I need to know—what would be a good way to say "a very special welcome" in French?  In a welcoming message that I needed to translate today, the word "welcome" was used twice, and "bonjour" didn’t seem appropriate!  I ended up using "bienvenue" but it didn’t seem the best…

The line went something like this: "Welcome everybody, especially veterans and seniors.  We would like to especially welcome the families of Private Richard Greene and Private Nathan Smith…"  This was for a memorial service today for the four Canadian soldiers who were killed in a friendly fire incident, and it was being taped live locally, provincially, and nationally!  And I was asked to translate this about 20 minutes before the service started!   :’(  (I didn’t have an English-French dictionary handy either…)

I think I’ll be asked to write another speech (hopefully I’ll be asked in advance)  but what would be the appropriate way to greet the crowd?  My French dialect is, unfortunately, not the same as French-speaking Quebec (more like 17th century France, so I’ve been told) so I’d really appreciate help in opening a French speech!

Merci!

Amy—la fille qui est très embarrassée   :-[

Amy, no reason to be embarrassed… Although I know in situations like that it is very difficult not to feel embarrassed.

If you have access to a computer, you can use AltaVista’s Babel Fish Translation Service as a springboard.  I wouldn’t recommend using the literal translation it provides, but you can generally use it as a guide and polish up the results.

-Tim

Thank you Tim!
;D

I’ll check it out!

Amy—C’est une belle journée, n’est-ce pas?

My Mansion’s Shorter French and English Dictionary (circa 1966) has three entries for welcome.

welcome[sup]1[/sup]  adj.  1. (A) Bienvenu.  To make s.o. welcome, faire bon accueil à qn. (b) As interjection Welcome (to you)!  soyez le bienvenu!  To bid, wish, s.o. welcome, souhaiter la bienvenue à qn.  . . .

welcome[sup]2[/sup] substantive  (a) Bienvenue f . . .  (b) Accueil m To give s.o. a hearty welcome, faire bon accueil à qn.  To give s.o. an enthusiastic w., faire à qn un accueil enthousiaste.  To find a kind welcome, trouver, recevoir, bon accueil.  To meet with a cold welcome, être reçu froidement.

welcome[sup]3[/sup] v. tr. 1. Souhaiter la bienvenue à (qn); faire bon accueil à (qn).  2. (a) Recevoir avec plaisir.  . . .  (b) To w. s.o. with joy accueillir qn avec joie.

Going back in through the French side:

accueil s.m. Reception, welcome, greeting.  Faire bon accueil à qn to welcome s.o.  Faire mauvais a. à qn, to give s.o. an unfriendly welcome.

accueillir v. tr. (Conj. like CUEILLIR)  To receive, greet.  Bien a. qn, to welcome s.o. Mal a. qn to give s.o. an unfriendly reception.

After I look up something in the English side I often go look up the word on the French side to make sure it has the same meaning or to pick up other idiomatic expressions involving the word.