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accurate French translation needed accurate French translation needed
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Staying Healthy on the Road Medical info, e.g. malaria, vaccinations, travel medical tips, medical insurance, where to find a doctor.
Photo by Stephan Hahnel, Kradwanderer, in Northern Argentina

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  #1  
Old 25 Apr 2008
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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.
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  #2  
Old 25 Apr 2008
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babelfish
Try this:-
AltaVista - Babel Fish Translation - Translated Text
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  #3  
Old 25 Apr 2008
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Take your own decaf jar and ask for hot water.

Steve
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Old 25 Apr 2008
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Quote:
Originally Posted by V2RJO View Post
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.
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Old 25 Apr 2008
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Question 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"
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Old 25 Apr 2008
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Exclamation 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
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Old 25 Apr 2008
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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?
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Old 25 Apr 2008
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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
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Old 25 Apr 2008
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thanks folks.....
Thanks for all the help......

Roger.
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Old 26 Apr 2008
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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.
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Old 26 Apr 2008
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Ecoutez et répéter - "pas... de" "pas... de"

Jamais, jamais - "pas... la" ou "pas...le" ou "pas... les", toujours "pas... de"
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Old 26 Apr 2008
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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
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Last edited by Nigel Marx; 26 Apr 2008 at 22:11. Reason: Added original text
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Old 26 Apr 2008
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Wink babel babbling
That's a neat trick Nigel.
It proves, as others have intimated, that babelfish has a way to go.
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Old 27 Apr 2008
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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
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Old 29 Apr 2008
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« 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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