I feel like I’m reading my own experience here. I used to swear up a storm in French with French friends just for laughs but would blush when they did the same in English. I’ve tried to become more sensitive since then.

I studied French literature in graduate school alongside some native French speakers and the issue of who had the advantage came up often. Many believed of course that the French students had an advantage but I would contend that although the language had an immediacy for them that it didn’t for us, it also came so naturally that they would miss some things.

For example, the title of Maurice Blanchot’s novel, “l’arret de mort,” is a fixed expression in French: “death sentence,” so the French would miss the double entendre, “ceasing of death,” which I got because, at the time, I didn’t know the real expression. So my ignorance meant I saw the language in a fresh way.

Anyway, thanks for a great blog.

Well, that is indeed a surprising request, but I’m delighted to be able to help if I can. As it happens, I did recently scan the text, and although the scan is not of the highest quality, everything is there, including the footnotes. I will send you a link in e-mail to the site where it is available.

Best,
Alex Price

Hope that all this will not sound too weird and ridiculous to you…

Right now I am struggling to make the first Russian translation of de Certeau’s “Marches dans la ville”. The problem is, the editors of the publishing house that commissioned my work could not provide me with a French original, saying that S. Rendall’s translation is veritable enough and I should not bother.

I’ve managed to find a few scraps here and there on the Net, but they cover maximum a quarter of the text…

If I dare appeal to the international ethos of translators’ solidarity, and if this will not be too much of a burden for you, may I kindly ask you to send me the French text by e-mail?
(probably to make digital photos of it would be the most convenient way)

Thank you very much in advance - and my excuses for
an untimely request,

Artyom

Thank you very much for your comment! I have to say, I never dreamed when I wrote up my little critique that you or anyone else for that matter, apart from a few friends, would ever read it. I am flattered by your kind words and honored by your visit to my site.

I envy you your career in translation. I enjoyed making fun of Miller and Schneider’s translation, but having tried a little translation myself lately, I have a fresh appreciation for its difficulties.

Alex Price

Based on my own experiences as a language learner (and also on what I know from second language acquisition theory), an adult second-language learner can never fully “get there.” One is never going to feel completely at home in the second language. But having said that, one can, with immersion and practice, become very, very good. One can become very comfortable. With time, everyday expressions will take on more “weight.” But rather than worry about remaining a foreigner to some extent in French, I try to hold onto what I like about learning languages (not just French), which is their strangeness. Or, if you prefer, their freshness. Our native language is so familiar to us that we hardly notice it. But in a foreign language, even one you’ve been speaking for a while, you are constantly noticing or re-noticing sounds and other things about the language. Which I like.