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Any French speaker out there who can help me out with this line, please?

posted 14 years ago by shadycargo
3 replies | jump to latest

There's a line that Walter says to Erika in the scene where he's reading Erika's letter out loud. It sounds like, "Peut-etre tu pourras ouvre ta bouche cultivee et dire quelque chose sur cette merde. Non?" Is that what he says? It doesn't seem grammatically correct.

He says it at around 1:11 in this clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPBIIOD5F44

What is that line exactly? I know the meaning in English - I just want to know what the line is in French.

Thanks.

[–] Herr_Doktor 14 years ago

He says:

"peut-être que tu pourrais ouvrir ta bouche si cultivée et dire quelque chose sur cette merde, non?"

meaning just about what the subtitles suggest in this situation, although I'm not sure about the grammar used in the subtitle, it looks sketchy...

In a more literal translation, he's saying:

"Maybe (perhaps) you could (can) open your oh-so refined mouth and say something (or make a statement, voice your opinion) about this *beep* (or crap), no?"

Translations are pretty hard, but I'm sure you are getting the message. Even by the tone, he's being condescending and using sarcasm :-)

Hope this helps.

For the record, I'm French-Canadian, but this particular conversation in the movie is not idiosyncratic to French from France, i.e., it would sound similar or even identical 'round here.

Cheers,

Sylvain

[–] 14 years ago

[deleted]

[–] saphique 14 years ago

actually, the user only proposed diffrent ways to translate. he/she could have gone from word to word but it wouldnt make sense, so he/she suggested the MEANING.