Glossary entry (derived from question below)
French term or phrase:
avec ses pieds sur fond de lac d'huile
English translation:
(rowing) with their feet against the backdrop of the mirror-like surface of the lake
Added to glossary by
Yolanda Broad
Oct 18, 2015 11:32
8 yrs ago
French term
United Kingdom
www.lingocraft.co.uk
Native in: English (Variants: British, Scottish, Irish, Singaporean, UK, South African) 
Works in: French to English, Italian to English, Romanian to English, and 2 more.
avec ses pieds sur fond de lac d'huile
French to English
Art/Literary
General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters
Paragraph on bronze statues of a sculptress
This is the description of a sculptress's work in bronze, which depicts one of the foot-rowing fishermen at Lake Inle in Myanmar. Context reads:
"Le merveilleux Inle Balance inspiré par un voyage qu’elle fit sur le lac Inle ou dans le geste d'un gondolier local gérant la rame arrière, poussant la barque, avec ses pieds sur fond de lac d'huile elle trouve une image, une impression de paix si difficile a trouver pour un artiste en pleine phase de création, elle y trouve la dignité de cet homme et la grandeur qu’elle reproduit si bieni."
I cannot figure out for certain who "ses" refers to. I am guessing it is the fisherman, so have translated this text as:
"... the position of a local gondolier guiding his paddle behind him to push the boat along with his feed in a puddle of oil, she finds her image; a sense of peace that is so difficult for an artist at her full creative capacity to find. Here she has found the dignity of this man and a grandeur, which she has reproduced very well."
But I am concerned it could be referring to her
"Le merveilleux Inle Balance inspiré par un voyage qu’elle fit sur le lac Inle ou dans le geste d'un gondolier local gérant la rame arrière, poussant la barque, avec ses pieds sur fond de lac d'huile elle trouve une image, une impression de paix si difficile a trouver pour un artiste en pleine phase de création, elle y trouve la dignité de cet homme et la grandeur qu’elle reproduit si bieni."
I cannot figure out for certain who "ses" refers to. I am guessing it is the fisherman, so have translated this text as:
"... the position of a local gondolier guiding his paddle behind him to push the boat along with his feed in a puddle of oil, she finds her image; a sense of peace that is so difficult for an artist at her full creative capacity to find. Here she has found the dignity of this man and a grandeur, which she has reproduced very well."
But I am concerned it could be referring to her
Change log
Oct 20, 2015 20:36: Yolanda Broad changed "Edited KOG entry" from "<a href="/profile/1213228">Lara Barnett's</a> old entry - "avec ses pieds sur fond de lac d huile"" to ""(rowing) with their feet against the backdrop of the mirror-like surface of the lake""
Oct 20, 2015 20:37: Yolanda Broad changed "Term asked" from "avec ses pieds sur fond de lac d huile" to "avec ses pieds sur fond de lac d\'huile"
Proposed translations
+4
22 mins
polyglot45
Native in French
&
English
Native in: English 
, French
Works in: English to French, French to English, German to French, and 4 more.
Related KudoZ points
:
227
French term (edited):
avec ses pieds sur fond de lac d huile
Selected
(rowing) with their feet against the backdrop of the mirror-like surface of the lake
If you look up Lake Inlé, you will see that these guys are called "leg rowers" because they propel their boats using oars/paddles they manipulate with their legs
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inle_Lake
http://travel.cnn.com/explorations/life/myanmars-leg-rowers-...
With an acrobat's agility, an Intha fisherman stands upright with one leg locked around a long oar and the other foot firmly gripping the flat stern of his boat as he sculls along one of Inle Lake’s channels.
Their feet are therefore NOT on the bottom but firmly on the boat (see picture in second link).
The 'fond' is therefore a 'backdrop'
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Note added at 30 mins (2015-10-18 12:02:31 GMT)
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Lara, the punctuation is actually fine !
"gérant la rame arrière, poussant la barque, avec ses pieds..." = "controlling the rear oar, the oar that propels the boat//propelling the boat, with his feet..."
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Note added at 41 mins (2015-10-18 12:14:14 GMT)
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Inlé où (the text reads "ou"). They could have written où, dans.... d'huile, but it is not wrong without the two commas
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inle_Lake
http://travel.cnn.com/explorations/life/myanmars-leg-rowers-...
With an acrobat's agility, an Intha fisherman stands upright with one leg locked around a long oar and the other foot firmly gripping the flat stern of his boat as he sculls along one of Inle Lake’s channels.
Their feet are therefore NOT on the bottom but firmly on the boat (see picture in second link).
The 'fond' is therefore a 'backdrop'
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 30 mins (2015-10-18 12:02:31 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
Lara, the punctuation is actually fine !
"gérant la rame arrière, poussant la barque, avec ses pieds..." = "controlling the rear oar, the oar that propels the boat//propelling the boat, with his feet..."
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 41 mins (2015-10-18 12:14:14 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
Inlé où (the text reads "ou"). They could have written où, dans.... d'huile, but it is not wrong without the two commas
Note from asker:
| Thank you. Yes I have read about the leg-rowing techniques. I think the punctuation is not very good here. I just wanted to check. |
| I thought it sounded odd that there is no comma separating her finding of the image: ", avec ses pieds sur fond de lac d'huile elle trouve une image," ... |
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
ormiston
: like rowing, but surely 'his' feet? And what about 'across the glassy surface of the lake'?
2 hrs
|
|
"glassy" is good and, yes, it should be his - I was distracted by the quotation I found - these rowers are a very impressive sight in real life
|
|
| agree |
Philippa Smith
: and agree with ormiston, "his" and the suggestion
4 hrs
|
| agree |
AllegroTrans
: simply: (rowing) with their feet across the mirror-like lake
21 hrs
|
| agree |
B D Finch
23 hrs
|
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
52 mins
Janice Giffin
Italy
Italy
Native in English
Specializes in field
Italy
Accuracy, reliability and timeliness
Native in: English
Works in: Italian to English, Spanish to English
French term (edited):
avec ses pieds sur fond de lac d huile
(The fisherman steers the boat) with his feet, across the calm surface of the lake.
I think that "lac d' huile" may be a sort of metaphor to describe a calm surface of the lake: a sort of oil-on-water effect. Notice the cover of Amy Tan's novel Saving Fish from Drowning.
Reference comments
1 day 16 mins
Reference:
A picture
It always helps to see what the text is describing. No puddles of oil here! ;)
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Note added at 1 day8 hrs (2015-10-19 19:45:34 GMT) Post-grading
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It is really annoying when the KudoZ system cuts the end off references! At least you have seen other photos and now know what was meant.
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Note added at 1 day8 hrs (2015-10-19 19:45:34 GMT) Post-grading
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It is really annoying when the KudoZ system cuts the end off references! At least you have seen other photos and now know what was meant.
Reference:
http://www.minordiversion.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Inle-Lake-Leg-Rowing-Myanmar-1024x682.jpg
Note from asker:
| Yes thanks. Your link did not work but I have seen photos and read about the technique. I thought the puddle of oil might have been inside the boat. |
Discussion
Voilà : https://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/mer_d’huile
Simple.