Daily French Exercise: Ichiro Obtient Son 4000e Coup Sûr

Barring any inconsistencies among his travel documents — an entirely real contingency, that — the author is relocating for about a year to Paris beginning in the middle of September. In preparation for said move — and in a gesture of supreme self-interest — he has resolved to publish in this space a brief, daily French exercise concerning base-and-ball.

What follows is such an exercise — featuring, in this case, a passage from French-language Canadian daily La Presse regarding Ichiro Suzuki’s 4000th hit. The author has included commentary regarding certain words or phrases of note either because (a) those words and phrases are particularly difficult, but the author has grasped their meaning or (b) they are particularly difficult and the author has abandoned all attempts to make sense of them.

The reader is invited to (a) scroll over the passage below for the author’s (likely flawed) translation of the following passage and/or (b) offer sensible alternatives to same.

Le Japonais Ichiro Suzuki a cogné un simple au champ opposé comme 4000e coup sûr d’une carrière partagée entre son pays natal et les ligues majeures, mercredi.

Le voltigeur de droite de 39 ans des Yankees a obtenu le coup sûr historique contre R.A. Dickey des Jays, en première manche.

Suzuki a délogé Lou Gehrig au 59e rang de l’histoire avec un 2722e coup sûr dans les grandes ligues, en 13 saisons. Il a obtenu 1278 coups sûrs pour Orix au Japon avant de s’amener en Amérique.

En 2001, Suzuki est devenu le premier Japonais n’étant pas un lanceur à se joindre à un club des majeures, acceptant un contrat des Mariners de Seattle à 27 ans. Il a été la recrue de l’année et le joueur par excellence dans l’Américaine cette année-là, ayant offert une moyenne de ,350 avec 242 coups sûrs et 56 buts volés.

Comments
• The phrasal verb a cogné is the third person singular passé composé construction of cogner, meaning “to hit” and other words like “to hit.”

• The word partagée is the past participle form of the verb partager, meaning “to divide.”

• The word voltigeur is a masculine noun that means “light infantryman” and “acrobat,” but also means “outfielder.” Any of the three almost certainly make sense with regard to Ichiro.

• The phrasal verb a obtenu is the passé composé construction of obtenir, meaning — if one can fathom it — “to obtain.”

• The phrasal verb est devenu is the passé composé construction (with être and not avoir, notably) of devenir, meaning “to become,” it appears.

• The word recrue is a feminine noun meaning “recruit,” literally, but almost certainly means “rookie” here.

• The word ayant is the present participle, it seems, of the verb avoir, while offert is the past participle of offrir. One assumes that ayant offert, then, is some sort of activity that was ongoing in the past.
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