I´m not good in English !

You have lots of problems Ajax....

!

The death : yes, yes i know....

" Ca marcheeeeeeeeeeeee

It´s fonctionning"

Ajax, " It´s working" would be better.

Perhaps someone in here might be able to help me with something. I need to translate an English text in French and, even though I am doing just fine, I would like to have your opinions on the following.
Would you mind, anyone really, giving me your translation on this excerpt:

" The house looked perfectly ordinary from the sky.
But from the ground, I sensed something that made me fear to tread."

I am particularly interested in seeing how you will translate the last sentence.

Thanking you in anticipation.

If I correctly understood your request, you´re expecting a translation, isn´t it ?
I´d be able to do it and I´ll do so, let´s begin...

" The house looked perfectly ordinary from the sky.
But from the ground, I sensed something that made me fear to tread."

becomes

" La maison semblait parfaitement ordinaire depuis le ciel.
Mais depuis le sol ( traduction assez littérale, en français on dirait plutôt " au sol"), je sentais quelque chose qui me faisait peur ( "tread" est un peu difficil à traduire mais c´est + ou -, dans ce cas ci " pétrifier/immobiliser" dans le sens " cloué sur place", il/elle est donc pétrifié(e) de peur)."

I hope it could help you.
I don´t know if it has been said before but in the 14th message of the 1st page, you wrote " I telled".You made a terrible mistake on it, it´s " I told" ( irregular verb, you´d have learned about it), it´s just beginner mistake but now that you know ( may be you knew before but I dare to remind it to you) try to don´t make it again, I´ll not repeat it twice ( thrice neither).

I know we´re on the " Cours et Devoirs" forum but the fact that there´s ( good, I hope) english speakers make me daring to ask you some questions.

1st
Did anyone saw the last " Futurama" episodes ( season 5) ?

2nd
Did anyone read the last H.Potter ( The Order of the Phenix) ?

3rd
Does anyone here´s reading comics ( I mean american comics like " Spider-Man", " Daredevil" and the others) ?

Anyone here ?

Yeah, yeah, i´m here, but almost everyone is in holidays ( j´suis pas sur de l´ortho )

So should be return last time ^^ ( arf, c´est les vacances, je suis plus trop sur de ce que j´écris, j´esserai d´écrire mieux à la rentrée )

I´m here!!!
Well I´ve begun to read Harry Potter ( Order of Phenix).
I´ve read almost 300pages on 700. It´s quite easy to read if you have a decent skill in English.
About the translation:
Vue du ciel, la maison semblait tout à fait ordinaire. Mais vue du sol, je sentais quelque chose qui me petrifiait d´effroi.
note: It´s a less litteral traduction. It´s best adapted to post-bac.

Where are you in the story ( HP 5) ?
I now you´d finish it before giving your mind about it but don´t you think it´s the best of the 5, or at least as good as the 3rd ?
There´s a lot of good stuff in the end ( 200 last pages).

Thank you gentlemen for your suggestions.
Unfortunately, as I expected, you came up with roughly the same translation as I did.
The problem is that you are both assuming that the character is petrified by fear, even though the passage never says so.
I think that what the ´text´ really means is that the character does not wish to come inside that house, frightened by his feelings towards it. Thus, we should not translate that last part saying that he is petrified by fear, but rather that fear is somehow preventing him from walking towards/coming inside the house.
What do you think?

Doblodawaty, to answer your questions:

1) Sorry, I have not seen them.

2) I have not read any Harry Potter novels yet ( but should probably start soon).

3) I used to read them, but as I was collecting them, they were in French ( as I was still young at the time).

Anyway, if you do not mind me asking, what have you studied?

Thanks.

I have never read any Harry Potter. To tell you the truth, I don´t feel interested in this kind of stories, but maybe I´m wrong ^^

I think you are.Before I read it I wasn´t interested by this book neither but I began to read the 1st and I liked it so I read the 2nd then the 3rd and so forth ´til the 5th.You´d try it, at least the 2 firsts.

Well Potter is just discovering the new staff ( his teachers, I mean). In fact, the story itsself is just at the begining, even if I´ve already read 300pages. Well, with what I´ve read, I can say it´s a very interesting one, for the personality of all the people is far more developed. I realy feal what Harry lives.

About the translation: what I´ve proposed is a non-litteral translation, and I´m not totally sure of the word " tread". Still, I think it could be a good translation, and perhaps you should give us a few more sentences so we could have a better idea of what the sentence means. ( English depends of the context).

Yes, I see what you mean, and I agree with you. With these few sentences, it seems to be a little more obvious, that your idea is the right one. If the author had wanted to give the idea that the narrator was petrified by fear, he would have insisted on it. So I would like to change my translation:
Mais vue du sol, j´ eprouvais un certain malaise en m´en approchant.
Or: Mais vue du sol, elle me donnait peur de marcher.
As you can see, I don´t like litteral translations. I prefer the first one, because I think it´s the best way to express the fear of the narrator. Now you do as you want.
Hear you soon.

tout bien reflechit, je v passer a un autre topik discretement....

You´re too much shy [The_Death], why don´t you dare to improve your level?

Je viens de constater que ça faisait 200.
Hasta luego amigos.

Hasta luego sur un topic anglais??

" As you can see, I don´t like litteral translations. I prefer the first one, because I think it´s the best way to express the fear of the narrator."

BriLaiKhan, I understand what you want to express, but I do not really like your latest suggestion:

" Mais vue du sol, j´ eprouvais un certain malaise en m´en approchant."

Evn though I try not to translate as literally as possible, you have changed the meaning of the sentence a little too much this time.

What do you think of that translation of mine I did in the first place:

" La maison avait l’air des plus ordinaire vu du ciel, mais au sol, j´ai ressenti quelque chose qui me fit craindre mes propres pas."

Tell me what you think of it, please.

Mario86:

" You´re too much shy [The_Death], why don´t you dare to improve your level?"

This would be better:

" You´re much too shy ( or you´re too shy) [Death]. Why don´t you want to improve your standard?"