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crosse harmonieuse
l'insaisissable (person)

Glossary entry

French term or phrase:

brun de sauvetage

English translation:

\"Luckily an escape route / a way out / a road to salvation ...was offered to her\"

Added to glossary by Jennifer White
May 14 08:23
14 days ago
48 viewers *
French term

brun de sauvetage

French to English Other General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters
"Heureusement qu'un brun de sauvetage lui a été accordé......"
A Congolese woman is seeking asylum in the UK after being sought by the authorities for subversive behaviour. I cannot fathom out how she escaped and the web has no references to this. Maybe mistyped? Thanks for any help.
Proposed translations (English)
3 +3 "Luckily an escape route / a way out / a road to salvation ...was offered to her"
3 +1 an idea
3 brin de sauvetage (Lifeline)
2 a brown envelope as a saving grace
1 plan de sauvetage

Discussion

Wilsonn Perez Reyes May 15:
1.4 Glossary form must be maintained. Question marks, quote marks, unnecessary capitalization and anything else that would not be found in a dictionary, should not be entered.
https://www.proz.com/siterules/kudoz_general/1.4#1.4
Daryo May 14:
Then it's most likely a figure of style. Someone created an opportunity for her to get out of Dodge, and that was her metaphorical "brun/bouée/brin de sauvetage".

You could rephrase it as s.t. along the lines of "as escape route was offered to her" / s.o. who wanted her to go away "opened an escape hatch for her" etc.
Jennifer White (asker) May 14:
@Daryo Well, this helped her to escape as she had been arrested so many times and now her house had been destroyed and her life was in danger. After this she disappeared for 2 years - they thought she was dead but she reappeared on Facebook (as you do.....)
Daryo May 14:
@ Jennifer White At which point in her story is this happening:

"Heureusement qu'un brun de sauvetage lui a été accordé......"

Was it when she escaped out of Congo, in which case "accordé" would make perfect sense.

Meaning that "an opportunity to get out was given / granted (="accordé") to her", that "opportunity to flee" being a figurative bouée de sauvetage, or brin de sauvetage.

"brun de sauvetage" sounds very unlikely - possibly a typo of "brin de sauvetage".
Lara Barnett May 14:
@ Emmanuella The French to English Kudo glossary is intended to list terms in English, for future users, not in french. That was the basis of my comment.
Emmanuella May 14:
The answers are in French ( interpretation of the meaning) plus the translation in English, i.e: lifeline / rescue plan.
Lara Barnett May 14:
Language Why are all the answers in French. Are we to give English translations or have I misunderstood.?
Emmanuella May 14:
Pourriez-vous citer la suite de la phrase ? Merci.
Jennifer White (asker) May 14:
@Bourth This is Congolese French which is questionable at times. Thank you. Maybe they can't be too specific here as anyone seen to help a wanted person would be liable to prosecution.
Bourth May 14:
Strange that this brun was accordé when one might have expected lancé, were it a lifeline. Is there any chance that your French has been translated from another language (I have found brin de sauvetage on a mountaineering site automatically translated from English). Maybe she was 'given a little bit of (un brin de) help'.
Jennifer White (asker) May 14:
@Sakshi Thank you. I find it odd though that everything else in this lengthy letter is very specific. Maybe they have left it deliberately vague....
Sakshi Garg May 14:
une bouée de sauvetage I did find a phrase 'une bouée de sauvetage' which is very much closely related to //''brun de sauvetage''// and means the same as //''lifeline''//
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/french-english/...

I hope this helps!

Proposed translations

+3
13 hrs
French term (edited): "Heureusement qu'un brun de sauvetage lui a été accordé......"
Selected

"Luckily an escape route / a way out / a road to salvation ...was offered to her"

that's the idea.
Peer comment(s):
agree ormiston
8 hrs
Thanks!
agree Yvonne Gallagher : she was offered an escape route / a way out ...is general enough (NOT "...salvation")
10 hrs
OK "salvation" has religious connotations that are nonexistent in the ST, not a good variant. Thanks!
agree Emmanuella
12 hrs
Thanks!
neutral philgoddard : How is this different to a lifeline, and where are your references/explanation?
14 hrs
Have you read the discussion?
agree liz askew
15 hrs
Thanks!
neutral AllegroTrans : How do you explain "brun"? Are you saying it's an error?
16 hrs
Might be some local slang, most likely a typo, but it makes little difference to the meaning of the whole sentence. Not worth dwelling on it.
disagree Wilsonn Perez Reyes : Question marks, quote marks, unnecessary capitalization and anything else that would not be found in a dictionary, should not be entered. https://www.proz.com/siterules/kudoz_general/1.4#1.4
22 hrs
You know the one about the tree and the forest?
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thank you and thanks to everyone who contributed. I chose "escape route" in the end."
17 mins

brin de sauvetage (Lifeline)

There may be a typographical or translational error in the phrase brun de sauvetage. The correct term likely intended here is //"brin de sauvetage"//, which translates to //"lifeline"// in English.

Here //"lifeline"// is used metaphorically to describe a crucial aid or opportunity that was given, possibly referring to the asylum or some form of help that allowed the individual to escape or survive a perilous situation.
Note from asker:
Thank you. I did consider this but could find no translation for this phrase.
Peer comment(s):
neutral philgoddard : Once again, you should say where you got this and give references. I think it's correct, but there's no way I'm voting for it.
2 hrs
Something went wrong...
1 hr

plan de sauvetage

Further to my speculations under Discussion and in an effort to reconcile use of accordé, maybe it's a misreading, by whoever typed up a handwritten document, of plan de sauvetage. These are indeed accordés, though more often than not to bail out nation states in Dire Straits, hence the song 'Money for Nothing' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTP2RUD_cL0


--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2024-05-14 09:43:04 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

So 'rescue plan' ?
Peer comment(s):
neutral AllegroTrans : Certainly feasible but not likely to be a typo (p and b, l and r, for example, are miles apart {at least on my keyboard}); BUT isn't this a FR-En question? // Yo, youze right there
1 hr
I'm talking handwriting. Maybe you haven't seen some of the handwriting I've seen!
Something went wrong...
7 hrs
French term (edited): un brun de sauvetage

a brown envelope as a saving grace

> is what occu(r)red to me from what's there, namley ready cash in a brown envelope or a Belgian tax subsidy, rather than speculating on a typo.

Alas, I am no longer living in Brussels, so cannot go onto the Bruxelles-Midi railway station and ask my Belgian-Congolese friends loitering around the concourse the whole day what this is all about.
Example sentence:

University of Kent: Tax guidance. If you receive a brown envelope from the Belgian Ministry of Finance requesting details of any income, you must complete and return it if you are not to incur a fine.

Reference:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-31748257

Peer comment(s):
neutral AllegroTrans : Where is your evidence that "un brun" can mean "a brown envelope"?
1 hr
Something went wrong...
+1
1 day 5 hrs

an idea

As others have noticed, it does seem to be a typo for 'un brin de'. This being the case, I'd say it refers to the first little step on her road towards a new and safe future. Something like: 'her first intimation of a better future came when...'
Peer comment(s):
agree ormiston : Agree with the added nuance, as in ' a slender chance'
3 hrs
Something went wrong...
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