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Good translation of Yoda Speak?

od Aleksachjo, 20. september 2015

Sporočila: 9

Jezik: English

Aleksachjo (Prikaži profil) 20. september 2015 14:02:58

My favorite quote from the entire Star Wars film franchise is Master Yoda's admonishment to Luke Skywalker in Empire:

Do not. Try or Try not. There is no try.

How would one render that in Esperanto.

The obvious way is:

Ne provu. Faru or ne faru. Ne estas provo.

or as I did on my profile page:

"Ne provu. Faru aux ne faru. Ne estas «provi».

The problem is that try can be either a noun or a verb (in English), but in Esperanto it has to be one or the other.

Ne provu. Aux faru aux ne faru. Ne diru "Mi provos...."

I'm also wondering if those unfamiliar with the quotation might be misunderstood any way it's translated unless you like the movie.

In the context of the movie it means: "You have the ability to do it. You can do it! Doubting yourself will lead to failure."

or maybe more bluntly: "Don't half-ass it, kid."

It could also be taken to mean:

"Don't even bother trying if there's a chance you're not going to be able to do it."

Just a Sunday morning pondering I'm having.....

erinja (Prikaži profil) 20. september 2015 14:14:53

Are you trying to translate into normal Esperanto, or to transmit the flavor of how Yoda talks into Esperanto?

"faru aux ne faru" is ordinary Esperanto. Yoda's whole thing is unusual word order, so if you wanted to capture his flavor, you'd want to do the words in a slightly unusual (but still understandable order)

Aleksachjo (Prikaži profil) 20. september 2015 15:27:47

erinja:Are you trying to translate into normal Esperanto, or to transmit the flavor of how Yoda talks into Esperanto?

"faru aux ne faru" is ordinary Esperanto. Yoda's whole thing is unusual word order, so if you wanted to capture his flavor, you'd want to do the words in a slightly unusual (but still understandable order)
I agree but I'm a newbie, so if I don't translte it into ordinary Esperanto, people might think I'm making mistakes. ridulo.gif.

Before I started digressing, I guess the whole point was how do you translate, "There is no try".

Thanks

Alkanadi (Prikaži profil) 20. september 2015 16:47:42

Aleksachjo:How do you translate, "There is no try". Thanks
There is no try
Ne estas provo

There is only do
Estas nur faro

dbob (Prikaži profil) 20. september 2015 17:38:08

According to Essential World 4500 English-Esperanto Famous Quotes:

Do, or do not. There is no "try"
Fari, aŭ ne. Ne estas "provi"

yyaann (Prikaži profil) 20. september 2015 17:42:01

dbob:Do, or do not. There is no "try"
Fari, aŭ ne. Ne estas "provi"
Faru, aŭ ne faru. Ne estas provo.

Duko (Prikaži profil) 28. september 2015 09:34:48

This is turning into a small pet peeve for me: Shouldn't you all use "klopodi" instead of "provi"?

sudanglo (Prikaži profil) 28. september 2015 10:11:55

With its nuance of experimental engagement with the object/activity, I think that provi will do fine.

Yoda is saying just do it, don't try and see if you can do it.

Rajzin (Prikaži profil) 28. september 2015 13:53:14

erinja:Yoda's whole thing is unusual word order, so if you wanted to capture his flavor, you'd want to do the words in a slightly unusual (but still understandable order)
While not as much the case for this particular quote, I guess many Yoda quotes can just be translated as is, as a OSV word order is unusual in Esperanto too.

For example:

"Powerful you have become, the dark side I sense in you."
　　　Fortega vi iĝis, la mallumflankon mi sentas en vi.

"Patience you must have, my young padawan."
　　　Paciencon vi devas havi, mia juna padawano.

"Difficult to see. Always in motion is the future."
　　　Malfacilas (antaŭ)vidi. Ĉiam moviĝanta estas la estonto.

"Around the survivors a perimeter create."
　　　Ĉirkaŭ la postvivintoj perimetron kreu.

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