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Help With a Difficult Sentence

by Vespero_, February 6, 2012

Messages: 18

Language: English

Vespero_ (User's profile) February 6, 2012, 7:00:49 PM

Right, so I'm Translating Pokemon Red, and I've hit a rather difficult sentence.

The original is:
Any POKEMON that takes part in battle, however short, earns EXP!

I've translated it as:
Ajnaj POKEMONOj kiuj patroprenas je batalo, sendistinge de la longeco de tempo, pagatas SPE!

Which I mean to be:
Any Pokemon who participates in battle, regardless of how long [the] time [is], is paid experience! (SPE is short for Sperto or Sperteco)

I'm pretty sure there's some stuff wrong with this sentence, so if anyone would be willing to help, it would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Vespero.

darkweasel (User's profile) February 6, 2012, 7:02:14 PM

I’d put it as:
Ĉiu POKéMONO partoprenanta en batalo, kiel ajn longe, ricevas SPE.

erinja (User's profile) February 6, 2012, 7:36:36 PM

You receive the experience points after having participated in the battle, not while participating in the battle, is that right? In that case I'd make the participle past tense.

Ĉiu Pokemono partopreninta en batalo, kiel ajn longe, ricevas SPE

Or else perhaps
Ĉiu Pokemono partopreninta en batalo, ne gravas kiel longe, ricevas SPE

darkweasel (User's profile) February 6, 2012, 9:35:28 PM

erinja:You receive the experience points after having participated in the battle, not while participating in the battle, is that right?
Yes, it is, and you are of course right about the past participle.

Vespero_ (User's profile) February 6, 2012, 10:31:57 PM

erinja:You receive the experience points after having participated in the battle, not while participating in the battle, is that right? In that case I'd make the participle past tense.

Ĉiu Pokemono partopreninta en batalo, kiel ajn longe, ricevas SPE

Or else perhaps
Ĉiu Pokemono partopreninta en batalo, ne gravas kiel longe, ricevas SPE
Aaa, Dankon

All of you have been quite helpful!

Zafur (User's profile) February 7, 2012, 12:27:51 AM

Be sure to update us when you're done! I'd love to play it, especially as you don't even need the text to understand it. I tried to translate one of the GBA games but I found it too difficult at the time... I may give it another go eventually.

sudanglo (User's profile) February 7, 2012, 11:18:02 AM

It's a very finicky point, but what would you see the difference, if any between:

1. Batalinte, ĉu daŭre aŭ ne, ĉiu Pokemono gajnas SPE.

1. Ĉiu Pokemono partopreninta en batalo ... ricevas SPE.

erinja (User's profile) February 7, 2012, 12:50:31 PM

That point occurred to me, sudanglo, because I did think about translating as "Partopreninte en batalo, ĉiu pokemono..." etc.

I wouldn't use "daŭre" here, though. That implies battling on and on, and what we are talking about is individual battles; long battles or short battles, but discrete events, not a long drawn-out period of battling.

Ilmen (User's profile) February 7, 2012, 3:18:13 PM

"Sendepende de ĝia daŭro" is another possibility. ♪

I wonder whether the SPE word shouldn't take the accusative "-n" for removing possible ambiguities. Is this optional with such shortened words?

And, good luck for your project, Vespero_.
Translating Pokemon Red is not easy, there is surely a good amount of colloquial speech quite difficult to render therein. ♪

darkweasel (User's profile) February 7, 2012, 4:23:13 PM

Ilmen:"Sendepende de ĝia daŭro" is another possibility. ♪
Reading that, I’d wonder what ĝia refers to.
Ilmen:
I wonder whether the SPE word shouldn't take the accusative "-n" for removing possible ambiguities. Is this optional with such shortened words?
Yes, that’s optional and in this case doesn’t sound very good.

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