Forums > Beginner Poi Moves > Terms in French

Posted: 1st Sep 2005
I cant help you with any other words but you might want to find out what "poi" means in English as it's a word in the Maori language

Are you up for it?
;)

Posted: 1st Sep 2005
I'm no good with links but found this on HoP - hope it helps







Maori Word - English Meaning

poi - ball

taura - handle of the poi

poi kokau - short poi

poi waeroa - long poi

poi takarahi - single short poi

poi takirua - double short poi

taniko poi - poi which has a woven exterior

raupo poi - poi made from bulrush plant

haka poi - performing with poi

poi awhiowhio - circular poi movement

poi piu - poi made with flax strands

poi rakau - wooden batons as poi

poi tetere - poi and drum

poi waka - canoe poi

kapa haka - performing group

Are you up for it?
;)

Posted: 2nd Sep 2005
right here we go...

Poi : noun, poi.
Spinning: adj, en rotatif, noun, filage, verb (to spin) tourner.
fire: noun,feu
to twirl: verb, faire tournoyer. (I twirl with fire, Je fais tournoyer avec feu)
twirler: noun, tournoyant
staff: noun, bâton
contact juggling, jonglerie en contact
devil sticks: either devil sticks, or bâtons de diable.
fire breathing: respiration feu (easy!)

I knew working in France would come in handy at one point... if you have any problems, you can try google.fr > pages francophones and type what you want, there'll be a page somewhere with a translation on it!

Woof!

Spin, bounce, be one with the world, because it is yours to enjoy...

Posted: 2nd Sep 2005
Hey thanx Drudwyn. I was going to do a google search anyway just thought it might be quicker to ask first rather than wasting time searching through webpages.
My dictionary does help slightly...i just wasnt sure if there were technical words in French. Ie. I can say in English that i twirl with fire and also that im a firetwirler. Firetwirler being a technical name. So i wasnt sure if technical names existed in french too.
Also thanx for the sentence. Ill defintiely use Je fais tounoyer avec feu.
Would one pronounce poi the same in french as we say it in english?
And thanx nite owl...u game me the idea to talk about where the art originated from. Ill want to mention its maori origins....now how the [censored] does one say maori in french..
*scuttles off to dictionary*

Burn like a good bonfire.

Posted: 2nd Sep 2005
Maori's the same in both languages...

another good sentence would be : Je suis un tournoyant de poi en feu. I am a fire poi spinner.

poi's pronounced almost identically (in my english accented basic french at least), so you've not got much of a problem there. and remember, if you can't remember a word, you can say: "Comment dit (le mot pour traduction) en francais", or descend into franglais and say the word in english but with a french accent. It works!

And no worries dude...

Woof!

Spin, bounce, be one with the world, because it is yours to enjoy...

Posted: 4th Sep 2005
just wanna add some corrections : Asking for a word is " comment dit-on (word) en francais"

I am a fire poi spinner = je pratique les pois de feu or je suis un jongleur de feu

Here is a dictionnary of technical words translated https://doc.jongle.net/index.php/Encyclopedie
if you want more, just mp or mail me as I'm french

Posted: 8th Sep 2005
Hi!

I hope it's not overdue. As you said, there are technical terms for which we have no translation in French. And there are also nouns that just don't exist in French. So DON'T rely on an online translator, or you'll end up with very weird results :-)

For instance, although "faire tournoyer" is grammatically correct, it just doesn't sound right when it comes to juggling. The same goes for "faire tourner" (to spin).

Here's the best I can come up with:

poi=poi/bolas. In France, although a few people use the word "poi", it's much more common to say "bolas" (you must pronounce the final "s"). It's up to you, but I think it's best to use the latter.

contact juggling=jonglage contact, or jonglerie contact
to breathe fire=cracher du feu (cracher=to spit)
a fire breather=un cracheur de feu
a devil stick=un bâton du diable

Here are some correct sentences: Je fais du jonglage contact, je pratique la jonglerie contact, je crache du feu, je fais du bâton du diable,je pratique les bolas...

Words related to twirling are a bit more tricky to translate, since we have no translation for "twirling" in a juggling context. So we just say..."twirling", or "bâton". The following sentences are fine: Je fais du bâton de feu, je fais du twirling, je pratique le twirling de feu/avec du feu,...However you may need to describe what it consists in, depending on your audience...

If you need further help, feel free to ask. You may also want to check www.cerclesdefeu.net, it's a French website related to juggling that has sections on poi, staff and fire.

Posted: 8th Sep 2005
Hey Tarto, and everyone else..thanx for the help. That website really would have come in handy...if only the assigment wasnt due at 12 midday today! Thanx for the effort though. Ill book mark the page and keep it for future reference (id like to travel to France one day).And why didnt google give me that page..i spent like two hours trying to find firetwirling pages in french and didnt find much at all.
Anyway, as my french tutor didnt know how to say most of the stuff i hope he'll just except that ive said it right! (fingers crossed!) I used both Je practique as well as je fais tournoyer, plus i ended up just calling poi chaines de feu.
At least its done...i can go and celebrate (despit the fact i have like 4 major other assignments to do!)

Burn like a good bonfire.