From time to time I read your posts and I've seen that you are a careful and informed translator. (That's in addition to the other things -- no desire to minimize.) With that in mind, I've got a suggestion: instead of rendering "pour vous conserver vos 25 francs" as "so you can keep your stipend," you might say "to save you your stipend" or "to save your stipend for you" (or "so they can save you ..."). The wording isn't quite as smooth, but I think it better discloses the full measure of the woman's disgust.
On the contrary, your wording is smoother. Also, there's a tendency, when educated informants report on working-class speech, to sanitize it somewhat, from fear that reporting it word-for word would denigrate the speaker. Victor Hugo was somewhere nearby when the event occurred. l'll save your suggestion for next year. Thanks.
From time to time I read your posts and I've seen that you are a careful and informed translator. (That's in addition to the other things -- no desire to minimize.) With that in mind, I've got a suggestion: instead of rendering "pour vous conserver vos 25 francs" as "so you can keep your stipend," you might say "to save you your stipend" or "to save your stipend for you" (or "so they can save you ..."). The wording isn't quite as smooth, but I think it better discloses the full measure of the woman's disgust.
On the contrary, your wording is smoother. Also, there's a tendency, when educated informants report on working-class speech, to sanitize it somewhat, from fear that reporting it word-for word would denigrate the speaker. Victor Hugo was somewhere nearby when the event occurred. l'll save your suggestion for next year. Thanks.
Hermeneutics. That's my thing.