Translating from French has its challenges. One of them is the use of linking words and idioms. I have noticed that written French can have a lot of them, even far too many. In this blog entry we will share more details about one of them: “d’ailleurs”.
For the online Larousse, “d’ailleurs” can be used to introduce a digression or a concession. The examples in this site show us that the position in the sentence: if it’s starts with it, it’s probably a digression, if it’s between clauses, it may be a concession. This seems simple, but I’m just starting.
Even if we look up in dictionaries and books, the real language is how you use it, the day-to-day writings and conversations.
There are so many mix-ups between “d’ailleurs” and “par ailleurs” that various online articles that explain their use, for instance this one written by Canada's governments
and this one by the Académie Française.
This mix-up can complicate the translation process. Furthermore, in an article that I translated recently, it was used to reinforce a statement. Three choices, one linking expression.
However, I didn’t want to consider only only theoretical sources, so I asked my French-speaking network on LinkedIn
and Mastodon how they used this expression and the results show that it can vary.
The answers were based on equivalents with different meanings: “indeed”, “furthermore” and “by the way” in French.
If we add the answers from both networks (31 answers total) we get the following results:
1. Same meaning as “indeed”: 2 votes.
2. Same meaning as “futhermore”: 9 votes.
3. Same meaning as “by the way”: 18 votes.
We can see that most people use “properly” the expression.
Nevertheless, we can still see the mix-up with “par ailleurs”, that means “furthermore”, and little use of it as “indeed”.
It’s a small survey, the results cannot be seen as solid proof, but it shows a trend.
It’s more complicated than it seems.
Other people replied that they used this expression more as a kind of hackneyed phrase, in other words, it didn’t necessarily convey a specific logical link but just a link to structure the text or the speech.
If we take into account all of this, we must be careful when translating this expression. We must ask ourselves if it conveys a meaning or not. Its position might help if it’s at the beginning or between clauses, but digressions can also be in-between clauses, for instance.
Thank you for reading this blog. I translate from English and French into Spanish. If you want to know more about what I do click here.
Disclaimer: this text is originally in Spanish, I adapted it to English, if you notice a mistake, please contact me via LinkedIn, Mastodon or e-mail.
"Ask for cocoa beans" ("pedir cacao")