Pardon Data's French

Cafe Society
1

In ST:TNG episode “Time’s Arrow, Part 1” (the one where Data and company go back in time to meet Mark Twain in old San Francisco), Data realizes he needs money in order to keep up
a residence and funds to aquire the equipment needed to detect
(insert appropriate treknology term here), thus saving the future.

Instead of a job, he turns to out-hustling the local card sharks in a game of Poker. The Head Shark…Marc Alomino of Gul Ducat fame…notices Data’s odd appearance and inquires why.
Data replies he is a “Frenchman”.

In an attempt to trip him up, the Shark starts up a conversation in French, which Data likewise replies.

What is the translation of this conversation?

2

Original French text (from the closed captioning):

Shark: mes parents sont originaires de bourgogne
je suis ne a la new orleans

Data:alors, nous sommes presque freres
je suis heureux de vous connaitre

Approximate translation from Babel Fish:

Shark: My parents are from Burgundy. I am from New Orleans

Data: We are almost brothers. I am happy to know you

3

Here’s the actual Babel Fish translation. You’ll have to re-arrange the grammar:

Shark: my parents are originating in Burgundy
I am does not have the new Orleans

Data: then, we are almost brothers I am happy to know you

4

Mr. Blue Sky wrote:

The authors of this closed captioning must not have been very good French speakers. It’s pretty obvious the 2nd sentence is supposed to be:

“Je suis née a la New Orleans”

… which means I was born in New Orleans.
(Even I could tell this, and I never studied French!)

5

Ummm actually just “né”, as the speaker is male. “Née” is fer wimmin folk.

[obsessive linguist hat OFF (it’s givin me hat hair anyways)]

6

Okay, so I’ll put the damn hat back on to add an accent mark: “Je suis né à la New Orleans [Nouvelle Orléans]” Two more years and I’ll forget all my French, really!

7

Do the French call it Nouvelle Orleans, or New Orleans? Similarly, is it Nouvelle York?

8

From my French studies I can infer this:

Shark: My parents are from Burgundy. I was born in New Orleans.
Data: Then we are practically [lit. “almost”] brothers. I’m happy to know you.

I think the Shark (whom I keep thinking of as Gul Dukat since Marc Alaimo played both) made an error. French doesn’t use the definite article before city names. He should have said just “Je suis né à New Orléans.”

9

You have to expect some changes by the time you reach the 24th century.
:wink:

10

Sacre’ Bleu!

11

Yeah, but Alaimo’s Frenchman lived in the 19th century.

12

HO-Lee CRAP.

Is 20 years a board record to necro a thread into zombiehood?

13

Probably not. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen a 99 thread bumped in the past couple of years.

14

The android (Robert Fox) in The Questor Tapes also gambled to get money when he and his “creator” (Mike Farrell) were stuck in London, but it was with craps and not poker.

I wonder how many times this scenario has been used in other dramatic works?