Кого принцессы хотят погубить… · 9:06pm Jun 29th, 2014
...сперва сводят с ума.
Hello my readers hale and handsome!
So there's this awesome individual by the name of Litho who, it so turns out, has mad translation skills. He's already exercised those mad skills on Твайлайт Спаркл заваривает чай and Следы копыт and now he's outdone himself with Whom The Princesses Would Destroy... in Russian. It's always a joy to have something you wrote translated—no compliment more earnest, basically—and the choice of language really pleases me, given that I am Slavic myself[1].
Now, I suppose not many of you need a Russian translation, but I still thought this post worth making in order to popularize the indisputable fact that Litho is made of 100% awesome.
[1] Not Russian. I don't really speak Russian, either, though I can understand bits of it. Sufficient to know that what I linked to is, in fact, my story, and to even marvel at the way Litho translated a few jokes. Inspired replacement for the phrase 'Hue and cry,' I have to say.
Neat!
Cool, it's a story that deserves to be read by more people
You know it's a good sign when you're getting international or cross-cultural recognition. Congratulations!
Litho has been very good to me in the past. He strikes me as a very keen and perceptive translator.
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He has actually mentioned working on your stories in glowing terms just recently. Clearly, I am in excellent company.
Mark Twain's short story "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" was translated into French without his permission. This was one of the things you didn't do to Mark Twain. He got hold of a copy of the French version and did his own absurdly literal back-translation of it, which, published as part of the triptych "The Jumping Frog: in English, then in French, and then Clawed Back into a Civilized Language Once More by Patient, Unremunerated Toil" went on to become an international sensation.
It all sounds like a bit of stage business from one of your stories!
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That's absolutely brilliant. I swear, there's nothing Mark Twain does that isn't awesome.
Ah, it seems I'll have to add "translate: [GhostWords]" to my Google tabs as well. A man of many talents and languages it seems.
just out of curiosity, to which branch of Slavic tribes do you own up to?
And technically, all of us slavs are Rus. Being that Rus/Ras/Ros (since our ancestors never developed written form, there is no one true spelling) is the slavic word for people, populace.
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I'm South Slavic.
Possibly from Proto-Indo-European *wréh₂ds meaning 'root,' or from another root meaning 'rowing.' The etymology is unclear.
I'd say translation is nice and very accurate. Although it's very close to original text that makes it seem as "word-to-word" translate, it is done in a way that keeps original meanings in place.
I didn't read much beyond two paragraphs, btw.
Personally, I prefer English version due to pronounce of words.
Edit: Although Blueblood could be translated as "принц Синекровка" rather than "Блюблад". I know it's hard to translate names, but he deserves a pun or two! Although... Normally royalty is considered "Голубая кровь" (Blue blood), rather than "Синяя кровь" (Blue blood).
Russian has more than one word for shades of blue.
Welp, now I am going to have to read it again in Russian I suppose... What a horrible fate that is.
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So does that mean you say " Я'll " a lot?
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D'you know, I never made the connection before now.
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that joke is so bad it should legally be declared vandalism.
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First 10 seconds. I don't get the joke.
After first 10 seconds. Maybe if I pronounce it out loud... Oh
Actually good one.
And in Russian we don't say "I will do". Instead form of word replacing "do" changes.
"Я буду идти гулять" = "I will go walk"
And this is wrong construction in russian. Proper would be "Я пойду гулять". Which is "I" "will go" "walk"
But "пойду" is "will go".
Closest would be "я иду" which will be "I" "going".
Which is why fics written by russian speaker might miss "am" or "the" or "a" things.
Also "гулять" might also be translated as "wander" as when you're walking aimlessly.
Thus this joke isn't a vandalism from russian perspective.
Oh and think about this: "Я погуляю".
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Vandalism?...no, I just can't see it. Hunnism maybe. Or Visigothism. But the Vandals don't come anywhere close:
zonu.com/images/0X0/2009-12-09-11393/Barbarian-invasions-of-the-Roman-Empire-100-to-500.png
"Constantinople? The last exit said 'Adrianople!' Boy, that's the last time I trust Google Maps!"
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I think you missed whom you should be answering the comment there. And, I at least know that bit of russian grammar. Most slavic languages are similar in that regard.
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Your history-fu is greater than mine. The joke still stinks. Putridly.
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Well, I was saying that joke isn't vandalism. And my mind drifted off from that.