Към съдържанието

each versus every

от Vilinilo, 13 януари 2010

Съобщения: 24

Език: English

Vilinilo (Покажи профила) 13 януари 2010, 01:14:26

In Esperanto the word ĉiu stands both for each and every. Although their meanings are approximated, there's a nuance between them. For example, look at the following phrase:

"We love each other."

How could I translate it to Esperanto, as "Ni amas ĉiun alian" doesn't look very nice and is ambiguous (one could understand that we love each other or that we love every other person in the world.)

"Each book sold over a million copies."

The translation "Ĉiu libro vendigxis pli ol unu milino da ekzempleroj." could be misunderstood as "Every friggin book in the whole world sold over a million copies."

How can I esperantigi those phrases without causing confusion?

dimichxp (Покажи профила) 13 януари 2010, 01:51:51

Vilinilo:
"We love each other."
Ni amas unu la alian.
Ni amas ĉiun alian de ni. (don't be afraid to tell the evident)
Vilinilo:
"Each book sold over a million copies."
The translation "Ĉiu libro vendigxis pli ol unu milino da ekzempleroj." could be misunderstood as "Every friggin book in the whole world sold over a million copies."
I don't get why the english phrase couldn't be understood that way? If "each" implies some universal set, which can be understood by context, you can rely on it in the esperanto. If context is not so strong, or you are not sure, just specify that set in ĉiu-phrase (ĉiu lia libro...).

Rogir (Покажи профила) 13 януари 2010, 01:58:32

dimichxp:
Vilinilo:
"We love each other."
Ni amas unu la alian.
Ni amas ĉiun alian de ni. (don't be afraid to tell the evident)
Actually, everybody uses unu la alian. Similarly, 'to each other' becomes 'unu al la alia', 'about each other' becomes 'unu pri la alia', and so on.

dimichxp (Покажи профила) 13 януари 2010, 02:00:37

Rogir:
Actually, everybody uses unu la alian. Similarly, 'to each other' becomes 'unu al la alia', 'about each other' becomes 'unu pri la alia', and so on.
Yes, but if someone wants to say with ĉiu - why not? rideto.gif

Vilinilo (Покажи профила) 13 януари 2010, 02:56:41

Could I use "Ni nin amas" too?

dimichxp (Покажи профила) 13 януари 2010, 03:16:57

Vilinilo:Could I use "Ni nin amas" too?
I'm not sure, but it feels more like reflexive construction, where everyone of "we" loves himself. Ni is too ambiguous, i guess you may be misunderstood with such construction.

dimichxp (Покажи профила) 13 януари 2010, 03:22:42

R2D2!:AFAIK, Each is "ĉiu" and every "ĉiuj"
It seems to be, but the real problem here is not with literal translation. Vilinilo stated the problem about a set, which ĉiu will traverse (just like each) or ĉiuj will represent (just like every), see his examples.

darkweasel (Покажи профила) 13 януари 2010, 06:46:11

Vilinilo:Could I use "Ni nin amas" too?
That's what some German speakers might use: "Wir lieben uns" = "We love ourselves" = "Ni amas nin".

However, this can also mean that everybody of "us" loves themselves, so this is not very clear. I've started getting accostumed to using "einander" = "each other" in German too, and I'm trying hard not to even start that costum in Esperanto.

Use "unu la alian", which is much clearer.

Roberto12 (Покажи профила) 13 януари 2010, 11:27:39

Ni amas nin = we love ourselves
Ni amas unu la alia(j)n = we love each other

Ĉiu = each (or every)
Ĉiuj = all

Vilinilo (Покажи профила) 13 януари 2010, 11:38:55

I'll follow those suggestions, thanks for the help, guys!

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