Bodil Malmsten, one of my favourite Swedish writers (if not the definitive Swedish writer) blogs a lot, at times from France. She recently posted this, on the book "Un roman franà§ais" av Frédéric Beigbeder.

As she wrote that she wished for a Swedish translation to come soon, she posted two pictures containing text from the book. Hence, this post serves as a useful, nerdy comment on how you can quite easily turn something unreadable into another thing understandable and beautiful. I did the following:

1. Save the images 2. Run them through the free (max 30 pages/month) site OCR Terminal 3. Make necessary adjustments, as OCR Terminal isn't perfect ((In fact, it currently doesn't get the hang of accents, cedilla, a-grave, circumflex, et cetera. It's much better suited for English.)) 4. Run the texts through Google Translate 5. Make necessary adjustments, as Google Translate isn't perfect ((Nor will it ever understand the author's artistic sense and hence translate as a human would.))

Having done this, we have the following beautiful texts ready in English - and mind you, Google Translate does work with the Swedish language as well:

![](http://www.finistere.se/blogg/bilder/beigb.jpg "Page from Frédéric Beigbeder's "Un roman franà§ais"")

Text, from above image:

Jours enfuis à  Neuilly

parents se piquaient d'aller voir, à  l'Odéon, dans la Bentley grise, sans savoir que le souffle de cette libération allait les submerger et entraà®ner leur séparation.

Il y a une chose plus difficile que l'embourgeoisement: e'est le déclassement - je préfà¨re ce mot à  celui de "décadence", trop frime. Comment fait-on pour se débarrasser d'une éducation policée, de ses ridicules, ses préjugés, ses complexes, sa culpabilité, sa gaucherie, sa raie sur le cà´te ses pulls à  col roulé qui grattent le cou, ses blazers aux boutons dorés, ses pantalons de flanelle grise qui piquent les jambes avec le pli au milieu, sa suffisance, son élocution snobinarde et ses mensonges? On perd la mémoire. L'à‰tat franà§ais prétend faire son possible pour que les citoyens puissent s'élever socialement, mais rien n'est prévu pour les aider à  dà¨gringoler. L'amnésie est la seule évasion des nantis face à  la ruine. Mon pà¨re a beaucoup travaillé, trà¨s généreusement, pour que ses enfants ne souffrent pas de la faillite des à‰tablissements de Cure du Béarn a la fin des années 70. Il n'a pas réussi à  empechàªr que nous devinions la détresse de notre famille, ta plus riche de Pau au temps jadis. La mort de mes grands-parents et les querelles

Translation:

Days fled in Neuilly

parents prided themselves to go to l'Odéon in the gray Bentley, without knowing that the breath of this release would overwhelm them and cause their separation.

One thing more difficult than gentrification: the downgrading - I prefer this word to that of "decadence", too much fluff. How do you get rid of a civilized education, its ridiculous, its prejudices, complexes, guilt, his awkwardness, his hair on the side pulls his turtleneck scratching his neck, her blazers with gold buttons, his gray flannel pants biting his legs with the crease in the middle, his smugness, his speech snob and his lies? You lose memory. The French government claims it does what is possible for the citizens to rise socially, but nothing is expected to help the plummeted. Amnesia is the only escape from the haves against the ruin. My father worked hard, very generously, so that his children do not suffer from bankruptcy as the Establishments of Cure du Béarn in the late 70s. He failed to prevent that we sensed the distress of our family, your richest Pau in the old days. The death of my grandparents and quarrels

![](http://www.finistere.se/blogg/bilder/proust.jpg "Page from Frédéric Beigbeder's "Un roman franà§ais"")

Text, from above image:

subway, a I'arrivee du refrain splendide, aussi beau et surprenant que celui de God only knows des Beach Boys (dont il s'inspire sans doute), je bascule dans le temps comme l'écrit Proust: "Rien qu'un moment du passé? Beaucoup plus, peut-àªtre; quelque chose qui, commun à  la fois au passé et au présent, est beaucoup plus essentiel qu'eux deux."

Translation:

subway, at the finish of the splendid chorus, as beautiful and surprising as God Only Knows by Beach Boys (which he was inspired by, no doubt), I switch over time as Proust wrote: "Just a moment past? Many more, perhaps, something common to both past and present, is much more important than both of them."