Vertaling - Frans-Engels - la sonnerie de fin de cours a retenti comme...

Original version of translation:
The school bell resounded
like always we've done nothing
except hearing the teacher complain
how can we
in that case
move on
during the class council
the other teachers
will say once more
that we didn't work
it's very true
we did nothing
but listen

Hello Urunghai,

If you accept my edits (There were quite a few, I'm sorry!) , then I'll validate it and give you the points!

Please let me know if you have any better ideas!

PS: here is some information about the "conseil de classe"...

How do you mean, quite a few? I'm sure 50% of my original is left unharmed :P

-The bell indicating the end of class, isn't that just a description of a school bell?
-I believe "hearing" suits this context better, since you don't - at least I don't - pay much attention to the teacher when he/she starts complaining *again*.
The writer of this poem would be daydreaming, concentrating on the bell and hearing a teacher complain in the background, instead of carefully listening.
-Didn't realise the phrase "progresser au conseil" was a whole ... mea culpa! (And the lack of reading marks, of course)
-I looked up "conseil de classe" in a dictionary, but I just found a long dutch description; thanks for the wiki link.

En bref, I accept the edits

In both cases, you're right:

The bell indicating the end of class
could indeed have been translated
the school bell
However, the writer had simpler options in French to write that, but chose to say
the bell marking the end of class
instead, so I think we must follow the writer's intention more closely here.
I only change the text when I think
- there is no equivalent in the target language for what the writer wants to say in the source language, or
- there is no equivalent expression in the source language for the more suitable expression in the target language.
In this case, the writer could have just written
la sonnerie
and then we could have translated it as
the bell
or
the school bell
but in this case the writer was very precise, so I guess we have to be too...

The same for
écouter
If the writer had wished to write
entendre
he could have, but because he chose the first one, we have to follow his lead and translate it
listen to

Sorry for so many edits: I wanted to make sure the text was as an exact reflection of the original as possible, because this was not a Meaning Only translation. I'll validate it now, with no rating, so you will get the points for it.

Translation is challenging stuff, isn't it?

Some Italian guy once said "a translator is a traitor", since you can never translate without losing tiny parts of your original!

Which also means sticking as close to your text as possible is a very good thing to avoid losing information, therefore I agree.

Of course translations are challenging, if not I wouldn't be making them, let along replying to your posts
But do admit, maths are as challenging, no? (Especially because an engineer isn't a traitor :P)

Yes, some French guy too, I think:
"La traduction, c'est la trahison."
Sounds so nice: it's almost the same in French!
I'm glad you enjoy translating so much too!
That's why I am addicted to !
I'll leave math to you!