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Author Topic: Translation into Latin Needed  (Read 4736 times)

Altair

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Translation into Latin Needed
« on: October 22, 2016, 05:23:52 pm »
Hi, all,

I want to translate my personal motto into Latin, and I figured this was a good place to ask for a referral. Can anyone recommend any highly skilled, reliable translators who specialize in Latin who are up to the task?
The first song sets the wheel in motion / The second is a song of love / The third song tells of Her devotion / The fourth cries joy from the sky above
The fifth song binds our fate to silence / and bids us live each moment well / The sixth unleashes rage and violence / The seventh song has truth to tell
The last song echoes through the ages / to ask its question all night long / And close the circle on these pages / These, the metamythos songs

jmwbb

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Re: Translation into Latin Needed
« Reply #1 on: October 22, 2016, 05:55:58 pm »
Quote from: Altair;197788
Hi, all,

I want to translate my personal motto into Latin, and I figured this was a good place to ask for a referral. Can anyone recommend any highly skilled, reliable translators who specialize in Latin who are up to the task?

 
Do you mind me asking what your motto is? I'm in my first semester of Latin, so I'd hardly call myself a qualified translator, but if it's not a terribly grammatically complex motto and I have the vocabulary, it could be good practice for me at least :p

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Re: Translation into Latin Needed
« Reply #2 on: October 22, 2016, 07:15:26 pm »
Quote from: jmwbb;197790
Do you mind me asking what your motto is? I'm in my first semester of Latin, so I'd hardly call myself a qualified translator, but if it's not a terribly grammatically complex motto and I have the vocabulary, it could be good practice for me at least :p


Sure, I'd welcome you giving it a go.

It's a command (I presume Latin has an imperative for its verbs) to a single individual:

"Fly high and make the world follow"

"World" is not meant so much as the globe of the Earth, but rather as existence, the sum of all there is.

The harder trick is "make"; in English, that verb does double-duty, suggesting both "make the world follow" as in force the world to come along, and "make the world [to] follow" as in create the world accordingly. I'd like to think that's possible in Latin--that there's a way to say it that preserves that poetic ambiguity--but it may not be.
The first song sets the wheel in motion / The second is a song of love / The third song tells of Her devotion / The fourth cries joy from the sky above
The fifth song binds our fate to silence / and bids us live each moment well / The sixth unleashes rage and violence / The seventh song has truth to tell
The last song echoes through the ages / to ask its question all night long / And close the circle on these pages / These, the metamythos songs

SunflowerP

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Re: Translation into Latin Needed
« Reply #3 on: October 22, 2016, 08:38:51 pm »
Quote from: Altair;197788
Hi, all,

I want to translate my personal motto into Latin, and I figured this was a good place to ask for a referral. Can anyone recommend any highly skilled, reliable translators who specialize in Latin who are up to the task?

 
If Justin finds it's beyond his current skills, or if you want a second opinion, there is this one - I can't vouch personally, but if you saw this post of mine a week or so ago, that's the translator my e-quaintance went to for the Latin text of his clock app, and recommends highly.

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jmwbb

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Re: Translation into Latin Needed
« Reply #4 on: October 22, 2016, 10:44:56 pm »
Quote from: Altair;197792
Sure, I'd welcome you giving it a go.

It's a command (I presume Latin has an imperative for its verbs) to a single individual:

"Fly high and make the world follow"

"World" is not meant so much as the globe of the Earth, but rather as existence, the sum of all there is.

The harder trick is "make"; in English, that verb does double-duty, suggesting both "make the world follow" as in force the world to come along, and "make the world [to] follow" as in create the world accordingly. I'd like to think that's possible in Latin--that there's a way to say it that preserves that poetic ambiguity--but it may not be.

 
A grammatical construction much beyond my skills :p

Altair

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Re: Translation into Latin Needed
« Reply #5 on: October 23, 2016, 02:07:44 am »
Quote from: SunflowerP;197799
If Justin finds it's beyond his current skills, or if you want a second opinion, there is this one - I can't vouch personally, but if you saw this post of mine a week or so ago, that's the translator my e-quaintance went to for the Latin text of his clock app, and recommends highly.

Sunflower


Excellent, Sunflower--this is exactly what I was looking for. I knew this was a brain trust worth tapping. Thanks!
The first song sets the wheel in motion / The second is a song of love / The third song tells of Her devotion / The fourth cries joy from the sky above
The fifth song binds our fate to silence / and bids us live each moment well / The sixth unleashes rage and violence / The seventh song has truth to tell
The last song echoes through the ages / to ask its question all night long / And close the circle on these pages / These, the metamythos songs

Altair

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Re: Translation into Latin Needed
« Reply #6 on: October 23, 2016, 02:21:13 am »
Quote from: jmwbb;197816
A grammatical construction much beyond my skills :p


No worries. FYI, this is what I have so far:

1. Volant et mundum sequi
(from someone with only a passing familiarity with Latin. They also suggested "Superius volitant et mundum sequi". Even with my limited knowledge, I see a number of problems with this--"mundum sequi" would be some form of "the world follows", which lacks the key active component of making it do so--so I'm unlikely to use either.)

2. Vola super et fac ut mundus sequatur
(from a professional translation service, but not one that specializes in Latin. This may serve, but it seems very literal, lacking any of the poetic nuance I was hoping for.)

I want at least one more, since there seems to be considerable variation, and I want at least general concurrence across translations before I'll be comfortable that I'm not going with something that's the awkward equivalent in Latin of clumsy non-native-speaker baby talk. Sunflower's referral looks promising...
The first song sets the wheel in motion / The second is a song of love / The third song tells of Her devotion / The fourth cries joy from the sky above
The fifth song binds our fate to silence / and bids us live each moment well / The sixth unleashes rage and violence / The seventh song has truth to tell
The last song echoes through the ages / to ask its question all night long / And close the circle on these pages / These, the metamythos songs

Allaya

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Re: Translation into Latin Needed
« Reply #7 on: October 23, 2016, 06:41:11 am »
Quote from: jmwbb;197790
Do you mind me asking what your motto is? I'm in my first semester of Latin, so I'd hardly call myself a qualified translator, but if it's not a terribly grammatically complex motto and I have the vocabulary, it could be good practice for me at least :p

 
As I've mentioned elsewhere on the board, I am super into people taking Latin to fill their language requirements!

However, I'll give you a tip. From the experience of a 3+ year Latin student that was encouraged to pursue it in university...

...know your limitations and stick to translating for straightforward content. Translating for nuanced meaning is something best left to professors. Latin is highly nuanced and you need an in-depth understanding to be able to choose from the ten words that, on the surface, seem to all mean the same thing.

Not saying this to be discouraging or to be mean, just to save you from having a few of the red-faced moments of HAHAHA I SUCK that I did over the course of my studies.

Which textbook are you using?  I have no idea if Ecce Romani! is still in use, but that's what I started out with.
Service is the rent we pay for the privilege of living on this earth.  — Shirley Chisholm
No doubt the truth can be unpleasant, but I am not sure that unpleasantness is the same as the truth.  — Roger Ebert
It is difficult to get a person to understand something when their livelihood depends upon them not understanding it. — Upton Sinclair (adapted)
People cannot be reasoned out of an opinion that they have not reasoned themselves into. — Fisher Ames (adapted)

jmwbb

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Re: Translation into Latin Needed
« Reply #8 on: October 23, 2016, 09:06:20 am »
Quote from: Allaya;197833
As I've mentioned elsewhere on the board, I am super into people taking Latin to fill their language requirements!

However, I'll give you a tip. From the experience of a 3+ year Latin student that was encouraged to pursue it in university...

...know your limitations and stick to translating for straightforward content. Translating for nuanced meaning is something best left to professors. Latin is highly nuanced and you need an in-depth understanding to be able to choose from the ten words that, on the surface, seem to all mean the same thing.

Not saying this to be discouraging or to be mean, just to save you from having a few of the red-faced moments of HAHAHA I SUCK that I did over the course of my studies.

Which textbook are you using?  I have no idea if Ecce Romani! is still in use, but that's what I started out with.

 
My professor hated all the available textbooks and is a totally awesome guy so he just wrote his own and sells it for $30. It's just called Beginner's Intensive Latin or something along those lines.

Altair

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Re: Translation into Latin Needed
« Reply #9 on: October 24, 2016, 06:25:35 pm »
Quote from: Altair;197827
No worries. FYI, this is what I have so far:

1. Volant et mundum sequi
(from someone with only a passing familiarity with Latin. They also suggested "Superius volitant et mundum sequi". Even with my limited knowledge, I see a number of problems with this--"mundum sequi" would be some form of "the world follows", which lacks the key active component of making it do so--so I'm unlikely to use either.)

2. Vola super et fac ut mundus sequatur
(from a professional translation service, but not one that specializes in Latin. This may serve, but it seems very literal, lacking any of the poetic nuance I was hoping for.)

I want at least one more, since there seems to be considerable variation, and I want at least general concurrence across translations before I'll be comfortable that I'm not going with something that's the awkward equivalent in Latin of clumsy non-native-speaker baby talk. Sunflower's referral looks promising...

If anyone is still interested in this linguistic expedition, that translation (thanks for the referral, Sunflower!) has come in:

3. Vola alte et fac homines te sequantur
(from a Latinist. It's very close to #2, which suggests that I'm on the right track towards an accurate translation. I'm not sold on "homines", which I think means "men" and makes the 2nd half of the motto "make men follow you," which isn't quite the message I'm trying to convey. So I think I'll carefully mix and match to arrive at...)

Vola alte et fac ut mundus sequatur
(literally "Fly high and make that the world should follow," which I think is as close as I'm going to get to that double meaning--force the world to come along/create the world accordingly--that I was trying for)

The Latinist who did #3 also sent an mp3 file of what it sounds like, which I thought was really cool; I tried to attach the file here so y'all could hear it too, but I couldn't get it done. Sorry.
« Last Edit: October 24, 2016, 06:26:27 pm by Altair »
The first song sets the wheel in motion / The second is a song of love / The third song tells of Her devotion / The fourth cries joy from the sky above
The fifth song binds our fate to silence / and bids us live each moment well / The sixth unleashes rage and violence / The seventh song has truth to tell
The last song echoes through the ages / to ask its question all night long / And close the circle on these pages / These, the metamythos songs

Allaya

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Re: Translation into Latin Needed
« Reply #10 on: October 25, 2016, 01:55:57 am »
Quote from: Altair;197956
If anyone is still interested in this linguistic expedition, that translation (thanks for the referral, Sunflower!) has come in:

3. Vola alte et fac homines te sequantur
(from a Latinist. It's very close to #2, which suggests that I'm on the right track towards an accurate translation. I'm not sold on "homines", which I think means "men" and makes the 2nd half of the motto "make men follow you," which isn't quite the message I'm trying to convey. So I think I'll carefully mix and match to arrive at...)

Vola alte et fac ut mundus sequatur
(literally "Fly high and make that the world should follow," which I think is as close as I'm going to get to that double meaning--force the world to come along/create the world accordingly--that I was trying for)

The Latinist who did #3 also sent an mp3 file of what it sounds like, which I thought was really cool; I tried to attach the file here so y'all could hear it too, but I couldn't get it done. Sorry.

 
Iffen I recall rightly, mundus kinda implies you are thinking the literal planet is gonna fly with you. That would be...questionable.

Homines would be 'mankind'. I'm unsure if that it what you were wanting or not, but it is also the word I would have selected as well.
Service is the rent we pay for the privilege of living on this earth.  — Shirley Chisholm
No doubt the truth can be unpleasant, but I am not sure that unpleasantness is the same as the truth.  — Roger Ebert
It is difficult to get a person to understand something when their livelihood depends upon them not understanding it. — Upton Sinclair (adapted)
People cannot be reasoned out of an opinion that they have not reasoned themselves into. — Fisher Ames (adapted)

Altair

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Re: Translation into Latin Needed
« Reply #11 on: October 25, 2016, 08:22:52 am »
Quote from: Allaya;198008
Iffen I recall rightly, mundus kinda implies you are thinking the literal planet is gonna fly with you. That would be...questionable.

Homines would be 'mankind'. I'm unsure if that it what you were wanting or not, but it is also the word I would have selected as well.


Oh, crap.

See, with my little bit of research, I was under the impression that "orbis" = the planet. Maybe they both do. Oy.
The first song sets the wheel in motion / The second is a song of love / The third song tells of Her devotion / The fourth cries joy from the sky above
The fifth song binds our fate to silence / and bids us live each moment well / The sixth unleashes rage and violence / The seventh song has truth to tell
The last song echoes through the ages / to ask its question all night long / And close the circle on these pages / These, the metamythos songs

Allaya

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Re: Translation into Latin Needed
« Reply #12 on: October 25, 2016, 09:09:29 am »
Quote from: Altair;198022
Oh, crap.

See, with my little bit of research, I was under the impression that "orbis" = the planet. Maybe they both do. Oy.

 
It partially depends on the 'flavor' of Latin you're dealing in. I've seen mundi/mundus used mostly in more 'modern' Latin (well, inasmuch as 1300-1500ish is modern).

I'm still a bit hazy on what sense of "the world" you're going for. Obviously not the literal world (trees, dirt, rocks).

Are you going for the world in the sense of humanity? The non-spiritual mundane (note the word root) world of everyday?
Service is the rent we pay for the privilege of living on this earth.  — Shirley Chisholm
No doubt the truth can be unpleasant, but I am not sure that unpleasantness is the same as the truth.  — Roger Ebert
It is difficult to get a person to understand something when their livelihood depends upon them not understanding it. — Upton Sinclair (adapted)
People cannot be reasoned out of an opinion that they have not reasoned themselves into. — Fisher Ames (adapted)

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Re: Translation into Latin Needed
« Reply #13 on: October 25, 2016, 09:17:29 am »
Quote from: Altair;198022
Oh, crap.

See, with my little bit of research, I was under the impression that "orbis" = the planet. Maybe they both do. Oy.

 
Mundus is closer to 'world' but similar to the Greek kosmos: see Lewis and Short definition via the Perseus Project.. Orbis is more "this is a round thing" and more metaphorical. (See definitions here)

Altair, one of the things you might want to think about is if there's a particular time period/style/etc. of Latin that's particularly relevant, since that might be a way to get at a more poetic turn of phrase or framing. (My Latin is not sufficiently good to make suggestions here, but in Greek there's a pretty wide variation in that kind of thing, and I know Latin is even more so. You might even want to extend up into the Renaissance, when people were doing a lot more of the metaphorical motto sort of thing.)
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Allaya

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Re: Translation into Latin Needed
« Reply #14 on: October 25, 2016, 10:30:20 am »
Quote from: Jenett;198026
Altair, one of the things you might want to think about is if there's a particular time period/style/etc. of Latin that's particularly relevant, since that might be a way to get at a more poetic turn of phrase or framing. (My Latin is not sufficiently good to make suggestions here, but in Greek there's a pretty wide variation in that kind of thing, and I know Latin is even more so. You might even want to extend up into the Renaissance, when people were doing a lot more of the metaphorical motto sort of thing.)

 
That was sort of what I was trying to get into but failed at making the words happen. Thank you for elaborating!
Service is the rent we pay for the privilege of living on this earth.  — Shirley Chisholm
No doubt the truth can be unpleasant, but I am not sure that unpleasantness is the same as the truth.  — Roger Ebert
It is difficult to get a person to understand something when their livelihood depends upon them not understanding it. — Upton Sinclair (adapted)
People cannot be reasoned out of an opinion that they have not reasoned themselves into. — Fisher Ames (adapted)

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