Help: Translate phrase into French

Subject: Help: Translate phrase into French
From: GUEST,Mark Cohen (at work - late)
Date: 01 Sep 04 - 05:17 AM

We're busy painting the walls of our pediatric clinic here at the hospital, with an "around the world" theme. Can any Francophones out there tell me how one would say, "Life is good" in French? That will be written across the top of the France section.

The person in charge used one of those internet translating websites and came up with "La vie est tres bien" which I really don't think is right. My guess would be something like "Tout va bien" but I'm not sure that captures the flavor of the English phrase. Anyone?

Aloha,
Mark

Subject: RE: Help: Translate phrase into French
From: AggieD
Date: 01 Sep 04 - 07:04 AM

From my schoolgirl french I would think the phrase is 'La Belle Vie', which literally means 'The Good Life', but would be the way the French would understand the phrase.

Subject: RE: Help: Translate phrase into French
From: greg stephens
Date: 01 Sep 04 - 07:24 AM

"Laisse le bon temps rouler" would be the cajun French that best approximates to the "life is good " concept.But that might be a bit frivolous.

Subject: RE: Help: Translate phrase into French
From: CharleyR
Date: 01 Sep 04 - 07:37 AM

"La vie est belle"?

Subject: RE: Help: Translate phrase into French
From: Amos
Date: 01 Sep 04 - 08:47 AM

La vie est belle takes first.

A

Subject: RE: Help: Translate phrase into French
From: GUEST,Bill Kennedy
Date: 01 Sep 04 - 09:21 AM

more likely, 'La vie, c'est bonne.'

to lead a merry life is to: 'mener la bonne vie'

life without care is: 'la vie sans souci' which has a nice ring to it

Subject: RE: Help: Translate phrase into French
From: masato sakurai
Date: 01 Sep 04 - 09:27 AM

La vie est belle is the French title for the movie It's a Wonderful Life.

Subject: RE: Help: Translate phrase into French
From: mooman
Date: 01 Sep 04 - 09:27 AM

CharleyF and Amos are right.

I live in Francophone Belgium and La vie est belle would definitely be the most common translation.

Peace

moo

Subject: RE: Help: Translate phrase into French
From: 8ch(pl)
Date: 01 Sep 04 - 09:30 AM

I would put "La vie c'est belle" Life, it is beautiful. I don't think Bonne is strong enough for the sentiment.

Subject: RE: Help: Translate phrase into French
From: GUEST,Laurent at work
Date: 01 Sep 04 - 09:39 AM

Definitivement : La vie est belle.

A bientot

Subject: RE: Help: Translate phrase into French
From: GUEST,Laurent at work
Date: 01 Sep 04 - 09:47 AM

BTW "C'est bon la vie" would fit too.

It has been use in a French "free" adaptation of Paul Simon's song "Feeling Groovy".

L'un ou l'autre.

Subject: RE: Help: Translate phrase into French
From: GUEST,Bill Kennedy
Date: 01 Sep 04 - 09:49 AM

in Italian they say 'la dolce vita'
French might also say 'la vie, c'est douce'

it depends on what we mean when we say 'life is good'. sometimes that just means life is ok, so-so, not bad, not usually to my mind does it mean 'life is wonderful' so I would still stick with 'bonne' instead of 'belle'

Subject: RE: Help: Translate phrase into French
From: GUEST,Bill Kennedy
Date: 01 Sep 04 - 09:59 AM

and we shouldn't forget the song, since this is a music sight

C'EST SI BON!

'that's how they say it in France...'

Subject: Lyr/Chords Add: C'EST SI BON (Hornez/Betti/Seelen)
From: GUEST,Bill Kennedy
Date: 01 Sep 04 - 10:01 AM

C'est Si Bon
Words & Music by Andre Hornez & Henry Betti
English lyric by Jerry Seelen
Recorded by Louis Armstrong, 1949


C#m7-5 Cm7-5 Bm7 Bm7-5 E7       E7/9 E7       A      D9 Bm7-5 A
"C'est   si bon" --             lovers say that in France

          Fdim         Bm7 Bm7-5 E7
When they thrill to romance;

             Bm7-5 E7 A6    Cdim E7/9
It means that it's so good.


C#m7-5 Cm7-5 Bm7 Bm7-5 E7       E7/9 E7    A   D9 Bm7-5 A
C'est   si   bon --          so I say   it to you

          Fdim         Bm7 Bm7-5 E7
Like the French people do

            Bm7-5 E7 A
Because it's oh, so good.



Bridge:


A7    F            Dm7       CM7/6 CM7
Ev'ry word, ev'ry sigh, ev'ry kiss, dear,

         B7         Bm7   Bm7-5      E7
Leads to only one thought, and it's this, dear:


C#m7-5 Cm7-5 Bm7 Bm7-5 E7         E7/9 E7    A    D9 Bm7-5 A
It's    so   good,          nothing else can replace

          Fdim       Bm7 Bm7-5 E7
Just your slightest embrace

                Em7    F#7
And if you only would

      Bm7 Dm7                   AM7
Be my own    for the rest of my days,

A                   A7    Bm7-5 E7
I will whisper this phrase,



First Time:

   Bm7-5    E7/9 E7 A Edim E7
My darling, c'est si bon.



Last Time:

   Bm7-5    E7/9 E7 A D9   A6
My darling, c'est si bon.

Subject: RE: Help: Translate phrase into French
From: GUEST,Bill Kennedy
Date: 01 Sep 04 - 10:06 AM

I really think the 'c'est bon la vie' phrase is only used in the French version of the Paul Simon song because it rhymes with 'feeling groovy', not because it's the most natural way of expressing the sentiment

Subject: RE: Help: Translate phrase into French
From: Rapparee
Date: 01 Sep 04 - 10:07 AM

la vie, c'est douce

Oops, I first read this as "Life is a a shower" or "Life is a douche."

Well, maybe sometimes it is.

Subject: RE: Help: Translate phrase into French
From: Wilfried Schaum
Date: 01 Sep 04 - 10:15 AM

Quite so, Rapaire, isn't it?

Subject: RE: Help: Translate phrase into French
From: Mrrzy
Date: 01 Sep 04 - 10:18 AM

Don't say La vie, c'est anything; you really want La vie est whatever elle est. Otherwise you sound like you're translating from English. How about Qu'il fait bon, (as in fait bon, fait bon), since we're so musical? La vie est belle is the best TRANSLATION, but how about a sentiment straight from the French instead?

Subject: RE: Help: Translate phrase into French
From: GUEST,Laurent at work
Date: 01 Sep 04 - 10:28 AM

"C'est si bon" would be translated as "It's so good", "C'est beau la vie" would be "Life is beautiful" or "Life is nice", so would "La vie est belle", I think.

Being French, I think the best one is "C'est bon la vie" which souds better than "La vie, c'est bon" or "la vie est bonne". The meaning of the last one is like : Life gives me what I want/need...

Rapaire,

When you say "life is a shower", do you mean that you are feeling fine, expecting good things and, suddenly, life becomes very uncomfortable. Then the shower is a scottish shower (une douche ecossaise!)

Cordialement

Subject: RE: Help: Translate phrase into French
From: GUEST,Bill Kennedy
Date: 01 Sep 04 - 10:34 AM

La Belle Vie - is 'the good life', song by Sacha Distel, poor English translation but good song in English sung by Tony Bennett

then there is of course 'joie de vivre' joy of life

'vivre bien' to live well

'savoir vivre' to know how to live well

'le bien vivre' - is an easy life

'vivre en prince' - to live like a prince

'vivre largement' - to live well, live large

la vie est belle is also the French title for the movie by Roberto Begnini known in English as 'Life is Beautiful'

Subject: RE: Help: Translate phrase into French
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 01 Sep 04 - 10:37 AM

So far you're all working with literal word translations to come up with the meaning Mark is after--but quite often in a language there will be an idiomatic phrase that doesn't bear literal translation that really says what you want to say. Perhaps someone will stumble across a native speaker who will blurt out the essential joi de vivre (joy of life) statement he seeks.

"Laisse le bon temps rouler" in Louisianna is the slightly bawdy "let the good times roll," a sentiment that probably is too complex to be appropriate for a pediatrician's office.

SRS

Subject: Lyr Add: LA BELLE VIE (J Broussole, S Distel)
From: GUEST,Bill Kennedy
Date: 01 Sep 04 - 10:39 AM

Sacha Distel
LA BELLE VIE
Paroles: Jean Broussole, musique: Sacha Distel, 1973


Ô la belle vie
Sans amour
Sans soucis
Sans problème.
Hum la belle vie
On est seul
On est libre
Et l'on s'aime.
On s'amuse à passer avec tous ses copains
Des nuits blanches
Qui se penchent
Sur les petits matins.
Mais la belle vie
Sans amour
Sans soucis
Sans problème.

Oui la belle vie
On s'enlace
On est triste
Et l'on traîne.
Alors pense que moi je t'aime
Et quand tu auras compris
Réveille-toi
Je serai là
Pour toi.

Subject: RE: Help: Translate phrase into French
From: GUEST,Laurent at work
Date: 01 Sep 04 - 10:40 AM

Mrrzy

"Qu'il fait bon" or "il fait bon" is "It's good to" as in the song "Aupres de ma blonde"'s chorus :

Auprès de ma blonde,
Qu'il fait bon, fait bon, fait bon,
Aupres de ma blonde
Qu'il fait bon dormir.

An approximate translation would be: Beside my fair haired girl (or simply my girlfriend who might be brown haired), it's so good to sleep. (Well French is more comfortable to me).

Nowdays, when French people say "Il fait bon", it generally means "The weather is warm" or "Il fait bon vivre à..." means "It's good to live in..."

Subject: Lyr Add: GOOD LIFE (J Reardon, S Distel)
From: GUEST,Bill Kennedy
Date: 01 Sep 04 - 10:41 AM

Good Life
Tony Bennett
Words by Jack Reardon and Music by Sascha Distel

Peaked at # 18 in 1963
Featured on the soundtrack of the 1962 Italian-French film "Seven Deadly Sins"

Oh, the good life, full of fun seems to be the ideal
Mm, the good life lets you hide all the sadness you feel
You won't really fall in love for you can't take the chance
So please be honest with yourself, don't try to fake romance

It's the good life to be free and explore the unknown
Like the heartaches when you learn you must face them alone
Please remember I still want you, and in case you wonder why
Well, just wake up, kiss the good life goodbye

Subject: RE: Help: Translate phrase into French
From: Amos
Date: 01 Sep 04 - 01:41 PM

La vie est ^BELLE!

Subject: RE: Help: Translate phrase into French
From: Seamus Kennedy
Date: 02 Sep 04 - 12:12 AM

La Vie En Rose?
To throw another cat among "les pigeons."
No, really seriously, honest to God, La Vie est belle is correct.

Seamus

Subject: RE: Help: Translate phrase into French
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 02 Sep 04 - 04:42 AM

Merci a tout le monde. La vie est belle it shall be.

Aloha,
Mark

(now, if somebody can tell me how to put accents on the letters so my "a" doesn't look like a verb...)

Subject: RE: Help: Translate phrase into French
From: HuwG
Date: 02 Sep 04 - 07:18 AM

Not "La vie, c'est belle" ?

Make sure no French graffiti artists can get at it and change an 'e' to an 'n', so that your apothegm now reads, "La vin est belle".




To get accented characters, (assuming you are using a PC and Windows):

Follow the menu path, "Programs", "Accessories", "System Tools", "Character Map";

On the Dialog box this throws up, select the font currently used by your browser;

Search along the characters until you find the accented character you want, highlight it, and click on the "Select" button.

You can then copy and paste from the "Characters to copy" edit control.


There is a word of caution here. Most fonts will have common ASCII and / or Unicode representation. This is not always the case, though. What might be an accented character on your screen might be a mathematical symbol or something else equally irrelevant on somebody else's if they are using a different font (especially if their native language and keyboard layout is not English).

Subject: RE: Help: Translate phrase into French
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 02 Sep 04 - 01:48 PM

ç

Nice--I've always gone into Word and done a cut and paste. this saves time. It also gives the keystrokes at the bottom. I use keystrokes when I remember them, but most of them aren't intuitive.

SRS

Subject: RE: Help: Translate phrase into French
From: Bert
Date: 02 Sep 04 - 02:15 PM

Hey Rapaire, You now need to translate "Life is a shower", 'cos a lot of Americans are not familiar with that very British expression.

Subject: RE: Help: Translate phrase into French
From: Amos
Date: 02 Sep 04 - 03:15 PM

La vie, c'est une douche. Quelquefois chaude, quelquefois froide.

Mais plus difficile a terminer.

A

Subject: RE: Help: Translate phrase into French
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 03 Sep 04 - 04:47 AM

Très cool! Thanks, Huw!

I also noticed that XP finally added macrons to the character set, which means I can write Hawaiian words like "Waikīkī," "kī hō‛alu" (slack key), and "humuhumunukunukuāpua‛a" (the state fish of Hawai‛i)!

Aloha,
Mark

Subject: RE: Help: Translate phrase into French
From: GUEST
Date: 02 Sep 05 - 04:04 AM

"c'est beau la vie" will sound less academique but " la vie est velle" is "pas mal non plus" ( not 2 bad)
Michel stypak - paris - onion europeenne)

Subject: RE: Help: Translate phrase into French
From: LadyJean
Date: 03 Sep 05 - 12:50 AM

I hadn't noticed. The "Click here to translate this into French" icon isn't there anymore. When I posted a comment in pig latin several years ago, I hoped no one would try to translate it, so, naturally, the next person did. The babble fish translated English perfectly. But it didn't deal well with pig latin.

One could of course say, ca va bien. It goes well, a common French phrase. Or La Vie En Rose. It's a great song anyway. There's almost certainly a lovely French idiom for when life goes exceptionally well. But, malheureusement, I don't know it.

Subject: RE: Help: Translate phrase into French
From: Amos
Date: 03 Sep 05 - 12:59 AM

"Ca va bien" does not mean "Life is good". It means something closer to, "Fine, thanks". Literally "It goes well". If the sentiment is about the general feeling that life is good, use "La vie est belle".

A

Subject: RE: Help: Translate phrase into French
From: Arnie
Date: 03 Sep 05 - 02:13 PM

Mark,

If your theme is going around the world, I can give you the Turkish for life is good - Hayat iyi (pretty economical language Turkish!!)

Subject: RE: Help: Translate phrase into French
From: GUEST
Date: 31 Jan 11 - 10:25 PM

If you want cajun french, its La Bonne Vie