Glossary entry (derived from question below)
French term or phrase:
tendre l'oreille
English translation:
open one's ears
French term
Romania
Native in: Romanian 
Works in: Romanian to English, Romanian to French, English to Romanian
tendre l'oreille
| 3 +2 | open your ears |
Tony M
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| 5 +4 | to prick up one's ears |
Liliane Hatem
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| 3 +4 | to be attentive |
Emma Paulay
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| 4 +1 | to keep your ears open / to listen out for ... |
ormiston
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| 4 | to listen intently |
ormiston
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| 3 | to hark to |
Euqinimod (X)
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Mar 23, 2010 08:34: Tony M Created KOG entry
Non-PRO (2): writeaway, Rob Grayson
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Proposed translations
open your ears
Although we don't usually say 'open your ears', I think it sort of works OK in the context of the explanation being given here — in the same way one might say "to look means open your eyes in order to know if there's anything to be seen"; and cf. also the well-used expression "keep your ears open"
| agree |
Ingeborg Gowans (X)
: I agree that there is a fine difference here between the colloquial "to prick up one's ears and to actually open your ears ; however more context would have been desirable
5 mins
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Danke, Ingeborg! Yes, would help us judge the register better, at the very least
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| agree |
Jim Tucker (X)
: I see what you mean for the asker's context.
16 hrs
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Thanks, Jim!
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Lebanon
Fast and reliable
Native in: English , Arabic
Works in: English to Arabic, Arabic to English, Arabic to French, and 3 more.
to prick up one's ears
| agree |
Verginia Ophof
: yes !
8 mins
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Thank you Verginia ;)
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| agree |
Alan Douglas (X)
: and Harrap's Unabridged Pro - 'dresser' ou 'tendre' l'oreille. Too easy.
9 mins
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Thank you Alan
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| agree |
Sébastien GUITTENY
55 mins
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Thank you Sebastien
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| neutral |
Tony M
: Yes, though I don't think the term is really totally appropriate in the context as given. I think this has a slight extra connotation that is unwanted here.
1 hr
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| neutral |
ormiston
: if we go by the (sparse) context, it isn't that simple. You prick up your ears at something you have ALREADY heard, something MAKES you prick up your ears, which doesn't fit the Asker's own definition. CONTEXT being of the essence, a sole translation is o
15 hrs
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French prêter l'oreille (prick up one's ears), tendre l'oreille (prick up one's ears), dresser l'oreille (prick up one's ears), dresser les oreilles (prick up one's ears). (various references) - Websters dict. The asker will decide re the context.
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| neutral |
B D Finch
: If context is linguistics, this is the wrong register.
15 hrs
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This is the one chosen by the US official org and dept
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| agree |
Ahmed Alami
15 hrs
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Thank you Ahmed ;)
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| neutral |
Jim Tucker (X)
: Tend to agree that this is not generally used proactively. Conceivable but not ideal.
17 hrs
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Thank you Jim
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to be attentive
| agree |
Claire Nolan
1 hr
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| agree |
Rachel Fell
: or being...
3 hrs
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| agree |
gail king
: dont disagree with anyone, think i prefer to pay attention...
10 hrs
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| agree |
mimi 254
11 hrs
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| neutral |
ormiston
: to be attentive on its own like that is not really the same as to pay attention
12 hrs
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| neutral |
B D Finch
: Agree with ormiston.
12 hrs
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to keep your ears open / to listen out for ...
| agree |
Susan Nicholls
: I think these are good colloquial equivalents of the SL expression
8 hrs
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to listen intently
If someone strains his ears TO HEAR IF THERE IS A NOISE (which seems to be what the Asker wants) this sprang to mind.
Backed by something in online literature:
Dope : Part First. Kazmah the Dream-Reader : Chapter IV. The ...
Then he paused, listening, his ear pressed to the panel. ... Again he pressed his ear to the door, and listened intently. Perhaps they were hiding within. ...
www.classicreader.com/book/1502/4/ - Cached - Similar
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Note added at 20 hrs (2010-03-19 15:05:44 GMT)
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one (dictionary) definition of 'to listen' is:
"to make a conscious effort to hear"
which makes more sense than the French definition
| neutral |
Tony M
: But the problem is, the question appears to involve a way of defining the difference between 'to hear' and 'to listen' — so I'm not sure it will work to use 'listen' itself in the definition.
12 mins
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then I give up - I did not think the issue was écouter vs entendre. The Asker is going to have to intervene - anyway his definition of 'écouter' is off the mark.
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to hark to
| neutral |
Jim Tucker (X)
: Archaic; this one must be from the dictionary. (Also cannot be used intransitively.)
1 day 6 hrs
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| neutral |
Tony M
: Can only echo JT's comment, I'm afraid.
3 days 9 hrs
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Discussion
The problem seems to me that the equivalent FR expressions can indeed be used in a more formal register, whereas some of the EN versions sit uneasily. This is all about the 'feel' of the language, something it is very diffciult to get merely from dicitonaries.
Context being of the essence, a single (dictionary) translation is all too often inadequate (hence many postings). Here is one example of the term which I would NOT translate as pricking up your ears: 12 févr. 2010 ... AFP - L'Union européenne a du mal à se faire entendre et ce n'est ... Il faut tendre l'oreille pour comprendre ce que dit le président de ...
it would be more a metaphorical version of "to strain to hear or understand'.
I agree the Asker here should at least provide a sentence - although his short 'definition' underneath eliminates some interpretations