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French
101
(or
the Rat Patrol meets the French connection)
|
Now and then
one hears French spoken in Rat Patrol episodes. Not
surprising. After all, the real war in North Africa ranged into
countries that were, at the time, French protectorates or colonies
(Tunisia, French Morocco, Algeria). It is, therefore, logical
that the locals in some episodes would speak French.
Fortunately the Rats always travelled with a resident linguist (Sgt.
Moffitt) and were always able to converse with them.
Moffitt isn't
here to translate so a kind French fan* of The
Rat Patrol passes along the following translations. |
The
Last Harbor Raid
- Parts I, II, and III
|
Episode
Mission Briefing
The
patrol
prepared
for a mission
so dangerous it takes three episodes (or a movie) to complete
it. Apparently a critically important German-controlled harbour
is being kept in operation through the efforts of Allied POWs. This
will not do. |
|
The
Rat Patrol must sneak into enemy territory and persuade the local
French-speaking fishermen to help transport hundreds of prisoners as
soon as they free them from the Germans. |
|
The
rats sneak into enemy territory aboard Bertaine's fishing boat. |
|
 |
Bertaine:
"Jacques,
Pierre, venez ici !"
(Jacques,
Pierre, come here!)
Bertaine:
"Couvrez
les avec des poissons."
(Cover
them with fish.) |
 |
|
Making
first contact with a very special local. |
|
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Marianne:
"Je
suis désolée, je ne parle pas l'Allemand"
("I'm
sorry, I don't speak German.")
Moffitt:
"Et...
je ne parle pas français très bien. Parlez vous
Anglais ?"
("And...
I don't speak French very well. Do you speak English ?") |
 |
|
Our translator points out that a native French speaker would more
likely say, "Je ne parle pas très bien
français." than the phrasing Moffitt used. |
|
On
board the fishing boat Marianne translates Troy's plea for the
fishermen's help. |
|
 |
Troy:
"Tell
them Bertaine may be dead, but he'd want them to finish his job."
Marianne translates with:
"Ils
peuvent emmener les hommes jusqu'à la plage, mais sans vous
et sans vos bateaux, ce sera un massacre, vous le savez bien."
("They
can take the men to the beach, but without you and your boats, it
will be a massacre, you know that.") |
 |
|
Obviously
Marianne takes some liberty with Troy's words. Fortunately, it
didn't matter in the end.
Our
translator reports that Marianne's other translations are close to
what Troy said.
Moffitt's
translations of her words are not word-for-word but are accurate summarisations. |
|
Marianne
does her darndest to convince the fishermen that she is their friend
and that they should help the patrol rescue the prisoners. |
|
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Marianne:
"Et
la fois où vous m'avez donné une partie pour mon
anniversaire, pour mes onze ans sur le bateau de papa. Je me
rappelle, on avait tous chanté. Et t'as même joué
sur ton accordéon, tu te rappelle? Et on a tous chanté
en choeur. Vous vous rappelez?"
("And
the time when you gave a party for my birthday, for my eleventh
birthday, on dad's boat. I remember, we all sang. And you even played
on your accordion, do you remember? And we all sang together. Do you remember?") |
 |
|
When
the fishermen seem unmoved, Marianne tearfully sings another French
traditional song (Sur
le pont d'Avignon).
Luckily the fishermen are a sentimental lot and are then convinced
to come on board. (Sorry. Bad pun).
See
the song lyrics and translation at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sur_le_pont_d%27Avignon
For
the guest stars in 'The Last Harbor Raid' see here. |
top
The
Double Jeopardy Raid
|
Episode
Mission Briefing
The
patrol
slips into enemy-held territory to meet up with some young
gun-toting, French-speaking partisans. Their help is evidently
critical for the upcoming 'big offensive'. |
|
Unfortunately,
young love, and
ego
come into play and a
collaboration
that should have worked
smoothly becomes decidedly rough.
An unexpected rescue mission
appears on the patrol's horizon. |
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Two
young partisans talk to the 'old' rats (it's all relative) then
Jean-Claude turns to his 'children' and issues
these orders. |
|
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Jean-Claude:
"Excusez-moi.
Allez,
allez, vite, mes enfants, dépéchez vous!"
(Excuse
me.
Come on, come on, quickly, children, hurry up!) |
|
|
Jean-Claude,
driven for revenge, first struggles to control the situation but
then gives in to the patrol's authority. |
|
 |
 |
Jean-Claude:
"Comprenez
vous, sergeant?"
(Do
you understand, sergeant?)
Jean-Claude:
"Françoise**
- donne lui."
(Françoise
- give it to him) |
 |
 |
|
Jean-Claude
orders that pain-killers be given to their German prisoner.
**
Suncompass has a nit-pick about The
Rat Patrol spelling of this male partisan's name.
To
see what Suncompass is in a tizzy about, click here. |
|
Then
Jean-Claude orders that grub be given to the men of the patrol. |
|
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Jean-Claude:
"Jeannette,
la bouffe"
(Jeannette,
the chow/grub.)
|
|
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Andy:
"Merci,
mademoiselle"
(Thanks,
miss.)
Jeanette:
"Pas
de quoi, monsieur"
(You're
welcome, sir.) |
 |
|
A
more literal translation of Jeanette's line is, "It is nothing
worth thanking, sir". It is one of many ways to say
"You're welcome." in French.
Hitch
is clearly surprised at Andy's command of the language, and Jeanette
is clearly taken with the charming Andy. |
|
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Jean-Claude:
"T'as
compris ?"
(Did
you understand?)
Monique:
"Oui."
(yes) |
Suncompass
note:
Note
that Jean-Claude here uses 'tu', the 'familiar' address, for Monique
(as well he should given their obvious affection) while he used the
more formal 'vous' when addressing Troy above ("Comprenez vous?").
The
linguist advisors for this episode evidently had a good grasp of the
French language. (Even so, see here
for a name language lapse) |
|
Jean-Claude:
"Allons-y"
(Let's
go)
Françoise
(under the arrow):
"Enferme
les dans notre cave et surveille les."
(Lock
them up in our cellar and keep an eye on them.) |
 |
The
other freedom fighter then tells our boys where to go:
"Par
là!"
(That way!)
|
|
For
the main guest stars of 'The Double Jeopardy Raid', see here.
To read a detailed description of this episode see here.
The
Lighthouse Raid
|
Mission
Briefing
The
Rat Patrol is
on a mission to transport
a seriously ailing Underground leader to safety.
In order to do so they must smuggle him into the hands of a
'friendly' lighthouse keeper. |
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Things
go awry when the 'friendly' lighthouse keeper turns out to be more
greedy than friendly. It
appears the Rat Patrol may fail in their mission. |
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The
greedy lighthouse keeper explains to
the rats that his escape is assured because: |
|
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Marius:
"L'argent
n'a pas d'odeur."
(Gold
has no smell.)
or
more commonly:
(Money
has no smell.) |
Suncompass
note:
Marius
translates this line as "Gold has no smell." but he took
some liberty with the word 'argent'. The more accepted
translation is: "Money has no smell."
Whether
Marius knew it or not (Moffitt probably would have), that quotation
was first uttered by Roman Emperor Vespasien (AD 9-79) when putting
down an objection to a tax on public lavatories. |
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Marius
demands that Moffitt relinquish his weapon. When he doesn't, Marius
moves threateningly at Sergeant Troy and says: |
|
 |
|
Marius:
"très
bien..."
(very
well...)
Marius (to his wife):
"ça
suffit, madame!"
(That's
enough, madam!) |
|
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|
The
actors (other than the rats) in this episode are French borne, so
what they speak has an authentic accent and is how real French is
spoken. It is not the 1967 Hollywood version of the French language.
Suncompass
note: There seems to have been a mix-up in the naming of
the lighthouse keeper. The lighthouse keeper calls himself
'Marius' but the credits and subtitles call him 'Mathias'. But,
as Shakespeare once wrote, "What's in a name?" This
stinking turncoat is still a stinking turncoat no matter what you
call him.
For
the names of the guest stars in 'The Lighthouse Raid' see here. |
|
To
see another language-related mistake (from the 'The Decoy Raid')
check here. |
|
* Many
thanks to the multilingual Valdhery for sitting through The
Rat Patrol episodes with pen in hand and contributing the fine
translations on this page. |
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last updated October 12, 2007
©2003-2010
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