Practice Makes Perfect

 642

 Translations

32

Translation of letter

My dear granddaughter Chloé,

I commend you! I am delighted to learn that you plan to pursue a master’s degree in litera-

ture at New York University. Once you begin to learn Voltaire’s language, you will fall in love with 

the beauty of French literature. But be careful: they say that grammar is a sweet song–I para-

phrase the title of a well-known book by the French author Érik Orsenna, I say that it is riddled 

with mystery, bristling with pitfalls, and spiced with magic!

For example, some prepositions are wizards, chameleons, able to completely transform the 

meaning of a verb. Here are a few examples:

de/par: I will celebrate my next birthday in Napa Valley, surrounded by my California clan. 

Mrs. Obama will celebrate her next birthday there, like me, surrounded by her clan and also by 

the Secret Service—protection against possible danger.

de/à/par: She holds her granddaughter by the hand; the little girl takes after her, with her 

blue eyes, her platinum blond hair; a booklover and Francophile, she is very fond of her collection 

of French books, from Gustave Flaubert to Amélie Nothomb.

There’s a young man who is really irritating, boring, and annoying. He has no right to use 

the second person singular with my dear kitty LÉO; he is not entitled to this form of address—

(it’s different if droit is followed by a noun or by a verb). A princess can never escape her golden 

cage; Charles Manson will never be able to escape from prison (figurative or literal).