agaricus5 wrote:
Therefore this is why I wanted to use the word "cachot"/"oubliette" to make sure that the reader understands that it is a "Dungeon Roach" that we are talking about, and not just an ordinary, harmless cockroach.
If you still disagree, then tell me why, and I'll see what I can do.
You are right on the fact that it is not sufficient to simply call this "
un cafard"
. In fact, it is more a problem of style than a problem of translation. but I know that the word "
cachot"
can not be used for this.
It reminds me of another funny translation. With some friends, I used to play role playing games, using the "
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons"
universe. You surely know that in role playing games, there are player characters and a master. In the books of AD&D, the master is called "
Dungeon master"
. In the French version of these books, the master is called "
maître de cachot"
, which is the exact translation of the words. I remember we spent a certain amount of time laughing about this bad translation. The real translation is "
Maître du jeu"
(game master).
You surely have words of the same sort in English, words that are used in the literacy, but not for common use, "
cachot"
is one of these. Anyway, this does not solve the problem of the "
dungeon roach"
.
The problem is to find a word to associate with the roach that would make understand that it is a big and terrible roach. For this : "
cafard géant"
would be appropriated, but perhaps a little too weak. You could also use "
cafard tueur"
(killing roach), it sounds quite good in French language. For the moment, I can not find a better way to translate this.
I can't find "le blob" in my French dictionary - is it some sort of slang, and what does it actually mean?
Well it is normal you can not find it in your dictionary, it was only used in one film, it designated a sort of jelly that eated people. The more people eated, the bigger the jelly grew. At the end of the film, the whole quantity of jelly was as big as a house. The film was bad, but the word "
blob"
has been kept. And know, when we see a monster like the tar in a video games or in another film, we call this "
un blob"
. (Drod is not the only video game with monsters that look like tar, but you know that of course).
If you talk about a blob with a person who is familiar to video games and/or films, he knows what it is, but it is not a word used by everyone, this is why it is not in you dictionary.
Well that's all for today. And for the translation of the site in French, it is possible, but in two months time at least, I am a student and there is a lot of things to take care of (works, feasts, etc.) So I will wait the holiday before starting something serious with this. But it can be done, I think I would begin with the little short stories you have put in the website.
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{([| "
Yowza!!"
|])}>
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You know if Shakespeare can be translated into German, I suppose DROD can, as well. There isn't always a one-to-one translation, but that's what makes a good translator. Oscar Wilde said that translations are like women: "the pretty ones aren't faithful, and the faithful ones aren't pretty" (sorry if the wording is wrong, I'm translating it back from German).
