French term
Elle essaya de gifler cette dame, mais n'atteignit pas son but
Dec 9, 2012 05:23: cc in nyc changed "Field" from "Other" to "Medical" , "Field (specific)" from "Linguistics" to "General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters"
Dec 9, 2012 06:03: Catharine Cellier-Smart changed "Level" from "PRO" to "Non-PRO"
Dec 12, 2012 16:39: Emma Paulay changed "Field" from "Medical" to "Other"
Non-PRO (3): Sandra & Kenneth Grossman, cc in nyc, Catharine Cellier-Smart
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Proposed translations
Delivering accurate and culturally sensi
Native in: English 
, French
Works in: French to English, Spanish to English, Italian to English, and 1 more.
She tried to slap this lady, but failed.
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Note added at 26 mins (2012-12-09 03:11:52 GMT)
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We do also say to 'slap someone in the face' but most of the time 'in the face' is totally superfluous, as in this context. 'Didn't succeed' for 'atteignit' sounds unidiomatic and too literal (to me, at least).
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Yolanda Broad
1 hr
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Thanks Yolanda!
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Cervin
4 hrs
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Thanks Cervin
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Daryo
: I would add '...in the face' to avoid any ambiguity; it could also be a "slap" somewhere else (on the wrist, on the back, open-handed slap to the back of the head... )
8 hrs
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As I said above, in most contexts, including the above the sentence, adding 'in the face' is unnecessary. Based on the asker's question, this is highly unlikely to be anything but a slap in the face, and as such there would be no ambuguity whatsoever.
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Sandra & Kenneth Grossman
10 hrs
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Thanks Sangro
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Louisa Tchaicha
10 hrs
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Thanks Louisa
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23 years of freelance translations
Native in: French , English
Works in: English to French, French to English
She tried to slap this woman in the face, but she didn't succeed.
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NancyLynn
18 mins
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Catharine Cellier-Smart
: technically correct, but unless we're talking about children a slap is nearly always to the face, so "in the face" here is rather redundant IMO
3 hrs
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Daryo
: that's exactly what's in the ST
8 hrs
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She unsuccessfully tried to slap this lady
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Catharine Cellier-Smart
36 mins
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Thx!
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katsy
: (Je mettrais le "unsuccessfully" à la fin, personnellement)
4 hrs
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Thx! (Je ne sais pas. Ça change le sens que de mettre "unsuccessfully" à la fin, car on a l'impression qu'elle a fait exprès de louper son coup.
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Daryo
: changing the order gives it a different slant - almost sounds as the author regrets that she didn't manage to slap this lady.
6 hrs
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ACOZ (X)
: I would put "She tried unsuccessfully". The order given here sounds rather stilted.
17 hrs
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She tried to slap this lady, in vain.
She tried, in vain, to slap this lady.
Depending on context, "her" rather than "this lady" might be more appropriate. "This lady" sounds stilted to me and I would avoid it unless it is absolutely necessary for clarity.
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Yolanda Broad
: She tried to slap the lady in vain
3 hrs
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Yes, "the lady" is another possibility. "Attempt" works well too: "She made a vain attempt to slap the lady"...
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Helen Shiner
: Prefer your second version, probably without commas.
11 hrs
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Wolf Draeger
: She tried (in vain) to slap her.
3 days 1 hr
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United Kingdom
www.lingocraft.co.uk
Native in: English (Variants: UK, South African, British, Scottish, Irish, Singaporean) 
Works in: French to English, Italian to English, Romanian to English, and 2 more.
She tried to slap this woman/lady, but without success.
"Again, SHE TRIED TO diminish the case, BUT WITHOUT SUCCESS, because its..."
"As the days passed, SHE TRIED TO rouse Magda from the apathy into which she seemed to have fallen, BUT WITHOUT SUCCESS "
Discussion