# C'est pas du boulot



## ShakeSauvage

Hello,

Voici le contexte (toujours tiré du film français dont je rédige les sous-titres anglais, et dont les principaux protagonistes sont des flics qui bossent ensemble) :

Dans la scène en question, deux jeunes flics sont en train de discuter.
Ils sont encore en formation et n'ont pas encore le diplôme qui fera d'eux des "vrais" flics.

Il y a "FLIC 1", qui n'a pas très envie de devenir flic (c'est lui dont on parle ici).
Et "FLIC 2", qui, lui, est motivé pour devenir flic, mais qui, pour le moment, est chargé de raccompagner des sans-papiers qui se font rapatrier dans leur pays d'origine (on parle de lui ici).

Le sujet de ce fil de discussion concerne FLIC 2, qui explique à son pote que sa mission actuelle, ça ne l'excite pas des masses...

Sa réplique, qui donne son titre anglais à ce thread, est la suivante :
*"C'est pas du boulot, excuse-moi."*
ce qui sous-entend, en gros, que "faire des allers-retours en avion pour raccompagner chez eux des immigrés clandestins, il ne considère pas vraiment ça comme un boulot de flic, et que ce n'est, en tout cas, pas franchement ce à quoi il s'attendait quand il a décidé d'entrer dans la police".

En anglais, l'expression *"he's an excuse for * a man"* signifie, en gros aussi, "ce mec est vraiment un minable".
could _"it's an excuse of a job"_ be a correct way to say _"this is not a real job, at least not the job I expected"_?

Context: an employee complains about the tasks he is assigned to do.
When he joined the company he now works for, he figured his work would bring him satisfaction, but he's frustrated because what he is asked to do seems meaningless to him and is far from being what he thinks the job is supposed be.

As you might have understood, I'm looking for a "more concise, fewer words" type of sentence, as @Valvs would put it ^^

Thanks!


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## jetset

"It's not my dream job".


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## Chimel

C'est un boulot alimentaire?


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## moustic

It's a dumb job ??

I'd say: It's an excuse _for_ a job.


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## pointvirgule

Si je ne m'abuse, l'expression usuelle est : _a poor excuse for... _


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## moustic

Yes!
... a poor / sad / sorry / pathetic excuse for ...


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## ShakeSauvage

Hello everyone,
[...]


jetset said:


> "It's not my dream job".





Chimel said:


> C'est un boulot alimentaire?





moustic said:


> It's a dumb job ?? I'd say: It's an excuse _for_ a job.


[...]


pointvirgule said:


> _a poor excuse for..._


[...]

Pour répondre à vos questions, il ne s'agit pas vraiment ici de définir si c'est un boulot stupide ou alimentaire, ni l'opposé d'un "job de rêve".
[...]

Dans la définition #13 du dictionnaire WR (ici : excuse - WordReference.com Dictionary of English), l'expression semble pouvoir aussi s'appliquer à des "choses inanimées" (on va dire), et je me demandais simplement si ça pouvait s'appliquer à un boulot (d'où mon idée initiale de poster tout ça dans le Forum _English Only_, mais bon, manifestement j'ai raté mon coup ^^).

Si c'est effectivement possible, ça m'arrange bien, parce que j'ai droit à seulement 23 caractères (espaces et ponctuation comprises) pour traduire *"C'est pas du boulot, excuse-moi."*, et je trouve l'expression idiomatique anglaise *"It's an excuse of a job." *(24 caractères, donc) assez parfaite, si elle existe.

Voilà, vous savez tout !


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## wildan1

ShakeSauvage said:


> je trouve l'expression idiomatique anglaise *"It's an excuse of a job." *(24 caractères, donc) assez parfaite, si elle existe.


En anglais idiomatique on dirait _It's a poor excuse for a job. _(déjà proposé par moustic et pointvirgule).

Ou encore plus court :_ It's not what you would call a job. _or_ Not really much of a job._


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## pointvirgule

ShakeSauvage said:


> j'ai droit à seulement 23 caractères


_Some job! _(sarcastique, 9 car.)


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## Le Gallois bilingue

_That’s not a proper job._


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## le chat noir

Je me demande si "ain't no proper/decent job." (19/20) pourrait aller?


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## Le Gallois bilingue

le chat noir said:


> Je me demande si "ain't no proper/decent job." (19/20) pourrait aller?


_Decent has a different connotation to proper. _*“*Ain’t “ sounds awful.


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## le chat noir

Le Gallois bilingue said:


> *“*Ain’t “ sounds awful.


C'est fait pour 
Pour rester dans les 23 caractères, peut-être "that's no proper job."?


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## Le Gallois bilingue

le chat noir said:


> C'est fait pour
> Pour rester dans les 23 caractères, peut-être "that's no proper job."?


.....or_”call that a proper job!”(22)_


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## joelooc

it's a mock job   ?


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## le chat noir

bonne idée de supprimer la négation !
"it's a xxx job." avec xxx qui fait 11 caractères au plus. Ca laisse la place pour:
- piss-poor
- damn lousy
- rotten
- godawful
- shitty


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## ShakeSauvage

@wildan1 / @pointvirgule / @Le Gallois bilingue / @le chat noir / @joelooc 

Guys, you are awesome: *"Call that a proper job!" *[23, no more, no less] is just PERFECT!


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## Magenta Wizard

I would go with "*It's not real work*.".
I hate it when translated subtitles depart unnecessarily from the original.


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## le chat noir

Well, I rather understand "c'est pas du boulot" as "I'm really unhappy with this job". It's a lousy/rotten job, basically.

edit: sorry, my first answer was a bit terse, but @ShakeSauvage quoted it before I could tone it down


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## ShakeSauvage

Magenta Wizard said:


> I would go with "*It's not real work*.".
> I hate it when translated subtitles depart unnecessarily from the original.





le chat noir said:


> Yeah, but "c'est pas du boulot" rather means "this is a job I'm really unhappy with"



@Magenta Wizard, I get your point. I hate it too.
But you don't have the full dialogue, here (it would be deemed off-topic if I put it on the thread).
Besides, @le chat noir is right, as far as context is concerned.


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## Language Hound

*



			"C'est pas du boulot, excuse-moi."
		
Click to expand...

*


> ce qui sous-entend, en gros, que "faire des allers-retours en avion pour raccompagner chez eux des immigrés clandestins, il ne considère pas vraiment ça comme un boulot de flic, et que ce n'est, en tout cas, pas franchement ce à quoi il s'attendait quand il a décidé d'entrer dans la police".


A very idiomatic expression which, I believe, fits this situation perfectly is:
_This isn't what I signed up for._


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## ShakeSauvage

Language Hound said:


> A very idiomatic expression which, I believe, fits this situation perfectly is:
> _This isn't what I signed up for._


We have the exact same idiomatic expression in French: _"j'ai pas signé pour ça"_.


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## Magenta Wizard

My point is that a native English speaker will understand by "It's not real work." that the speaker is unhappy with the nature of the work.


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## ShakeSauvage

Magenta Wizard said:


> My point is that a native English speaker will understand by "It's not real work." that the speaker is unhappy with the nature of the work.


I understand what you mean.
The problem here is that I have no option but to use the term _"job": _I can't go with _"work"_. 
And I fear _"It's not a real job"_ would mean the character considers that his job is "fake", not that he is unhappy with it.
But I might be wrong, of course.


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## Language Hound

ShakeSauvage said:


> ... *"Call that a proper job!" *[23, no more, no less] is just PERFECT!


Sorry, but this sounds awful to me.
I believe that we may use "proper" in this sense less in AE than in BE.
Most importantly, though, this elevates the register far above the one you've been favoring in your other posts.

I know that "This isn't what I signed up for" is not a direct translation of "c'est pas du boulot, excuse-moi," but
it struck me as exactly what we would say in AE in this particular context.  I know it is too long for your subtitles.
Maybe, a shortened version such as _Not what I signed up for!_
Or, as a variation of "Call that a proper job!" ---> _You call that a job?!!_

EDITED TO ADD:


ShakeSauvage said:


> ...But you don't have the full dialogue, here (it would be deemed off-topic if I put it on the thread).


You're allowed to quote a maximum of four lines, I believe.
It would really help to know what is said right before and right after this line so we can know if our suggestions would work.


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## le chat noir

I'm not sure this "c'est pas du boulot" should be rendered literally. It's a typical expression in French, so I'd expect something typical in English too.

If clinical precision is not required, I would go for "a lousy job, really.".
That matches what I understand of the French, and also approximates the "excuse-moi", which rather means "and I mean it" than the literal "sorry, but...", in my opinion.
Not sure "this is" can be omitted or how a native speaker would get it, of course.


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## Magenta Wizard

le chat noir said:


> If clinical precision is not required, I would go for "a lousy job, really.".



Given the restrictions, I agree with le chat noir


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## joelooc

There seems to be a shift from "c'est pas du boulot" to "c'est pas un boulot". "c'est pas du boulot"is what an expert would typically say when facing the result of an amateur job; it's closer to "it's a mess of a job" than "it's not what I thought I would have to do"


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## le chat noir

You've got a point, but the difference is not huge, in my opinion. What about changing the adjective for "half-assed" or "botched"?


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## joelooc

It would be a solution but, here, I think the cop's intention is to use "pas du boulot" in the figurative sense "it's not what it's supposed/meant to be"; so adding "botched" before job makes it sound a little too "real" hence my suggesting "mock"(#15)


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## Wordy McWordface

Most of the adjectives suggested are wrong, in my opinion.

'Half-assed' and 'botched' are definitely wrong: these refer to examples of careless or substandard workmanship. 'A mock job' is meaningless.

The adjectives along the lines of rotten/lousy etc don't work, either: these suggest that the work is unpleasant in some way. This doesn't seem to reflect the original.

'Real' or 'proper' seem fine, but if you don't like those, I'd go with _"It's not much of a job"._


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## Language Hound

Just wanted to clarify why I wrote in my post above (#25) that "Call that a proper job!"(which the OP thought was "just PERFECT!")
sounded awful to me. The OP has stated in other threads, though not here, that the subtitles are meant to be understood by a U.S. audience, thus written in AE.  This is not something a native AE speaker would say.


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## ShakeSauvage

Language Hound said:


> Just wanted to clarify why I wrote in my post above (#25) that "Call that a proper job!"(which the OP thought was "just PERFECT!")
> sounded awful to me. The OP has stated in other threads, though not here, that the subtitles are meant to be understood by a U.S. audience, thus written in AE.  This is not something a native AE speaker would say.


Maybe I should clarify this too: the director wants the subtitles to be written in AE rather than BE, it's true. But they are meant to be understood by any English speaking audience, regardless which country they are from.

Thanks to your kind help here on the WR Forum I will submit the following options to the director:
_A lousy job, really._ / _It’s not what I signed up for._ / _It’s not much of a job._ / _Ain't a proper job._ / _You call that a job?!_
[I won't be mentioning subtitle character requirements anymore since it might be a distraction for other members seeking help on threads like this one.]


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## Language Hound

"Ain't a proper job."
To my American ear, this sounds like a horrible and unfortunate combination of uneducated hillbilly and highfalutin Brit-speak!


Le Gallois bilingue said:


> ...*“*Ain’t “ sounds awful.


"Ain't" is a tricky one to use "properly."
It's much easier to make a character sound uneducated using "don't" for the third person, e.g., _He don't know._



ShakeSauvage said:


> ...[I won't be mentioning subtitle character requirements anymore since it might be a distraction for other members seeking help on threads like this one.]


Unless a moderator told you not to do this, I would encourage you to do so.  I don't know how others feel, but I don't want to waste my time coming up with suggestions only to find out that they won't work because they're too long.


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## Mosquito34

Wordy McWordface said:


> Most of the adjectives suggested are wrong, in my opinion.
> 
> 'Half-assed' and 'botched' are definitely wrong: these refer to examples of careless or substandard workmanship. 'A mock job' is meaningless.
> 
> The adjectives along the lines of rotten/lousy etc don't work, either: these suggest that the work is unpleasant in some way. This doesn't seem to reflect the original.
> 
> 'Real' or 'proper' seem fine, but if you don't like those, I'd go with _"It's not much of a job"._



Excellent !  and exactly what would be said in BE.


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