(no subject)

[kittydesade]

This would be so much easier if the damn gloss had all the words.

1. Заходите!
Лена: Здравствуй, Нелли! Гэри, привет!
Lena: Hello, Nelly! Gary, hi!

Гэри: С праздником!
Gary: Happy Holidays! [Singular in Russian, plural in English. Huh.]

Лена: И вас тоже! Что вы стоите? Заходите! Раздевайтесь, берите тапочки!
Lena: And to you as well. Why are you just standing there? [Lit. What you stand? I think...] Come in! Take off your coat, take/pick slippers.

Света: Садитесь! Стол готов.
Sveta: Have a seat! A/this? seat is ready. [Which is awkward in English, but there's no semantic equiv that I can think of.] The table is ready [Behemoth prefers 'served.']. [That's because it's TABLE, Jag, Table. We're going to write that on your hands till you remember.]

Нелли: Ой, всё выглядит так вкусно!
Nelly: Oy, everything looks so good delicious/tasty!

Света: Не стесняйтесь! Салат берите! Селёдочку! Икру!
Sveta: Don't be shy! Have [some] [or take, or help yourself to] salad, herring, [or] caviar. [Noting for future reference: While in English the exclamation point is more for emphasis, in Russian it is mandatory. Translation here changed for semantic correctness.]

Алёша: Ребята, я хочу предложить тост за наших американских гостей.
Alyosha: Guys, I would like to propose a toast to our American guests.

Лена: Да, давайте выпьем за наших ребят.
Lena: Yes, lets drink to our friends children [friends?].

Алёша: Я поднимаю бокал за наших друзей Гэри и Нелли. Пусть они приезжают к нам чаще.
Alyosha: I raise a glass to our friends Gary and Nelly. May they Let them come to us more often.

2. Если бы вы были дома...
Алёша: Ребята, вы бы так встречали Новый год, если бы вы были у себя дома?
Alyosha: Guys, would you see in the New Year thus [a little archaic but the semantic fits in the structure given?], if you were at home? celebrate the new year the same if you were at home? [Semantic translation given by Behemoth.]

Гэри: Ты знаешь, у нас Новый год не такой уж большой праздник.
Gary: You know, our New Year isn't such a big holiday.

Нелли: Да. Вот если бы я знала, что у вас Новый год -- такой большой праздник, я бы тоже приготовила что-нибудь.
Nelly: Yes. Here, if had known that your New Year was such a big holiday, I would have also prepared/cooked something.

Гэри: У нас самый большой праздник года -- Рождество.
Gary: For us/ Our biggest holiday of the year is Christmas.

Нелли: И Ханука для евреев.
Nelly: And Chanukkah for the Jews. [Nngh.]

Лена: Значит, большой вечер вы устраиваете на Рождество?
Lena: That means you arrange a big evening on/for Christmas?

Гэри: Ну, как тебе сказать? Стол действительно большой. Но Рождество обычно отмечают в семье.
Gary: Hm, how to tell you? A really big table [semantically, feast?] The table feast/dinner [more correct semantics] is actually big, [lit. table actually big] but Christmas is usually celebrated in the family.

Нелли: Да. Как раз 25-го я здесь очень скучала по своим. Ведь если бы я была дома, мы дарили бы друг подарки, мы с мамой готовили бы обед, пошли бы в церковь...
Nelly: Yes. Just Like this 25th here I missed everyone my family very much. If I were at home now we would give gifts [to our] friends, we would make dinner with Mama, we would go to church...

Лена: А у вас все ходят в церковь на Рождество?
Lena: [Not sure how to translate this... for you?] In your country/at your place [does] everyone go to church on Christmas?

Нелли: Верующие ходят.
Nelly: [People of faith] do/go.



OOF. OOF I SAY. So, note to self: never, ever do vaults in the loose sweatpants again. Not without tying them up around your waist. Because even though, yes, there wasn't really anyone out there to see, the one time you vault up and your pants don't go with you, someone will be there walking their dog to see your pretty black panties. Murphy knows it, and you know it.

On the other hand, I can almost vault over the fence! And I mean full on, hands on the rail to guide and legs tucked under and over I go! Smoothly! That was... far quicker than I expected. I'm not sure if it's because of all the running jumping up on benches getting me used to vertical motion simultaneous to horizontal motion or what. But speaking of benches, I hit the benches at a run today, ran over a bench, down the other side, jumped over a small wall, up the grass, down the grass, down over the small wall, up on a bench, down, up on a bench, down, skidded to a halt. Without barely breaking stride. It might be cheapass baby parkour, but it is fucking baby parkour. Oh yeah. Who's awesome? That would be me.

Hopefully today will be less eventful than yesterday with its weird blackouts and the boy falling asleep when he should have been leaving to pick me up. Oooh so infuriating. Still have projects to do, check in, etc etc etc. I got a decent night's sleep last night but, oi. I could have done without the bout of fat-and-ugly-itis.

Comments

[kikibug13]

Yeah, definitely 'to' here. Prepositions do not map directly between languages, and while 'за' would usually seem to translate into 'for,' it's far from always the case.

[behe_moth]

Kiki, I cannot agree with you. As I already said to Kitty, in Russia when you drink for someone who is present the hidden meaning is that you drink for his/her health, so 'for' should be keeped as I think.

[kikibug13]

Nobody ever says 'raise a toast for' in English. You might want to consider not only the Russian side of the translation but the English one, too. *wry* Trust me, translations are what I do.

[behe_moth]

Yap, I digged into dictionary and see that I was wrong, thank you.

[kikibug13]

Dug. (dig -> dug -> dug, irregular verb)

Usually, if kittydesade sticks to her use of prepositions in English, she's probably right. Prepositions are pesky things and no matter how hard you try to learn them by heart, the only way you ever use them correctly if you get enough feel of the language (any language, not just English) so the right ones feel right and the wrong ones feel off. Usually best achieved by much reading and listening to native speech.

[behe_moth]

And thank you again.
I think there's another way to achieve it - to communicate with the ones who feels the language, so that I do )

[kikibug13]

No problem.

That also helps. You just need way more time to get the same amount of information, this way. Reading a book written in English will mean perceiving the use of the language that's difficult to get through in months, if not more, of conversations with native speakers.

(Of course, that may also be making a difference to me, since it takes me one or two days to read a book that I like, and I know not everybody reads that fast, in either their native language or a foreign one.)

[behe_moth]

Desprite that fact that I'm reading with the same speed, I almost out of time for reading except some technical books. A pity.
And I cannot completely agree with you. The books are good to extending vocabulary, but they cannot give the understanding of how people really communicate. The language in books usually differs from the language used in real conversations etc.

[kikibug13]

Technical books sometimes can help, too. They are grammatically correct, and some of the aspects of a language that are confusing or don't stick around when learned in lessons can stick around in one's memory still.

Yes, and no. As much as online communication may seem closer to spoken conversations, it differs from the language used in real conversations, too. To the point that, if I am paying attention, I can often tell if an entry/comment was typed in or dictated.

But my point was about small phrases that are used identically in spoken and written speech, idioms including prepositions in particular. The best way for them to stick around in one's mind is reading/hearing them the correct way over and over and over again. Hence, a book with 150 000 words doing the work faster than months of conversation.

Direct communication is, indeed, better for getting a feel of the live language. Unless, of course, you run into people who don't care about writing their entries and comments correctly, and there are many of those online.

[behe_moth]

The problem is that direct communication with the native speakers is not always available.

Ok, let's finish for today ) 2 sw testers, hardened by bug advocacy, can debate forever :-D

[kikibug13]

Pretty much. I was just sharing personal experience with all the variations - and as somebody who people can't tell is not a native English speaker online.

Hah. Yes.

the last one, really

[behe_moth]

Yes, I was pretty surprised when I looked into your profile that English is not native for you )

It's OK, there's a difference between argument and conversation!

[kikibug13]

:) Thank you. It's a work in progress, along with all the other languages.