Zone 02 is a weekly magazine with events listings, reviews, and inteviews. They run 2 editions, a French one, and a Flemish one. One for each of the language groups here.
This week I learned something about the translations in this magazine that I didn’t know before: they are not translations.
Case in point: Snoop Dogg is coming with P-Diddy pretty soon, and on the front cover of both editions of this weeks Zone 02 is a picture of Snoop. The quote to accompany Snoop in the French edition is “Je peux etre un gentleman.” That means “I can be a gentleman.” That’s awesome to know about Snoop, whose lyrics, some might argue, can tend towards misogyny. His 2001 adult movie “Doggystyle,” featuring hardcore rap and hardcore fucking, would really only embolden the case of those arguers. However, the French-speakers get to understand that he has another side, a ‘gentlemanly’ side, this I would presume is both interesting and endearing which is why they would put it on the cover.
The Dutch edition carries a different picture and a tagline that reads “Ik wil een ijssalon openen.” That means he wants to open an ice-cream parlour. Who gives a shit about gentlemanliness or other such high-falutin’ boringness? not the Flemish, that’s for sure. Bring on the ice cream!!
I guess I’m more Flemish than French, at heart. Because I still don’t care about Snoop’s supposed gentlemanness. But I do wonder: “What’s up with the ice cream shop, Snoop?”
