BANNON IS SPREADING HIS FIRE IN FRANCE BUT DOESN’T SPEAK FRENCH AND HIS TRANSLATOR ISN’T SURE OF HERS EITHER!

Who would have believed that Steve Bannon, after being fired by Trump, is now bringing his fiery support to Marine LePen and her Front National? Their congress is meeting this weekend

L’ex-conseiller de “45” et le représentant de la droite dure est contre la mondialisation, contre l’Union européenne, contre les accords du climat, contre les journalistes, et il a assuré que la victoire du parti ultra conservateur est inéluctable.

I wondered if he’d be able to talk in French. He didn’t, no surprise. The French had to listen to his English and then the translator’s indecisive, incorrect translation in French. If you listen or look at both versions (below), you’ll see that she can’t decide how too translate the one construction he uses in the first three sentences.

Bannon: “Let them call you racist. Let them call you xenophobes. Let them call you nativists. Wear it as a badge of honor. Because every day we get stronger and they get weaker.”

Translator: “Laissez vous appeler racistes. Laissez-les vous appeler xénophobes. Laissez-vous les appeler nativistes. Portez-le comme un badge d’honneur. Parce que chaque jour qui passe nous devienons (should be either devenons or deviendrons) plus forts et eux s’affaiblissent.”

Bannon uses the same simple English construction each time. She uses a different French one each time – and only her second one is correct.

Tomorrow the party is changing its name. Apparently that often happens in France after a defeat (like in the presidential elections last May in France) to make voters forget the past and turn the page.

Vocabulaire pertinent:
la vase – slime
la droite dure – the hard right