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  3. General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters

qui tient davantage du face à face

English translation: which is/was more like a clash of egos

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
French term or phrase:qui tient davantage du face à face d'égos
English translation:which is/was more like a clash of egos
Entered by: Tony M

20:19 May 7, 2020
French to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters / Opera festival review
French term or phrase: qui tient davantage du face à face
Autre paire de manches pour la Rencontre Inédite de Karita Mattila (avec qui nous avons échangé il y a plusieurs jours) et d’Evgeny Kissin, qui tient davantage du face à face d’égos que de la musique de chambre.

Is this about depending on strong egos of a singer, rather than from Chamber music itself?
Lara Barnett
United Kingdom
Local time: 00:04
which is/was more like a clash of egos
Explanation:
The FR expression 'tenir de...' means, in essence, 'resembles' — « Elle tient de sa mère » — "she looks like her mother". So with 'davantage', it means "resembled more a..."
So you can make this as subtle or as obvious as you like... to me 'face à face' definitely implies a not-wholly-constructive 'confrontation'.
As for the tense, I think there's a good case to be made for regarding this FR present tense as a 'narrative present' recounting what seems clearly to have been a past event, whence my suggestion of using a simple past tense in EN.

I'm not a great lover of Duolinguo, but here's an example they give of this same construction, albeit with a very different rendering in EN:

"Elle tient de son père." - Duolingoforum.duolingo.com › comment › El...

"Elle tient de son père." Traduction :She takes after her father.


--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 12 hrs (2020-05-08 08:44:05 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Note how in EN we say 'takes after' whereas in FR we say 'tenir de' — literally, 'holds from', but same logic.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 14 hrs (2020-05-08 11:17:36 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

I think it might be better to say 'which seemed / felt more like a..."
Selected response from:

Tony M
France
Local time: 01:04
Grading comment
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +8which is/was more like a clash of egos
Tony M
4 +1which has rather to do with a clash of egos
Francois Boye
3 -2that keeps the confrontation of two egos under control
Barbara Cochran, MFA


Discussion entries: 7





  

Answers


54 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): -2
that keeps the confrontation of two egos under control


Explanation:
tenir davantage=to keep under control

BTW, I actually came up with this translation before Tony M posted, but had decided to mull it over.

Barbara Cochran, MFA
United States
Local time: 19:04
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 16

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  Tony M: This is exactly the opposite of what it means — the expression in FR is 'tenir de...', which has a totally different meaning from 'restrain'
9 mins
disagree  Rob Grayson: Unfortunately, this is a total mistranslation.
10 hrs
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +8
which is/was more like a clash of egos


Explanation:
The FR expression 'tenir de...' means, in essence, 'resembles' — « Elle tient de sa mère » — "she looks like her mother". So with 'davantage', it means "resembled more a..."
So you can make this as subtle or as obvious as you like... to me 'face à face' definitely implies a not-wholly-constructive 'confrontation'.
As for the tense, I think there's a good case to be made for regarding this FR present tense as a 'narrative present' recounting what seems clearly to have been a past event, whence my suggestion of using a simple past tense in EN.

I'm not a great lover of Duolinguo, but here's an example they give of this same construction, albeit with a very different rendering in EN:

"Elle tient de son père." - Duolingoforum.duolingo.com › comment › El...

"Elle tient de son père." Traduction :She takes after her father.


--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 12 hrs (2020-05-08 08:44:05 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Note how in EN we say 'takes after' whereas in FR we say 'tenir de' — literally, 'holds from', but same logic.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 14 hrs (2020-05-08 11:17:36 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

I think it might be better to say 'which seemed / felt more like a..."

Tony M
France
Local time: 01:04
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 348
Notes to answerer
Asker: OK, great, thanks.


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  j1lrh807bkjg
18 mins
  -> Thanks j1!
agree  philgoddard: I was thinking "qui" referred to Kissin, but of course it's the "rencontre".
1 hr
  -> Thanks, Phil!
agree  SafeTex
10 hrs
  -> Thanks, S/T!
agree  Sheila Wilson
10 hrs
  -> Thanks, Sheila!
agree  EirTranslations
11 hrs
  -> Oh hi Beatriz! Thanks a lot!
agree  writeaway: Not exactly Gerald Moore and Schwarzkopf. Two major soloists attempting to get together for a bit of Lieder, each going their own way musically. She's a Wagnerian soprano and he's a concert pianist. Good luck with that one...
13 hrs
  -> Thanks! You read my mind: it was exactly they who came to mind when I wrote this; unfortunate (or provocative?) programming, to say the least. I don't see a virtuoso like Kissin in this role at all.
agree  AllegroTrans: using "resembles" or "resembling" would work well and sound a little more compact
13 hrs
  -> Thanks, C!
agree  Eliza Hall
20 hrs
  -> Thanks, Eliza!
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19 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
which has rather to do with a clash of egos


Explanation:
my take

Francois Boye
United States
Local time: 19:04
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in FrenchFrench
PRO pts in category: 41

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Eliza Hall
1 hr
  -> Thanks!
neutral  Tony M: A lot better — though the use of 'rather' tends to invite some opposition which in this case is absent in the s/t.
1 hr
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