Dear mum,

I know that it’s been an eternity since we talked last and i apoligize for that but you got to understand that i did not have other choice.
Anyway, i finally did it.. I’m in america, “the dreamed country”... And all i have to say it’s... absolutely not what i expected. First of all i didn’t land at New York but on a kind of island called “Ellis Island”, we were violently taken by some militarys to a registry room and then we were brought to ... i don’t know if they are real doctors, i prefer call them “medicals examiners”. On my whole life i have never seen such scornfull and condescending personns: to examine us, they used a button hook, you know to opened our eyes... i really felt like cattle. 133
Then, one of those kept asking questions about politicy, religion... i don’t really understand what was his point but i saw several men, who came from eastern europe, sent back to the boat by the militarys. Whatever, i had to suffer an other questionnary about my values and skills. This time , because of what i saw, i understood that i had to show the best of myself. Therefore, at the question “do you speak several languages” i answered “yes, english, gaelic, french and some words of german”, the examiners hardly believed me but i felt lucky because he didn’t want to know more
After that, we were transferred to a room where i’m actually here, we are about twenty and, truthfully mum, i don’t see any hatred in their eyes, i just see some people who are totally exhausted and who just wanted to know what is going on.
I really miss you mum, there is no one else but me on this island, i met a lovely man during the travel but i don’t totally know where is he now ... I Hope that everyone is ok, times must be very hard in Galway, just keep the faith.
I don’t know how long i’m still waiting for the restuls, but i’m kind of trustful because i saw, among those people who were sent back,a lot of mens with a trace of chalk on their back. And nobody have chalked me. So, I hope that the next time I will write to you from New York city.
Take care of you,

Si il y en qui sont motivés pour eventuellement corriger mes fautes ou me dire si il y a des trucs incomprehensibles ca serait vraiment sympa.
Ca parle d´une jeune immigrante irlandaise qui veut rentrer aux etats-unis mais elle doit d´abord passer par Ellis Island où les immigrants sont "triés". Elle écrit une lettre à sa mère qui est restée en irlande.
voilà merci d´avance.

"but you got to understand"

ça serait pas mieux you have to understand?

"And all i have to say it’s... absolutely not what i expected."

je trouve cette phrase bizarre: En français on dit pas "tou ce que j´ai a dire c´est... absolument ce que j´attendais. ON dit plutot "tout ce que j´ai à dire c´est que ce n´est absolument pas ce que j´attendais" Enfin je dis ça mais jsuis pas sur, ça me parait juste plus naturel^^

"we were violently taken by some militarys" tu
peux enlever le some

"Then, one of those kept asking questions " pas compris

"we were transferred to a room where i’m actually here" tu peux enlever le here

"who just wanted to know what is going" want et pas wanted

"there is no one else but me on this island" pas compris

"i don’t totally know where is he now" je pense pas que totally convienne.

"I Hope that everyone is ok" tu peux enlever le that

"i’m still waiting" pas le bon temps je crois

"I hope that the next time I will write to you from New York city. " tu peux enlever le the

Voila ce que je peux te dire sur ton texte. Bon je suis pas un pro en anglais mais bon normalement je me débrouille

merci de ton aide, c´est sympa surtout pour les mots en trop.

"Then, one of those kept asking questions " pas compris
ca signifie "l´un deux ne cessait de poser des questions"

"there is no one else but me on this island" pas compris
ca signifie "il n´y a personne d´autre que moi sur cette île"

je pense que ces deux phrases sont correctes.

Ah ok oué pour la première ça va c´est moi qui avait du mal^^
Pour la deuxième ça va aussi t´as raison (moi j´aurais mis than à la place de but mais ça marche quand même)

Pour la deuxième phrase, je te conseille d´enlever "else". Ce qui se dit en anglais c´est l´expression "nothing but.." donc utiliser no one but" me semble plus correct.

J´ai un niveau plutôt modeste en anglais donc ne prends pas mon appréciation comme parole d´évangile, mais ça me semble bon voire très bon.

"there is no one else but me on this island"

• except me, non ?

"just keep the faith. "

Pas besoin de "the", je crois.

"Take care of you, "

Pareil pour "of you", c´est mieux sans.

[MeTaLGrAyFoX] Posté le 12 novembre 2007 à 22:09:28 "there is no one else but me on this island"

• except me, non ?

Non, but est correct, c´est d´ailleurs une meilleure formule que "except".