# "De moments forts en figures phares..." ?



## CulDeSac

"De moments forts en figures phares, le rêve continue."

I suspect the *figures phares*, might translate as "luminaries" or "notable individuals" or "stars", suggesting something like the following, even if it seems to make little sense...

Times *rich* in *remarkable individuals*, the dream continues.​
or

Those were times *populated* with *remarkable individuals*, but the dream continues.​
populated

Again, this is talking about the history of several fancy hotels, for what it's worth. This particualr sentence stands on its own, as a subheading.

As always, appreciate all insights and opinions.


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## Papymaj

Hello, a native speaker can do better, but the meaning of this subheading is basically

With big events and celebrities, the dream goes on.


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## CulDeSac

Papymaj said:


> Hello, a native speaker can do better, but the meaning of this subheading is basicaly
> 
> With big events and celebrities, the dream goes on.



Papymaj,

the begining of the sentence I feel suggests
moments rich *in* celebrities​rather than
rich moments *and* celebrities​
Non? But in the absence of others opinions here, I am carefully considering your comment.


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## sacchan71

Hello,

The structure of the sentence is "from... to" so it can't be moments rich "in" celebrities. I stick with the translation of Papymaj.


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## sacchan71

How about "intense moments" or "fervent moments" for "moments forts"


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## sacchan71

One more : "powerful moments".


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## Papymaj

Dear CulDeSac,

You are right : this is not *and! *Of course, it was not "et"
But, the original sentence is "De"... "en", wich means "From" ... "to".
I think the idea is something like: We have seen everithing, from big events to celebrities.... The dream was going on.
But this is a sort of title, shortened in "From big events to celebrities. The dream goes on".
The original text sound good in French. This "music" is realy difficult to translate. I think I've given the general sens, but you have to rewrite it in English, I'm affraid.
I hope you will have better advices soon ;-)


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## sacchan71

Regarding "figure phares", I'm not sure "celebrities" is appropriate. How about "emblematic figure"?


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## CulDeSac

sacchan71 said:


> Hello,
> 
> The structure of the sentence is "from... to" so it can't be moments rich "in" celebrities. I stick with the translation of Papymaj.



Ah yes, I see the "from.. to", but then are we in fact talking about the hotels themselves as the 'celbrities' - they are the ones who've grown to become highlights? So should the translation instead be...

De moments forts en figures phares...​
From heady (beginnings) to the beacons they are now...​


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## sacchan71

No, not at all. They're talking about a succession of events.


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## sacchan71

"From moving moments to icon figures" ?


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## Papymaj

Hi again,
I lack context, but my feeling is that the hotel history was filled with rich moments and emblematic figures...


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## sacchan71

Yes, it's like the author is making a list.


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## CulDeSac

sacchan71 said:


> Regarding "figure phares", I'm not sure "celebrities" is appropriate. How about "emblematic figure"?



Sacchan71,

"emblematic figure"(s) I like.

In the original piece, the preceeding sentence describes the opening of a second *twin* establishment. The one following the above sentence, is as follows...

  Sans cesse agrandi et embelli, l’hôtel évolue sans jamais se trahir.

And seeing that (I) now suspect the hotels themselves to be what this sentence is talking about (not the people involved), possibly something like...

From heady (beginnings) to the emblematic establishments they are now​


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## CulDeSac

Papymaj, Sacchan,

Apologies I've just caught up with your later posts.


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## CulDeSac

Hmm, have I changed your minds or do we still disagree. I see democratically I lose here. I have posted an email that may yet get to the original author.

Find myself to be on the fence between our various opinions.


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## sacchan71

I still disagree. Do you see what we mean?


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## sacchan71

I certainly understand what the author is saying, but how can I explain it to you?


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## sacchan71

Again, he's talking about a succession of events that took place in that hotel. Memorable moments, emblematic figures contributing to the hotel's fancy reputation.


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## A day in Eireann

Actually, if you had the remaining of the sentence, it might help deciding on a point. As is, I'm not sure whether you ought to understand it to mean _from .... to_ , with "from" being a beginning and "to" a point of arrival; or whether it should be read as a journey with moments full of emotion and emblematic figures (as if on a sea journey, when the waves make you bounce and roll, at times on top a deep-moving /heart-felt moment, at other times rolling you over to emblematic figures, or bringing them to you. Basically whether there is an idea of a journey from one point to another, or whether it is a journey of power and passion that is in turn simply deeply moving or worth noting for the people involved. The later not having that diminishing notion that a moving event should be of a lesser importance than a famous personality met. I'd tend to say that's what they are saying in your text about a hotel. that it was always worthy of the journey, that even when not so famous, every single change or step was a strongly felt moment emotionally, and that they have also experienced meeting or welcoming people out of the ordinary ( but that basically, the hotel is important and has meant a lot all by itself or the people that make it, not just due to the celebs staying there).


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## sacchan71

... that's why "the dream goes on." I don't know, maybe a peace conference was held in that hotel and Marilyn Monroe spent a night there, and so on.


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## CulDeSac

De deux choses, une... as you say

Part of me sees your argument, but I can't quite see why a setence with references to the people involved would be here amongst these other paragraphs that talk of new construction. Celebrities etc were mentioned, but quite a while back in the piece.

One question I have put in the email sent (fingers crossed), is whether this is a caption to an image perhaps. I just have the text.

I must say though I very much appreciate the two of you's comments.


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## A day in Eireann

Basically, do you have a tide that brings the hotel from heart-felt moments to emblematic figures in a constant manner, or did you use to have emotional moments (but no celebs) and now you have leaders of teh world (but no emotional moments as you meet with them) ?


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## sacchan71

You were faster than me! I don't see a beginning and an end. I like your idea of "bouncing and rolling" from one point to another. No event is of a lesser importance. One's succeeding to another, randomly.


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## CulDeSac

Folks, here's additional context (edited for anonimity).

Avec la guerre le propriétaire décida de retourner (chez lui). Et de vendre l'hotel. C’est un autre milliardaire, qui prit la suite.

Ainsi débute l’autre histoire. Celle d’une famille, qui a le culte de l’exigence et de l’excellence, et qui s’attache, à en faire un endroit rare, où la société internationale puisse trouver un havre de raffinement. Très vite, les nouveaux propriétaires imaginent de créer un deuxieme etablisement.  ... La même équipe, insuffle à l’un et l’autre lieu le même esprit.

De moments forts en figures phares, le rêve continue.

Sans cesse agrandi et embelli, l’hôtel évolue sans jamais se trahir...​
Does that get us any closer to an agrement on anything? Or make it worse?


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## CulDeSac

I must say, I do feel a little out of my depth seeing that both of you are French natives...


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## A day in Eireann

I thought the thunder strikes made me slow !  It must for I get to see dozens of posts all of a sudden.

For culdesac, now, if you are sure that there is not a case of any emblematic figures there, as in HUMAN BEINGS that is, there is something which you could check, if you have the name of the hotel. Is anything about the new one (you seemed to say they were building or buying a second one), an architectural feature worthy of being called a leading trait of genius, the guru for future works in a new or astonishing architectural performance, or have they bought a very well known building of some emblematic importance and made a hotel out of it? 

But, I would tend to agree with Sacchan that the part you have listed, tend to give an idea of a journey in constant motion, rather than of a beginning and an end, so either one of two things:

- the author is really bad when it comes to meaning and reality, even if he or she used an interesting phrase. In other words, he used a phrase that has a catching power of dreamland to it, even though it should not be applied in the case of your hotel description. It is only a sentence he thought would fit in nicely for it sounded well, but the actual meaning is unsuitable to the context at hand. You may call it pompousness then (if there is such a word in English)
- the hotel is planning on becoming a chain of hotels and of acquiring more buildings of architectural or historical importance, and the journey or dream between heart-felt moments and emblematic figures will go on and on.


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## CulDeSac

A day in Eireann,

I suspect we have exhausted this exchange until we learn more, and shall post back if I hear from the author.

In the meantime, keep your head down - the weather chart for France looks nasty.


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## CulDeSac

For those who followed this, (and in part to thank the participants) I received an email from the original author this morning.

Of the four suggested interpretations of the following sentence...

"De moments forts en figures phares, le rêve continue."​
all of which were fair comment...

Several moments, filled with celebrities... (allowing for a possible spelling error on the first 'De' (Des)​
We have seen everything, from big events to celebrities...​
From... to, (as in a transition) *From* notable events, *to* notable individuals...​
*Swinging* (back and forth) between big events and celebrities...​
it seems that the third was in fact the most correct one - a transition.

But, in the end the phrase referenced the hotels themselves, not celebrities, as the "figures phares" (in that they were architectually significant), and whose significance followed on from earlier notable events. Now the 'dream continues' with further positive developments to their story (in the ensuing paragraphs).

In the end, the translation that was accepted by the author was as follows. Thanks again to all who participated, and congratulations of sorts to sacchan71.

From those heady beginnings to the emblematic establishments they are now, and still the adventure continues.​


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## Papymaj

Hello CulDeSac

Thanks a lot for your explanation.
I've found this conversation very interresting.

Take care,

Papymaj


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