A travelogue of Fleming’s French in Casino Royale

We at CommanderBond.net offer to you a list of translations of the French words and phrases that pepper the novel Casino Royale. We say pepper because they add flavour to an already wonderful text without overburdening the text (and the reader) with the extra work of having to figure out the translations. Fleming constructed sentences that did not depend on the reader understanding what the word meant in French to get the full meaning. On the contrary, the reader can get the meaning of the word in French from the context of the sentence.

Nevertheless, it is curious to see what the literal and every day meanings of these words and phrases are. You will note that some words do not have any translations. Those words have become part of the English language wholesale, without translation, but with correct meaning attached to them.

You will note that some words are rather curious, both in their French origins and in the English translations. For example, there is the phrase “mais n’enculons pas des mouches,” which Bond tells us is a vulgar way of saying “But we won’t split hairs.” Its literal translation is “But let us not nit pick.” What is vulgar about that? Has Bond picked one too many nits out of a Bond girl’s hair? Of course, by vulgar Bond may just have meant “not proper French”.

Other phrases are simply curious to watch as they go through the process of translation. Maisons de passé literally means “houses of the past,” but in every day conversation would be “houses of prostitution.” If you think about it, the literal phrase makes sense. Houses of the Past makes for an interesting literal translation since Prostitution is frequently referred to as the world’s oldest profession, so yes, the past is happily and passionately acknowledged in such a place. Also, in these brothels men can recapture their youthful past where they were free to have sex with whatever woman they wanted, whenever they wanted. The only modern intrusion is in these masions, they must pay for the privledge of reclaiming their past.

And then there is this curious quote from M., which comes in chapter two of Casino Royale. M. has just read a small passage of the dossier written by the Head of S., where said head of section S uses a little too much French for M.’s liking:

Fleming had to know that his audience would probably not have much more than an elementary understanding of French. Moreover, that understanding was probably forgotten as soon as the reader was done with his (and I won’t write her, because I don’t think Fleming was thinking of persons such as myself when he was writing), schooling. So why would Mr. Fleming put us through a refresher course in French?

Simply put, we the readers were being introduced to something that Fleming would reveal later on—Bond’s flawless capacity to speak French. As we learn in Fleming’s novels and in Pearson’s “biography” of Bond, Bond can speak perfect French and German. If Bond can communicate in the native language, why wouldn’t he give himself the ease and advantage of speaking in that language? Indeed speaking in the native tongue would help him to blend in more, to slip into the shadows more easily.

Also, in writing it is always better to show rather than to tell the reader something. After watching Bond speak in colloquial or every day French, we get a greater understanding of who the man is and how he operates.

Bond and Fleming were well-traveled men. Why shouldn’t they use what they know, and then teach it to us? We could only be the better for the lesson.