César Oudin

César Oudin (* around 1560 in Champagne, † 1625 in Paris) was an official Hofdolmetscher for the French King Henry IV and translator who was the first French translation of Don Quixote anfertigte et al.

Life

César Oudin was commissioned for the Italian, Spanish and German language as an interpreter at the court of the French king. In addition to its activity sprachmittlerischen he fulfilled on behalf of the king's various retail Miss ions abroad, which led him, including by Germany. In recognition of his services Heinrich IV entrusted him on February 11 of the year 1597 with the office of " Secrétaire Interprète et des langues étrangères ". Was in accordance with his position as an official Hofdolmetscher for the languages ​​listed Oudins life especially the " langues vulgaires [ ... ] ayans vn mesme origine, comme sont l' Italienne, Espagnolle et Françoise " dedicated.

Profession

The Hofdolmetscher also translated writings from abroad and published books, helped the Francophones in the learning of languages. In 1607 he published the Spanish - French dictionary of the 17th century: Tesoro de las lenguas francesa y española, which always learned new editions to 1675. His second dictionary Thrésor des trois langues, espagnole, Francoise et italienne was published in 1609 and Grammaire Italienne mise et expliquée en François in 1610. Nevertheless, it was his Spanish language learning books that made him famous in the 16th and 17th centuries.

The Grammaire et observations de la langue Espagnolle

1597 appeared with César Oudins Grammaire et observations de la langue Espagnolle recueillies & mises en François, the second Spanish grammar for French speakers in history. This grammar is considered as a window through which one can see the evolution of the Spanish and the linguistic situation in Europe at the end of the 16th century. Of interest is the treatment of the subject of language acquisition and the relationship with the Latin grammatical system, because it was, at that time still made ​​no independent Spanish form to describe the Spanish language. Through them, we see several examples of ancient grammar of the Spanish clearly described and translated into French, so that the meaning can be sure. It serves as a comparison to the old Spanish way and also shows how the Latin grammatical system used as a crutch to be ascertained through Latin dialects.