radio académique
francophone en ligne, abritée par l’Académie française.

 

BBC World
Service

 

Global News

The best
stories, interviews and on the spot reporting from around the world including
highlights from Newshour, The World Today and World Briefing. Up to 30 minutes
compiled twice a day from the 24 hour News coverage from the BBC World Service.

 

France Culture

 
 

"English in the media" : Une série pour se
familiariser avec l'anglais des médias

Apprenez
l'anglais en ligne !

Le présent billet a été rédigé par Jonathan Goldberg et traduit de l’anglais par René Meertens, dont le blog est http://vieduguide.blogspot.com.

Le verbe anglais « to insist » peut avoir le même sens que le verbe français «insister», mais ce n’est pas toujours le cas. Quand on utilise l’expression «insister sur», par exemple dans la phrase «  Sarkozy et  Brown ont insisté sur le danger du protectionnisme », il n’est pas acceptable de traduire en anglais le verbe de cette phrase par «  insisted ». On pourrait traduire cette dernière par «Sarkozy and Brown stressed the danger of protectionism » En revanche, dans la phrase « He insisted on paying for the meal, despite her resistance », le verbe français  « insister » pourrait être utilisé pour exprimer la même idée : « Il a insisté pour payer l’addition, malgré les objections qu’elle formulait ». 

L’American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language définit comme suit les sens transitif et intransitif de « to insist » :

v.intr.
To be firm in a demand or course; refuse to yield: e.g. He insisted on giving me a second helping.
v.tr.
To assert or demand (something) vehemently and persistently: e.g. We insist that you accept these gifts.

Dans les deux cas, il y a un élément de résolution ou de fermeté, et un refus d’accepter une réponse négative.

Le Collins English Dictionary présente une définition supplémentaire de « to insist » : to express a convinced belief (in) or assertion (of): e.g. He insisted that she was mad.
Cet usage, moins courant que ceux qui sont mentionnés plus haut, est peut-être plus proche de l’utilisation, en français, de l’expression « insister sur » [tel ou tel fait], car il indique une opinion dont on est convaincu de la justesse.

Il convient de mentionner deux verbes anglais moins connus et rarement utilisés dans le langage parlé :

« to importune » (qui ne signifie pas exactement « importuner », généralement synonyme de « déranger »). L’American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language définit « to importune » comme suit : « To beset with insistent or repeated requests; entreat pressingly » ;

« to entreat » (« supplier » en français), que le Collins English Dictionary définit comme suit: « 1. to ask (a person) earnestly; beg or plead with; implore 2. to make an earnest request or petition for (something) ».

De même que le verbe  «to  insist », ces deux verbes, « to importune » et « to entreat », comportent un important élément de persistance. Cependant, alors que « to insist » exprime une demande formulée avec force et indique, dans l’exemple du Collins reproduit ci-dessus, une affirmation qui ne souffre aucune contradiction, en revanche « to importune » et « to entreat », tout comme des demandes moins péremptoires, invitent la personne désignée par le complément d’objet direct à donner son consentement.

Au lieu de « to entreat », il est plus courant de recourir au verbe « to implore », dont la traduction la plus appropriée en français est également « supplier ».

Les lecteurs sont invités à laisser leurs commentaires.

Cliquez ici  pour voir les photos.

* OMG: Oh My God!
  OGM: Organisme génétiquement modifié

Le Los Angeles Times a publié un article consacré à l’une des « case study houses » (maisons fonctionnelles et économiques) du célèbre architecte Pierre Koenig, située à Hollywood (à trois minutes de chez moi) et propriété d’un collectionneur d’art qui préfère garder l’anonymat.

Cet article, qui mentionne que des tableaux coréens y sont exposés, contient la phrase suivante : « At the vernissage last month, VIPs rubbed elbows… » (Le mois dernier, le vernissage a rassemblé des personnalités connues…)

Le mot français vernissage, repris tel quel en anglais, a une étymologie intéressante : il est formé à partir de vernis, qui lui même provient de Berenik, le nom d’une ancienne ville de Cyrénaïque (région d'Afrique du Nord), dans laquelle des résines naturelles furent pour la première fois utilisées comme vernis. 

L’une des définitions du mot vernissage qui figurent dans le Collins English Dictionary est « varnishing day », expression qui désigne le jour où un artiste peut vernir ou retoucher ses tableaux, avant l’ouverture d’une exposition.

Dans son article sur la maison conçue par l'architecte Pierre Koenig,  le journaliste du Los Angeles Times voulait-il dire que des ouvriers étaient encore en train de vernir des surfaces en bois dans la maison où les personnalités connues s’étaient rassemblées ? Non, il utilisait le mot vernissage dans un autre sens : 

a private showing held before the opening of an art exhibition (The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language) (présentation privée de tableaux avant l’ouverture d’une exposition) ; 

a preview or the opening or first day of an exhibition of paintings (Collins English Dictionary) (présentation en avant-première de tableaux, ouverture ou premier jour d’une exposition de tableaux).

La première définition et les deux  dernières semblent bien différentes mais il existe un lien entre elles, car il était un temps où le vernissage avait lieu la veille de l’ouverture officielle d’une exposition de toiles, ce qui permettait aux artistes de les vernir ou de les retoucher. Par la suite, le mot prit un sens plus large et désigna le premier jour d’exposition des tableaux, qu’il s’agisse d’une avant-première ou de l’ouverture de l’exposition.

Non loin de la maison conçue par Pierre Koenig se trouve le Hollywood Bowl, où l’Orchestre philharmonique de Los Angeles, placé sous la direction de Gustavo Dudamel, donnera un concert cet été. A n’en pas douter, ceux qui pourront y assister seront… vernis. 

 Redigé par Jonathan Goldberg, traduit par René Marteens (http://vieduguide.blogspot.com)

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Laura Vallet

A HUNG PARLIAMENT

A
linguistic note on to hang and to hung, being hanged and being hung:

The verb “to hang” has two past participle forms: hung and hanged. “Hung” is used for any object, (e.g. a
picture that is hung on a wall) or for a jury or parliament that is hung
(divided), whereas “hanged” is used
in relation to a person who is executed by hanging.

                       A man being hanged                                                        A picture being hung

hung vb

(Linguistics / Phonetics &
Phonology) the past tense and past participle of hang (except in the
sense of to execute or in the idiom I'll be hanged.)

 

adj

1. (Government, Politics
& Diplomacy)

a.  (of a legislative assembly) not having a party with a working
majority a hung parliament

b.  unable to reach a decision a
hung jury

c.  (of a situation) unable to be resolved

 

hung over Informal suffering from the
effects of a hangover

 

hung up Slang

a.  impeded by some difficulty or delay

b.  in a state of confusion; emotionally disturbed

 

hung up on Slang obsessively or
exclusively interested in he's hung up on modern art these days

Collins
English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000,
2003

to hang out

1. Protrude downward, as in The
   dog's tongue was hanging out, or The branches hung out over the driveway.
   [c. 1400]
2. Display a flag or sign of some
   kind, as in They hung out the flag on every holiday. [Mid-1500s]
3. Reside, live, as in I've found
   a place downtown, and I'll be hanging out there beginning next week. [c.
   1800]
4. Spend one's free time in; also,
   loiter, pass time idly. For example, They hung out around the pool parlor,
   or They spent the evening just hanging out. [Slang; mid-1900s]
5. To hang out with. Keep company with, appear in
   public with, as in She's hanging out with her ex-boyfriend again. [Slang;
   second half of 1900s] Also see the subsequent idioms beginning with hang
   out; let it
   all hang out.

 

Phrasal
Verbs:

 

hang back

To be averse; hold back.

hang in Informal

To persevere: decided to hang in
despite his illness.

hang off

To hold back; be averse.

hang on

1. To cling tightly to something.

2. To continue persistently; persevere.

3. To keep a telephone connection open.

4. To wait for a short period of time.

hang together

1. To stand united; stick together: "We must all hang
together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately" (Benjamin Franklin).

2. To constitute a coherent totality: diverse plot lines that
did not hang together.

hang up

1. To suspend on a hook or hanger.

2.

a. To replace (a telephone receiver) on its base or cradle.

b. To end a telephone conversation.

3.

a. To delay or impede; hinder: Budget problems hung up the
project for months.

b. To become halted or snagged: The fishing line hung up on a
rock.

c. Informal
To have or cause to have emotional difficulties or inhibitions.

 

Idioms:

 

give/care a hang

To be concerned or anxious: I don't
give a hang what you do.

hang fire

1. To delay: "They are people who hung fire even through
the bloody days of the Hungarian Revolution" (Mark Muro).

2. To be slow in firing, as a gun.

hang in there Informal

To persevere despite difficulties;
persist: She hung in there despite pressure to resign.

hang it up Informal

To give up; quit.

hang loose Slang

To stay calm or relaxed.

hang (one's) hat

To settle oneself; take up
residence: hung my hat in Chicago.

hang on to

To hold firmly; keep fast: Hang on
to your money.

hang tough Informal

To remain firmly resolved: "We
are going to hang tough on this" (Donald T. Regan).

let it all hang out Slang

1. To be completely relaxed.

2. To be completely candid.

 

hanged v. Past tense and past participle of hang.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of
the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin
Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.

A
cliffhanger or cliffhanger ending is a plot device in
which a movie, novel, or other work
of fiction contains an abrupt ending, often leaving the main characters in a
precarious or difficult situation, or with a sudden shock revelation. This type
of ending is used to ensure that, if a next installment is made, audiences will
return to find out how the cliffhanger is resolved. The phrase comes from the
classical end-of-episode situation in silent film days, with the protagonist
left hanging from the edge of a cliff. Some serials end with the caveat
"To be continued", or "The End. In television
series, the following episode usually begins with a recap (AKA a "previously").Hanged, drawn and quartered.

Source: Wikipedia

Proverbs with “hang”:

.He
that is born to be hanged shall never be drowned.
Romanian
Proverb

Save a thief from the gallows and he will help to hang you.
Romanian
Proverb

Never mention rope in the house of a man who has been hanged.
Romanian
Proverb

 

He
that killeth a man when he is drunk must be hanged when he is sober.
Romanian
Proverb

If you would not live to be old, you must be hanged when you are young.
Romanian
Proverb

What
good is a golden gallows if they are going to hang you.
Swiss
Proverb

The man dying to hang himself can always find a noose.
Afghan proverb                                  

Son premier discours à la suite des  élections britanniques

(Nos lecteurs sont invités à proposer des traductions de
mots notés en
caractères gras dans le texte suivant.)

"At yesterday's General Election the Conservative Party gained more seats than at any election for the last 80 years. "I'm incredibly proud, not only of the strong result that we achieved, but of the strong and positive campaign that we fought. "We campaigned for hope, not fear, and people responded to that, giving us two million more votes than Labour[1]. "We campaigned for change, not more of the same, and people responded to that, giving us a higher share of the vote than Labour achieved at the last election when they won a majority of 60. "There are many great new Conservative Members of Parliament who will be coming to the House of Commons, and I am very proud this will be a new, modern Conservative Party in Parliament. "I know it will make a huge difference to our politics. "To all those Conservative Party supporters, members and activists who fought so hard, not just in the last few weeks, but in the last few years, I want to say a huge thank you, and to remind you how proud you can be of the result – a bigger increase in seats than even Margaret Thatcher achieved in 1979, the worst loss of seats for Labour than at any General election since 1931, and a share of the vote not far off what Michael Foot got in 1983. "But however much pride we can take in that enormous advance, we have to accept that we fell short of an overall majority. "As I said last night, Britain needs strong, stable decisive government and it is in the national interest that we get that on a secure basis. "We are at war in Afghanistan with our troops putting their lives at risk for us every day. "We are facing a financial and economic situation of great seriousness as a result of our dangerous debts and our deficit. "We need a government that reassures the international markets, we need policies that will bring economic recovery, and we need a government that understands that great change is needed in order to restore faith in our political system. "Britain voted for change yesterday, but it also voted for a new politics, it did not vote for party political bickering, grandstanding and point-scoring. "Our country's problems are too serious, they are too urgent for that. So we must all rise to this occasion, we must show leadership. "We must sort things out as quickly as possible for the good of the country. "Nick Clegg has said that because the Conservative Party won the most votes and the most seats in this election we should have the chance to form a government and I thank him for that. "So we will now begin talks with other parties to see how that can be done. One option would be to give other parties reassurances about certain policy areas and then seek their agreement to allow a minority Conservative government to continue in office without the country constantly facing the threat of its government falling. "This is what is known as a confidence and supply arrangement. "It has been done before and, yes, we can try to do it again. But I am prepared to consider alternative options. "It may be possible to have stronger, more stable, more collaborative government than that. "There is a case for going further than an arrangement which simply keeps a minority Conservative government in office. "So I want to make a big, open and comprehensive offer to the Liberal Democrats. "I want us to work together in tackling our country's big and urgent problems, the debt crisis, our deep social problems, and our broken political system. "Let me explain my thinking. First, it is right and reasonable to acknowledge that of course there are policy disagreements between us, many of which were highlighted in those television debates. "To fellow Conservatives who have fought and campaigned and worked so hard to achieve the massive advance we have made in this campaign, I want to make it clear that I do not believe any government should give more powers to the European Union. "I do not believe that any government can be weak or soft on the issue of immigration which needs to be controlled properly, and the country's defences[2] must be kept strong. "I also believe that on the basis of the election result that we achieved, it is reasonable to expect that the bulk of the policies in our manifesto should be implemented. "But across our two manifestos, there are many areas of common ground and there are areas I believe that we in the Conservative Party can give ground, both in the national interest and in the interest of forging an open and trusting partnership. "We share a strong desire to make opportunity more equal in this country, and I recognise[3] the high priority that the Liberal Democrats have given to the proposal for a pupil premium in our schools. We agree with this idea, it is in our manifesto too, and I am sure we can develop a common approach that recognises the urgency that the Liberal Democrats have attached to this proposal. "The Liberal Democrats in their manifesto have made the achievement of a low carbon economy an absolute priority and we support this aim. I am sure that we can agree a common plan to achieve it. "The Liberal Democrats have also made proposals to reform our tax system. We both agree that Labour's jobs tax, as the Liberal Democrat's manifesto puts it, is a damaging tax on jobs and we would seek to reverse it. It has always been an aspiration of the Conservative Party to reduce taxes, especially on those who earn the least. And we are happy to give this aim a much higher priority and work together to determine how it can be afforded. "We share a common commitment to civil liberties and to getting rid immediately of Labour's ID card scheme. "On our political system, we agree with the Liberal Democrats that reform is urgently needed to help restore trust and that reform must include the electoral system. "The Liberal Democrats have their ideas, we have our ideas, for example that all seats should be of equal size, so that votes can have an equal value in a first-past-the-post system, and other parties have constructive proposals to put forward as well. "So I believe we will need an all-party committee of inquiry on political and electoral reform. "So I think we have a strong basis for a strong government. Inevitably the negotiations we are about to start will involve compromise – that is what working together in the national interest means. "But no Government will be in the national interest unless it deals with the biggest threat to our national interest and that is the deficit. We remain completely convinced that starting to deal with the deficit this year is essential. "This has been more than confirmed by recent events in other European countries, recent instability in the markets, and recent conversations that we have had with both the Treasury and the Bank of England. "The national interest is clear – the world is looking to Britain for decisive action. The new government must grip this deficit and prevent the economic catastrophe that would result by putting off the difficult and the urgent action that needs to be taken. "So our big, open and comprehensive offer to the Liberal Democrats involves helping them to implement key planks of their election manifesto, providing the country with economic, as well as political stability and finding further ways in which Liberal Democrats can be involved in making this happen "The outgoing government has left this country with terrible problems, an economic and financial crisis, deep social problems, a political system in which people, too many people, have lost faith. "The new government will face the worst inheritance of any incoming government for at least 60 years. "That is exactly why it's so important we have strong, stable government that lasts – a strong stable government that has the support of the public to take the difficult decisions that are needed if we're going to put this country back on the right track for a stronger future. "There is one further point I want to make. I believe that it's not just important for this country to have strong and stable government, it's important that we get that strong and stable government quickly. "So I hope we can reach agreement quickly on the big, open and comprehensive offer that I've outlined today. As I've argued in this General Election campaign, this is a great country hut we could be doing so much better. "We don't have to settle for the debt and the waste and the taxes left to us by Labour. We can put behind us the economic problems, the social breakdown, the political division and the distrust that are the poisonous legacy of 13 years of Labour misrule. "Of course I hoped that a Conservative majority would be the outcome of this election and that we could have started today making the changes that I believe our country so badly needs. "I know how much the Conservative party itself and all my colleagues in Parliament and all the loyal members and activists around the country wanted that too – but I also know they wanted something more than that. "They want the best for Britain. The Conservative party has always been a party that puts the national interest first. "And the best thing – the national interest thing – the best thing for Britain now is a new government that works together in that national interest and I hope with all my heart that is something that we can achieve. "That is all I have to say for now – I hope you will understand that I won't be taking questions but this urgent work must begin."

 [1] ecriture en anglais américain: Labor

[3] écriture en anglais américain: recognizes

David
Cameron : la lumière blairiste et l'ombre thatchérienne, par Philippe Marlière
Lire l'article

Note linguistique : «  En rhétorique,
l’éloquence est l'aptitude à s'exprimer avec aisance, capacité
d'émouvoir, de persuader par la parole. » (Wikipedia)

Citations :

Tout penseur qui voudra devenir orateur, tout homme d’esprit
et de cœur qui voudra se faire éloquent et être éloquent, remuer les masses,
dominer les assemblées, avec sa parole, n’aura qu’à passer de la région des
idées dans le domaine des lieux communs
Victor Hugo
Extrait de Carnets intimes  

 

 

La vraie éloquence se moque de l'éloquence.                                      

Blaise Pascal                                                                                       

 

 

L'homme le plus simple qui a de la passion persuade
mieux que le plus éloquent qui n'en a point.         

François de La Rochefoucauld  
Extrait de Maximes  
Maximes de La Rochefoucauld                                                                           

 

La parole est un fruit dont l'écorce s'appelle bavardage,
la chair éloquence, et le noyau bon sens.

Tierno Bokar

Jonathan Goldberg