Please be my translator (General discussion) Language Learning Forum

Please be my translator
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20 messages over 3 pages: 1 2 3 Next >>

matthewmathieu
Newbie
United States
Joined 5121 days ago
14 posts - 19 votes

Message 1 of 20

06 March 2011 at 11:29pm | IP Logged

I am writing a story in which an author suddenly confronts a wall plastered with a fragment of his own text
translated into
ten or so languages. The idea is to sense the strangeness of an encounter with oneself who is simultaneously an
"other." Since I only speak French and Spanish well enough to translate into those languages myself, I was
wondering if anyone would be so kind as to contribute a translation of the following sentence into your native
language. My gratitude is immense, thank you.

To be translated:

I twist and turn and stumble about drunk in my own paragraph like a game of chutes and ladders, crawling
towards an exit finally in sight where light shines upon my own, unknown face in the distance until I slip, fall,
and start over again.

This link might
help for those unfamiliar with the game.

Edited by matthewmathieu on 07 March 2011 at 7:19pm
1 person has voted this message useful

Kounotori
Triglot
Senior Member
Finland
Joined 5345 days ago
136 posts - 264 votes

Speaks: Finnish*, English, Russian
Studies: Mandarin

Message 2 of 20

07 March 2011 at 1:48pm | IP Logged

Here's a Finnish translation for you:

Käännyn ja kiemurtelen ja kompuroin humalassa omassa kappaleessani kuin pelissä käärmeitä ja tikapuita, ryömien kohti viimeinkin näkyville tullutta ulospääsyä, jonka valo paistaa omille kaukaisille, tuntemattomille kasvoilleni, kunnes liukastun, tipahdan ja aloitan taas alusta.
2 persons have voted this message useful

Cainntear
Pentaglot
Senior Member
Scotland
linguafrankly.blogsp
Joined 6012 days ago
4399 posts - 7687 votes

Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, French, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic
Studies: Catalan, Italian, German, Irish, Welsh

Message 3 of 20

07 March 2011 at 2:17pm | IP Logged

Generally, I find foreign text in prose to be a waste of space, and a guaranteed way to break the illusion: if I can't understand it, I'm no longer absorbed in reading.

It works with spoken language on TV because we hear what they hear, so can relate to the sense of alienness and confusion.

But we do not experience a foreign written language in the same way. Look at that Finnish above. Do you hear anything? Do you feel anything? To me, it's just an unintelligible mess. I don't experience it as language. My eye skips by it and ignores it, which is not what you want to happen in a book...
5 persons have voted this message useful

RogerK
Triglot
Groupie
Austria
Joined 5076 days ago
92 posts - 181 votes

Speaks: English*, German, Italian
Studies: Portuguese

Message 4 of 20

07 March 2011 at 3:44pm | IP Logged

Cainntear wrote:

I'm sure Matthew appreciates your help.

Matthew, I will give you a German translation but it would be better if a native German did so. Therefore I'll wait a couple of days to see if someone else helps you first. Good luck with your project.
2 persons have voted this message useful

hrhenry
Octoglot
Senior Member
United States
languagehopper.blogs
Joined 5131 days ago
1871 posts - 3642 votes

Speaks: English*, Spanish^C2, Italian^C2, Norwegian, Catalan, Galician, Turkish, Portuguese
Studies: Polish, Indonesian, Ojibwe

Message 5 of 20

07 March 2011 at 3:45pm | IP Logged

matthewmathieu wrote:

I am writing a story in which an author suddenly confronts a wall plastered with a fragment of his own text
translated into
ten or so languages. The idea is to sense the strangeness of an encounter with oneself who is simultaneously an
"other." Since I only speak French and Spanish well enough to translate into those languages myself, I was
wondering if anyone would be so kind as to contribute a translation of the following sentence into your native
language. My gratitude is immense, thank you.

To be translated:

I twist and turn and stumble about drunk in my own paragraph like a game of shoots and ladders, crawling
towards an exit finally in sight where light shines upon my own, unknown face in the distance until I slip, fall,
and start over again.

This link might
help for those unfamiliar with the game.

Just a note: it should be "Chutes and Ladders". That's the name of the board game.

R.
==
2 persons have voted this message useful

tommus
Senior Member
CanadaRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 5867 days ago
979 posts - 1688 votes

Speaks: English*
Studies: Dutch, French, Esperanto, German, Spanish

Message 7 of 20

07 March 2011 at 4:10pm | IP Logged

Kuikentje wrote:

I know this game: I've seen the pictures on the OP's link, but here it's with some serpents, not chutes at all. (The ladders are ladders like where you live).

I know the serpent version as "Snakes and Ladders".

2 persons have voted this message useful

Arekkusu
Hexaglot
Senior Member
Canada
bit.ly/qc_10_lec
Joined 5382 days ago
3971 posts - 7747 votes

Speaks: English, French*, German^C1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto
Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian

Message 8 of 20

07 March 2011 at 4:19pm | IP Logged

hrhenry wrote:

matthewmathieu wrote:

I am writing a story in which an author suddenly confronts a wall plastered with a fragment of his own text
translated into
ten or so languages. The idea is to sense the strangeness of an encounter with oneself who is simultaneously an
"other." Since I only speak French and Spanish well enough to translate into those languages myself, I was
wondering if anyone would be so kind as to contribute a translation of the following sentence into your native
language. My gratitude is immense, thank you.

To be translated:

I twist and turn and stumble about drunk in my own paragraph like a game of shoots and ladders, crawling
towards an exit finally in sight where light shines upon my own, unknown face in the distance until I slip, fall,
and start over again.

This link might
help for those unfamiliar with the game.

Just a note: it should be "Chutes and Ladders". That's the name of the board game.

R.
==

No wonder I couldn't recognize the game!

1 person has voted this message useful

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