Glossary entry (derived from question below)
English term or phrase:
family of great fortune
French translation:
Privilégiée
Added to glossary by
Philippe ROUSSEAU
May 2, 2020 22:04
4 yrs ago
57 viewers *
English term
France
Here for you in linguistic challenges !
Native in: French (Variant: Standard-France) 
Works in: English to French, Tagalog to French, Latin to French, and 3 more.
Family of great fortune
English to French
Social Sciences
General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters
Cette expression fait partie de la lettre d'une mère à sa fille :
"I was born in a big port city,***. My father was a civil servant, and mother was a housewife. I was born as the second child in the *family of great fortune* with one older sister, one younger sister and two younger brothers"
Je ne suis pas sûr qu'il s'agisse d'une famille riche,même si elle compte 5 enfants. J'ai en effet connu des familles de paysans qui élevaient 12 enfants avec des revenus modestes et irréguliers.
Je me demande si le mot "fortune" est à prendre dans un sens proche de son sens étymologique de "chance" ou celui traditionnel de "richesse".
Merci beaucoup pour votre aide.
"I was born in a big port city,***. My father was a civil servant, and mother was a housewife. I was born as the second child in the *family of great fortune* with one older sister, one younger sister and two younger brothers"
Je ne suis pas sûr qu'il s'agisse d'une famille riche,même si elle compte 5 enfants. J'ai en effet connu des familles de paysans qui élevaient 12 enfants avec des revenus modestes et irréguliers.
Je me demande si le mot "fortune" est à prendre dans un sens proche de son sens étymologique de "chance" ou celui traditionnel de "richesse".
Merci beaucoup pour votre aide.
Proposed translations
(French)
| 3 +4 | Privilégiée |
Hugues Roumier
|
| 4 +2 | favorisée par le destin |
Maïté Mendiondo-George
|
| 5 | famille (très) aisée |
Alcime Steiger
|
| 4 | famille gâtée par la vie |
Sylvie LE BRAS
|
Change log
May 3, 2020 05:00: Philippe ROUSSEAU changed "Field (write-in)" from "Paie" to "(none)" , "Restriction (Native Lang)" from "none" to "fra"
May 5, 2020 19:57: Philippe ROUSSEAU Created KOG entry
Proposed translations
+4
1 hr
Hugues Roumier
France
France
Native in French
Works in field
France
Legal, Medical, Marketing & Gaming
Native in: French
Works in: English to French, French, French to English
Related KudoZ points
:
8
Selected
Privilégiée
Pourquoi pas..
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Sandra Mouton
9 hrs
|
| agree |
Marion Hallouet
10 hrs
|
| agree |
Sylvie LE BRAS
1 day 9 hrs
|
| agree |
Valérie KARAM
: Cette solution permet les deux interprétations : fortune matérielle et bonne fortune, donc sans autre contexte, la meilleure solution.
1 day 11 hrs
|
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Merci beaucoup, Hugues ! Merci à toutes et à tous pour votre participation !"
+2
8 mins
Maïté Mendiondo-George
France
France
Native in French
Works in field
France
Au Plus près des mots et des cultures
Native in: French 
, German
Works in: German to French, English to French, French to German, and 2 more.
Related KudoZ points
:
4
favorisée par le destin
ce qui irait dans le sens de chance
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Helene Carrasco-Nabih
: Sonne bien
24 mins
|
| disagree |
Daryo
: if you take a look a real-life samples of how the term is used (instead of relying on your personal preferences), you'll find that the intended meaning is ways much down-to-earth.
1 hr
|
|
thnak you so much dear DARYO..
|
|
| agree |
Dumaz & Cowling
: Seems a good alternative as I have the feeling that fortune is not about money here. It would help to know if the person writting is actually an English native.
7 hrs
|
| neutral |
Alcime Steiger
: Dumaz & Cowling: here is the meaning of "fortune" that can be found in the Merriam-Webster: "4: WEALTH sense 1 They are a family of great fortune."
8 hrs
|
| agree |
Nicolas Carlier
: Je suis d'accord avec la traduction proposée mais peut-être demander l'avis de la personne qui a écrit cette lettre pour être sûr de ne pas faire de contre-sens.
8 hrs
|
|
effectivement, si la personne esr accessible.. la traduction proposée avait aussi pour but de contourner l'ambiguité en absence de contexte plus précis
|
6 mins
Alcime Steiger
France
France
Native in French
Works in field
France
Social Sciences | Published Translations
Native in: French (Variant: Standard-France)
Works in: English to French, Spanish to French
Related KudoZ points
:
16
famille (très) aisée
Voir la définition du Merriam-Webster ci-dessous (wealth).
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 6 minutes (2020-05-02 22:11:51 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
fortune noun
for·tune | \ ˈfȯr-chən \
Kids Definition of fortune
1: a large sum of money
2: what happens to a person : good or bad luck
3: what is to happen to someone in the future
I had my fortune told.
4: WEALTH sense 1
They are a family of great fortune.
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 17 heures (2020-05-03 15:09:00 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
L'exemple pris par le Webster pour le quatrième sens du mot fortune est justement l'exacte expression que l'on cherche à traduire. Partant de là, le doute n'est plus plus permis (sauf si le texte source est erroné et que le contexte laisse penser à autre chose...).
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 6 minutes (2020-05-02 22:11:51 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
fortune noun
for·tune | \ ˈfȯr-chən \
Kids Definition of fortune
1: a large sum of money
2: what happens to a person : good or bad luck
3: what is to happen to someone in the future
I had my fortune told.
4: WEALTH sense 1
They are a family of great fortune.
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 17 heures (2020-05-03 15:09:00 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
L'exemple pris par le Webster pour le quatrième sens du mot fortune est justement l'exacte expression que l'on cherche à traduire. Partant de là, le doute n'est plus plus permis (sauf si le texte source est erroné et que le contexte laisse penser à autre chose...).
Note from asker:
| Vous donnez 4 définition s possibles de la fortune, et je vous remercie pour votre recherche. L'expression famille aisée doit s'entendre au sens large. Malheureusement, cette expression a une signification encore trop restrictive et ne recouvre que l'aspect financier. Merci encore. |
Peer comment(s):
| disagree |
Helene Carrasco-Nabih
: Plat
26 mins
|
|
Pourquoi? Cette expression fait référence à la richesse financière et non à la chance (cf. définition du Webster). Une traduction qui irait dans le sens de la chance serait un faux sens.
|
|
| agree |
Daryo
1 hr
|
1 day 13 hrs
Sylvie LE BRAS
France
France
Native in French
Specializes in field
France
Native in: French
Works in: English to French, Spanish to French, French, and 1 more.
Related KudoZ points
:
31
famille gâtée par la vie
une autre façon de voir les choses
Discussion
The writer lives in a not English-speaking South-East Asian country. The mother graduated high school, then worked as a clerk. They were 5 siblings in the family. Great fortune could be here. In these countries, having a child is seen as a blessing. They are a blessing because after they studied at the University, children often go and work abroad, sending money to their family. Here, children feed the parents. Roles are reversed with many western countries.
In each of your extracts, there are clues that suggest this might be, say, African EN, or from some other country where the variant of EN is quite specifically local.
Here, you see, the expression "the family of great fortune" is really quite odd; first of all, using the def. article, where one would perhaps more often expect an indefinite: 'I was born into a rich family'
Then also 'great fortune' — as others have pointed out, a civil servant is unlikely to have a 'great fortune'; unless this is in some country where being a civil servant is considered to give someone a certain status (compared to the poverty all around, say). Again, if it was intended to have the sense of 'good luck', we'd more usually expect 'very fortunate', or perhaps 'good fortune' — the use of 'great' in my view definitely leans towards financial wealth; just as we might say 'good luck' but 'great wealth'.
But when it comes to a civil servant and a housewife, by far the most likely meaning of "great fortune" would be the most literal "fortune = richesse".
OTOH, as you have the whole text, you can see what is the writing style of this mother (rather bland and down to earth, or prone to poetic figures of style), and other elements that might indicate that the "great fortune" was in the fact that it was a particularly happy family or they were "very lucky" in some other way (doesn't seem very likely).