Glossary entry (derived from question below)
French term or phrase:
Veuillez S.V.P.
English translation:
could you please
French term
Veuillez
S.V.P. Veuillez me faire parvenir la confirmation.
My tries:
If you would, please send me a confirmation.
Please kindly send me a confirmation.
as opposed to using please twice or just leaving out one:
Please send me a confirmation.
Nov 16, 2008 20:55: Enza Longo changed "Level" from "PRO" to "Non-PRO"
PRO (1): Etienne Muylle Wallace
Non-PRO (3): mchd, Julie Barber, Enza Longo
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Proposed translations
could you please
agree |
Julie Barber
: or even just "please"
1 min
|
agree |
Enza Longo
: or could you kindly send me - anything else would be way too superfluous in my opinion
3 mins
|
agree |
Alain Pommet
: "Please" (just once) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5aVhLjT7UE
14 mins
|
agree |
Rahdne Zola (X)
: or simply just "please"
18 mins
|
agree |
Michael GREEN
: And agree with Enza "Could you (or "would you") kindly ..."
18 mins
|
agree |
Aude Sylvain
20 mins
|
agree |
Assimina Vavoula
20 mins
|
agree |
Trudy Peters
22 mins
|
agree |
Estelle Demontrond-Box
27 mins
|
agree |
Katarina Peters
: simply "Please"
32 mins
|
agree |
Jean-Louis S.
40 mins
|
agree |
liz cencetti (X)
: Or just "Please", yes.
58 mins
|
agree |
Sheila Wilson
: Please confirm; Please send confirmation (no "a", "me" optional)
1 hr
|
agree |
swanda
1 hr
|
agree |
Adsion Liu
1 hr
|
agree |
myrden
: D'accord aussi avec l'alternative de Michael
1 hr
|
agree |
Kristina Kolic
2 hrs
|
disagree |
Jennifer Levey
: This does not properly reflect the instruction (not a request) implied in the French text. At a pinch it would work with 'would' instead of 'could'.
5 hrs
|
agree |
Stéphanie Soudais
16 hrs
|
disagree |
B D Finch
: "Would", not "could". Of course they can do it, that doesn't mean that they will.
18 hrs
|
agree |
AllegroTrans
: would you please, or simply "please" or "kindly"
1 day 44 mins
|
I would be most grateful if you could send me the confirmation
neutral |
Sheila Wilson
: Terribly formal
1 hr
|
neutral |
B D Finch
: Not merely over formal, but also "I should be most grateful if you would send me ..." would be the correct way to put it.
18 hrs
|
I would ask you to kindly let me have a confirmation
would you be so kind as to send...
agree |
lundy
6 mins
|
thx
|
|
agree |
333monkeys
: yes/ that's the best -- would you be so kind as to send...
33 mins
|
thx
|
|
neutral |
Sheila Wilson
: Rather old-fashioned and over-formal
53 mins
|
so I'm both
|
|
agree |
swanda
1 hr
|
agree |
liz askew
: Yep.
12 hrs
|
Please be sure to ...
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Note added at 2 hrs (2008-11-16 23:02:23 GMT)
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The French is somewhat usual (likely non-native), to the extent that I'm wondering if there might be a typo (author picked the wrong word from the spell-checker?).
Maybe 'veuillez' should be 'veillez' ... ? The French would still be 'unusual' - but my proposed translation would fit even better...
Banque de dépannage linguistique - Veuillez et veillez - [ Translate this page ]La deuxième personne du pluriel de l’impératif des verbes vouloir et veiller ont une graphie presque identique : veuillez et veillez. ...
66.46.185.79/bdl/gabarit_bdl.asp?id=1939 - 16k - Cached - Similar pages
neutral |
Sheila Wilson
: I don't understand your comment about 'veuillez being unusual - I'm non-native but I live in France and I see it all the time
7 hrs
|
I'm well aware of the standard use of veuillez meaning 'please' - what's unusual here is the tautology of 'SVP veuillez'.
|
|
neutral |
Emma Paulay
: "Veuillez" is bog standard, everyday French.
9 hrs
|
I'm well aware of the bog-standard use of veuillez meaning 'please' - what's unusual here is the tautology of 'SVP veuillez'.
|
|
disagree |
Julie Barber
: Nothing to do with an instruction, it's polite French used in every day correspondence and it's certainly not a typo
11 hrs
|
The tautology of 'SVP veuillez' is not 'used in every-day correspondence'.
|
|
neutral |
Stéphanie Soudais
: Je ne vois rien de terriblement choquant dans "SVP veuillez". Toutefois il aurait mieux fallu écrire "Veuillez, SVP,"
14 hrs
|
neutral |
B D Finch
: I think that the repetition is just bad style and has no other significance.
16 hrs
|
I/We should be grateful if you would kindly confirm .... (details or whatever it may be)
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 23 hrs (2008-11-17 19:55:22 GMT)
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OK, you can miss out the "kindly". But this is a very common expression in English. Although "Veuillez" is not too flowery, it is the subjunctive, which implies "requesting the other party to do something", not simply saying "please do". Don't you think?
agree |
B D Finch
: Overblown, but frequently used (unfortunately), so why not? At least you get the "should" and the "would" the right way around and avoid the common mistake of using "could".
3 hrs
|
Thank you
|
|
neutral |
Sheila Wilson
: I don't believe that either is a good translation for a simple "veuillez"
5 hrs
|
Please see my note
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Discussion