Radotages d’un Traducteur

Source: Le Monde, Mardi 6 Mars 2007

In the article from the above newspaper, entitled “Le doute sur la candidature Bové gagne chez les antiliberaux“, it was interesting to note the choice of words used to introduce the main thematic.

Les difficultés rencontrées par José Bové pour récolter ses 500 parrainages commencent à semer le doute dans les rangs antilibéraux.

The words “récolter” and “semer” along with “les rangs” particularly sprang to my attention. José Bové, as well as being a politician, is by profession a farmer and is equally well known for his anti-GMO (Genetically Modified Organism) stance. It is no coincidence that this figurative agricultural vocabulary has been carefully incorporated into the article which describes the woes of the French “Paysan”.

In French, récolter means “to harvest/to crop” whilst semer literally means to sow (seed). Les rangs could also be interpreted as rows or lines of seeds or crops planted out in a field.

Hence we can translate the passage above as:

The difficulties encountered by José Bové in gathering his 500 sponsorships [ndlrneeded for his election candidature] are beginning to sow the seeds of doubt in the anti liberal lines.

It is worth bringing to the reader’s attention that in more “high brow” newspapers such as Le Monde, this sort of language can pass unnoticed if particular attention is not paid.