Monday, December 12, 2011

Can anyone give the English translation of the last French lines of La Belle Zoraide by Kate Chopin?

I can't find a translation anywhere. Here's the lines in French:





"Vou pr茅 droumi, Ma'z茅lle Titite?"





"Non, pa pr茅 droumi; mo yapr茅 zongler. Ah, la pauv' piti, Man Loulou. La pauv' piti! Mieux li mouri!"








Thanks in advance!|||Are you sure you have this right?


Babelfish, usually pretty accurate, couldn't make heads or tails out of it - see 1st link below, please.





But try the 2nd link for the story in English, please.





Aha, I have it:





""Are you asleep, Ma'z茅lle Titite?"





"No, I am not asleep; I was thinking. Ah, the poor little one, Man Loulou, the poor little one! better had she died!"





But this is the way Madame Delisle and Manna Loulou really talked to each other:鈥?br>




"Vou pr茅 droumi, Ma'z茅lle Titite?"





"Non, pa pr茅 droumi; mo yapr茅 zongler. Ah, la pauv' piti, Man Loulou. La pauv' piti! Mieux li mouri!"





It's not really French; it's a Creole patois.





The English version is right before the Creole above.


"As for "patois", the word is, for example, often used for regional forms of French that have been spoken for centuries and that are still spoken today in the French countryside, although less and less. The word "patois" (in various spellings) is also sometimes used to refer to certain creole languages --- for example, Jamaican Creole is sometimes called "patois""

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