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Glossary entry

English term or phrase:

billabong

French translation:

Billabong

Added to glossary by Marie-Ange West
Feb 7, 2008 10:31
16 yrs ago
English term

billabong

English to French Other Linguistics Aboriginal term
CANE toads are threatening to wipe out a rare pygmy crocodile found in only two places in the Northern Territory.

The marauding toads may have already wiped out the small collection of pygmy crocs in Arnhem Land - and a billabong close to the Western Australian border is the next and final battlefront.

The above text is for context only. I am interested to know if billabong would need to be translated, and what the correct tranlsation would be?
Proposed translations (French)
3 +4 Billabong
3 +2 bras/méandre mort
Change log

Feb 7, 2008 11:28: Stéphanie Soudais changed "Field (specific)" from "Other" to "Linguistics"

Feb 12, 2008 10:49: Marie-Ange West Created KOG entry

Discussion

Michael GREEN Feb 8, 2008:
But that's just my opinion from the other side of the world. Bon courage ;)
Michael GREEN Feb 8, 2008:
Thank you Valosh : I was in the land of nod when you posted your note. I think the French-speaking community of Australia will certainly know what a billabong is (and a Fosters too, I hope ...). So you don't need to translate it or explain it !
Valosh (asker) Feb 8, 2008:
Michael, "billabong" is a word that pops up regularly in Australian news articles and, as I am simply preparing myself for my NAATI exam, my question here was quite general. IE What should I do if I was given this text or a similar one to translate for my exam. In this case, I guess the translation version of the text would be for the French speaking communities of Australia, who may or may not know what a billabong is!!
Thank you to all who have helped so far and, yes my dilemma is "to translate or not to translate"!!!!!!
Michael GREEN Feb 7, 2008:
E.g., I don't think that a French-speaking general public will understand billabong, nor feel necessarily inclined to do a google search, but a more specialised audience may not need a translation.
Michael GREEN Feb 7, 2008:
The discussion hinges around whether to translate, or not, and in either case, whether an explanation in parentheses is called for.
IMHO, it all depends on the purpose of the translation.
Can you enlighten us please ?

Proposed translations

+4
3 mins
Selected

Billabong

voir lien
Example sentence:

Le plus fameux des billabongs est sûrement celui chanté dans la célèbre chanson australienne Waltzing Matilda, considérée comme l'hymne non-officiel des Australiens : « Once a jolly swagman / camped by a billabong… ».

Reference:

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billabong_%28Australie%29

Peer comment(s):
agree Ghyslaine LE NAGARD : That's exactly what I was going to answer.
4 mins
agree Blandine Proust
5 mins
agree Didier Martiny
34 mins
agree Tony M : Je garderai le terme tel quel, avec le cas échéant une explication entre parenthèses
1 hr
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Merci Marie-Ange!"
+2
14 mins

bras/méandre mort

Je pense qu'il faudrait au moins ajouter la traduction entre parenthèses. Tout le monde ne sait pas ce qu'est un billabong !

En langue aborigène, un billabong est un méandre mort, qui se forme généralement quand le cours d'une rivière change.
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billabong_(Australie)

Le nom de la marque provient du mot aborigène Billabong qui désigne un méandre mort qui ne s'assèche jamais et où les animaux peuvent venir boire en saison sèche.
http://www.bloc.com/article/mode-et-beaute/marques-et-magasi...

http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=17773031

http://www.fishbase.se/glossary/Glossary.cfm?TermEnglish=bra...

cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=1956272

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 15 minutes (2008-02-07 10:46:50 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

http://books.google.com/books?id=bgFAR2Qp51sC&pg=PA54&lpg=PA...
Peer comment(s):
agree PFB (X) : Cf également traduction proposéee par IATE. Aucune raison de ne pas le traduire. Comme vous, je ne pense pas que ce mot soit connu de bcp de gens. Soit on le traduit, soit on le laisse, mais avec une explication.
4 mins
merci !
agree Patrick Fischer (X) : avec Philippe
15 mins
merci !
agree Michael GREEN : Je serais tenté plutôt de mettre "billabong" entre parenthèses après la traduction.
19 mins
merci !
disagree Jennifer Levey : En fait, il y a peu d'anglophones qui savent vraiement ce qu'est un 'billabong', sans que cela gêne leur appréciation des textes et chansons utilisant le mot. Ceux qui veulent en savoir plus - anglo et francophones - sauraient googler, non?
44 mins
qui parle de chanson ? et puis il faut aussi penser à ceux qui ne veulent pas forcément en savoir plus, qui n'ont pas la même curiosité ni la même démarche de recherche que nous.
Something went wrong...
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