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Doubt about concrete sentence. Dankon.

by Francisko1, April 17, 2011

Messages: 8

Language: English

Francisko1 (User's profile) April 17, 2011, 9:02:23 PM

"You are invited to be a bit more indulgent when judging my translations."

Cxu oni uzas cxi tie la verban tempon "judging" por ne uzi subjekton-pronomon? Dankon.

Mustelvulpo (User's profile) April 17, 2011, 9:56:16 PM

Is this a question about English or about Esperanto? In English, it's possible to use a subject pronoun to express this idea if you wish: "You are invited to be a bit more indulgent when you are judging my translations" but it's not necessary.

ceigered (User's profile) April 18, 2011, 5:18:05 AM

You can say:
- when judging my translations
- when you are judging my translations
- when you judge my translations

But only the first one sounds right-ish. The others seem a bit strange for a reason I can't explain.

Normally though I'd say:

"Feel free" over "You are invited", or while still being as formal - "I invite you"
e.g. "Feel free to be a bit more indulgent when judging my translations"
or "I invite you to be a bit more indulgent when judging my translations".

"You are invited" sounds like a letter or greeting card you give to someone inviting them to a party, where as "I invite you" sounds more like something you'd say to a guest in real-time conversation.

Nonetheless, your original English was completely correct, just very formal and a bit impersonal, where as "Feel free" has a more casual, inviting sound to it, and "I invite you" has a formal but friendly sound to it.

So you can choose the bits you want lango.gif

jefusan (User's profile) April 18, 2011, 1:30:57 PM

By "indulgent," do you mean that we should not judge your translations too harshly? If so, it seems a little strange to say "You are invited to," which sounds like you're doing someone a favor.

If that's the case, I would just say "Please be a bit more indulgent when judging my translations," or, "You are invited to judge my translations, but please be a bit more indulgent."

erinja (User's profile) April 18, 2011, 2:29:34 PM

The whole sentence sounds strange to me. What are we asking someone to do?

"Judge my translations, but please be nice"? "Don't judge me too harshly?" "Please be nicer than you've been being when looking at my translations"?

3rdblade (User's profile) April 19, 2011, 12:02:06 AM

erinja:The whole sentence sounds strange to me. What are we asking someone to do?
It's one of those sentences which tries so hard to be polite it ends up sounding a bit unctuous. Or like when banks introduce a new fee, and they advertise it by saying 'You are invited to be a part of our exciting new banking directions," or something. There is an imperative in there, a direction from the translator to the judge. Roughly:

"Be nice when you judge my translations."

In EO... "Kiam vi juĝas miajn tradukojn, bonvolu esti malsevere." or "Bonvolu juĝi miajn tradukojn malsevere."

ceigered (User's profile) April 19, 2011, 7:25:51 AM

I thought indulgent meant "please indulge yourself, feel free to do it as much as you like"....

shoko.gif

I take it I may have accidentally placed a reflexive meaning of the word...

3rdblade (User's profile) April 19, 2011, 7:35:39 AM

ceigered:I thought indulgent meant "please indulge yourself, feel free to do it as much as you like"....
My dictionary has indulgent as meaning, "having or indicating a readiness or overreadiness to be generous to or lenient with someone."

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