Re: Newbie question

--- David Peterson <ThatBlueCat@...> wrote:
> Jeremy wrote:
>
> <<
> I was wondering, when translating well known
> passages to a conlang, how bound
> do you all feel to the literal translation?
> Obviously, word for word won't always be feasible,
> but how much do you
> translate from the intent of the passage and how
> much from the actual form of the
> passage?>>
>
> If you're talking about the Babel Text (and if
> you're not, you could be),
> quite frankly,
> I don't even get what the original is supposed to
> mean.   Further, the text
> you're given
> has phrases in it like:
>
> "Let's brick bricks and burn to a burning."
>
> Which are English words, but clearly not English.
>
> I would hope that there's no language that can
> translate that passage word
> for word
> with the result being the intended meaning (which, I
> assume, is something
> like, "Let's
> make some adobe bricks [or something] and then bake
> them").   What I do with
> this
> phrase is I try to be true to three priniciples: (1)
> bricks are getting made;
> (2) they're being
> cooked so that they harden; and (3) a speaker is
> suggesting that "we"
> (1pl.incl.) do it.
> So all I do is make sure that those three elements
> are recoverable from my
> "translation",
> and then I just make a new sentence.
>
> This, however, is only applicable if you have a
> conculture for which this
> would work.
> Let's say you're language is a language of people
> who on the North Pole, or
> something.
> They're probably not going to be using clay (or
> whatever) bricks to make a
> building.
> They're probably going to making an igloo out of ice
> blocks.   In that case,
> in order for
> the passage to make any sense in your language, you
> should change the passage
> entirely.
> However, you should also make a note somewhere so
> that whoever's reading the
> passage
> knows what changes you made and why.   As long as
> you've got that in there,
> do whatever.
> That's my opinion.
>
> -David
>
*******************************************************************
> "sunly eleSkarez ygralleryf ydZZixelje je ox2mejze."
> "No eternal reward will forgive us now for wasting
> the dawn."
>
> -Jim Morrison
>
> http://dedalvs.free.fr/
>
Speaking of translations, i've heard quite a many
stories about this or that missionary translating the
Bible into some obscure language in Africa of South
America or where-have-you. Just what sort of liberties
must have been taken with the Biblical descriptions of
flora and fauna and, the Garden and especially the
Book of Revelation I can only imagine. But it would
make for an interesting discussion of just what
"infallible inerrancy" means.
                                 Travis


	
		
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