My mother told me that watching TV in English made a big impact on her English fluency.
Knowing which preposition to use is sometimes challenging.
Prepositions are one of the hardest things to translate. Sometimes, translating it one way gives it a different meaning than you intended and other times it really doesn't but wouldn't be the "common" usage.
To give an example, my sister was going on about people translating stuff in the Harry Potter books, looking for hidden meanings, and she told me Voldemort was French for "flight of death" and I told her "No, de can also be translated as from. I would translate that flight from death."
Flight of death is nonsense in English. It doesn't make sense. Flight from death has a completely different meaning and makes perfect sense -- Lord Voldemort was trying to get out of dying. He was trying to escape his own death. He was fleeing from death.
But if you are talking about someone's hometown, saying "Doreen, from Columbus" or "Doreen, of Columbus" means the same thing and most people wouldn't misunderstand it. De in French is often used that way as well and it more or less doesn't matter which of the two English prepositions you use.
Rowling has a strong french heritage and a degree in french literature. As a native french speaker, I can assure you that this is a deliberate play on both meanings: "Flight from death" because he is the one who escapes death, and "Theft of death" because this is the way he kills his enemies (The Avada Kedavra spells capture the soul of the dead into the wand)
While "flight of death" is slightly nonsensical, "Flight from death" is just wrong, "Vol" can mean a flight in the sense of flying but not in the sense of fleeing.
Edit: I just realised you might have meant that translated literally it makes more sense in English.
In the context of looking for Easter Eggs and hidden meanings in the Harry Potter books, "flight from death" makes more sense.
I don't actually know the proper usage of vol in French. My sister supplied that information and, obviously, she knows less French than I do. My example was just intended to illustrate that de can be translated as either from or of and sometimes which one you use completely changes the meaning in English and sometimes it doesn't.
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My mother told me that watching TV in English made a big impact on her English fluency.
Knowing which preposition to use is sometimes challenging.
Prepositions are one of the hardest things to translate. Sometimes, translating it one way gives it a different meaning than you intended and other times it really doesn't but wouldn't be the "common" usage.
To give an example, my sister was going on about people translating stuff in the Harry Potter books, looking for hidden meanings, and she told me Voldemort was French for "flight of death" and I told her "No, de can also be translated as from. I would translate that flight from death."
Flight of death is nonsense in English. It doesn't make sense. Flight from death has a completely different meaning and makes perfect sense -- Lord Voldemort was trying to get out of dying. He was trying to escape his own death. He was fleeing from death.
But if you are talking about someone's hometown, saying "Doreen, from Columbus" or "Doreen, of Columbus" means the same thing and most people wouldn't misunderstand it. De in French is often used that way as well and it more or less doesn't matter which of the two English prepositions you use.
"Vol de mort" can also mean "Theft of death", as "vol" is both "flight" and "theft" in French. Now you have another problem.
Rowling has a strong french heritage and a degree in french literature. As a native french speaker, I can assure you that this is a deliberate play on both meanings: "Flight from death" because he is the one who escapes death, and "Theft of death" because this is the way he kills his enemies (The Avada Kedavra spells capture the soul of the dead into the wand)
I'm unfamiliar with her work, but as a native speaker myself I figured the word play was an opportunity too good to miss, albeit obvious.
Thank you for this. My college French classes were long ago and far away and my knowledge of French is quite limited.
While "flight of death" is slightly nonsensical, "Flight from death" is just wrong, "Vol" can mean a flight in the sense of flying but not in the sense of fleeing.
Edit: I just realised you might have meant that translated literally it makes more sense in English.
Yes.
In the context of looking for Easter Eggs and hidden meanings in the Harry Potter books, "flight from death" makes more sense.
I don't actually know the proper usage of vol in French. My sister supplied that information and, obviously, she knows less French than I do. My example was just intended to illustrate that de can be translated as either from or of and sometimes which one you use completely changes the meaning in English and sometimes it doesn't.