# l'air du temps



## Fleg

Moderator Note: Several threads have been merged to create this one.

Can someone please tell me what "l'air du temps" means? Perhaps even a more general question - does any one have any good tips for seeking/searching for phrase translation? Thankyou for any tips you may have.


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## Jean-Michel Carrère

l'air du temps : the spirit of the times


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## charlie2

Bonjour,
Ce fil vient de ce message. http://forum.wordreference.com/showpost.php?p=458010&postcount=6 
La personne, qui veut savoir ce que l'expression au-dessus signifie, ne donne pas le contexte. Je me lance. 
Je l'ai vu dans une rubrique d'une magazine sur la décoration d'intérieur. Mon dictionnaire donne _"to live on air alone"_ pour vivre dans l'air du temps.
Merci.
Autre contexte:http://www.paroles.net/chansons/10465.htm:
"Puisque dans l'air du temps
On n'aime plus vraiment"


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## Agnès E.

L'air du temps = ce qui est à la mode en ce moment, ce dont on parle beaucoup.


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## suzi br

Agnès E. said:
			
		

> ce dont on parle beaucoup.


 
Please can you tell me what this means?


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## Agnès E.

It means (word for word translation): what people are much talking about, i.e., the topic that is discussed by all medias and fashion-victims, or something that is much trendy (I'm exaggerating in an explanatory purpose, of course! )


In French: parler is not a transitive verb.
Parler *de* quelque chose => Quelque chose *dont* on parle (dont = pronom relatif indirect)


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## bongbang

So _that_'s what it means, huh ? My mother's favorite perfume is called "the talk of the town". Unbelievable. 

I guess French makes everything seem classy. Maybe they should name a perfume "Connerie" just for laughs. (The same goes with the Chinese characters one sees plastered all over T-shirts these days.)


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## zaby

bongbang said:
			
		

> So _that_'s what it means, huh ? My mother's favorite perfume is called "the talk of the town". Unbelievable.
> 
> I guess French makes everything seem classy. Maybe they should name a perfume "Connerie" just for laughs. (The same goes with the Chinese characters one sees plastered all over T-shirts these days.)


 
"L'air du temps" est une expression plutôt poétique. Ce parfum est aussi vendu aux Françaises


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## charlie2

Agnès E. said:
			
		

> L'air du temps = ce qui est à la mode en ce moment, ce dont on parle beaucoup.


Merci Agnès, et joyeux 4245! 
"The talk of the town" marche parfaitement comme titre de la rubrique, mais cela convient au sens dans mon seconde contexte?


> "Puisque dans l'air du temps
> On n'aime plus vraiment"


"Since it is the talk of the town that we don't really love anymore" ?
Merci.


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## geve

[...] 


			
				charlie2 said:
			
		

> "Since it is the talk of the town that we don't really love anymore" ?


 Je me demande si dans ce contexte, la forme impersonnelle de l'anglais ne serait pas suffisante ? "Since today no one loves any more" (dans la chanson, Pagny joue sur "air du temps" / "ère du vide")


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## undertheweather

Is there another way of saying talk of the town which is more formal?


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## geve

Hi undertheweather,

I have no satisfying suggestion, but considering your context, maybe you could find something like currents, trends...?


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## Cath.S.

geve said:
			
		

> Hi undertheweather,
> 
> I have no satisfying suggestion, but considering your context, maybe you could find something like currents, trends...?


 
I would suggest _the era's ideology_ but it might sound too political.
_Spirit_ ?


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## CARNESECCHI

Hello,
Isn't "ce qui est dans l'air du temps" equivalent to "what is blowing in the wind" ?


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## Galahaad

Air du temps is the kind of locution I like... Three simple words but it is quite impossible to translate, it is always a question of context, feeling, timing, very funny in fact. Air, is it the element (air we breath) ... Or the look (apparence in French) ??? 
Anyway, it's a poetic manner to say "now" in my view.


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## JamesM

Just a question.. is it similar to the German word "Zeitgeist"?


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## Cath.S.

JamesM said:
			
		

> Just a question.. is it similar to the German word "Zeitgeist"?


Oui, tout à fait James, j'avoue y avoir également pensé.


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## CriCri D'amour

Hi there,

I am trying to translate this text into English, which is about the state of football in France. I feel this may be an idiomatic saying in French, which is why I can't seem to get the sense of it.

The sentence goes; "Il faut interroger cette transmutation morale: *elle en dit long sur l'air du temps culturel et politique*."

Its the part in bold I am struggling with. Does it mean that this change in morals is associated with changes in culture and politics?

Thankyou so much... in advance! Am hitting my head against a brick wall!


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## RuK

It says a lot about the current atmosphere in culture and politics.


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## Viola_

my attemps as an explanation: tendance actuelle
for instance
de nos jours, tout le monde a un téléphone portable, c'est dans l'air du temps
hope this might help


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## JeanneS

Hello. I have a context for "l'air du temps" that I would like to translate. It's from Charles Aznavour's song La Boheme: "La bohème, la bohème / Ça voulait dire on a vingt ans / La bohème, la bohème / Et nous vivions de l'air du temps"


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## Cath.S.

JeanneS said:
			
		

> Hello. I have a context for "l'air du temps" that I would like to translate. It's from Charles Aznavour's song La Boheme: "La bohème, la bohème / Ça voulait dire on a vingt ans / La bohème, la bohème / Et nous vivions de l'air du temps"


Hello Jeanne, 

_l'air du temps_ has a double meaning here. As Agnès and others pointed out, it means the spirit of the era, but it also mean to live on very little, as if breathing was enough to sustain you. We have another similar idiom, _vivre d'amour et d'eau fraîche, _"to live on love and fresh water alone", it implies that people who have a passion do not have many material needs.
In the Aznavour song, the young couple dedicate their life to art and love, without caring much about the future or being rich. It's one of my all-time favorites.


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## watergirl

And also, just to add a footnote to this rather old discussion, I don't think the previously mentioned  "talk of the town," which in English has a gossipy, overly faddish flavor to it, is at all a good translation for "l'air du temps" -- I think Agnes's explanation was slightly misinterpreted.   I vote for "spirit of the times/era" or "zeitgeist" if anyone is keeping score.


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## Merle

Is this one of those things that just WON'T translate, and that's why we say it in French??!!

mood, current mood, current events, signs of the times, trends.....

aaarrrggggghhh SOS, Merle


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## Avignonais

Suggestion:
quelque chose est dans l'air du temps ==>This thing is the *buzzword* these days.


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## LivyJames

Hi. I saw a translation of l'air du temps on the forum, but could anyone explain "L"air du temps serait-il à l'impudeur, au voyeurisme?" (L'Express, 19/7/007). Thank you.


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## cropje_jnr

The feel of the time (is one of...) (?)

P.S. Welcome to the forum. 
P.P.S. Try to always provide wider context - I looked up the article on the web to get an idea.


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## IrishStudent

Contexte:

"Elle n'est pas la seule a avoir voulu relever le defi d'un nouveau poste apparu un beau jour dans l'organigramme parce qu'il etait _*dans l'air du temps"*_

Any help would be greatly appreciated!


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## Frenchpastorale

I think it could be " trendy", " fashionable"...


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## Lis

According to _Le Petit Robert:_ "L'air du temps: les idées, les manières d'une époque." Hope that helps!


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## therubyslippers

Hello 

In the context of a history of a department store "...expriment tout ce qui fait l’air du temps à travers une sélection sans cesse renouvelée de marques, des plus accessibles aux plus prestigieuses, des plus françaises aux plus internationales. "

I have translated l'air du temps as the spirit of the times. Would you agree?

Thanks in advance


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## OLN

l'air du temps : l'actualité, (et probablement ici) la mode

_faire_ l'air du temps could mean to start a trend or to make up/represent fashion

_spirit of the time_ has been used before in WR but sounds much more poetic than what I think is intended in what looks like a brochure.


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## therubyslippers

Hi there,
Thanks for the welcome and these comments. the making trends angle is great - thanks!


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## bloomiegirl

I think you mean "starting trends" (not "making trends"), right?


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## pmqs

J'aime pas proposer un mot allemand, mais _zeitgeist_ va bien ici, me semble-t-il.


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## OLN

pmqs said:


> J'aime pas proposer un mot allemand, mais _zeitgeist_ va bien ici, me semble-t-il.



Il y a je crois une nuance.
L'air est semble-t-il plus léger que l'esprit. 

Le Zeitgeist se traduit par _l'esprit du temps_ (tendances d'une époque, reflet de ses dimensions sociales et culturelles), pas par_ l'air du temps_, qui décrit une mode, une actualité. 
Le texte parle de marques accessibles et prestigieuses, françaises et internationales.

On dira :  
- situer "J'accuse" de Zola dans l'esprit du temps ;
- au 15e siècle, l'esprit du temps a favorisé de grandes découvertes.
mais :
- manger des sushis, les dread locks sont dans l'air du temps.


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## pmqs

OLN said:


> Il y a je crois une nuance.
> L'air est semble-t-il plus léger que l'esprit.



oui, merci pour ca.....


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## Bastoune

Would the expression, "_sign(s) of the times_" work in some cases?  It is the first thing that popped into my head.


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## bloomiegirl

Bastoune said:


> Would the expression, "_sign(s) of the times_" work in some cases?  It is the first thing that popped into my head.


Sorry I don't see that in this case, and I can't think when I would translate _l'air du temps_ that way.


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## Ethel_34

Hi everybody, need some help !

Cette entreprise est dans l'air du temps.

This company is in the spirit of times ?

Thank you !


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## ZONGO

"Remains in touch with its time(s)"?


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## Wopsy

Ethel_34 said:


> Hi everybody, need some help !
> 
> Cette entreprise est dans l'air du temps.
> 
> This company is in the spirit of times ?
> 
> Thank you !



.. is of its time


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## Ethel_34

Thanks you Zongo, Wopsy i googled "to be of its time" but i found nothing... are you sure i can say "your company is of its time" (i am applying for a job, so i need to be sure...  )


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## Wopsy

Ethel_34 said:


> Thanks you Zongo, Wopsy i googled "to be of its time" but i found nothing... are you sure i can say "your company is of its time" (i am applying for a job, so i need to be sure...  )



No, I think I would say 'yours is a company at the cutting edge (of the xxx industry, e.g.). 
This means that the company is one of the top ones, really modern & go-ahead. This is a very complimentary thing to say in a cv - just be sure that it is true!


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## jpsqueen

I remember the commercial years ago when it first came out, and I remember that they said in English "Somethings in the air". However, it can mean a few things. But the perfume name is meant "Something's in the air.


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