Dangling participle
July 19, 2004
I had never heard of a dangling participle and wouldn't have thought I'd learn about such a fine grammatical point while subtitling an episode of American Dreams, but there you go. A dangling participle is a participle that doesn't modify the subject of a sentence.
Example:
Trying to meet my Friday deadline, my pc suddenly decided to stop working.
Dangling participles are fairly common but it's best to avoid them in English; indeed, their freedom of movement can make a sentence very ambiguous. Example:
Riding down the street on my bicycle, a dog knocked me over.
Who's riding the bicycle? The dog?
The above two examples could be rephrased in the following manner:
As I was trying to meet my deadline, my pc suddenly decided to stop working.
As I was riding down the street on my bicycle, a dog knocked me over.
In French, the same rule applies, but it is definitely not as strict, and the épithète détachée much less offensive. For more details about dangling participles and how to translate them from French to English, see this essay written by Lillian Clementi, a French and German into English translator.
Posted by céline, in Technical corner, on July 19, 2004I feel sorry for you having to watch American Dreams - it's a little to saccharine and concentrated around family ideology for me (but I guess at least the soundtrack is good).
It got me thinking though, has the BBC's Yes, Minister or Yes, Prime Minister ever been subtitled? The tautology of the language and the verbal sparring between the characters makes for stimulating viewing but I fear would be VERY lost in translation .... or maybe I am wrong???
Posted by flaming zinc on July 25, 2004 1:12 AMYes, sometimes while watching it I cringe so much that it gets difficult to see my screen, but it can be surprisingly controversial as well.
I don't know if Yes, Minister has been subtitled. A lot would be lost in translation, as the humour is based on language, but then all translation is an act of betrayal anyway. I think in the case of series such as Yes, Minister, and, say, Absolutely Fabulous, the secret is to create a team with a translator or two working with a script-writer/comedian. Otherwise, you might get the translation right but the humour wrong, or vice-versa...
Posted by céline on July 26, 2004 9:41 AM