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Translation of a stupid story

Kaerigan :lta, 9. helmikuuta 2008

Viestejä: 19

Kieli: English

Kaerigan (Näytä profiilli) 9. helmikuuta 2008 19.22.35

Saluton! I'm pretty new here and pretty new to the Esperanto, too. I've gone through the entire "Puzlo Esperanto" course and am currently trying to complete "Vojagxu kun Zam".

As practice, I've been trying to translate a story that's part of a collection of stupid Swedish stories that me and my friends used to tell each other when we were children.

Here's the story in English:

Once upon a time, there was a Russian, a German and a Bellman. They had decided to find out who could spend the longest time in a pigsty.

First, it was the Russian's turn. The Russian entered the pigsty, but after two minutes, he ran out, shouting "The pig farted! The pig farted!".

Second, it was the German's turn. The German entered the pigsty, but after five minutes, he ran out, shouting "The pig farted! The pig farted!".

Now it was Bellman's turn. Bellman entered the pigsty. After ten minutes, the pig ran out, shouting "Bellman farted! Bellman farted!".

Yes, it's supposed to be "A Bellman", that just adds to the silliness. And here's what I've done so far in Esperanto:

Antaux longa tempo, estis unu ruso, unu germano kaj unu Belman. Ili havis decidi ke ili ekscius kiu povis estebli en unu porkdomo.

Unue estis la rusa torno. La ruso eniris porkdomon, sed post du minutoj, li eliregis, kriante "La porko furzis! La porko furzis!".

Due estis la germana torno. La germano entiris porkdomon, sed post kvin minutoj, li eliregis, kriante "La porko furzis! La porko furzis!".

Nun estis la torno de Belman. Belman entiris porkdomon. Post dek minutoj, la porko eliregis, kriante "Bleman furzis! Belman furzis!".

I am still very much a newbie to Esperanto and would therefore appreciate any help on translating this story. The text is probably full of errors, since I am having some trouble understanding how to, uhm, "bend" verbs correctly. I would also appreciate if you wouldn't answer completely in Esperanto (as some seem to have tendency to do in this forum lango.gif).

Thanks in advance! (Sorry for the length of the post!)

RiotNrrd (Näytä profiilli) 9. helmikuuta 2008 21.03.22

Here is my translation of the same story. I don't know what a Bellman is, so I made the assumption it was a proper name.

In some places I reworded the Esperanto in such as way that it is not a direct, word-for-word, translation of the English, but sounds better (to me).

I may have made a few errors of my own (I still consider myself a beginner as well), so if anyone wishes to correct me, feel free!

-----

Iam, estis rusano, germano, kaj Bellman. Ili decidis malkovri tiun, kiu povus resti la plej longan tempon en porkejo.

Unue, estis la vico de la rusano. La rusano eniris la porkejon, sed post du minutoj li rapide eliris, kaj kriis "La porko furzis!, la porko furzis!"

Due, estis la vico de la germano. La germano eniris la porkejon, sed post kvin minutoj li rapide eliris, kaj kriis "La porko furzis!, la porko furzis!"

Fine, estis la vico de Bellman. Li eniris la porkejon. Post dek minutoj, la porko rapide eliris, kaj kriis "Bellman furzis! Bellman furzis!"

Miland (Näytä profiilli) 9. helmikuuta 2008 21.33.49

I would basically agree with RiotNrrd, with two suggested modifications, but these are matters of taste rather than grammar:

substitute eltrovi for malkovri
substitute kriante for kaj kriis

erinja (Näytä profiilli) 9. helmikuuta 2008 21.52.14

A Russian is a "ruso" (from "Rusio" or "Rusujo", just as a "germano" comes from "Germanio" or "Germanujo")

Theoretically "rusano" is not wrong, just rare and a little redundant. If you wanted to use that form "rusano", to be consistent I'd use "germanano", but I wouldn't use "rusano" anyway.

Kaerigan (Näytä profiilli) 10. helmikuuta 2008 0.59.22

Thank you all for your help. I just now realized that I had used the verb "entiri" instead of "eniri", which makes quite a difference. And yes, perhaps I should've told you that Bellman is a name. I tend to forget things when writing forum posts in English.

However, everything is not crystal-clear yet. Why "Ili decidis malkovri tiun"? That would mean like "They decided to discover that"? And what's wrong with "ekscii"? That means "to find out, to learn", while "malkovri" means "to discover" and "eltrovi" means "to invent" (at least according to the dictionary). The group wants to know, to learn, to find out who can stay in the pigsty the longest, if I put a "discover" there it sounds like it's some kind of science crusade, and invent sounds whacky. Also, "kriis" means "shouted", right? Is there any particular reason why one should use "kriis" instead of "kriante" (if I'm even using "kriante" correctly)? Just wondering. I'm suspecting that I'm trying to write Esperanto while "thinking in English"...

Anyways, thanks again. Porkejo does sound better than porkdomo. Oh, and, what would "iregi" even mean? I just threw in a word there since I didn't know what word to use.

quickstopme (Näytä profiilli) 10. helmikuuta 2008 2.48.52

Eltrovi can mean invent, and if you break it up you have trovi-find and el-out, so it is like find out.

But I'm a noob so don't take my word for it ridego.gif actually this is my first post here! sal.gif

RiotNrrd (Näytä profiilli) 10. helmikuuta 2008 4.31.16

I read your translation through once, and then wrote my own translation directly from the English source, without consulting your translation during the process. So, it is not surprising that I would use some different words than you would.

I try to avoid constructions such as "kriante", and try to use the simple tenses instead where possible, but that is just a personal preference on my part. There is nothing wrong with using "kriante".

"Ekscii" would work just as well as "malkovri". In English I use "discover", "determine", or "find out" pretty much interchangeably, so my Esperanto word choice comes from that.

Why did I put "tiun" in the sentence? It can be left out, but it is a common Esperanto writing style used to indicate that the following matching "k" word (in this case, "kiu") is not being used as a question word. In this case, the sentence could be translated back into English as "They decided to discover that person who could spend the longest...". "Tiu" means "that one" or "that person" (not just "that", which is handled by "tio").

For example, if I were to translate the sentence

"I'll go to the store when she gets back",

I would write it as

"Mi iros al la vendejo tiam, kiam ŝi revenos".

In this case the "tiam, kiam" pair simply means "when" used as a statement instead of as a question. As with "tiu" (above, in the accusative), the "tiam" could be dropped, but you will frequently see this type of construction as it marks how "kiam" is being used a little more clearly. In this sentence "kiam" is not being used to ask a question, but instead to make a statement about the time that I will go to the store, and this is indicated more clearly by the use of "tiam".

RiotNrrd (Näytä profiilli) 10. helmikuuta 2008 5.10.20

Oh, and, what would "iregi" even mean?

It would mean the same as "iri ege". To go, in a big manner? I'm not sure what that would actually mean in real life, but that's what the Esperanto word would indicate.

RiotNrrd (Näytä profiilli) 10. helmikuuta 2008 5.14.03

One error I notice now in my translation is in the sentence

"Ili decidis malkovri tiun, kiu povus resti la plej longan tempon en porkejo."

"Resti" is intransitive, and therefore "longa tempo" should not have had the accusative ending.

sergejm (Näytä profiilli) 10. helmikuuta 2008 10.47.07

"longan tempon" means time, not direct object, so it is to be in accusative.
"ruso" is nation, "rusiano" is a man living in Russia, both are transtated to English as "Russian".
If Bell is a city/town/village etc. then
Bellman is 'Bellano'.
If there is misspelling - Bell(y)man then
Bellyman is 'ventregulo' or 'ventraĉulo'.

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