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Tuesday 21 July 2009

Opening up the world of needlework for you in France and Japan


Needleprint's aim is to open up the world of needlework for you - wherever you live. In preparation for adding a French language Needleprint blog and a Japanese language Needleprint blog to our current blog, we are offering a prize to anyone from either country who can find the best phrase in either language to translate our aim. And just to help you on your way - 'needlework' embraces everything made with a needle - for example knitting - and not just embroidery or cross-stitch.......

16 comments:

  1. bonjour, and why not all simply "travaux d'aiguilles"
    friendly Martine

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  2. Bonjour,

    I proposed for the french motto "L'aiguille de mille et une façons".
    Excellente journée

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  3. I am very excited by your translations - I wonder if it is possible to incorporate the idea of 'opening up' since we are book publishers - so - we open up (reveal)needlework like opening up a book......can we say something like this in French? Or is this an idiom too far?

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  4. I suggest
    Une percee dans les travaux d'aiguilles
    the word percee has other synonymes like revelation, or ouverture which can be used as well.

    vivi
    Israel

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  5. Découvrez la magie des aiguilles
    ou
    Entrez dans le monde magique des aiguilles

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  6. From my point of view, "travaux d'aiguilles" is the best translation for "needlework".

    I would say "Needleprint se donne pour vocation de vous faire découvrir à livre ouvert le monde des travaux d'aiguilles"

    or more shortly : "Le monde des travaux d'aiguille à livre ouvert"

    "à livre ouvert" means that you explain all about the subject.

    I hope this helps

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  7. "Needleprint: Plongez dans l'univers des arts du fil."

    Plongez/Plunge because in French, you plunge in a book. I think you also do in English.

    Needlework does not sound appealing if you use the words "travaux d'aiguilles" -which is the right translation however, because it has two connotations:
    -work/travaux (better use the word art to avoid the hard work idea, even if there is much work implied, but above all talent) -needle (like the seringe. Although I know you use the same words in English -in France, the word needle/aiguille has a strong medical connotation.)
    As needlework implies talent /artistic skills and threads, floss, wool, whatever can be translated by "fils" in French, this translation -although quite not word for word- has the right connotation for me.
    Lili

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  8. "I suggest
    Au coeur des aiguilles"
    violine (France)

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  9. I suggest: "A la découverte des ouvrages de dames", which refers to Thérèse de Dillmont's book. It's a very old french book, published for the first time in 1886, about needlework. It's always on sale.

    Kimiak

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  10. Bergamote de Nancy proposes : Needleprint, une invitation aux arts du fil.

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  11. Or else, "Needleprint, au coeur des arts du fil". At the heart of needlework.

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  12. Béa/Couson says:"L'Art du Fil à votre portée avec Needleprint"

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  13. Vava des Neiges said :
    1) Needleprint et le monde des travaux d'aiguilles s'ouvre à nous
    2)Needleprint France : Entrez dans notre univers des travaux d'aiguilles
    3)Needleprint France : Entrez dans notre univers des arts du fil

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  14. I have two ideas for Japanese site. The first one is 'hari shigoto'. This is a regularly used term which means 'needlework'. The word has been around so long that it makes me envision both my grandmother (who is 99!) hand sawing her kimono as well as European needlepoint that many of Japanese people enjoy. Another idea is 'shin-zen-bi (using the characters '針全美'. This expression originally uses different characters '真善美' which indicates the universal virtues, 'truth, goodness, and beauty'. However, by changing the characters (but pronouncing the same), it means 'needles are all beautiful.'

    I'll think of some more......

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  16. I have two proposal from parfum-san, one is "te-kara-te" which literally means "from hand to hand". But then again, there may be stitchers who do not use hands to stitch - so the other proposal is "ito-tsunagi" which means "connected by thread".

    I agree that "hari-shigoto" is probably the best translation for "needlework", but for me too it reminds one of "sewing" or "mending" kimonos. I is difficult to find a Japanese equivalent to "needlework" in the broad sense that Jacqueline suggests, since knitting and crocheting came was originally not done in Japan.
    There might be other, older terms...if the roots of Japanese embroidery is China or Korea (not sure), we might find something there.

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