Catharine Cellier-Smart (asker) Jun 11, 2018:

In the end I went with
"You could say it’s a case of Jumping Jack Flash: their fruit grow on the trunk and as they are much appreciated by locals they are generally gone in a flash ..."

Catharine Cellier-Smart (asker) Jun 6, 2018:

@Francois It doesn't need to have anything to do with his personality! It's play on words about jackfruit growing on the trunk of the jackfruit tree.

Francois Boye Jun 6, 2018:

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Dutronc

Who can tell me what the Jumping Jack story has to do with Jacques Dutronc's personality?

katsy Jun 6, 2018:

@AllegroTrans Thanks for your remark! No, I'd say it was not correcting, but rendering the corniness. The original is corny, the translation also, (no more, no less corny) but it is comprehensible to all. Another example of this class of translation, which I adore- one of my favourites, from Pulp Fiction I believe. "What did Mommy tomato say to baby tomato when they were crossing the road? - Ketchup!", Rendered in the subtitles by "Qu'est-ce la maman citron a dit au bébé citron en traversant la route - presse-toi!"

AllegroTrans Jun 6, 2018:

@ Katsy The version you agreed with totally changed the "pun" so wasn't that an attempt to correct "corniness"?
If this was a legal or official document I would be agreeing 100% with you that it's not for the translator to attempt to correct "corniness". As far as I can see it's perhaps some kind of tourist blurb. As we all know well, this kind of text is quite often OTT and needs to be re-written. Even the asker is tempted to leave out the Jacques Dutrunc "pun", which I think tells us something.

katsy Jun 6, 2018:

my two-cents' worth Not at all convinced it's any more corny in English (the version I agreed with); plus not at all sure that it's within the translator's remit to "correct" any perceived corniness.

Claire Nolan Jun 6, 2018:

Corniness Agree with Allegro!!

philgoddard Jun 6, 2018:

Agree with Allegro It's quite neat in the French, but anything in English will be less so.

AllegroTrans Jun 6, 2018:

Personally I find the source text very corny and I think any attempt to translate it will result in something even more corny. I would try to reword it completely, removing the pun altogether.

Catharine Cellier-Smart (asker) Jun 6, 2018:

@Margaret I like your Jumping Jack Flash suggestion - could you post it as an answer?

Lucy Galbraith Jun 6, 2018:

I like Margaret's Jumpin' Jack Flash idea. Also thought of some terrible/wonderful Jack and the Beanstalk puns: This time Jack himself is the golden egg - these new giants in the health food world, which grow directly from the trunk, don't stay long on the stalk.

katsy Jun 6, 2018:

with Margaret If there's not enough space to explain there's a pun, I'd have thought that the "Jumpin' Jack Flash" reference would be good, perfectly clear to a UK readership

writeaway Jun 6, 2018:

Agree with Alexandre I don't think you have to stray far from the original.

Margaret Morrison Jun 6, 2018:

Something to do with them being so popular they virtually jump off the tree in a flash (Jumping Jack...Fruit)? Could maintain some kind of musical theme with a Rolling Stones hommage - Jumping Jack Flash etc

Catharine Cellier-Smart (asker) Jun 6, 2018:

Thank you Alexandre. I know it's his real name, but perhaps I didn't explain myself properly. There's no point in me leaving 'Jacques Dutronc' in my translation as he's unknown outside of France and even if he was well-known enough non-French speakers wouldn't necessarily make the association with "jack/jacques" and "trunk/tronc". I don't have a whole lot of room either, so I don't want to start explaining the pun in brackets.

Alexandre Tissot Jun 6, 2018:

Good morning, Just as a reminder, 'Jacques Dutronc' is really the singer's name: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Dutronc

I would tend to leave it as it is and, perhaps, explain the pun between brackets but let us wait the natives speakers' points of view.