Eliza Hall Jan 18, 2019:

French translation of Wilde's play FWIW, his play "The Importance of Being Earnest" is translated as "L'Importance d'être constant." But presumably that's because Constant, like earnest/Ernest, is a name as well as a word. IOW constant of course doesn't mean earnest, but it's the best they could do to create the necessary play on words in French.

Mark Nathan (asker) Jan 18, 2019:

That's an excellent point Phil I have indeed rewritten most of the text, but I wanted to be sure I understood it! And I quite like the idea of a reference to OW.

philgoddard Jan 18, 2019:

I don't see why you're translating this in the first place. It needs a complete rewrite, since English-speaking readers don't need an explanation of this word.
Also, "earnest" has slightly negative connotations to me - it implies lacking a sense of humour.

Mark Nathan (asker) Jan 18, 2019:

Thanks Tony I think you’ve got it, something like, “who can judge the importance of being earnest for themselves.”

Charles Davis Jan 18, 2019:

"Judge" would be fine, I think, or "gauge", or even perhaps "appreciate". The leader is certainly the subject. The meaning is "évaluer". The Trésor gives this quotation from Cocteau: "Je me demande, mon petit, si tu mesures la gravité de cette visite".

polyglot45 Jan 18, 2019:

which will show the importance

polyglot45 Jan 18, 2019:

the problem is that in French the title is "l'importance d'être constant" - the translator went for a first name that was also an adjective, earnest not fitting the bill

Tony M Jan 18, 2019:

@ Asker I would have thought the idea was "which give the measure of..." — except for the fact that 'mesurera' is singular, and so can only refer to 'leader' rather than the 3 qualities.
I think the sense here is more like "...leader, who will have to weigh up the importance..." — though from the assertions amde, one can only assume there isn't really much 'weighing up' to do — these seem to be essential, so perhaps it's more like "... who will be able to judge for themselves how important...". Don't forget in passing that we more often use 'can' in EN ('be able to' in the future) where FR would not use the much stronger 'pouvoir', but it would be used in EN: "I can see a man by that car" > "Je vois un homme..."; so this is one instance perhaps where that notion of 'can' needs to be considered?

Trevino Translations (X) Jan 18, 2019:

What about "gauge" for "mesurer(a)"? I think "indicate" is not quite right. It's missing the sense of something being measured, judged, evaluated, don't you think?