Saluton!

Really stupid question, but would the old saying "Keep Calm and Carry on" translate as
"Trankviliĝ kaj daŭrig" or is there an different way?

Dankon pro via helpo!

Kieren

Trankvile antaŭen!

the translation you're proposing lacks verbal endings: trankvilighU kaj daurigU

anyway: trankvilighi = to BECOME calm, so maybe "restu trankvila(j)" or just "trankvilu"

I would probably say "malstreĉiĝu, antaŭen".

"Carry on": In England this phrase means to make a ruckus, dance about, banter, frolic, complain, etc...which are not calm activities.

mnlg:Trankvile antaŭen!

+1

There's bound to be a number of ways of doing it, but I like this one!

Miland:

mnlg:Trankvile antaŭen!

+1

There's bound to be a number of ways of doing it, but I like this one!

The problem I have with "trankvile" is that its an adverb, and "Keep calm" has the air of a command. I think if to use trankvili, then you have to add 'u' thusly: "trankviliĝu, antaŭen." I like adding a comma instead of 'kaj', because the adverb "antaŭen" doesnt seem to follow kaj, and the directive is not "go calmly forward", its clearly a demand that someone first relax, then continue. "Daŭri" is not bad either for "carry on".

novmik:The problem I have with "trankvile" is that its an adverb, and "Keep calm" has the air of a command.

Frankly I saw it as a suggestion. You are not wrong, but I still think the meaning can be expressed as "Carry on in tranquility", and that's a good enough render of my version.
But as Miland said, there is certainly more than a way to translate it, and my proposal was meant to be less literal.

novmik:"Carry on": In England this phrase means to make a ruckus, dance about, banter, frolic, complain, etc...which are not calm activities.

Yes it can sometimes have that idiomatic meaning, but it doesn't in the phrase we're translating so I'm not sure I see what your concern is there.

novmik:The problem I have with "trankvile" is that its an adverb, and "Keep calm" has the air of a command.

"Trankvile antaŭen!" to me feels like a volitive, as there's an implied "ni iru" (or whatever) attached to the adverb. I don't see the absence of volitive mode as a problem.

novmik:and the directive is not "go calmly forward", its clearly a demand that someone first relax, then continue.

In translation it's not always necessary to preserve every shade and nuance from the original, and indeed it will often be impossible to do so anyway. Personally I quite like mnlg's rendering, I think it conveys the 2 essential ideas (calmness/continuation) well enough.

That said, I think a literal translation could be just as good here. I would go with "restu trankvila kaj daŭrigu".

tommjames:

novmik:"Carry on": In England this phrase means to make a ruckus, dance about, banter, frolic, complain, etc...which are not calm activities.

Yes it can sometimes have that idiomatic meaning, but it doesn't in the phrase we're translating so I'm not sure I see what your concern is there.

novmik:The problem I have with "trankvile" is that its an adverb, and "Keep calm" has the air of a command.

"Trankvile antaŭen!" to me feels like a volitive, as there's an implied "ni iru" (or whatever) attached to the adverb. I don't see the absence of volitive mode as a problem.

novmik:and the directive is not "go calmly forward", its clearly a demand that someone first relax, then continue.

In translation it's not always necessary to preserve every shade and nuance from the original, and indeed it will often be impossible to do so anyway. Personally I quite like mnlg's rendering, I think it conveys the 2 essential ideas (calmness/continuation) well enough.

That said, I think a literal translation could be just as good here. I would go with "restu trankvila kaj daŭrigu".

I like that one too, its more apt: "restu trankvila kaj daŭrigu", though I would probably have made the seeming error of making trankvila into an adverb, and making daŭrigu into daŭru like thus:

"restu trankvile kaj daŭru."

Because I imagine trankvila is describing how to rest, and thus is an adverb, and that daŭrigi is superfluous use of "igi", because it implies that something is being continued outside the person doing the action, like rather than continuing him or herself, he or she is continuing a game outside, like the difference between manĝi="to eat" and manĝigi="to feed something outside yourself" like a baby or pet that you feed.

I just wanted to mention that it is English slang from both the USA and England with different meanings: "to carry on", and also curious if there is an Esperanto expression that is slang for "carry on". Is there?

novmik:daŭrigi is superfluous use of "igi"

"Daŭri" means "to last, to persist, to perdure", and it is intransitive. It is commonly used with events, like a storm or a football match. "Daŭrigi" is generally understood as "continue", as in "to make something last". I believe "daŭrigu" is the better choice, as the idea (or my perception of the idea) is that you are asking someone to keep on doing what they are doing, even if it is just consciously living their own life.