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| PG... |
 Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2009 5:53 am |
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Guest
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Is anyone aware of the rule in English grammar on this.
In French it is apparently correct to say/write, eg:
"Les vieux portent un beret" or "les gendarmes portent un uniforme bleu".
What is the rule in English for this, ie can the object be translated in the
singular, or does it have to be plural, or are both acceptable?
ie is "Policemen wear a blue uniform" correct, or does it have to be
"policemen wear blue uniforms", or can both be said.
Thanks! |
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| Athel Cornish-Bowden... |
| Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2009 7:31 am |
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Guest
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On 2009-11-02 11:53:27 +0100, "PG" <pgk9 at (no spam) alpesprovence.net> said:
[quote]Is anyone aware of the rule in English grammar on this.
In French it is apparently correct to say/write, eg:
"Les vieux portent un beret"
[/quote]
correct a a matter of grammar, yes, I think so, but not as a matter of
fact (at least in the south of France): I can't remember the last time
I saw someone in a beret.
[quote]or "les gendarmes portent un uniforme bleu".
What is the rule in English for this, ie can the object be translated in the
singular, or does it have to be plural, or are both acceptable?
ie is "Policemen wear a blue uniform" correct, or does it have to be
"policemen wear blue uniforms", or can both be said.
[/quote]
For the berets, I think they have to be plural. For the uniform I'd be
less dogmatic. I'd use the plural myself, and I think most native
speakers would, but I wouldn't fall off my chair in surprise if I saw
it in the singular.
--
athel |
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| Albert ARIBAUD... |
| Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2009 7:42 am |
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Guest
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Bonjour,
Le Mon, 2 Nov 2009 13:31:17 +0100, Athel Cornish-Bowden
<athel_cb at (no spam) yahoo.co.uk> a écrit :
[quote]On 2009-11-02 11:53:27 +0100, "PG" <pgk9 at (no spam) alpesprovence.net> said:
Is anyone aware of the rule in English grammar on this.
In French it is apparently correct to say/write, eg:
"Les vieux portent un beret"
correct a a matter of grammar, yes, I think so, but not as a matter
of fact (at least in the south of France): I can't remember the last
time I saw someone in a beret.
[/quote]
I can show some, but that's certainly not generalized, nor is it limited
to old people. Mainly you'll find bérets in in the south of France,
mostly worn by elders but on some occasions by yougers too (think of the
pays basque, and especially the "fêtes de Bayonne" (or Mont-de-Marsan
or Dax).
[quote]or "les gendarmes portent un uniforme bleu".
What is the rule in English for this, ie can the object be
translated in the singular, or does it have to be plural, or are
both acceptable?
ie is "Policemen wear a blue uniform" correct, or does it have to be
"policemen wear blue uniforms", or can both be said.
For the berets, I think they have to be plural. For the uniform I'd
be less dogmatic. I'd use the plural myself, and I think most native
speakers would, but I wouldn't fall off my chair in surprise if I saw
it in the singular.
[/quote]
I think that would depend on the precise meaning to convey. For
instance:
"Les gendarmes portent des uniformes bleus" would mean that every
'gendarme' (sorry, that's different from 'policeman') has a uniform, not
necessarily identical to every other one except for the blue hue;
"Les gendarmes portent un uniforme bleu" means all uniforms worn by
'gendarmes' have the same hue (and probably look) -- that sentence
implies that there is some level of standard.
In the same vein, I *believe* that 'policement wear uniforms' and
'policemen wear a uniform' bear the same difference in detailed
meaning.
Amicalement,
--
Albert. |
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| LEE Sau Dan... |
| Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2009 8:40 am |
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Guest
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[quote]"Albert" == Albert ARIBAUD <albert.aribaud at (no spam) free.fr> writes:
[/quote]
Albert> "Les gendarmes portent des uniformes bleus" would mean that
Albert> every 'gendarme' (sorry, that's different from 'policeman')
Aren't they soldiers?
Albert> has a uniform, not necessarily identical to every other one
Albert> except for the blue hue;
--
Lee Sau Dan §õ¦u´° ~{ at (no spam) nJX6X~}
E-mail: danlee at (no spam) informatik.uni-freiburg.de
Home page: http://www.informatik.uni-freiburg.de/~danlee |
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| Athel Cornish-Bowden... |
| Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2009 10:25 am |
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Guest
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On 2009-11-02 13:42:17 +0100, Albert ARIBAUD <albert.aribaud at (no spam) free.fr> said:
[quote]Bonjour,
Le Mon, 2 Nov 2009 13:31:17 +0100, Athel Cornish-Bowden
athel_cb at (no spam) yahoo.co.uk> a écrit :
On 2009-11-02 11:53:27 +0100, "PG" <pgk9 at (no spam) alpesprovence.net> said:
Is anyone aware of the rule in English grammar on this.
In French it is apparently correct to say/write, eg:
"Les vieux portent un beret"
correct a a matter of grammar, yes, I think so, but not as a matter
of fact (at least in the south of France): I can't remember the last
time I saw someone in a beret.
I can show some, but that's certainly not generalized, nor is it limited
to old people. Mainly you'll find bérets in in the south of France,
mostly worn by elders but on some occasions by yougers too (think of the
pays basque, and especially the "fêtes de Bayonne" (or Mont-de-Marsan
or Dax).
or "les gendarmes portent un uniforme bleu".
What is the rule in English for this, ie can the object be
translated in the singular, or does it have to be plural, or are
both acceptable?
ie is "Policemen wear a blue uniform" correct, or does it have to be
"policemen wear blue uniforms", or can both be said.
For the berets, I think they have to be plural. For the uniform I'd
be less dogmatic. I'd use the plural myself, and I think most native
speakers would, but I wouldn't fall off my chair in surprise if I saw
it in the singular.
I think that would depend on the precise meaning to convey. For
instance:
"Les gendarmes portent des uniformes bleus" would mean that every
'gendarme' (sorry, that's different from 'policeman') has a uniform, not
necessarily identical to every other one except for the blue hue;
"Les gendarmes portent un uniforme bleu" means all uniforms worn by
'gendarmes' have the same hue (and probably look) -- that sentence
implies that there is some level of standard.
In the same vein, I *believe* that 'policement wear uniforms' and
'policemen wear a uniform' bear the same difference in detailed
meaning.
Amicalement,
[/quote]
--
athel |
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| Athel Cornish-Bowden... |
| Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2009 10:29 am |
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Guest
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On 2009-11-02 13:42:17 +0100, Albert ARIBAUD <albert.aribaud at (no spam) free.fr> said:
[quote]Bonjour,
Le Mon, 2 Nov 2009 13:31:17 +0100, Athel Cornish-Bowden
athel_cb at (no spam) yahoo.co.uk> a écrit :
On 2009-11-02 11:53:27 +0100, "PG" <pgk9 at (no spam) alpesprovence.net> said:
Is anyone aware of the rule in English grammar on this.
In French it is apparently correct to say/write, eg:
"Les vieux portent un beret"
correct a a matter of grammar, yes, I think so, but not as a matter
of fact (at least in the south of France): I can't remember the last
time I saw someone in a beret.
I can show some, but that's certainly not generalized, nor is it limited
to old people. Mainly you'll find bérets in in the south of France,
mostly worn by elders but on some occasions by yougers too (think of the
pays basque, and especially the "fêtes de Bayonne" (or Mont-de-Marsan
or Dax).
[/quote]
I was thinking of a lot further east than that -- Marseilles to be
precise. If the stereotypes are to be believed I'd certainly expct to
see some berets in the Basque country.
[ ... ]
[quote]For the berets, I think they have to be plural. For the uniform I'd
be less dogmatic. I'd use the plural myself, and I think most native
speakers would, but I wouldn't fall off my chair in surprise if I saw
it in the singular.
I think that would depend on the precise meaning to convey. For
instance: ...
[/quote]
Probably it was obvious, but in case not I should say that my comments
on usage were entirely about usage in English.
--
athel |
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| PG... |
| Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2009 12:26 pm |
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Guest
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"Athel Cornish-Bowden" <athel_cb at (no spam) yahoo.co.uk> a écrit dans le message de
news: 7l8c6hF3cpdeuU1 at (no spam) mid.individual.net...
[quote]On 2009-11-02 13:42:17 +0100, Albert ARIBAUD <albert.aribaud at (no spam) free.fr
said:
Bonjour,
Le Mon, 2 Nov 2009 13:31:17 +0100, Athel Cornish-Bowden
athel_cb at (no spam) yahoo.co.uk> a écrit :
On 2009-11-02 11:53:27 +0100, "PG" <pgk9 at (no spam) alpesprovence.net> said:
Is anyone aware of the rule in English grammar on this.
In French it is apparently correct to say/write, eg:
"Les vieux portent un beret"
correct a a matter of grammar, yes, I think so, but not as a matter
of fact (at least in the south of France): I can't remember the last
time I saw someone in a beret.
I can show some, but that's certainly not generalized, nor is it limited
to old people. Mainly you'll find bérets in in the south of France,
mostly worn by elders but on some occasions by yougers too (think of the
pays basque, and especially the "fêtes de Bayonne" (or Mont-de-Marsan
or Dax).
I was thinking of a lot further east than that -- Marseilles to be
precise. If the stereotypes are to be believed I'd certainly expct to see
some berets in the Basque country.
[ ... ]
For the berets, I think they have to be plural. For the uniform I'd
be less dogmatic. I'd use the plural myself, and I think most native
speakers would, but I wouldn't fall off my chair in surprise if I saw it
in the singular.
I think that would depend on the precise meaning to convey. For
instance: ...
Probably it was obvious, but in case not I should say that my comments on
usage were entirely about usage in English.
[/quote]
Indeed, it was the correct English usage that concerned me. I felt that the
French were more inclined to use the singular version, and therefore may be
tempted in translation (into English) to do likewise. I may be mistaken, but
having just read my son's English homework I had doubts about the following
written by his (French national) teacher:
"Spriggans live in Cornwall, so they are Cornish. They are tall and slim
with a long beard and a crooked nose. They wear a long green coat, a big
hat, and they carry a bag. They have got a long stick with a skull on it.
They look mean".
It just doesn't sound right to me, I would have preferred plurals. The
equivalent in French sounds ok, but I could be mistaken. |
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| PG... |
| Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2009 12:28 pm |
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Guest
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"PG" <pgk9 at (no spam) alpesprovence.net> a écrit dans le message de news:
4aef1634$0$968$ba4acef3 at (no spam) news.orange.fr...
[quote]"Athel Cornish-Bowden" <athel_cb at (no spam) yahoo.co.uk> a écrit dans le message de
news: 7l8c6hF3cpdeuU1 at (no spam) mid.individual.net...
On 2009-11-02 13:42:17 +0100, Albert ARIBAUD <albert.aribaud at (no spam) free.fr
said:
Bonjour,
Le Mon, 2 Nov 2009 13:31:17 +0100, Athel Cornish-Bowden
athel_cb at (no spam) yahoo.co.uk> a écrit :
On 2009-11-02 11:53:27 +0100, "PG" <pgk9 at (no spam) alpesprovence.net> said:
Is anyone aware of the rule in English grammar on this.
In French it is apparently correct to say/write, eg:
"Les vieux portent un beret"
correct a a matter of grammar, yes, I think so, but not as a matter
of fact (at least in the south of France): I can't remember the last
time I saw someone in a beret.
I can show some, but that's certainly not generalized, nor is it limited
to old people. Mainly you'll find bérets in in the south of France,
mostly worn by elders but on some occasions by yougers too (think of the
pays basque, and especially the "fêtes de Bayonne" (or Mont-de-Marsan
or Dax).
I was thinking of a lot further east than that -- Marseilles to be
precise. If the stereotypes are to be believed I'd certainly expct to see
some berets in the Basque country.
[ ... ]
For the berets, I think they have to be plural. For the uniform I'd
be less dogmatic. I'd use the plural myself, and I think most native
speakers would, but I wouldn't fall off my chair in surprise if I saw
it in the singular.
I think that would depend on the precise meaning to convey. For
instance: ...
Probably it was obvious, but in case not I should say that my comments on
usage were entirely about usage in English.
Indeed, it was the correct English usage that concerned me. I felt that
the French were more inclined to use the singular version, and therefore
may be tempted in translation (into English) to do likewise. I may be
mistaken, but having just read my son's English homework I had doubts
about the following written by his (French national) teacher:
"Spriggans live in Cornwall, so they are Cornish. They are tall and slim
with a long beard and a crooked nose. They wear a long green coat, a big
hat, and they carry a bag. They have got a long stick with a skull on it.
They look mean".
It just doesn't sound right to me, I would have preferred plurals. The
equivalent in French sounds ok, but I could be mistaken.
[/quote]
(To clarify, we are an Anglo-French family living in France) |
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| MH... |
| Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2009 3:25 pm |
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[quote]"Spriggans live in Cornwall, so they are Cornish. They are tall and slim
with a long beard and a crooked nose....
[/quote]
For the nouns to be in agreement in number with the personal
pronouns/subjects I would use the plural;
.... with long beards and crooked noses... etc.
--
MH |
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| Albert ARIBAUD... |
| Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 2:22 am |
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Guest
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Bonjour,
Le Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:40:52 +0800, LEE Sau Dan
<danlee at (no spam) informatik.uni-freiburg.de> a écrit :
[quote]"Albert" == Albert ARIBAUD <albert.aribaud at (no spam) free.fr> writes:
Albert> "Les gendarmes portent des uniformes bleus" would mean
Albert> that every 'gendarme' (sorry, that's different from
Albert> 'policeman')
Aren't they soldiers?
[/quote]
They are indeed, while policemen are civilan.
However beware that translating 'gendarmes' as 'soldiers', while
technically true, would be quite wrong, as gendarmes are just as
different from policemen as they are from soldiers. The mission of
gendarmerie is not warfare activity; it is civilian-oriented,
peace-time, activities, such as general police (geographically shared
with the actual police force) and road traffic control (speeding /
drunk driving /...)
Amicalement,
--
Albert. |
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| Albert ARIBAUD... |
| Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 2:38 am |
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Guest
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Bonjour,
Le Mon, 2 Nov 2009 18:28:49 +0100, "PG" <pgk9 at (no spam) alpesprovence.net> a
écrit :
[quote]"PG" <pgk9 at (no spam) alpesprovence.net> a écrit dans le message de news:
4aef1634$0$968$ba4acef3 at (no spam) news.orange.fr...
"Athel Cornish-Bowden" <athel_cb at (no spam) yahoo.co.uk> a écrit dans le
message de news: 7l8c6hF3cpdeuU1 at (no spam) mid.individual.net...
On 2009-11-02 13:42:17 +0100, Albert ARIBAUD
albert.aribaud at (no spam) free.fr> said:
Bonjour,
Le Mon, 2 Nov 2009 13:31:17 +0100, Athel Cornish-Bowden
athel_cb at (no spam) yahoo.co.uk> a écrit :
On 2009-11-02 11:53:27 +0100, "PG" <pgk9 at (no spam) alpesprovence.net> said:
Is anyone aware of the rule in English grammar on this.
In French it is apparently correct to say/write, eg:
"Les vieux portent un beret"
correct a a matter of grammar, yes, I think so, but not as a
matter of fact (at least in the south of France): I can't
remember the last time I saw someone in a beret.
I can show some, but that's certainly not generalized, nor is it
limited to old people. Mainly you'll find bérets in in the south
of France, mostly worn by elders but on some occasions by yougers
too (think of the pays basque, and especially the "fêtes de
Bayonne" (or Mont-de-Marsan or Dax).
I was thinking of a lot further east than that -- Marseilles to be
precise. If the stereotypes are to be believed I'd certainly expct
to see some berets in the Basque country.
[ ... ]
For the berets, I think they have to be plural. For the uniform
I'd be less dogmatic. I'd use the plural myself, and I think
most native speakers would, but I wouldn't fall off my chair in
surprise if I saw it in the singular.
I think that would depend on the precise meaning to convey. For
instance: ...
Probably it was obvious, but in case not I should say that my
comments on usage were entirely about usage in English.
Indeed, it was the correct English usage that concerned me. I felt
that the French were more inclined to use the singular version, and
therefore may be tempted in translation (into English) to do
likewise. I may be mistaken, but having just read my son's English
homework I had doubts about the following written by his (French
national) teacher:
"Spriggans live in Cornwall, so they are Cornish. They are tall and
slim with a long beard and a crooked nose. They wear a long green
coat, a big hat, and they carry a bag. They have got a long stick
with a skull on it. They look mean".
It just doesn't sound right to me, I would have preferred plurals.
The equivalent in French sounds ok, but I could be mistaken.
(To clarify, we are an Anglo-French family living in France)
[/quote]
I would concur with the plural here for the English version, unless
Spriggans have some codex stating that they all should have a long
beard, crooked nose etc. Since each one has (I assume) his own length
of beard and his own shape of crooked nose, we're not in a uniform
situation here.
Note that the French have (yet) a third way of stating a generalization:
besides "ils ont une longue barbe" (which would tend toward 'identical'
beards) and "ils ont de longues barbes" (which would tend toward long
but different beards), you could find "ils ont la barbe longue" -- which
basically belongs to the 'identically long' class.
Also note that in some cases the French singular would be plain wrong :
"Ils ont un long bâton surmonté d'un crâne" could mean that they have a
only one skull-onna-stick for all to share and pass around, which I
don't think is the intended sense.
Out of perverted curiosity and intent to introduce some teachers to
lesser known uses of large trouts, What was the French version of the
text?
Amicalement,
--
Albert. |
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| PG... |
| Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 7:14 am |
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Guest
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"Albert ARIBAUD" <albert.aribaud at (no spam) free.fr> a écrit dans le message de news:
4aefdddd$0$4890$426a74cc at (no spam) news.free.fr...
[quote]Bonjour,
Le Mon, 2 Nov 2009 18:28:49 +0100, "PG" <pgk9 at (no spam) alpesprovence.net> a
écrit :
"PG" <pgk9 at (no spam) alpesprovence.net> a écrit dans le message de news:
4aef1634$0$968$ba4acef3 at (no spam) news.orange.fr...
"Athel Cornish-Bowden" <athel_cb at (no spam) yahoo.co.uk> a écrit dans le
message de news: 7l8c6hF3cpdeuU1 at (no spam) mid.individual.net...
On 2009-11-02 13:42:17 +0100, Albert ARIBAUD
albert.aribaud at (no spam) free.fr> said:
Bonjour,
Le Mon, 2 Nov 2009 13:31:17 +0100, Athel Cornish-Bowden
athel_cb at (no spam) yahoo.co.uk> a écrit :
On 2009-11-02 11:53:27 +0100, "PG" <pgk9 at (no spam) alpesprovence.net> said:
Is anyone aware of the rule in English grammar on this.
In French it is apparently correct to say/write, eg:
"Les vieux portent un beret"
correct a a matter of grammar, yes, I think so, but not as a
matter of fact (at least in the south of France): I can't
remember the last time I saw someone in a beret.
I can show some, but that's certainly not generalized, nor is it
limited to old people. Mainly you'll find bérets in in the south
of France, mostly worn by elders but on some occasions by yougers
too (think of the pays basque, and especially the "fêtes de
Bayonne" (or Mont-de-Marsan or Dax).
I was thinking of a lot further east than that -- Marseilles to be
precise. If the stereotypes are to be believed I'd certainly expct
to see some berets in the Basque country.
[ ... ]
For the berets, I think they have to be plural. For the uniform
I'd be less dogmatic. I'd use the plural myself, and I think
most native speakers would, but I wouldn't fall off my chair in
surprise if I saw it in the singular.
I think that would depend on the precise meaning to convey. For
instance: ...
Probably it was obvious, but in case not I should say that my
comments on usage were entirely about usage in English.
Indeed, it was the correct English usage that concerned me. I felt
that the French were more inclined to use the singular version, and
therefore may be tempted in translation (into English) to do
likewise. I may be mistaken, but having just read my son's English
homework I had doubts about the following written by his (French
national) teacher:
"Spriggans live in Cornwall, so they are Cornish. They are tall and
slim with a long beard and a crooked nose. They wear a long green
coat, a big hat, and they carry a bag. They have got a long stick
with a skull on it. They look mean".
It just doesn't sound right to me, I would have preferred plurals.
The equivalent in French sounds ok, but I could be mistaken.
(To clarify, we are an Anglo-French family living in France)
I would concur with the plural here for the English version, unless
Spriggans have some codex stating that they all should have a long
beard, crooked nose etc. Since each one has (I assume) his own length
of beard and his own shape of crooked nose, we're not in a uniform
situation here.
Note that the French have (yet) a third way of stating a generalization:
besides "ils ont une longue barbe" (which would tend toward 'identical'
beards) and "ils ont de longues barbes" (which would tend toward long
but different beards), you could find "ils ont la barbe longue" -- which
basically belongs to the 'identically long' class.
Also note that in some cases the French singular would be plain wrong :
"Ils ont un long bâton surmonté d'un crâne" could mean that they have a
only one skull-onna-stick for all to share and pass around, which I
don't think is the intended sense.
Out of perverted curiosity and intent to introduce some teachers to
lesser known uses of large trouts, What was the French version of the
text?
Amicalement,
[/quote]
No French version as far as I know, my son's French mother tongue English
teacher simply gave this to the class to learn for a 'contrôle' this coming
week, and being virtually bilingual he found it rather odd and asked for my
opinion. I'm hoping the teacher made it up herself, rather than found it in
an English text book, which would be rather worrying. Mind you, the fact
that there are teachers who make such mistakes, along with their dreadful
accents, is worrying enough in itself. Both my son and I regularly spot
simple errors in the sentences she uses to demonstrate various grammatical
rules. But she's a pleasant enough lady, I haven't the heart to tell her. I
suppose it's not the end of the world en 3ème, and I'm assuming once at the
lycée standards will be higher. Ever the optimist... |
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| Albert ARIBAUD... |
| Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 7:32 am |
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Guest
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Bonjour,
Le Tue, 3 Nov 2009 13:14:14 +0100, "PG" <pgk9 at (no spam) alpesprovence.net> a
écrit :
[quote]No French version as far as I know, my son's French mother tongue
English teacher simply gave this to the class to learn for a
'contrôle' this coming week, and being virtually bilingual he found
it rather odd and asked for my opinion. I'm hoping the teacher made
it up herself, rather than found it in an English text book, which
would be rather worrying. Mind you, the fact that there are teachers
who make such mistakes, along with their dreadful accents, is
worrying enough in itself. Both my son and I regularly spot simple
errors in the sentences she uses to demonstrate various grammatical
rules. But she's a pleasant enough lady, I haven't the heart to tell
her. I suppose it's not the end of the world en 3ème, and I'm
assuming once at the lycée standards will be higher. Ever the
optimist...
[/quote]
Don't hold your breath though... In my first year at the école
d'ingénieur (that's the first years of engineering studies, right after
baccalauréat) I went to, round 1983, I had a dreadful English teacher
(wiz ze bad frenche accent and all ze rest), and then some equally awful
in other matters too. You find bad teachers at any level, for any
subject -- just like in any other field of activity, only we tend to
expect more of teachers because of the implicit assumption that the
one who teaches should know better than anyone else.
Amicalement,
--
Albert. |
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| Evertjan.... |
| Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 10:20 am |
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Guest
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Albert ARIBAUD wrote on 03 nov 2009 in sci.lang.translation:
[quote]Le Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:40:52 +0800, LEE Sau Dan
danlee at (no spam) informatik.uni-freiburg.de> a ‚crit :
"Albert" == Albert ARIBAUD <albert.aribaud at (no spam) free.fr> writes:
Albert> "Les gendarmes portent des uniformes bleus" would mean
Albert> that every 'gendarme' (sorry, that's different from
Albert> 'policeman')
Aren't they soldiers?
They are indeed, while policemen are civilan.
[/quote]
Not necessarily, it depends om the local situation.
In either case they could and should be civil.
[quote]However beware that translating 'gendarmes' as 'soldiers', while
technically true, would be quite wrong, as gendarmes are just as
different from policemen as they are from soldiers. The mission of
gendarmerie is not warfare activity; it is civilian-oriented,
peace-time, activities, such as general police (geographically shared
with the actual police force) and road traffic control (speeding /
drunk driving /...)
[/quote]
As all translating diminishes the exact original meaning,
[in for instance fiction translation]
it could depending on context be quite acceptable
to translate "gendarme" into "policeman".
In many countries there is a difference between city-police and country-
police, in Greek astufulakia and chorofulakia, even the etymology of the
word "police" comes from polis [city], so police used to be city-police.
In some countries the country police becme a State police, and in federl
countries there could be also federal police.
In some countries the State police was part of the military.
In The Netherlands and the UK the police is now regionally organized,
while in Italy you can choose between two emergeny telephone numbers 112
and 113, depending on which police you want to receive your murder tip,
and if possible bothe police forces could arive at the same time from
opposite directions [so I have heard].
In Belgium there used to be three different and fiersly competing police-
forces, as there are, according to Hollywood, in thre States.
"Gendarme" probably is not exactly the same in all francophone countries.
[Does it exist as a force in Quibec, Canada?]
Please natives, correct me where I am wrong.
But should all this be apparent in a simple translation?
--
Evertjan.
The Netherlands.
(Please change the x'es to dots in my emailaddress) |
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| Athel Cornish-Bowden... |
| Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 12:52 pm |
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On 2009-11-03 13:14:14 +0100, "PG" <pgk9 at (no spam) alpesprovence.net> said:
[quote]
[ ... ]
No French version as far as I know, my son's French mother tongue English
teacher simply gave this to the class to learn for a 'contrôle' this coming
week, and being virtually bilingual he found it rather odd and asked for my
opinion. I'm hoping the teacher made it up herself, rather than found it in
an English text book, which would be rather worrying. Mind you, the fact
that there are teachers who make such mistakes, along with their dreadful
accents, is worrying enough in itself. Both my son and I regularly spot
simple errors in the sentences she uses to demonstrate various grammatical
rules. But she's a pleasant enough lady, I haven't the heart to tell her. I
suppose it's not the end of the world en 3ème, and I'm assuming once at the
lycée standards will be higher. Ever the optimist...
[/quote]
When my daughter was at the École Primaire she took German, as I didn't
see any point in her learning English from a teacher who spoke less
English than she did. However, when she went into sixième English was
compulsory, and the school were deaf to all requests that she take
something else instead. On the whole her English teachers at Collège
and Lycée spoke English reasonably well (though less well than she
did), but I don't think she learned much from them, and like you and
your son we regularly spotted simple errors. Fortunately my daughter
realized early on that I was a more reliable guide to English than her
teachers were.
Having said that, I should add that all the teachers of English I've
encountered in France have been more proficient than the average
teacher of French in England tends to be.
--
athel |
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