In as little as 2 years....

[YCCMB]

I think I need a French person!

How would you translate "In as little as 2 years"?

I don't feel that "en aussi peu que" can be right, but " en moins de" implies/means "in less than", rather than "in as little as".

I've Googled up hill and down dale, and can't seem to get away from "en moins de" which, to me, compromises the meaning a bit. I'm a bit concerned about it, as it's a job description. I am beginning to think the only logical solution is to say "en moins de 2 ans" and then use "vous pourriez devenir..."

ETA Could I say "Après seulement 2 ans"?

[suein56]

I'm not French but there you are, I'll give it a go :

... dans, à peine, 2 ans.

Sue

[Tancrède]

I'm not French either, but the Word Reference Forum has been recommended so many times in previous threads that is thought it was worth noting it.

This link gives general results for the phrase 'as little as' :

http://www.wordreference.com/enfr/as%20little%20as 

amongst which this particular thread deals with in as little as ten minutes etc. and gives a variety of solutions (one of which has just been offered by Suein56) :

http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=1757297

[YCCMB]

I like that!  I think "en à peine deux ans" is perfect. Thanks Sue.

[YCCMB]

Thanks Gengulphus. I use Wordreference extensively, (including on this occasion) but for some reason I seem this evening to have been asking the wrong question when I did my search, and the combination of frustration and having fallen down a flight of stairs last night and being black and blue and unable to walk has addled my brain. I appreciate your help (both of you) in pointing me towards something I should have known straight away but was too stupid to realise.

[suein56]

[quote user="You can call me Betty"] ... having fallen down a flight of stairs last night and being black and blue and unable to walk has addled my brain. [/quote]

Ouch, how painful; I hope you are OK and are not suffering from concussion.

Do take care for the next few days.

Sue

[YCCMB]

Thanks, Sue, I'm fine, I bounced. It's just obviously made me a little slow on the uptake...My head was one of the few bits that didn't get banged about. I think that may be the problem. A good bump on the head might have cleared things out a bit!

[ericd]

Well ....... I'm French and I would agree with the previous posts ....... You could also say: "Dans a peine 2 ans "  ...in as little as 2 years....

[YCCMB]

Thanks, Eric. That's indeed what I did say. In the end.

Yesterday was not a good day for me.

[mint]

Poor Betty!  At least you didn't break any bones.  Nasty things falls like that, shake you up something awful.  Sorry, not too grammatical this morning, ni en anglais, ni en français, ...yet another day when I feel a bit at sixes and sevens. Can't even blame it on the cold as it's turned milder and even sunny today.

Take things easy for a day or two, Betty, and that's advice from a wellwisher![:)]

 

[YCCMB]

Thanks , Sweets. Like Gloria Gaynor, I will survive. To be honest, it was a self-fulfilling prophecy. I'm teaching someone who lives in a block of swanky flats..but the architect was so busy making them swanky that he decided a metal, spiral staircase as the only means of access to the first and second floors would be a Good Thing. For the last few weeks, I have climbed and descended it whilst wondering to myself how anyone could live with that staircase, how they ever get their furniture upstairs and how awful it's going to be once it gets frosty. On Thursday evening in the dark, I missed a step and took the next flight rather more quickly than planned. Am now somewhat piebald, but otherwise fine.

[mint]

Had to Google Gloria Gaynor (how's that for alliteration![+o(])  Clearly, I have too little to do with the younger generation!

Strange, only this morning, I was saying to OH how the young have different sorts of knowledge from the stuff we have known for-seems-like-ever!

They are so smart and so technologically knowledgeable and I gasp at the sorts of answers they give on University Challenge on subjects about which I know less than nothing.  Yet, on anything that was common knowledge, say 40 years ago, they cannot give the right answers.

The passing of the Old Guard, I guess.  I find that a bit poignant for us oldies and a bit confusing too.  The young, to me, are often like a whole new species who at once fascinate and (sometimes) appal [:D]

PS, when we were househunting France, I simply refused to look at any properties with spiral staircases; they are wretched things and what do you do if you have to pass someone on the stairs?  Do you, good-naturedly and magnanimously, elect to take the little ledges on the inside or, boldly and without apology, take the rather wider spaces on the outside of the spiral?

[Gardengirl]

Betty, sorry to hear about your flight down the stairs!   [:D]   [:(]

I hate spiral staircases, which can look beautiful but I think they're lethal.

Sweet - even I knew about Gloria Gaynor and I'm definitely amongst our senior members here, plus we share initials!

[Loiseau]

YCCMB wrote:

" On Thursday evening in the dark..."

So the wizzy architect didn't even think it necessary to illuminate the deadly spiral!

Sounds awful, Betty. You are really lucky not to have broken any bones.

Angela

[YCCMB]

Thank you all for the concern! I never thought I would say this, but I was ministered to very ably on my return home by son#2, who has been skateboarding since he was a much younger person, and therefore knows almost everything there is to know about twisted/sprained ankles (not to mention breaks and other more serious injuries) having experienced most of them. Hardly had I set foot through the door and whispered a feeble "help!" when he came to my rescue with icepack, footrest, anti-inflammatories and a nice cup of tea (the medicinal purposes of which should never be underestimated). And he even cooked dinner!

Am wondering whether I can take the architect to the cleaners via "slippedonachip.com". I mean, that bloke in the adverts who got a massive payout because they gave him the wrong ladder (sic) got off lightly. They gave ME the wrong staircase!

Anyway, in the great scheme of things, it really isn't serious, and my dignity (even if not my safety) was preserved by the dark. However, I was disheartened that no-one so much as peeked through their curtains as I clattered past, making a noise like someone carelessly loading a lorry with the equipment from a steel band!

[Pommier]

[quote user="sweet 17"]

Had to Google Gloria Gaynor (how's that for alliteration![+o(])  Clearly, I have too little to do with the younger generation!

[/quote]

Sweet - that's not a young person's song as it was released 35 years ago!

[mint]

Pommier, maybe I was already an old person 35 years ago?[:-))]

[ericd]

[quote user="sweet 17"]

Pommier, maybe I was already an old person 35 years ago?[:-))]  [/quote]

 

Never thought of that but you are right .... [:D]

[Thibault]

But spiral staircases do have their uses - very good defensively as it is difficult to wield a sword in a fight using them when invading a castle.

Think of your fall, Betty, as a bit of historical re-enactment!

[YCCMB]

I'd've run myself through with my own sword, if I'd been carrying one. I'm not even allowed to run with scissors.....

[5-element]

Only just saw that thread, and - even though it has moved on a lot since it started - and even though I haven't read every single word of the comments, what came to me immediately was "en pas plus de deux ans" - a clumsy, but almost literal way of translating... what was it again you were supposed to transate??[:D][:P]