5 ms·

Isn't "descendre en bas" just "to descend down"?

• newleaf 7y ago
  I imagine it’s redundant because down is the only way you can descend.
  • StavrosK 7y ago
    Yes, I mean that's a more accurate translation that carries the redundancy better.
    • simias 7y ago
      I considered it but I thought that "to descend" was too rare and formal in English to really carry over how the phrase truly feels in French. "I descend down" decidedly feels much more awkward than "je descend en bas" to me, if only because I've heard the latter a lot and the former probably never. "I climb up" might give a somewhat better impression of how "je monte en haut" sounds in French, although I suppose that you can very much "climb down" in English so it's not a perfect match.
      • StavrosK 7y ago
        Ah, I see, and both "climb up" and "climb down" are used, so it's not equivalent, you're right.
      • dmurray 7y ago
        It's idiomatic to say "I rise up" or "I raise X up" in English, which are analogous though not translations. English just loves prepositional verbs.
  • sum_of_zeros 7y ago
    unless you're trapped in some escherian[1] world? [1]:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M._C._Escher https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M._C._Escher
• skoob 7y ago
  Sure, although to descend feels a lot more formal than descendre does in French.
• matt_the_bass 7y ago
  Yes but “descendre” and “monter” can mean other things in other contexts. So I feel the redundancy is from poor translation.
  • shean_massey 7y ago
    Exactly! Translation is tricky business.