Jacques Brel's Jojo

Thread: Jacques Brel's Jojo

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  1. lightning said:

    Default Jacques Brel's Jojo

    Hello everybody,
    I am working on a tranlsation of Brel's Jojo. He goes to the cemetary to visit his friend Jojo and hears him singing sailor songs as if he were alive. In this verse does "où" (where) refer to the sailor songs he is singing, or to the cemetery where Jojo is singing them?

    Does this translation seem right to you:

    "Jojo
    Jojo

    Moi je t'entends rugir
    Me, I hear you roaring out

    Quelques chansons marines
    Some sailors’ songs

    Où des Bretons devinent
    Where some Bretons think

    Que Saint-Cast doit dormir
    That Saint-Cast should be sleeping

    Tout au fond du brouillard
    Way down deep in a fog
     
  2. Faayzaah' said:

    Default

    In this song , "Où" ( where ) refers to the "chansons marines" ( sailors' songs ) .

    I think your translation's alright for now . =)
    Good luck for the rest !
     
  3. youjoking's Avatar

    youjoking said:

    Default

    Hi.
    Well i would translate as "some Sailor songs in wich they guess that Saint-Cast is sleeping Way down deep in the fog"

    Deviner = guess
     
  4. lightning said:

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    "guess", the usual translation for "deviner" doesn't seem natural to me, so I changed it to "figure"-- have a hunch, assume without knowing for sure.
     
  5. youjoking's Avatar

    youjoking said:

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    Yes you could use "figure"it`s hard to translate completely some expressions,
    it could also be "assume".
    K.
     
  6. lightning said:

    Default

    I settled on 'suppose' and posted the translation on YouTube yesterday. Check it out.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZmCM0uQ1jM