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"ETOFFEMENT" (OR LENGTHENING OUT) "Etoffement" (*), or lengthening out, is a process in which the French translation is longer than the original wording in English : - "Please, come back," he said piteously : « Je t'en prie, reviens », dit-il d'une voix qui faisait pitié - I must list my options first : Tout d'abord, il me faut examiner les solutions qui s'offrent à moi In some instances, lengthening out is unavoidable : - To my surprise : A ma grande surprise (A ma surprise would sound awkard) - "You are Lauren Smith, aren't you?" : « Vous êtes bien Lauren Smith, n'est-ce pas ?" - in Middleport, N. Y. (AM 83) : à Middleport, dans l'état de New York (the American initials N. Y. for New York State are not used in French) - Marco Schall, 24 (AM 86) : Marco Schall, âgé de 24 ans (French cannot be content with a mere figure to indicate a person's age) - Fast food tempts the hurried (AM 92) : La restauration rapide tente les gens pressés (a literal rendering of "the hurried" by « les pressés » is impossible in French) - programs by private enterprise (...) to improve the quality of work (AM 83) : des programmes mis sur pied par les entreprises privées (...) pour améliorer la qualité du travail - From John (sur un paquet-cadeau) : De la part de John - the girl in red trousers la jeune fille vêtue d'un pantalon rouge Lengthening out is a method to be found more frequently in English-to-French translation than in French-to-English translation, as French is more analytical and less concise than English. (*) Another French designation for this process is "dilution".
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