Thread: Translations
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Old 03-11-2002, 08:11 AM   #36
Birdland
Ghastly Neekerbreeker
 
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: the banks of the mighty Scioto
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Quote:
The poem in Hungarian is very artistic (and worthy!) and it's different from the English version. This 'doom'-affair does not even appear int the translation!

"Kilencet halandó ember ujján csillantson a fény" is word-by-word: "Nine to the mortal men's fingers to blink by light" or something like that. It's maybe funny but has meaning in Hungarian...
See what I mean by translation being an art? The Hungarian translator chose not to follow a literal translation of the English, but instead used a reference or expression that has meaning to his readers, and conveys the same sense of menace and sorrow. (I have no idea what "blink of light" may mean in Hungarian, unless it's similar to the image of "candle in the wind", suggesting man's frailty.)

Yes, let's have a French translation. And maybe Latin?
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