This thought above all others keeps me from sleep this night.
That we both may be a burden on the state, this thought above all others keeps me from sleep this night.
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19 Responses to “This thought above all others keeps me from sleep this night.”
Thank you for yet another awesome Rolcat. If my “bad” personality starts talking again, I apologize, it’s just painful molestation memories coming to the surface
Andrei, wouldn’t не ведая be more appropriately translated as “not meeting,” rather than “not having met”? It’s an imperfective form, after all; thus the “not meeting drama” is a continuous and ongoing condition.
This one is really tricky to translate “poetically” because in English, one expects “those” to be followed immediately by “who,” whereas in Russian, it’s perfectly natural to have the demonstrative “тот/те” and the relative “кто” in separate clauses.
Therefore, my suggested prose translation would be:
“Only those who’ve learned not to scratch at old wounds and scars can live and love without gut-churning drama.”
I suggest “gut-churning” because I think that душевный in this context implies “to the very depths of one’s soul,” and not simply “of the soul.”
Yes, “не ведая” is closer to “never encountering,” but unfortunately, I only had this thought after submitting. The idea is indeed that the individuals in question are sufficiently stoic (or insensitive…) in their dispositions that they are not subject to fits of emotion.
I suppose the first line in my last translation could be better as “Unfamiliar with soul-wrenching drama.”
Denis, I don’t think he was asking how it could rhyme in the original. He was asking how the translation produced a version that rhymes in English, which, presumably, you did intentionally to maintain a poetic effect.
These keep getting better and better. Keep it up, champ!
Thank you for yet another awesome Rolcat. If my “bad” personality starts talking again, I apologize, it’s just painful molestation memories coming to the surface
DISREGARD THAT, I SUCK COCKS
We, ugly Americans, sure do love to laugh – so long as its @ others’ expense. Someone hx0rz this site already. Lame.
Piss off Harold. Rolcats rule.
rolcats is definitely mainlining teh funny.
Where’s the literal translation? I like to see how far the “translation” warps the picture from the source material.
As an aside, for someone who hates this site, Harold (the original) sure seems to spend a lot of time and energy devoted to it.
”
Without being visited by drama
Only those can love and live
Who their past wounds and scars and trauma
Learned not to dwell on, but forgive.
“
what? how can the literal translation possibly rhyme?!?
In Russian the clauses in which “drami” and “shrami” are used here end with the same sound, shrami meaning scars.
On the second and forth line we have “lyubit’”-to love and “zabit’”-to forget.
Literal:
”
Of the soul, having not met, any drama
Only those can live and love
Who past wounds and scars
Were able not to scratch, but forget.
”
One should not omit “scratch” from the literal translation, as this is an activity with which cats are associated.
My attempt at a stylized translation:
”
Their souls having not met with drama,
Only those can live and love
Who their past scars and previous traumas
Did not claw, but rose above
“
Andrei, wouldn’t не ведая be more appropriately translated as “not meeting,” rather than “not having met”? It’s an imperfective form, after all; thus the “not meeting drama” is a continuous and ongoing condition.
This one is really tricky to translate “poetically” because in English, one expects “those” to be followed immediately by “who,” whereas in Russian, it’s perfectly natural to have the demonstrative “тот/те” and the relative “кто” in separate clauses.
Therefore, my suggested prose translation would be:
“Only those who’ve learned not to scratch at old wounds and scars can live and love without gut-churning drama.”
I suggest “gut-churning” because I think that душевный in this context implies “to the very depths of one’s soul,” and not simply “of the soul.”
Yes, “не ведая” is closer to “never encountering,” but unfortunately, I only had this thought after submitting. The idea is indeed that the individuals in question are sufficiently stoic (or insensitive…) in their dispositions that they are not subject to fits of emotion.
I suppose the first line in my last translation could be better as “Unfamiliar with soul-wrenching drama.”
Many a night I languish in sleepless worrying about how the state will screw me.
excellent work, all of you. your soup ration will be increase by one deciliter
Denis, I don’t think he was asking how it could rhyme in the original. He was asking how the translation produced a version that rhymes in English, which, presumably, you did intentionally to maintain a poetic effect.
Omfg. This is fucking genius.
Just found this today. Really entertaining stuff. Well done.