Re: OT: reality (wasRe: Atlantean) & Re: Some questions

John Cowan wrote:
> Mark J. Reed scripsit:
>>>Original line from _The Warrior's Apprentice_ by Lois McMaster Bujold:
>>>"Only on Barrayar would pulling a loaded needler start a stampede toward one."
>>>English-to-Russian-to-English mangling thereof: "Only on Barrayar you risk to
>>>lose support instead of finding it when you threat with the charged weapon."
[...]
>>
> Well, it's been translated back to English more or less casually; the
> Russian is probably at least grammatical, which the English isn't.
Modern Russian translations of foreign SF&F tend to be
quite sloppy, unless done by ethusiasts. Compare "the AST
translation" (AST being a big Russian publisher) at
http://lib.ru/INOFANT/BUDZHOLD/barra_04.txt :

"Только на Барраяре, пригрозив заряженным оружием,
ты рискуешь
потерять поддержку, а не обрести ее [...]"

and the "corrected translation" at
http://lib.ru/INOFANT/BUDZHOLD/barra_04-2.txt :

"Только на Барраяре, [...] стоит тебе достать заряженный
игольник - и люди толпой кидаются _на_ тебя, а не в
стороны."

For those who don't understand Russian - the second variant
is a pretty accurate rendition of the English original.

Vlad