Nov 14, 2006 10:47
17 yrs ago
2 viewers *
Russian term
United Kingdom
Professional translator since 1991
Native in: English 
Works in: Russian to English
на деревню дедушке
Russian to English
Art/Literary
General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters
I have heard this before, but I have never had to put it into English. The passage is about Yasen Zassoursky (Dean of Journalism Faculty of MSU) being given his own blog by his grandson for his birthday.
Proposed translations
(English)
Proposed translations
1 day 20 hrs
Selected
Grandpa memoirs
i suggest this version in view of your latest comment, and also my initial remark: the blog in question is viewed initially as inputs of different things people remember about this renowned old man, and eventually it is expected that he will provide his input as well.
so it's not someone writing _to_ him, it's all about him.
so it's not someone writing _to_ him, it's all about him.
2 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "I'm choosing this one as being the nearest to what is needed in this particular. The others were excellent, but I don't believe such accurate translations of Chekhov are required for this passage.
Thank you everyone.
PS> I advise against adding to the glossary; in any other context this would be wrong!"
+2
6 mins
Vitaly Kisin
Native in Russian
Works in field
Physicist, huge translation experience
Native in: Russian
Works in: English to Russian, Russian to English, English, and 1 more.
Related KudoZ points
:
28
deliver to where my granddad lives
a quote from Anton Chekhov, of course, the address as written by an unhappy village boy from a town where he was sent to work in a small shop. Is an idiom now - meaning you send you don't know where
+1
10 mins
Kirill Semenov
Ukraine
Ukraine
Native in Russian
Works in field
Ukraine
60+ books translated and published
Native in: Russian
Works in: English to Russian, Russian
Related KudoZ points
:
148
To: My Grandpa's place
Meaning, in fact: "to the limbo". :)
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Note added at 11 mins (2006-11-14 10:59:01 GMT)
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And it should sound in a little child's manner.
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Note added at 13 mins (2006-11-14 11:00:40 GMT)
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Or
"To: The Limbo" may work, too, for English-speakers.
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Note added at 11 mins (2006-11-14 10:59:01 GMT)
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And it should sound in a little child's manner.
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Note added at 13 mins (2006-11-14 11:00:40 GMT)
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Or
"To: The Limbo" may work, too, for English-speakers.
+3
13 mins
Anastasia Novoselova
Native in Russian
Specializes in field
Professional Russian translations
Native in: Russian 
Works in: English to Russian, Russian to English, German to Russian
Related KudoZ points
:
12
to the Granddad, the Village
This also implies the one who sends the letter is not suspecting the letter will never reach the addressee.
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Note added at 19 mins (2006-11-14 11:07:17 GMT)
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If the context suggests that postings on the blog are these "letters to the granddad", then "the Village" might be a good way to translate. It would imply "to the place everybody is supposed to know where".
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Note added at 1 day8 mins (2006-11-15 10:56:07 GMT)
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I think the context should have references to both "Granddad" and "Village" (the blog? the university?), for the expression to be interpreted correctly, but even then it would make sense to add a footnote explaining the allusion to Chekhov's story.
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Note added at 19 mins (2006-11-14 11:07:17 GMT)
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If the context suggests that postings on the blog are these "letters to the granddad", then "the Village" might be a good way to translate. It would imply "to the place everybody is supposed to know where".
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Note added at 1 day8 mins (2006-11-15 10:56:07 GMT)
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I think the context should have references to both "Granddad" and "Village" (the blog? the university?), for the expression to be interpreted correctly, but even then it would make sense to add a footnote explaining the allusion to Chekhov's story.
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Valery Kaminski
: видел нечто похожее в переведенном рассказе
1 hr
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Thank you, Valery! Actually here it was translated as "To Grandfather in the village": http://www.ibiblio.org/eldritch/ac/vanka.html
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| neutral |
Vitaly Kisin
: I am slightly worried that to, say, an Enlishman's eye, The Village may look like a true address - so where's the snag? If v was lower-case, I wouldn't respond
2 hrs
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That's the idea: the boy expects everyone to know where "the Village" is. But there are many villages, and Englishmen would know that. "Village" might be spelled with a small 'v', as well.
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| agree |
Alexander Demyanov
: If the village starts with a small "v" rather than capital "V", there will no confusing it with a real address
2 hrs
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Thank you! I meant "V" to emphasize that it is *the* village. But this is not really necessary, probably.
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| agree |
Tatiana Nero (X)
: мне кажется, ребенок напишет - to my Grandpa down at the village. Granddad все же более литературно, чем как обычно говорят дети, а запятая, отделяющая от the village - вообще очень официальный признак. Ребенок-то почти неграмотный...
3 hrs
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Thank you! For me, this is something written on an envelope, hence the comma and just the two words. Otherwise, I agree.
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16 hrs
Shelley Fairweather-Vega
Native in English
Works in field
The English you need
Native in: English (Variant: US)
Works in: Russian to English, Uzbek to English
Related KudoZ points
:
8
To my grandpa, somewhere out there
This answer may be too late, but it seems to me that mentioning a "village" at all would not make sense to English-speakers. "Somewhere out there" gets the sense of an unknown or unlabeled destination, and also might relate well to the nebulous world of the blogosphere. Translating this particular idiom literally, especially for the title of the piece, is unnecessary, IMHO.
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Note added at 1 day7 hrs (2006-11-15 18:11:27 GMT)
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If it were the child writing in this context, I would agree with these comments; but in the text being translated (if http://webplanet.ru/news/life/2006/10/31/yasen.html
noted above is correct) the child is really beside the point. It's just the whimsical title of a short announcement and doesn't need to be burdened, in translation, with literary allusions that can't be easily explained.
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Note added at 1 day7 hrs (2006-11-15 18:21:46 GMT)
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Actually, on second thought, you could even leave out the 'in the village' altogether. It just depends how devoted you are to having the title sound Russian and to translating literally, word for word. A matter of taste, perhaps.
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Note added at 1 day7 hrs (2006-11-15 18:11:27 GMT)
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If it were the child writing in this context, I would agree with these comments; but in the text being translated (if http://webplanet.ru/news/life/2006/10/31/yasen.html
noted above is correct) the child is really beside the point. It's just the whimsical title of a short announcement and doesn't need to be burdened, in translation, with literary allusions that can't be easily explained.
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Note added at 1 day7 hrs (2006-11-15 18:21:46 GMT)
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Actually, on second thought, you could even leave out the 'in the village' altogether. It just depends how devoted you are to having the title sound Russian and to translating literally, word for word. A matter of taste, perhaps.
Peer comment(s):
| neutral |
Smantha
: the thing is that the child is sure that "на деревню дедушке" is actually the correct address - "SOMEWHERE" contradicts this point
4 mins
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| neutral |
Anastasia Novoselova
: With Smantha
7 hrs
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+4
5 hrs
Dorene Cornwell
Native in English
Works in field
Thorough, sensitive, and idiomatic
Native in: English
Works in: Russian to English, Spanish to English, English, and 2 more.
Related KudoZ points
:
24
To (my) Grandpa out in the country
Hi folks
The point of this question is to get the right childish colloquial flavor. See above.
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Note added at 1 day17 hrs (2006-11-16 04:41:04 GMT)
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Hmmm. Teach me to look at the site before I post.
Try:
To grandpa out on the web.
To grandpa on the internet.
It's the same vague address effect and the juxtaposition of Grandpa and the web spans different eras in a way that to me seems to fit the memoirs being published there.
The point of this question is to get the right childish colloquial flavor. See above.
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Note added at 1 day17 hrs (2006-11-16 04:41:04 GMT)
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Hmmm. Teach me to look at the site before I post.
Try:
To grandpa out on the web.
To grandpa on the internet.
It's the same vague address effect and the juxtaposition of Grandpa and the web spans different eras in a way that to me seems to fit the memoirs being published there.
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Mikhail Kropotov
2 hrs
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Thank you.
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| agree |
Blithe
: sounds just right
3 hrs
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Thank you
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| agree |
Smantha
5 hrs
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Thank you.
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| agree |
Erzsébet Czopyk
16 hrs
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Thank you.
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| neutral |
Anastasia Novoselova
: This is meant to be an address (in the original story, anyway), so expressions like "out in the country" and "out there" are not quite what's required here.
18 hrs
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Yeah. The little kid does not know any more of an address than 'out in the country." If Grandpa's writing to himself, this one still works because of the implication that Grandpa isn't up on all the technology of a city.
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Discussion