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V2RJO 25 Apr 2008 10:16

accurate French translation needed
 
My wife has a real problem with caffeine, causes her major heart problems. We are aware of what contains caffeine and can manage this in the UK quite easily. She doesn't travel far but when we go to France the language barrier can be a slight issue. I can get through okay but could really do with someone's help so I can type the following out in French and laminate a card to say......



"I am caffeine intollerant. I can only drink de-caffeinated coffee, Please do not supply coffee with caffeine as this will make me very ill. Thankyou".



Can anyone assist please?

Roger.

Walkabout 25 Apr 2008 10:25

babelfish
 
Try this:-
AltaVista - Babel Fish Translation - Translated Text

Guest2 25 Apr 2008 10:26

Take your own decaf jar and ask for hot water.

Steve

Alexlebrit 25 Apr 2008 13:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by V2RJO (Post 186686)
My wife has a real problem with caffeine, causes her major heart problems. We are aware of what contains caffeine and can manage this in the UK quite easily. She doesn't travel far but when we go to France the language barrier can be a slight issue. I can get through okay but could really do with someone's help so I can type the following out in French and laminate a card to say......

"I am caffeine intollerant. I can only drink de-caffeinated coffee, Please do not supply coffee with caffeine as this will make me very ill. Thankyou".

Can anyone assist please?

Roger.

Hmmm Babelfish didn't do that good a job, I'm afraid, so here's my attempt
Je ne supporte pas du tout la caffeine. Je ne bois que du café décaféiné. Je vous remercie de ne pas me donner du café avec caffeine, car il me rendra très malade.
Merci bien.
Would be good for your printed card, and for asking in a bar, the words you want are:
  • Un déca, s'il vous plait. - a small decaf expresso like coffee.
  • Un grand déca crème, s'il vous plait. - a large decaf served with cold milk/cream.
  • Un grand déca au lait, s'il vous plait. - a large decaf made with hot milk/cream.
  • Vous, n'avez pas de déca? Puit j'avoir une tasse d'eau chaud, j'ai mon propre sachet - You don't have decaf? Can I have a cup of hot water, I've got my own sachet (of decaf).
Hope that helps. Decaf seems to be widely available in bars/cafés/restaurants in France as many people will say that they wouldn't dare touch anything caffeinated after lunch as it keeps them awake. You can also buy it in all the supermarkets too, and you can buy the above mentioned sachets of instant, which will make you a cup.

I have in the past asked for hot water to make my own cup of tea (they didn't have any) and they were very happy and gave me milk, sugar and a little biscuit too, all for free.

Bon courage.

Walkabout 25 Apr 2008 14:10

French speaking fish
 
I have wondered about the babbling fish.

Would it work i.e. would it be understood?

"Je suis caféine intollerant. Je peux seulement boire du café décaféiné, svp ne fournis pas le café la caféine car ceci me rendra très malade. Merci"

Roi 25 Apr 2008 15:05

Translations!!
 
Hi all,

Im not to good at French, but could you say......"Je suis allergique aux cafeine"
which roughly means that "im allergic to caffine"
or......"Je dois eviter les plats contenant cafeine" and that i think might say "I mustn't eat food containing caffine. feel free to change eat to drink in the sentence, i hope this helps you.

Roi. n Bron.

goin france in july for 3 wks

Alexlebrit 25 Apr 2008 17:32

Well Babelfish's would probably be understood, but "intolerant" is more as in lacking tolerance, rather than the usage you're looking for.

Now where do I live again?

Redboots 25 Apr 2008 19:43

Babel Fish
 
Don't use "fashionable" or contracted English words. The rest of the world does not understand them. Keep it in plain and simple English and it will do a reasonable job.

John

V2RJO 25 Apr 2008 23:48

thanks folks.....
 
Thanks for all the help......

Roger.

Bush Pilot 26 Apr 2008 03:10

keep it simple, and have correct pronunciation.
 
"je ne supporte pas la caffeine"(I don't tolerate caffeine), will suffice.
Get the pronunciation correct as most French detest hearing their language butchered with foreign and especially english accents. :smartass:

Alexlebrit 26 Apr 2008 16:09

Ecoutez et répéter - "pas... de" "pas... de"

Jamais, jamais - "pas... la" ou "pas...le" ou "pas... les", toujours "pas... de"

Nigel Marx 26 Apr 2008 22:08

BabelFish Whispers
 
There is a new twist to the old kids party game, which I call BabelFish Whispers.
What you do is get BabelFish to translate some text to one language and then again back to the original language. It's much better now than it used to be five years ago. It's a way to check the accuracy, but you don't know if the inaccuracies occurred on the first translation or the second.

Anyhow, the original text (spelling corrected to give it the best possible chance.. don't you just love Firefox), translated into French, and then back to English yielded:

"I am caffeine intolerant. I can only drink decaffeinated coffee, Please do not supply coffee with caffeine as this will make me very ill. Thank you".

"I am intolerant cafeine. I can only drink decaffeinated coffee, please provided not the coffee cafeine because this will return to me very sick. Thank you"--

Regards

Nigel in NZ

Walkabout 26 Apr 2008 23:00

babel babbling
 
That's a neat trick Nigel.
It proves, as others have intimated, that babelfish has a way to go.

Redboots 27 Apr 2008 17:47

If you use "I am allergic to caffeine", it returns "Je suis allergique à la caféine" which in turn, returns "I am allergic to cafeine"

So, Babel Fish can translate, but can't spell:)

John

vincent danna 29 Apr 2008 10:39

« Bonjour, je suis allergique à la caféine. Je ne dois boire que du café décaféiné sinon je suis gravement malade. Svp, veuillez me servir du café décaféiné, merci. »

hope you can enjoy the "croissants" :-)


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