Re: Trivial Translation Exercise

> "You can't add more years to your life, but you can add
> more life to your years."
>
hmm, well, I got it in Atas, but it doesn't make any real sense.

keh loh imikau mau pa'ai asa lah keh-a karang.
keh loh imikau pa'ai karang lah yisau asa.


keh loh imikau mau pa'ai asa lah keh karang.
you able heap not more life to you year.

keh loh imikau pa'ai karang lah yisau asa.
you able heap more life to one year.

Some points:

First, "mau" is used to negate only verbs of creation and destruction.  "imikau" literally
means "heap together," from the root "mikau," lump or heap.  "karang" refers to the span
of one's life, not necessarily its quality.

It still makes sense, but only as a paradox.  If I were to retranslate it, it'd come out

You can't live more years than you've got.
But you can have a larger lifespan in one year (than you think you can).

(note, also, that yisau, "one" is in a peculiar situation here.  "asa," or year is one of those
words that doesn't take a classifier.  Usually, the words for one to nine are reduced to prefixes
added to the noun classifier.  By coincidence, time words don't take these classifiers, so this is
about the simplest way to count something. Also, the original is plural, but not
specifying a single
year here makes the whole thing mean something like "you can't live more years than you've got,
but you can live more years than you've got.")


--Patrick


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