sans que rien dans son comportement ne le laisse prévoir

English translation: unexpectedly

15:30 Jul 14, 2011

French to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Poetry & Literature

French term or phrase: sans que rien dans son comportement ne le laisse prévoir

Un pieton quand il se lance sur la chaussee

J Nash

English translation:unexpectedly

Explanation:
This is what those ten words boil down to!

Selected response from:

philgoddard
United States

Grading comment

4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

4 +5

unexpectedly

philgoddard

4 +3

nothing about his behaviour indicated he was about to do so

Tony M

3 +2

for no apparent reason

reeny

3 +2

without warning

polyglot45

his behaviour gave no indication that he was about to do this

Teresa Quinn

no indication is his behavior shows he foresaw/could have foreseen

Verginia Ophof

without anything in his behaviour predicting it

claude-andrew

while nothing in his behavior that would have allowed anyone to foresee it

reorient

with no way of seeing it coming (in the way he was acting before darting out onto the road)

MatthewLaSon

Discussion entries: 10

cc in nyc

"à tête" or "la tête"?

11:33 Jul 15, 2011

Please verify. (Accents would help in this case – as usual.)

J Nash

ASKER

context

11:18 Jul 15, 2011

le quadragenaire qui se lance sur la chaussee sans que rien dans son comportement ne le laisse prevoir ne tournera pas a tete vers le motard sous les roues duquel il aurait pu passer, pour s'excuser d'un geste ou d'un sourire. MODERN LITERATURE

Dieezah

Martinique

The whole sentence please !

02:26 Jul 15, 2011

Indeed we need the whole sentence because many of us have chosen to interpret this as being a sentence written in the past tense and I'm not so sure it has to be. Without the whole source sentence (Un pieton est capable de se lancer sur la chaussée sans que rien dans son comportement ne le laisse prévoir...) it's hard to tell (Un piéton s'élancera sur la chaussée sans que rien ...) which way you can translate it... (Un piéton s'est lancé sur la chaussée sans que rien...) ... Ok by now you all get my point, I guess....

cc in nyc

16:54 Jul 14, 2011

I believe that "le" refers to the pedestrian's launching himself into the roadway – presumably into the path of oncoming vehicles.

MatthewLaSon

16:46 Jul 14, 2011

If this is a very literary context, perhaps you'd want to "spice it up" (by saying a phrase (like the French), and not just use a single word in English. It's up to you.

Kirsten Bodart

United Kingdom

I meant time frame

16:22 Jul 14, 2011

as in era it was written in. It doesn't seem too old, but when translating something like this, it is always good to know.
And I agree with 'le'.

polyglot45

but what does "le" refer to?

16:10 Jul 14, 2011

could we have the whole sentence please?

J Nash

ASKER

15:53 Jul 14, 2011

se lancer can have the meaning of rushing or just stepping rather headstrongly. I'm trying to do a interlinear translation as much as possible.

Kirsten Bodart

United Kingdom

What time frame

15:46 Jul 14, 2011

are we looking for?

J Nash

ASKER

structure

15:35 Jul 14, 2011

He rushes on to the road without warning?

Answers

18 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +2

sans que rien dans son comportement ne le laisse prevoir for no apparent reason

Explanation:
That's how I'd put it

reeny
Local time: 01:05
Native speaker of:

English

29 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +5

sans que rien dans son comportement ne le laisse prevoir

unexpectedly

Explanation:
This is what those ten words boil down to!

philgoddard
United States
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 16

27 mins confidence:

sans que rien dans son comportement ne le laisse prevoir no indication is his behavior shows he foresaw/could have foreseen

Explanation:
suggestion

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 34 mins (2011-07-14 16:05:24 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

correct sentence should read : V
no indication is his behavior shows one could have foreseen

Verginia Ophof
Belize
Local time: 17:05
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 16

39 mins confidence:

sans que rien dans son comportement ne le laisse prevoir without anything in his behaviour predicting it

Explanation:
A straight translation

claude-andrew
France
Local time: 01:05
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 8

41 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +3

sans que rien dans son comportement ne le laisse prevoir nothing about his behaviour indicated he was about to do so

Explanation:
You'll need to re-work the sentenc a bit to fit this in, but I think the idea is correctly conveyed.

Alternative:

There was nothing about his behaviour to suggest he was about to... [step out into the road].

I don't think it's 'rush' here; just 'venture out onto'...

Tony M
France
Local time: 01:05
Works in field
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 128

57 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +2

sans que rien dans son comportement ne le laisse prevoir without warning

Explanation:
the guy suddenly stepped out into the street

polyglot45
Native speaker of:

English,

French
PRO pts in category: 52

5 hrs confidence:

sans que rien dans son comportement ne le laisse prevoir his behaviour gave no indication that he was about to do this

Explanation:
I think I would express it like this - just a slight variation on the other answers.

Teresa Quinn
United Kingdom
Local time: 00:05
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 4

2 days 4 hrs confidence:

while nothing in his behavior that would have allowed anyone to foresee it

Explanation:
Variants: "someone" or "anyone", "foresee it" or "foresee this"
A very similar sentence can be found in the reference given below.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 days4 hrs (2011-07-16 19:36:18 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Sorry, without "that" of course: "while (there was) nothing in his behavior that would have allowed anyone to foresee it".

Example sentence(s):

There was nothing in their respective origins that could have allowed anyone to foresee that these infants of Roubaix and the Place Clichy would one day emerge as two of the world's most famous French creators.

Reference: http://www.georges-delerue.com/eng/oeuvres/musique-ecran/tru...

reorient
Local time: 02:05
Works in field
Native speaker of:

German

17 mins confidence:

sans que rien dans son comportement ne le laisse prevoir with no way of seeing it coming (in the way he was acting before darting out onto the road)

Explanation:
Hello,

I might say this.

I hope it helps.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 18 mins (2011-07-14 15:49:27 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

If he were put forth as somehow important, we couldn't really say we had no way of seeing it coming (as indeed many people have seen it ...

http://forums.animesuki.com/showthread.php?p=3414453

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 5 days (2011-07-20 02:47:26 GMT) Post-grading
--------------------------------------------------

I don't agree that "short and sweet" is always the best way to translate. Although I don't disagree in any way with "unexpectedly" as a translation, I find that "lengthier" translations are sometimes more appropriate, depending on the context. Being more verbose isn't always a bad thing.

MatthewLaSon
Local time: 19:05
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 20

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English translation: unexpectedly

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