We both took French in high school, and although we read Le Petit Prince en français, our French is more than a little rusty now. Nevertheless, we’re intrigued by the challenges of translating: how do you keep the title’s essence when a direct translation is not possible?
Here’s what we came up with, so please indulge us with this bizarre exercise. Which ones don’t sound silly and make the cut? (Warning: some translations are more legit than others)
1. Ce qui est venu des étoiles
2. Mon frère Sam est mort (direct in any language)
3. Equipe Humaine
4. Trois Fois de la Chance
5. Trous
6. Les guerres du mercredis
7. Une ride dans les temps (the most horrific, we know)
8. Ne permettez le pigeon conduire l’autobus!
9. Fleuve étoilé du ciel
10. Tous les choses sur une crêpe (we wanted to make the breakfast item French)
So, which ones made you cringe? Or, come up with some to make others cringe! And feel free to run all translations through Google translate for a really garbled version of the original English.
Actually, we did a lot of direct translations. That’s probably why they sound so silly…