Glossary entry

français term or phrase:

terreau

anglais translation:

fertile environment, fertile soil

Added to glossary by suezen
Sep 20, 2005 14:00
18 yrs ago
3 viewers *
français term

terreau

français vers anglais Art / Littérature Art, artisanat et peinture Biography of Vincent van Gogh
C'est sur ce terreau environnemental que va se développer l'entrelacement étroit entre la splendeur de l'art de Van Gogh et la misère de son existence.

I can hardly put compost ???????

TIA
Votes to reclassify question as PRO/non-PRO:

Non-PRO (1): df49f (X)

When entering new questions, KudoZ askers are given an opportunity* to classify the difficulty of their questions as 'easy' or 'pro'. If you feel a question marked 'easy' should actually be marked 'pro', and if you have earned more than 20 KudoZ points, you can click the "Vote PRO" button to recommend that change.

How to tell the difference between "easy" and "pro" questions:

An easy question is one that any bilingual person would be able to answer correctly. (Or in the case of monolingual questions, an easy question is one that any native speaker of the language would be able to answer correctly.)

A pro question is anything else... in other words, any question that requires knowledge or skills that are specialized (even slightly).

Another way to think of the difficulty levels is this: an easy question is one that deals with everyday conversation. A pro question is anything else.

When deciding between easy and pro, err on the side of pro. Most questions will be pro.

* Note: non-member askers are not given the option of entering 'pro' questions; the only way for their questions to be classified as 'pro' is for a ProZ.com member or members to re-classify it.

Proposed translations

+8
3 minutes
Selected

fertile soil

or rich environment
Peer comment(s):

agree Sara Freitas
6 minutes
Thanks Sara
agree zaphod : topsoil
18 minutes
Thanks Zaphod
agree John Garside
40 minutes
Thanks John
agree DocteurPC : yes for soil, and hopefully, fertile ;-)
1 heure
Thanks Doc!
agree Rachel Fell : fertile environment (not topsoil)
2 heures
Thanks Rachel. Yes, a good alternative. I thought of it too.
agree Philippe Maillard : fertile environment
4 heures
Yes, I agree
agree Rachel Ward
1 jour 42 minutes
Thanks Rachel
agree df49f (X) : fertile ground, maybe ...et il s'agit bien de "terreau" et non pas de "terreux" comme proposé ailleurs.. :))))
3 jours 21 heures
Ah yes; fertile ground is excellent! Thanks df.
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Yes, thank you I've gone for fertile environment which was proposed by Philippe"
+1
29 minutes

rich atmosphere/backdrop

I realize I am taking liberties
Peer comment(s):

agree DocteurPC : but I like the backdrop - even if a very free translation, it works well
1 heure
thanks Dr :-)
Something went wrong...
4 heures

Compost

Terreau is rich soil made by decomposing vegetable or animal matter.
The word for that in English is compost.
Peer comment(s):

neutral df49f (X) : ohhhh...!!! :o - oui c'est bien connu, les roses fleurissent aussi sur un tas de fumier :-))
35 minutes
neutral writeaway : a literal translation here doesn't deserve 100% confidence
3 jours 17 heures
Something went wrong...
8 heures

breeding ground

Though it would greatly help to know what is being described here as the "terreau environnemental".
Peer comment(s):

neutral writeaway : breeding ground isn't used much in this sense and it's usually got a negative connotation when it's not literal
3 jours 13 heures
True. I wan't too happy with it myself, hence my 3. I thought we might have some more context from Maria.
Something went wrong...
8 heures

earthy environment OR earthly/worldly

Hi Maria,

I think they've made a mistake. They've put terreau which is compost but it seems it should be terreux which is earthy. It is a comparison between slendour and misery but the real existance of the artist did take place in misery so I don't think a more surreal term would be appropriate.

Hope this helps.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 8 hrs 50 mins (2005-09-20 22:51:55 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

I mean splendour as opposed to misery.
Something went wrong...
Term search
  • All of ProZ.com
  • Recherche par terme
  • Travaux
  • Forums
  • Multiple search