Feb 5, 2022 14:37
2 yrs ago
33 viewers *
French term
Fast and Accurate
Native in: English
Works in: Russian to English, French to English, Italian to English, and 1 more.
buttes témoins privilégiées
French to English
Social Sciences
Philosophy
Certes, toutes les sensations sont susceptibles de raviver la mémoire, mais celles de l’odorat sont des ***buttes témoins*** privilégiées du passé.
I've looked up buttes témoins and it's a geological feature - a flat hill that protrudes abruptly from the surrounding rock and is the remainder of old geological strata. Here, however, it's clearly used metaphorically, and I can't come up with a good corresponding image.
I've looked up buttes témoins and it's a geological feature - a flat hill that protrudes abruptly from the surrounding rock and is the remainder of old geological strata. Here, however, it's clearly used metaphorically, and I can't come up with a good corresponding image.
Proposed translations
(English)
Proposed translations
3 days 4 hrs
Yvonne Gallagher
Ireland
Ireland
Native in English
Ireland
right word, right place. everytime
Native in: English (Variants: US, Canadian, Irish, UK) 
Works in: French to English, Spanish to English, English, and 1 more.
Related KudoZ points
:
8
Selected
significant landmarks
yep, this is difficult to get right. I looked at at a few days ago but was busy at the time
I think it should be singular "sense of smell" (preferable to "olfaction" here)
"significant" already includes an aspect of being prominent but you may prefer to substitute "important" OR use prominent markers
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/landmar...
=========
Certainly, all the senses are prone to reviving past memories
... but the sense of smell rekindles/revives/reawakens significant landmarks (or markers) from the past
Or you could go more vague and use "feature" (also used in geography)
... but the sense of smell recalls/reminds us of/reanimates significant (prominent) features in our (landscape of the) past
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 3 days 4 hrs (2022-02-08 19:07:50 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
probably better
Certainly, all the senses are prone to reviving past memories
... but the sense of smell triggers recall of significant landmarks (from the past)
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 4 days (2022-02-10 13:41:29 GMT) Post-grading
--------------------------------------------------
Glad to have helped.
I think it should be singular "sense of smell" (preferable to "olfaction" here)
"significant" already includes an aspect of being prominent but you may prefer to substitute "important" OR use prominent markers
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/landmar...
=========
Certainly, all the senses are prone to reviving past memories
... but the sense of smell rekindles/revives/reawakens significant landmarks (or markers) from the past
Or you could go more vague and use "feature" (also used in geography)
... but the sense of smell recalls/reminds us of/reanimates significant (prominent) features in our (landscape of the) past
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 3 days 4 hrs (2022-02-08 19:07:50 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
probably better
Certainly, all the senses are prone to reviving past memories
... but the sense of smell triggers recall of significant landmarks (from the past)
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 4 days (2022-02-10 13:41:29 GMT) Post-grading
--------------------------------------------------
Glad to have helped.
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Thank you! I very much like "prominent.""
-1
1 hr
Scott Hendry Jackson
Argentina
Argentina
Native in English
Argentina
Native in: English 
Works in: Spanish to English, Portuguese to English, French to English
Monument Valley
Monument Valley is possibly the world's most famous landscape of high desert plateaus, as seen in innumerable Hollywood movies.
This would be a fairly winky reference, familiar to those who know about the history of Hollywood and western films in particular. However, if you do get the reference, it would communicate the grandeur that the author is getting at.
This would be a fairly winky reference, familiar to those who know about the history of Hollywood and western films in particular. However, if you do get the reference, it would communicate the grandeur that the author is getting at.
Peer comment(s):
| disagree |
Tony M
: Totally irrelevant to the context in hand, and likely to create confusion rather than comprehension.
15 mins
|
-1
1 hr
Scott Hendry Jackson
Argentina
Argentina
Native in English
Argentina
Native in: English
Works in: Spanish to English, Portuguese to English, French to English
fully technicolor landscape
Here the idea is to discard the image of the geological landforms, and make the case that the other sense may reveal memories *in mere black and white*, while the sense of smell revives our past as a "fully technicolor landscape". Something like that might work.
Peer comment(s):
| disagree |
Tony M
: I think it is entirely inappropriate to use visual metaphors when discussing the strength of olfactory memory — particularly since the very term 'Technicolor' is now all but obsolete.
14 mins
|
| neutral |
philgoddard
: I don't agree with Tony that it's inappropriate to use visual metaphors - the French does - but I also don't feel this one gets the point across.
1 hr
|
3 hrs
philgoddard
United States
United States
Native in English
United States
Six languages into flawless English
Native in: English
Works in: German to English, French to English, Spanish to English, and 4 more.
Related KudoZ points
:
16
the perfect stratigraphic/sedimentary record
I think the idea, which you allude to in your question, is that the sedimentary layers are exposed in a butte, which is created by erosion. It's therefore a visible record of the Earth's history, like the Grand Canyon.
Peer comment(s):
| neutral |
Adrian MM.
: You could have at least used your imagination and +tried to work in the dictionary, geological definition of 'outlier' for butte témoin. I couldn't.
4 days
|
4 hrs
(act as) valuable markers
In the sense of precious milestones. Might this convey the importance of remembered smells?
+2
5 hrs
Adrian MM.
Austria
Austria
Native in English
Austria
Retd.T&I, Barrister & Austro-Advokat
Native in: English (Variants: British, Scottish)
Works in: Spanish to English, English to Spanish, French to English, and 5 more.
Related KudoZ points
:
8
French term (edited):
buttes témoins privilégiées du passé
favo(u)rite (fragrant) milestones jutting out from the past
butte témoin : geol. outlier, Collins.
Cut - courtesy of Tony M. and Phil G. - to the thinly veiled and unoriginal reference to the nostalgic whiff of madeleine cakes in Marcel Proust's A la recherche du temps perdu.
Cut - courtesy of Tony M. and Phil G. - to the thinly veiled and unoriginal reference to the nostalgic whiff of madeleine cakes in Marcel Proust's A la recherche du temps perdu.
Example sentence:
In Barbara Herman's Scent ... ... Fragrant Milestones of the 1990s.
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Anastasia Kalantzi
: C'est vraiment une oeuvre littéraire philosophique, totallement bourrée d'icones métaphoriques, allégoriques, en faisant la connection si vivante des odeurs de l'enfance qui construisent tous nos mémoires, et enfin tu as dit tout en citant Marcel Proust!
2 hrs
|
|
Efaristo and thanks, Anastasia ! In fact, a French aunt of mine in Versailles has published an autobiography in French and 'English' lifting Marcel P.'s title.
|
|
| agree |
Yolanda Broad
3 hrs
|
|
Thanks and merci. Yolanda.
|
|
| neutral |
philgoddard
: Why ignore the geological metaphor? A milestone is a manmade object.
19 hrs
|
|
The answer picked of landmarks is not much different BrE: to AmE: than mine and your geological translation gets no votes.
|
+1
13 hrs
privileged / primary / prime landmarks
buttes témoins = points de repère
privilégiées = the most important
celles de l’odorat sont des ***buttes témoins*** privilégiées du passé
=
[olfactive memories are] the prime landmarks of the past
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
ormiston
: I think this is better than my markers and encompasses my idea of milestones in the landscape of the past!
4 hrs
|
| neutral |
Yvonne Gallagher
: I like "landmarks" and "markers" but we wouldn't use "privileged" in this context
2 days 15 hrs
|
11 days
Conor McAuley
France
France
Native in English
France
Excellence, Expertise & Experience
Native in: English (Variants: Scottish, Irish, British, Wales / Welsh, UK)
Works in: French to English, English
memories of smells act as significant landmarks in the mindscapes of our pasts
/
Something went wrong...