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Humanities LibreTexts

3.13: On traduit #OnlineTranslator

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** Potential ADAPT/H5P problem

Est-ce que vous connaissez la chanteuse Angèle ? D’où vient-elle ? Où est-ce qu’elle habite ? Allez sur Internet !

Regardez la vidéo d’Angèle :

Angèle - Balance Ton Quoi [CLIP OFFICIEL]

Step 1. Translate the following song title using an online translator.

“Balance ton quoi”


Does the title make sense in its English version? Why or why not? What do you expect the song to be about given the video clip you just watch?




Step 2. Now inspect the first verse and the chorus of the song and try to figure out the general sense of the song.

Note: unexpected apostrophes indicate a vowel that has been deleted from the written form to more closely mirror the pronunciation, e.g. jsais = je sais

Ils parlent tous comme des animaux

De toutes les chattes ça parle mal

2018 j'sais pas c'qui t'faut

Mais je suis plus qu'un animal

J'ai vu qu'le rap est à la mode

Et qu'il marche mieux quand il est sale

Bah faudrait p't'être casser les codes

Une fille qui l'ouvre ça serait normal

Balance ton quoi

Même si tu parles mal des filles je sais qu'au fond t'as compris

Balance ton quoi, un jour peut-être ça changera

Balance ton quoi

Step 3. Now translate the lyrics in your online translator and paste them below.



Step 4. Are there any words or cultural references you don’t understand? Which ones?



Do a quick dictionary or internet search to figure out what they mean. Indicate what you learned about each reference below.



Step 5. Given what you now know about the song, propose a more logical title for it in English that also makes grammatical sense. Justify your selection.



Step 6. What have you learned from this exercise about using online translators to translate poetic language like song titles, etc.?




This page titled 3.13: On traduit #OnlineTranslator is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Géraldine Blattner, Amanda Dalola, and Stéphanie Roulon via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform.

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