Translation - French-English - Extrait de Mme de Bovary

Kinda a good question.

I'd say 'the one and only'.
However, I think it is the same as 'the man of her life'.
I do not see any difference between those two.

As I understand, the 'one' is the other man she hasn't met yet.
The 'one' refers to who she longs for.
I guess it's open to interpretation.

But 'that one' means that we already know him, and we don't. So 'that one' is wrong I think.
'the one for her' seems unnatural. This guy could be just the right one for a while,
but not for lifetime

I feel it is more about something like true love, the only one.

Hope that helps. Also I haven't read the book so... I could be wrong

OK, thanks! I'll leave this as it is then

Well... No, feel free to change it!
That is what I meant

"Each of them, of course, did not look like the one and only." sounds better than my version!

Or shall we summon the english/french gurus?

"like this one" (meaning "the husband she has now).

'like this one' sounds logical to me, but according to RedShadow that is not the meaning. Most people seem to agree with 'like the one' (or 'like the one and only').
Francky, gamine, any wise words from you?

CC: Francky5591 gamine

Hi Lein. I agree with you and Isildur:'like this one', nothing about the one and only.

Hi Marjolein!

When I was a kid I've ben taught "this one" means "celui-ci" and "that one" "celui-là".
Maybe Red wanted to avoid repetition of "that" (he already used "that" before "husband" in the same sentence, and maybe is it the reason why he used "the one" instead.)

English is tricky from my point of view, with many idiomatic expressions, and I don't know what "the one and only" exactly means, but if there's no trick in it, from Emma's point of view I wouldn't use it to translate "celui-là", because her husband is not the only man she's thinking about, she's not in love with him

I'd use "indeed" instead of "of course".

Hello,

Yes, if we use "like this one",
then I suppose that it must refer to
"that husband whom she would not know"?

When I used "the one" I wanted to show that
it might go even further than the one
she hasn't met yet.

That there was a "chosen one", a perfect guy,
something out of a dream

Guess I was wrong, please change to whatever is correct,

Thanks

OK, thanks all.

I have edited according to Isildur and Gamine's comments.

I will accept now; I'll just explain all the variants below:

- Each of them did not look like the one.
(the man of her life, the one and only, the man she had always dreamed about)

- Each of them did not look like that one.
This makes no sense in this context. The only way I can see this making sense here is when it is clear for the reader that she is looking or pointing at a particular man.

- Each of them did not look like this one.
This one, in this case, means 'the husband she has now'.

I hope that's clear and everyone is happy!

Alright,

Thank you Lein, my confusion came from the fact
that I thought she wasn't married yet!

Since I did not read the book and did not know her story, I wasn't aware that she was already married.

That is why I didn't choose your third point,
because it didn't make sense then

Thanks!

You're right, Lein, I made the mistake of taking "celui-là" for Emma's husband, while actually it was about the man of her dreams!

I've read the book though, but I did not remind this part in its context.

huh?

Wait a minute, what you are saying is that she is talking about the man of her dreams, so...
This is what I was saying from the beginning then...
It means she isn't talking about the "real husband" but rather about some fantasy.

So this contradicts the following statement from Lein:
"- Each of them did not look like this one.
This one, in this case, means 'the husband she has now'."

Hence, this cannot be "this one" right?
She is talking like she doesn't have a husband, even though she has one...

ehehe, I'm losing it

Yes, I agree, Francky, you got my post just the other way round. Read my post above again - 'this one = 'celui-là' = the husband she has now.

So what she is saying, as I read it, is that she is thinking of all these other possibilities, all these men she might have met, but hasn't. None of the ones she imagines looks like the husband she has now.

Now, do you agree that that is what the French text says?

sorry, forgot to cc

CC: Francky5591

I have read a little on the net about this Bovary ma'am.

Looks like she had a husband (she was 'forced' to have one) that she loved very much even though he was old; until she realized he was not "the one", the one of her dreams.

Moreover, it seems she liked other men and all so it's pretty messy about who she is referring to.

My point is, this extract can't be properly translated out of it's context.
We need to know when in the story that extract is from.
I mean, before or after she gets her beloved husband, and before or after she starts to dislike him.

In other words, without context, Lein is right:
"This one" can be used regardless.
It is like a "neutral" translation that works.
"The one" might be too specific, and thus outta context.

Sorry, maybe I am wrong again, I can be pretty dense sometimes

I think you're right
Let's close the discussion before we have got everyone even more confused than we already are

One last thing, Francky5591 suggested to replace the "of course" by "indeed".

And indeed, "indeed" sounds better.

What do you think?

I don't think 'indeed' fits here. How about 'actually'?

Yes, "actually" seems okay. Prettier than my "of course".

But doesn't that sounds like a little weird?
I'd rephrase to
"Each of them, did not look actually like this one.".
I do not know if this is correct, but I think it sounds better that way.

And... what about "obviously"?
"Each of them, obviously, did not look like this one."

Anyway Lein, you are more suited than me to choose properly, as this kinda stuff is outta my league.
We are on the thin line of the English subtlety.

OK. I have changed it to 'actually'.
The place of 'actually' will change the meaning here.
Where it is now, it has an impact on the sentence: 'it is actually so that each of them' etc
'did not actually look like' would almost result in a contradiction to what was expected or said before, as in 'we said the room is warm, but it is not actually very warm'
'obviously' is a bit more like 'of course' in its meaning: it is obvious (very clear) that etc.

Could we PLEASE leave this now? I think the translation works. I really don't want to keep changing little details. Please don't reply unless there is something important you have noticed that absolutely needs changing.

Thanks!