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Grand rendement: n'assaisonner qu'a la fin
tableau des résultats
Jul 9, 2012 09:21
11 yrs ago
24 viewers *
French term

coups de coeur

French to English Other Marketing
Target=UK

Context: A newsletter for a boat maker.

Les équipes XXXX vous souhaitent un été haut en couleurs et en coups de cœur !

This sentence is followed by a list of boats that you are presumably supposed to fall for!

I rang the customer who said, it's the idea behind 'craquer' or 'séduire au coeur'

My problem is that in English we need to say what we are falling for, don't we?

Any ideas?

I don't seem to be able to come up with anything satisfactory.
Proposed translations (English)
3 +8 express it verbally
5 heart's desire
5 fall in love with
4 Infatuation
4 Fondness
3 +1 wishing you a colourful and irresistible summer
3 +1 Go overboard this summer (with some of our favourite boats):
4 Endearment / Endearing
4 wish you a summer full of sunshine and excitement
3 Crush
3 enchantment
3 craze
3 things that simply take your breath away
3 Cupid's (sweet/fresh) arrows
3 loves-at-first-sight

Discussion

philgoddard Jul 10, 2012:
Yes, but Nikki's answer shows the importance of looking at the whole sentence and not just focusing on individual words.
Miranda Joubioux (X) (asker) Jul 10, 2012:
There are lots of suggestions here that could work in other situations. Let's hope they don't get lost somewhere in the bowels of KudoZ.
kashew Jul 9, 2012:
The other bit haut en couleur adj. with a ruddy complexion!
Or, could it be some other maritime wordplay on couleurs = flags
Maybe the writer is cleverer than we think?
philgoddard Jul 9, 2012:
Miranda Apologies if I'm telling you something you know already, but "les équipes' is often best translated as "the team".
Miranda Joubioux (X) (asker) Jul 9, 2012:
Wow! Far was I from thinking I would receive so many answers! Plenty of food for thought! Thank you all.

Proposed translations

+8
27 mins
Selected

express it verbally

... wish you a bright and breezy summer aboard one of our favourite yachts

The way "coup de coeur" works in French, it is sweet, yet snappy. Sweet 'n' snappy in English with "fond", "love" etc can come across sweet, but not snappy. I think you cannot translate it directly, not efficiently in context anyway. Your best bet is to just rethink your own sentence to get the sweet and snappy across.
Peer comment(s):
agree ST Translations
1 min
agree Bertrand Leduc
5 mins
agree B D Finch
25 mins
agree writeaway : one of the most 'over-used' Fr marketing phrases. so many ways to get around it in English, depending on context
2 hrs
agree Sheila Wilson : perhaps "aboard your favourite" just to show you'll love it so much you'll buy it.
3 hrs
agree philgoddard : This might need adapting to the context, but it's very good.
3 hrs
agree NancyLynn : with Sheila too
4 hrs
agree Yolanda Broad : Along with the "animation" group, "coup de coeur" drives me crazy!!!
1 day 5 hrs
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thanks Nikki. I did what you said and I also worked in the next sentence to avoid repeating the word yacht. Many thanks to everyone for your ideas."
9 mins

Crush

Une humble contribution car en anglais, on exprime le coup de coeur par la mot "crush".Cependant, quand il s'agit d'achat on dit très souvent "impulse buy"
Reference:

http://dictionary.reverso.net/french-english/coup%20de%20coeur

Peer comment(s):
neutral B D Finch : One generally has a "crush" on a person, not on a boat!
42 mins
neutral Sheila Wilson : with BD; I don't think crush or impulse buy would work here
3 hrs
Something went wrong...
11 mins

enchantment

... full of colour and enchantment ...

Any good?
Something went wrong...
11 mins

Infatuation

It doesn't match the French exactly in sense but seems to me to work in terms of what the client are looking to express and works grammatically in the structure
Something went wrong...
17 mins

Fondness

I find it hard to literally translate coup de coeur. Especially since here, I don't believe it is referring to the love context, i.e to fall for someone (or infatuation), but rather as you seem to say to fall for the boats the boatmaker is selling.

So I'm suggesting fondness because it implies attraction and a strong liking of the boats that are listed below.
Example sentence:

XXX wishes you a summer filled with colors and fondness

Something went wrong...
25 mins

craze

Dans l'idée d'engouement pour quelque chose...juste une suggestion!
Something went wrong...
28 mins

things that simply take your breath away

another suggestion-(some yachts would definitely.!.)
Something went wrong...
+1
57 mins

wishing you a colourful and irresistible summer

Just an idea that may lead to another...
Peer comment(s):
agree Wolf Draeger : Irresistible is good.
3 mins
neutral Nikki Scott-Despaigne : The suggestion can be close or far from the original, but I think it has to describe the boats being offered in there somewhere. Can you link "irresistible" to the choice of boats?
36 mins
Something went wrong...
58 mins

Cupid's (sweet/fresh) arrows

Summer is the season of love, of those "summer crush" experiences, so I think the expression does refer deliberately to being "lovestruck" or momentarily struck by Cupid's arrow. The imagery is then carried over to the boats themselves (while you're falling "in love" with that hot stranger, you may just "fall" for one of our boats as well).

Boats/yachts are also great places on which to conduct a casual romance, so again, the comparison appears deliberate.

Rainbows for colours to rhyme with arrows (compare the FR couleurs and coeur). Sweet/fresh (or an alternative adj) is optional; we don't want the text to be too syrupy, as it is ultimately about selling boats, not summer love :-)
Example sentence:

The XXX team wishes you a summer filled with rainbows and Cupid's (sweet) arrows.

Peer comment(s):
neutral Nikki Scott-Despaigne : Probably off target, if you excuse the pun! A coup de coeur is (over-?) used in commercial French, so the English version can be freely translated, light and commercial. They are in the boat business, not a matrimonial agency.
37 mins
Something went wrong...
+1
2 hrs

Go overboard this summer (with some of our favourite boats):

Then list the boats. Not perfect, but not unusual in marketing-speak.
Reference:

http://fishingknots.plansandideas.com/?p=724

http://blog.syracuse.com/entertainment/2011/02/saturday_best_bet_go_overboard.html

Peer comment(s):
neutral philgoddard : As in drown, you mean?
1 hr
That would be fall overboard, Phil :)
agree kashew : Interesting proposal
2 hrs
Thanks, kashew
neutral Nikki Scott-Despaigne : I have the same problem as Phil with this play on words. Going overboard when sailing is ominous. Could have a coup de coeur (heart attack???) and go overboard!//I am familiar with the expression but too close to MOB and disaster to be "vendeur".
2 hrs
No need to go overboard and agree with Phil, Nikki! See the two references I posted, the term is a well-used nautical pun.
Something went wrong...
3 hrs

heart's desire

Although very difficult to translate definitively into English because it can be used in several varying contexts, here, "coups de coeur" can be translated as "heart's desire." Both expressions refer to a longing for something so strong that it goes straight to (or originates from, as the case may be) your heart.

Here, the sentence might read, XXX wishes you a lively summer searching for your heart's desire! This comes close to expressing the client':s ideas of "craquer" and especially "séduire au coeur." (I can see this in an ad with a picture of a couple at the wheel of a sailboat looking out over the ocean.)

As Dorothy said in The Wizard of Oz:

Well, I -- I think that it -- that it wasn't enough just to want to see Uncle Henry and Auntie Em -- and it's that – if I ever go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't look any further than my own backyard. Because if it isn't there, I never really lost it to begin with! Is that right?
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4 hrs

fall in love with

"Coups de coeur" is difficult to translate. I think I would change the expression in English completely. My suggestion would be: "The XXX teams" wish you a colourful, glorious summer, certain that you will fall in love with one of our boats". Word added and structure changed. (After all, adverts usually have little meaning)
Something went wrong...
4 hrs

Endearment / Endearing

This is one way I would try and translate this, using a form of this word - maybe the verb, adjective or noun in some form or other.
"Endearment
noun
1. the act of endearing.
2. the state of being endeared.
3. something that endears; an action or utterance showing affection: to murmur endearments."
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/endearment?s=t

"Endearing
adjective
1. tending to make dear or beloved.
2. manifesting or evoking affection: an endearing smile."
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/endearing
Example sentence:

"Merlin has a definite charm and the sort of 'do anything' character that has ENDEARED old working boats to me for years, and it was a case of love at first sight. "

"A full bridge deck overhang protected the walk-around side decks a feature which ENDEARED the boat to many couples, as it facilitated two-person linehandling and movement through locks."

Reference:

http://boatdesign.net/2003/

http://www.denisonyachtsales.com/yacht-broker-listings/used-mainship-boats-for-sale/boat-reviews-mainship-trawlers/350390-mainship-boat-revi

Something went wrong...
2 hrs

loves-at-first-sight

It's been used before:
[...] modèle sportif et élégant, alliance réussie de carbone et de PVD noir souligné par des touches de PVD rose, dénote une originalité artistique qui en fera une montre coup de coeur.
watches-lexic.ch
[...] sporty and elegant model, successfully combining carbon and black PVD with highlights in rose PVD, expresses an artistic originality that will make it a love-at-first-sight watch.
watches-lexic.ch


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Note added at 5 heures (2012-07-09 14:41:58 GMT)
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They are hoping for impulse buys - but you can't say that!
Peer comment(s):
neutral Nikki Scott-Despaigne : I shall keep this one in reserve for future use. Works well for the over-used "coup de coeur". However, here, the unfaithfulness of having multiple loves at first sight for more than one boat make it a dodgy option! Love @ 1st sight suggests uniqueness.
1 hr
They are addressing all potential clients, so why not "loves..." More loves, more bucks!
Something went wrong...
6 hrs

wish you a summer full of sunshine and excitement

Hello,

haut en couleur = sunshine-filled (that's how I read it)

haut en coups de coeur = full of excitement


I hope this helps.

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Note added at 6 hrs (2012-07-09 16:20:39 GMT)
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I wouldn't get complicated with this in English, even though the French seems so "colorful", but standard for this type of register.
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