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la ville lumière

English translation: see below - la ville lumière is usually Paris

06:51 May 8, 2008
French to English translations [PRO]
Social Sciences - Social Science, Sociology, Ethics, etc.
French term or phrase: la ville lumière
"Tombouctou finit par devenir la ville lumière du monde musulman et attirait les plus grands savants de ce monde musulman si prospère."

Not "light city". There is definitely a word for a city that attracts people. What about:

"...becoming the beacon of the Muslim world..."???

"beacon city" would sound weird.
Taylor Kirk
United States
Local time: 09:47
English translation:see below - la ville lumière is usually Paris
Explanation:
Paris has many nicknames, but its most famous is "The City of Light" (La Ville-lumière), a name it owes both to its fame as a centre of education and ideas ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris

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Note added at 26 mins (2008-05-08 07:17:55 GMT)
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Yes but I think they are saying that T is the equivalent for the Muslim world.....
Selected response from:

CMJ_Trans (X)
Local time: 16:47
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
3 +17see below - la ville lumière is usually Paris
CMJ_Trans (X)
5 +1city of enlightement
Speakering (X)
5a flagship or a showcase city (or something similar)
peekay
4la ville illuminée
Etienne Muylle Wallace
4luminary city
Euqinimod (X)
3a beacon of light
B D Finch
3the intellectual capital
giltal (X)
2the lighthouse city, the intellectual focus city, the intellectual glamour city
cjohnstone


Discussion entries: 3





  

Answers


24 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
la ville illuminée


Explanation:
I think the reference to 'Paris' is not valid, unless as a /jeu de mots/. I understand it as the city "where many 'illuminated' brains came to work"

Etienne Muylle Wallace
Spain
Local time: 16:47
Native speaker of: Native in DutchDutch, Native in FrenchFrench
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1 min   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +17
see below - la ville lumière is usually Paris


Explanation:
Paris has many nicknames, but its most famous is "The City of Light" (La Ville-lumière), a name it owes both to its fame as a centre of education and ideas ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 26 mins (2008-05-08 07:17:55 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Yes but I think they are saying that T is the equivalent for the Muslim world.....

CMJ_Trans (X)
Local time: 16:47
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 68
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.
Notes to answerer
Asker: No, definitely not, as the sentence states at the beginning, it refers to Timbuktu.


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Emma Drew: absolutely
0 min
agree  Assimina Vavoula: you could use "the city of light".... I think...
16 mins
agree  katsy
20 mins
agree  ael
33 mins
agree  Michael GREEN: Surely the point of the phrase is that Tombouktou became (must have been several centuries ago) the Paris of the muslim world (toutes proportions gardées ...) // Les grands esprits se rencontrent :)
33 mins
  -> was just typing something to that effect
agree  Clair Pickworth
1 hr
neutral  cjohnstone: On s'est pas bien comprises ou moi seule ai pas pigé, ça ns arrive à ts!Alors excuses
2 hrs
agree  Gustavo Silva
4 hrs
agree  Tony M
4 hrs
agree  Aude Sylvain:
4 hrs
agree  Nadia Ayoub
7 hrs
agree  writeaway: why fight city hall. it was the city of light of the Muslim world. I don't understand the problem
7 hrs
agree  B D Finch
8 hrs
agree  Jean-Claude Gouin: The City of Light ... of the Muslim world ...
9 hrs
agree  Ewa Chojnowska
10 hrs
agree  Anne de Freyman (X): city of light of the Muslim world. Keep the ambiguity
10 hrs
agree  sporran
16 hrs
agree  Rebecca Lyne: Yes!
6 days
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2 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 2/5Answerer confidence 2/5
the lighthouse city, the intellectual focus city, the intellectual glamour city


Explanation:
My idea is to depart from Paris so called "ville" non pas de lumière mais "DES lumières" in fact in reference to intellectual activities at the time the phrase was coined... So to avoid any ambiguity unclear in English would try other things, lighthouse (a bit too much maybe), intellectual centre, reference city, focus of intellectual life... along those lines!!! Cannot understand my colleagues comments as to Paris, all very jolly, but does not give you the faintest clue for how to put it in English does it?...so I decide to have a go, for what is worth!!! If get better ideas in the day, will return!!!:) I often ponder over things and later find a better idea

cjohnstone
France
Local time: 16:47
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in FrenchFrench, Native in EnglishEnglish

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  CMJ_Trans (X): what is wrong with the "City of Light" of the Muslim word ?
12 mins
  ->  not much, just was not up tot the mark i think and confess
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6 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
luminary city


Explanation:
Just as used in the report of the American City Council meeting below.


    Reference: http://www.burlington-wi.gov/Agn_Min/minutes/council/2006/cc...
Euqinimod (X)
Local time: 16:47
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in FrenchFrench
PRO pts in category: 11
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6 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5
a flagship or a showcase city (or something similar)


Explanation:
hello all; pardon my swimming counter to the current on this one but I really do not see (in the source text) anything pointing to any comparison with Paris simply based on the words "ville" and "lumière". If I am not mistaken, paris is "La ville des lumières";

A ville lumière, probably a variation of a ville phare, is a different baguette altogether; When we designate something as a (chose) lumière, we mean it is simply a flagship (the most important of its kind).

Some checking will point to the expression "phare" which is right next door to lumière in this context as "flagship"

The way I see it, if we just keep a lid on the Paris-mania for just a few seconds we can acutally see that this is a city to emulate, a beaocn, and really, a flagship city or whateve ryou want to call it...




    Reference: http://granddictionaire.com/btml/fra/r_motclef/index1024_1.a...
    Reference: http://granddictionaire.com/btml/fra/r_motclef/index1024_1.a...
peekay
Canada
Local time: 10:47
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in FrenchFrench

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  writeaway: same comment as to Barbara Finch. by using the indefinite article you change/lose the impact of what the French source text is saying . and why 'interpret' city of light? It's not just Paris mania, but it is the register the author chose
1 hr
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
a beacon of light


Explanation:
I think that, unless you know that you readers will recognise it, the term "city of light" comparing the status of the city with Paris, can be dropped.

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Note added at 1 hr (2008-05-08 08:01:29 GMT)
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Or a "beacon city".

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Note added at 2 hrs (2008-05-08 09:50:33 GMT)
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I agree with Catherine's comments, though not with her proposed answers, which I find too modern. Of course, you could actually insert something like "the Paris of the Muslim world". A problem I see with this is that it could be seen as only appreciating Timbuctou from a non-Muslim European perspective. Granada was a major beacon city under Moorish rule and a centre of learning, so why use Paris as the comparison city?

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Note added at 8 hrs (2008-05-08 15:07:11 GMT)
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Reconsidering, I think that perhaps there is no good reason to change it from "the City of Light" of the Muslim world, so agree with CMJTrans.

B D Finch
France
Local time: 16:47
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 78

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  writeaway: by using the indefinite article instead of the definite article you have changed the impact of what the source text is saying.
6 hrs
  -> Oops! Quite right.
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11 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
the intellectual capital


Explanation:
If in this case they mean the city that is the most intellectual, then I would go for this simple translation.

giltal (X)
Local time: 11:47
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in FrenchFrench
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6 days   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +1
city of enlightement


Explanation:
as if cultural, and other kinds of prosperity

Speakering (X)
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in MacedonianMacedonian, Native in Serbo-CroatSerbo-Croat

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  cjohnstone: good alternative
59 mins
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