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Sayings

de Trilernisto, 2008-julio-05

Mesaĝoj: 8

Lingvo: English

Trilernisto (Montri la profilon) 2008-julio-05 05:20:55

I've been thinking about this, and so far have no idea what the solution is. How would "to defeat the purpose" be translated into Esperanto?

Can anyone think of other sayings like this, which are used a lot but are hard to translate?

Miland (Montri la profilon) 2008-julio-05 07:53:42

Trilernisto:translated into Esperanto?
frustri la celon is the first thing that came to my mind (la unua ideo kiu venis en la kapo).

Another hard one might be 'object of the exercise'. I might translate that celo de la klopodo.

OK, I think I've done my bit. Mi opinias ke mi faris mian/ioman/taugan/suficxan* kontribuon.
(take your pick - faru vian elekton)

Trilernisto (Montri la profilon) 2008-julio-07 03:47:56

Dankon, that sounds like a good translation, to the point.

borja (Montri la profilon) 2008-julio-07 07:22:21

I would like to know how can be traslated "unless" into Esperanto. Does anybody know it? I didn´t find any word in Esperanto with its meaning.

mnlg (Montri la profilon) 2008-julio-07 08:17:17

borja:I would like to know how can be traslated "unless" into Esperanto. Does anybody know it? I didn´t find any word in Esperanto with its meaning.
Not every time there is a 1-to-1 correspondence between English and Esperanto words. Anyway in this case I think I would use "krom" or "escepte". Can you give a whole sentence as an example?

borja (Montri la profilon) 2008-julio-07 08:49:44

I asked because in spanish there is an expression with the same meaning "a menos que" and I think it can be useful sometimes.

"You'll never understand Esperanto if you don't study" (Vi neniam komprenos Esperanton se vi ne studas)

But what about: "You'll never understand Esperanto unless you study"?

Miland (Montri la profilon) 2008-julio-07 10:01:12

borja:"You'll never understand Esperanto if you don't study" (Vi neniam komprenos Esperanton se vi ne studas)

But what about: "You'll never understand Esperanto unless you study"?
My understanding is that "unless" = krom se, which is in the English-Eo vortaro here (which I interpret as "other than if").
So "You'll never understand Esperanto unless you study" is Vi neniam komprenos Esperanton krom se vi studas.

But generally, it is better to aim at a simple and direct translation of the meaning into E-o (which you did at first), than try to find an exact word-for-word equivalent. In my opinion this makes E-o easier to learn and use, and so more suitable as a tool for international communication.

mnlg (Montri la profilon) 2008-julio-07 11:09:40

borja:I asked because in spanish there is an expression with the same meaning "a menos que" and I think it can be useful sometimes.
We also have it in Italian, "a meno che" (and also "a meno di", which roughly means ~"unless in the event of").

As for your example, Miland's translation is what I would also suggest.

I also concur on the fact that most of the times it is better to reshape your original sentence so that its Esperanto translation is simpler, and more linear. However, especially when translating literature, it is also useful to know how to replicate such forms.

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