Re: Newbie question

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/

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