Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[Mozartia]

Hey.

I'm a writer, and have a book I'm working on for publication. I'm having a really hard time finding some *NOT ENGLISH* terms for these words:

musician
troubador
player/singer--it needs to be both (of music)

you get the gist. Any help would be appreciated, as I have tried even the online dictionaries & such with no luck. Please back up whatever you might have, as this is for publication.

If I use what you have, I'll give you credit.

Thanks.

[inka]

I'm a writer, and have a book I'm working on for publication. I'm having a really hard time finding some *NOT ENGLISH* terms for these words:

musician
troubador
player/singer--it needs to be both (of music)

***************************************
Hi, Mozartia.

Hey, I'm not sure I got your point. Do you need translations for these words in different languages? If so, in portuguese, we say:

musician: M�SICO
troubador: TROVADOR
singer: CANTOR (a man); CANTORA (a woman)
player: (that depends on the instrument played): GUITARRISTA (for the eletric guitar player); BATERISTA (for the drums player)

If that's not what you need, I apologize.

Inka

[Mozartia]

Yep, that's exactly the kind of thing I'm looking for. I have a dictionary that translates 26 different languages, but they only hit the highlights--words you might need to use most if traveling (ala "Donde est el bano?") *G*. It seems music isn't considered as necessary to language translators as it is to a lot of us. *G* Even searching the net hasn't done much good; can't find these words in any online dictionaries--maybe because some of them are kind of archaic (troubador).

The story's fantasy, and the reason I need these terms is to try to come up with something that describes a musician and has a musical 'feel' to it, but that has a kind of fantasy 'feel' as well. None of those you supplied is quite what I need, but I really appreciate you taking the time to answer. I like the Spanish and Portuguese languages (I'm also a songwriter/composer and I use a lot of that influence in what I write there too) and music.

I'd like to use those languages if I could get something that would work in the setting of the story, but it needs to be something that people will recognize as musical but not be too familiar with (gotta keep that element that it's an alien culture, not something easily recognizable as from *this* earth as it is now).

Hope this helps clarify if you have any other ideas? Either way, thanks for taking the time to answer here; I really appreciate it. *S*

[Pommezani]

[Mozartia]

Hmm. Chanteur has some definite possibilities. Is that a unisex term? For instance, if used for a male is there a different form than if used for a femme? (Singer, for instance, is the same for either m/f in English, and there are no gender specific words as there are in, say acting. Acting has the word actor, which covers all, then the word actor can also be used to describe a male, while the word actress is usually used for a female.) I think I might like to use this if I can work out forms and such; French would sex it up a bit. *G*

And it might work well because it has some fantasy overtones I won't bore you with explaining here. Would you know if the word chanteur is fairly new, or could it have been in use in the middle ages? Probably troubadour back then. . . but even if it is newer. . .hmm. Might be able to swing it, even if it's modern. One of the good things about writing in the fantasy genre. *G*

Unfortunately, my knowledge of French extends to the words femme and pomme de sang--the last because of L.K. Hamilton's writings (they're paranormal/horror, so the wierd term works great for the genre). *G*

Thanks for the suggestion. May work; I just need to know more about the word and see how it might fit in the confines of what I'm working with.

[Pommezani]

chanteur is for a male.. chanteuse for female... and I think it was not used in middle-age... troubadour is male and female... interpr�te is a singer, male or female, who sing songs that he/she didn't write... but it's really contemporary...

[Mozartia]

This looks promising. I figure the average American in the target group for this book knows about as much French as I do, but even if they know more, the Fantasy genre will excuse a lot, so. . .

I'm thinking I might like to use this. If you want recognition for the idea for the terms (they'll be names, actually), let me know and I'll give you an email to send me your name for the credit. If you'd like, when the book's published, I'll be happy to send you a copy, if you want, as well.

You understand that this may be a year or two from now, depending on the publisher's schedule. *G*

[borerborer]

I donot know if you need my language. I am from china. In fact, different part of China may have different translations of your words. If you need, mail me and I will collect them as many as I can.
[email protected]