Author: Hilary Webb

  • My 5 Favourite Potter en Français Translations PART 2

    My 5 Favourite Potter en Français Translations PART 2

    Salut les gars! Now that I’ve finally got my hands on the edition I wanted of Harry Potter 5, 6 and 7, I feel it’s about time I crack on with my favourite English-to-French translations from Harry Potter 3 and 4 – that’s le prisonnier d’Azkaban and le coupe de feu – nothing exciting about the title translations. If you have no idea what I’m taking about, check out My 5 Favourite Potter en Français Translations PART 1.

    I was more prepared this time and wrote down things I wanted to point out on a post-it as I read. Typically though, I lost the post-it for Goblet of Fire… so let’s just dive in and see what happens. Je jure solennellement que mes intentions son mauvaises… 

    Messieurs Lunard, Queudver, Patmol et Cornedrue

    Is it just me, or does “Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs” get stuck in your head? Anytime I think about it, I say it about five times to myself, so I was excited to see how the introduction of the creators of the Marauder’s Map (la carte du maraudeur) would be translated. “Moony” to anything lunar related would be expected, so “Lunard” comes as no surprise. Wormtail is an interesting one, it took me a while to crack. “Queudver” – let’s break it down. “Queue” is tail, “de/d” – of, “ver” means nothing but I’m going to take a wild guess and say it’s just short for “vermine” – so it’s “vermin’s tail” – close enough, I’d say! Padfoot is translated to “Patmol” – “mol” can mean soft or faint. I wasn’t sure about “pat” but a cursory look in the dictionary taught me that “patte” means leg, paw or hoof – bingo! Prongs is an excellent English word, translated to “Cornedrue” in French. “Corne” as in horn, like in unicorn, OK that makes sense, but doesn’t “rue” mean street/road? After an intense google in English and French, I finally discovered that the verb “to buck” in French is “ruer” – et voilà!giphy (6).gif

    Ronronner

    Here’s a French language gem I didn’t know before Prisoner of Azkaban. At some point during one of Ron’s rants about Hermione’s cat Crookshanks (Pattenrond), the verb “ronronner” was used. Thinking it might be some sort of Ron joke, I looked it up and discovered it’s the French for purring. A fabulous example of French onomatopoeia! I’ve since seen it used in the books for purring car engines and snoring Rons.

    Détraquers, Mangemorts, épouvantard & Strangulot 

    Time for few group and creature name translations I enjoyed. Dementor becomes “Détraqueur”, which translates to “perturber” – figures. Death Eater is literally translated to “Mangemort”, which is catchier if you ask me. Boggart becomes “épouvantard.” “Épouvantable” means horrible, horrendous, terrible so I guess that makes enough sense. My favourite is probably “Strangulot”. Any guesses? Grindylow! It makes me think of Hermione in the GOF film when she tells Harry “Fleur never got past ze grindylows” – funny Hermione, but not French! ifinished-last-hermione-slughorns-i1-ig-next-tolast-fleur-never-25643326.png

    S.A.L.E.

    Fans of the books are often disappointed by the omission of S.P.E.W. from the films – S.P.E.W. being Hermione’s house-elf liberation project “The Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare”. So how does it translate into French? It needs to keep the society’s actual meaning but still spell out a word silly enough for Ron and Harry to mock. S.P.E.W. becomes “S.A.L.E.” – “Société d’Aide à la Libération des Elfes”. It fulfils its double meaning since “sale” means dirty, allowing the following to conversation take place just as it does in the English text. Translation is magical!

    “Pas sale, répliqua Hermione, d’un ton agacé. Il faut dire S-A-L-E.”

    La Marque des Ténèbres

    I had no idea about this one. It kept popping up in passages about Voldemort and I kept asking myself, “what does “ténèbres” mean?” Turns out, it’s the (brilliant) French word for darkness and obscurity. So the dark mark becomes “la Marque des Ténèbres” and the Dark Lord becomes “Seigneur des Ténèbres”. I like that it’s plural – don’t ask why, it’s just a good word!

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    I’m onto Order of the Phoenix now but its length is looking even more intimidating since it’s in French, so don’t hold your breath for the next of these blogs anytime soon. Méfait accompli!

  • Review: The Cows – Dawn O’Porter

    Review: The Cows – Dawn O’Porter

    Don’t you just hate it when you pick a random book off of your TBR pile and then accidentally enjoy it so much it becomes one of those drastically transformative reads? Me neither. It’s so amazing when that happens, especially when you’re not expecting it. Well recently (i.e. this weekend) Dawn O’Porter’s The Cows did this for me.

    “Bra free, childfree, boyfriend free, have you ever committed to anything other than your laptop?”

    As a piece of contemporary fiction, it’s my kind of mix. Funny as hell, some serious feminist debate, compelling plots (and plot twists), predictable one moment but then totally unexpected the next and, importantly, it has a brilliant balance between messy, drunken, female tomfoolery and sentimentality – it’s the most entertained I’ve been by a contemporary novel in a long while. Having three protagonists (Tara, Stella and Cam) keeps you on your toes, gasping and chuckling with every turn-of-page. You’ll find yourself saying, “noooooo” a lot too, but a minute later you’ll be nodding and wanting to fist bump O’Porter.

     

    It was interesting to me in particular for a couple of reasons. It was jam-packed with discussions of female sexuality, particularly surrounding motherhood (and non-motherhood). The fact that each of the protagonists has a different opinion or experience with the same issues demonstrates a few of the multifaceted forms that twenty-first century femininity, feminism and female sexuality can take. There are plenty more of course, but it’s refreshing to hear multiple perspectives from one source. One of the ‘morals of the story’ is that just as a woman can choose to want or not want children, she also reserves the right to change her mind. Feminism is about choice, as we hear so often, but for some reason we still give women a hard time when they change their mind. Isn’t changing your mind a fundamental part of choice?

    “There’s nothing I can do to make Mum feel better, I am who I am. I’ve told her multiple times not to read my blog but she keeps doing it. If it tortures her so much she should just stop.” (Cracked me up big time, sounds like conversations in my house back when I started #Periodically. Hi Mum!) 

    On a much more personal note I enjoyed The Cows because in it I found a book that sounds a bit like my own novel – bingo! One reason I think I have been struggling with pitching my book is that I wasn’t sure how to categorise it, but now I’ve found a book that I think comes from the same family. I’m hoping reading The Cows might give me a much needed kick up the arse.

    For everything from public masturbation to motherhood, smelling of cheese to overly keen toy-boys, I highly recommend The Cows and following Dawn O’Porter’s other journalism.

    Order The Cows from Wordery with my affiliate link. 

  • Farewell Ovulation – Going Back on the Pill #Periodically 19

    Farewell Ovulation – Going Back on the Pill #Periodically 19

    In news that was both disappointing and not at all unsurprising, my new doctor and I recently agreed that I will be going back on the pill. I’ve known for some time that the pill was likely to be the quickest source of relief for my dysmenorrhea (painful periods), menorrhagia (heavy periods), dyspareunia (painful sexual intercourse) and general pelvic pain, but it was an outcome I wanted to avoid given my experience with the pill in the past. For details read A Tale of Two Pills and #Periodically 13.

    The decision, in the end, wasn’t nearly as hard as I thought it would be. The quickest way for me to get some relief at the moment is to stop ovulating, and the combined pill does just that. Getting the prescription was thought-provoking though:

    Having been on Rigevidon (combined) and Cerelle (mini) in the past my main qualm was that I wanted to try a different dosage or brand this time. Now, because of the sad old state of our NHS, my gynaecology appointment was outsourced privately, so when the doc said I could go on Microgynon I nearly fell off my chair. Microgynon is technically the same as Rigevidon, it’s made up of a synthetic oestrogen and a synthetic progesterone that you take 21 days in a row and then you have a withdrawal bleed for a week – standard pill talk. BUT, Microgynon is the pill many my friends and sisters started on, had no problems with but were unexpectedly taken off of. Many of them have been switched to Rigevidon for no apparent reason. Maybe it’s paranoia but I am very suspicious that Rigevidon is simply cheaper than Microgynon.

    The gynae gave me a two month prescription of Microgynon but it was a private prescription. The doctor recommended I take it to my GP and ask them to refill it so I could get it free on the NHS, since it’s contraception. I am doing exactly this when my GP says, “I’m going to put you on something called Rigevidon, it’s basically the same thing” – I was furious. So I said, “no, it’s going to be Microgynon or nothing, that’s the only reason I agreed to go back on the pill. ” I was ready for a fight, but he quickly said, “OK” and printed out a prescription for six months of Microgynon. I was floored that it was so easy to get what I wanted, which only further makes me suspicious that the problem with Microgynon and Rigevidon is a price one – but, I should add, that is pure speculation (but still, #SaveOurNHS).

    So now I have the prescription the real drama starts. Over two and a half years ago I decided to come off the pill for several reasons. They were mostly because I had ended a relationship and wasn’t looking to get giggy with it, I wanted to try and get my sex drive back and to also get my mind back to something I recognised. I got so much more than I bargained for coming off the pill, good and bad. I got a new lease of life and creativity, my boobs dropped two cup sizes (to my delight), the world literally smelt different, I rediscovered my libido and I started having periods again. But equally, my periods were more painful than I remembered them being before, my skin got worse, I started spending money on sanitary products again and I discovered PMS. At that point in time, the pros outweighed the cons. The psychological benefits I felt coming off the pill were huge, and being able to track all these changes on Clue meant I could exploit them.

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    All good things come to an end however, and the last year has offered fresh pre, peri and post menstrual and ovulation symptoms and complications. As I’ve mentioned (a lot, sorry) discovering that sex hurt when it didn’t used to, was a real blow to my relationship with my body (and romantic interests) – what good was it to have my libido back if I couldn’t use it? My periods have left me exhausted and even grumpier than normal because I’ve become anaemic, and I’ve grown at least one hemorrhagic cyst, though there’s a lot of evidence to suggest there have been a few cysts that have been and gone.

    There are a couple of things people have said to me since I found out I would be going back on the pill that I would like to address. I stand by what I’ve said about hormonal birth control in the past – I think it’s shit. There has to be a better way and I am confident there will be soon – I’m talking to you FemTech engineers. Since I am currently the most single and unsexed I have been since adolescence, my reasons for going on the pill at the moment are not for birth control. I still think the pill is a sorry excuse for birth control, one that has brought about both hugely beneficial social changes and immense personal problems. It is a concept that demands lots of criticism. This time, I am going on the pill to deliberately mess with my menstrual cycle in the hope of getting some relief. It might fix my problems, it might just ease my symptoms for a while, it might do nothing, hell, it could even make things worse, but without having more potentially disappointing surgery, it is my only option for now.

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    The other thing I’ve been asked is “do you think you’ll be paranoid about the negatives of the pill this time round, and therefore never give it a fair chance?” I thought so at first, but I am actually feeling really open minded about it. December was a real toughie pain-wise and anything that offers relief is my friend at the moment – it is worth a shot.

    The last two years and seven months have seen twenty-six cycles – something I know thanks to the wonders of Femtech, particularly Clue. I have gotten to know my body in crazy amounts of detail, which has been both a blessing and a curse. I am really sad to be leaving this period (punny) of time behind, but I am going to try and see it as an opportunity. Since I have been tracking my cycles in great detail all this time, I am really going to be able to see the changes, good and bad, that the pill brings – plus, I get to try out Clue’s pill tracking functions for the first time. See, I’m already seeing the bright side.

    I won’t be starting the pill for a couple of weeks, and I have no doubt that the first few months will be a little wild, but in the mean time I’m going to relish the natural peaks and falls of my hormones and look forward to less-pain in the next few months.

    And to end this long (sorry) love letter to my natural menstrual cycle, I would just like to acknowledge that although I have tracked over 100 days of pain medication consumption during the last year or so, I have also tracked over 200 days of feeling happy, so that’s nice.

    Going on the pill means I will be cutting my trial of Natural Cycles short so my review will be coming sooner than planned. Let me know on Twitter what you would like to hear about my experience with Natural Cycles and I’ll try to fit my responses in.