An exciting opportunity to use “avast” at the dinner table tonight

I was all amped to show you how I can talk like a pirate in French, because I did this translation test for a kids show about pirates a while back, and today is official Talk Like a Pirate Day. But then I opened my old file and remembered I didn’t actually translate any pirate dialogue, just a synopsis-like pitch of the show. I could tell you how to say “The A-Team meets Pirates of the Caribbean!” but aside from that I'm sort of...at sea.  (A-hardy. A-har.) 

(I even tried to look up my favorite pirate word, “avast,” in the Robert Collins French-English dictionary just now, but alas, this dictionary does not have the word “avast.”  It has the word "apeshit," though.)

Comments

[nardac]

For hard to find translations, I find that there are quite a few useful resources posted up on the forum at wordreference.com.

Usually, when I can't find something, I go there, and either post as a request, or search through the various different dictionaries outsourced from the column.

I'd search avast... but I'm supposed to be working!

[R]

My husb looked it up and figured that "Tenez!" would be the closest.

Good luck making that sound "piratey".

surfin in the 13th...finally.

R

[Stu "El Inglés" Harris]

I seriously doubt that the french will ever get this pirate-talk business. National "Talk like Philippe Noiret" day -- maybe...

[Coquette]

I used to get so incensed when my french relatives/friends would raise their eyebrows at something I thought was funny. Now I know not to even MENTION Talk Like a Pirate Day to anyone here and to just blog about it instead.

[Coquette]

Talk like Philippe Noiret day--that's really funny.

[Julia]

Preytell, what is apeshit in French? And a big yay to a Talk Like Philippe Noiret Day!

[nardac]

I got your answer. Apparently you can translate it to "vaste," which shares the same etymological origin as "avast." It's from the Dutch "houd fast," which, as one can imagine, is translated as "hold fast."

Vaste, is a nautical term used to mean "assez," or "amarre," or "arrete," or "tiens bon." It's popular use was by sailors, when there was enough liquor in their cup, or they were fed up." VASTE!

Hmmm. that was fun.

[nardac]

oh, and I forgot to mention that "vaste" and "baste" were listed under this same definition. I wonder if that Italian thing of saying basta is related to avast?

[la.dauphine]

oooh, I DETESTE that "raised eyebrow" thing!

[April]

Is "shiver me timbers" pirate-talk? And what the heck does it mean????

[Stefanie]

I always head to the Granddictionnaire http://www.granddictionnaire.com/ a fabulous Québécois resource for French-English and the inverse translation. Type in avast and you get "tiens bon". Nardac gets extra points, it is, in fact, thought to be derived from the Italian, "basta".

[Chester]

If you could kindly provide the French translation for "I pity the fool!" and "I love it when a plan comes together!", I think that would more than make up for the lack of Franco-Buccaneerinese.

[Sammy]

French people can't 'get' the pirate talk thing, but it's not difficult to see why. I watched Pirates of the Caribbean in French and Johnny Depp just seemed, well, so refined.

[Stu "El Inglés" Harris]

IMDB doesn't reveal whether a VF (Version Française) was ever made of "Treasure Island" (1950) which, of course, featured Robert Newton's definitive pirate-talk ("Arrrrrr, Jim-laaaad"). Wouldn't that be fun.

It does reveal that "Treasure Island" has been made in Romanian (Insula comorilor), Russian (Ostrov sokrovishch), Japanese (Takarajima), Chinese (Wu hu jiang) and German (Die Schatzinsel). Maybe there's a "talk like a pirate" day in Bucharest?

[Dan]

It would be of immeasurable benefit to many netizens if you were to record some pirate-french and post it up.
Think of it as a project to help others in need. An audio-blog if you will.

[Flighty]

Have just found your blog. A pearl. Makes me happy to be in Paris, delighted to love fashion, sad to be a bit old and wistful about times before childbirth.
And was that Nadia UK Big brother sex-change winner at your friend's shindig in the Rue Vavin?

[Diana]

I tried to google French pirate-speak myself so that I could try to spread the day to my office, but came to the conclusion that French pirates must just not talk any different from anyone else. I had to content myself with speaking Pirate with my American colleagues and flying the Jolly Roger from my halogen lamp. Although, I did sprinkle in some "ARRRR!"s which basically just made my French colleagues think I'm more odd than they usually do. sigh.

[Camomille]

Forgive me for what I'm about to say - after all, I'm only a french girl! but, What on earth is pirate talk??

[brando]

I love pirate talk but most of all, i love pirate patches. Unfortunately, I wear glasses, so when i wear an eye patch, i look more like the Pirate Accountant.

"Arr! I only count seven pieces o'eight! That's a problem! Shiver me spreadsheets!"

[Stu "El Inglés" Harris]

Camille, si tu as Skype, contacte-moi par e-mail, je te ferai une demonstration de pirate-talk et gratuit!!!!

[Dan]

lmao brando.

[DDJ]

Re: the A-Team, when I was in France for the first time about 12-14 years ago, I thought it hilarious that not only was the A-Team on French TV, but even Mr. T's voice had been dubbed over. The last time I was in Paris, just a few years ago, I was shocked to see that the A-Team was still on TV! Amazing. The French just can't get enough of BA Baracus.

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