Question on French

[Abd_Yesua_alMasih]

How do you say "Who is the message for?" in French? As in, someone leaves a message of some importance but you do not know who it is addressed to.

Small topic but of great importance Google translation said "Qui est ce message?"

 

[Davidius]

I think that means "who is this message"?

I think it would be "Pour qui est ce/le (this/the) message?"

 

[Abd_Yesua_alMasih]

Next time with nothing changed it says Qui est le message?

 

[Davidius]

I updated my post.

 

[Abd_Yesua_alMasih]

Right, thanks for that. I was going through and there was no sort of equivalent for "for".

 

[Davidius]

One difficulty in translating modern English into other Indo-European languages is that we have begun to (wrongly) end sentences with prepositions. I assume it to be the case in French, although I say this not because I have studied French, but because of my familiarity with German, Dutch, Latin, and Greek, and am willing to be corrected by someone with more knowledge of the Romance languages, that it would be odd in French to literally translate the phrase with the preposition at the end, rather than at the beginning modifying the interrogative pronoun, which is how it has always been done.

 

[Galatians220]

"A qui s'addresse ce message?" (Accent grave over the first word... It means, "for whom is this message?")

Margaret

 

[Calvibaptist]

I think you first have to start the sentence with "Haw, Haw, Haw" in your best french accent.

 

[Herald]

I think you first have to start the sentence with "Haw, Haw, Haw" in your best french accent.

"Now go away or we will taunt you some more..."

 

[Backwoods Presbyterian]

I think you first have to start the sentence with "Haw, Haw, Haw" in your best french accent.

 

[Abd_Yesua_alMasih]

I think you first have to start the sentence with "Haw, Haw, Haw" in your best french accent.

Lost the reference but sounds funny

 

[jogri17]

Bonne Fête Québec! Bonne Saint Jean Baptiste! Rue Saint Jean! Vivre le québec livre! 400 ans...

I just got back from the huge party on the Plains de Abraham (for those who are familiar with it) and don't worry I didn't do anything illegal or immoral. And I handed out gospel tracts to those asking me if I was selling drugs. It was a great celebration to hand out tracts. But it was sad for most of the people there celebrating 400 years of Québec history is the closest they will get to Heaven (in the sense of good music, large group gathered to sing about a common thing).

 

[Abd_Yesua_alMasih]

What is Plains de Abraham? Not sure how it relates to the topic but it sounds interesting.

 

[VirginiaHuguenot]

What is Plains de Abraham? Not sure how it relates to the topic but it sounds interesting.

It is the site of a famous battle in the Seven Years' War which took place almost 250 years ago.

Plains of Abraham - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Battle of the Plains of Abraham - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[JBaldwin]

One difficulty in translating modern English into other Indo-European languages is that we have begun to (wrongly) end sentences with prepositions. I assume it to be the case in French, although I say this not because I have studied French, but because of my familiarity with German, Dutch, Latin, and Greek, and am willing to be corrected by someone with more knowledge of the Romance languages, that it would be odd in French to literally translate the phrase with the preposition at the end, rather than at the beginning modifying the interrogative pronoun, which is how it has always been done.

Another problem with translating languages is that what you learn in books does not always coincide with what is spoken in every day speech. I did a little translating for Michelin Tires (North America) several years ago, and I quickly discovered is that in French there are many ways to say the same thing, and if you haven't actually learned to speak the way the locals do, you can come up with some crazy phrases. My favorite-- "Je suis fini" (I am finished) vs. "J'ai fini" (I have finished). If you say "Je suis fini" in French it means "I am ready to put an end to my life."

 

[Zenas]

"Qui est ce message?"

Massages? Donde?