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  3. Art, Arts & Crafts, Painting

несколькими легкими штрихами разбрасывая на черепе и подбородке редкие волоски

English translation: scattering sparse hairs on the crown and chin in a few light strokes

08:37 Apr 2, 2007
Russian to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Art, Arts & Crafts, Painting
Russian term or phrase: несколькими легкими штрихами разбрасывая на черепе и подбородке редкие волоски
Он рисовал себя сидящим за мольбертом, рисовал твердой, уверенной линией свой профиль , несколькими легкими штрихами разбрасывая на черепе и подбородке редкие волоски

Спасибо!
Zoya Askarova
Singapore
Local time: 06:53
English translation:scattering sparse hairs on the crown and chin in a few light strokes
Explanation:
I don't think "skull" would be right for череп here. The part of the head in question can be called the crown.

Selected response from:

Jack Doughty
United Kingdom
Local time: 23:53
Grading comment
Всем большое спасибо! :)
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +3scattering sparse hairs on the crown and chin in a few light strokes
Jack Doughty
3 +1with a few light strokes depicting the occasional hair on his head and chin
David Knowles
3easily/lightly/gently sprinkling a little thining hair on his head and chin
Henry Schroeder
3sketching his sparse hair on the skull and the chin with a few light strokes
Evgeny Terekhin


Discussion entries: 3





  

Answers


15 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +3
scattering sparse hairs on the crown and chin in a few light strokes


Explanation:
I don't think "skull" would be right for череп here. The part of the head in question can be called the crown.



Jack Doughty
United Kingdom
Local time: 23:53
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 76
Grading comment
Всем большое спасибо! :)

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  diana bb
1 hr
  -> Thank you.
agree  Kirill Semenov: Strange enough, but it does not sound that weird in English. In Russian, it's awful. + Not your fault in any case, it's a stylistic problem with the source, like "разбрасывая на черепе и подбородке" sounds really creepy and silly
1 hr
  -> Thank you. In my ignorance, it looked OK to me. "Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise", but not in this case.
agree  Alexander Demyanov
4 hrs
  -> Thank you.
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18 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
easily/lightly/gently sprinkling a little thining hair on his head and chin


Explanation:
He painted himself sitting... painted his profile with firm, confident lines, easily/lightly/gently sprinkling a little thining hair on his head and chin.

Something like that. One of a few problems is that we usually speak of hair in the singular.

Another is this несколькими легкими штрихами: It sounds rather awkward to say "with a few light strokes" at the end of the sentence. And some of this is superfluous: obviously they are "strokes", what else can they be in a painting? If you leave that out and create an adverb out of легкими, then it sound a lot more natural.

Otherwise, sprinkling is a little more poetic to me than some of the more prosaic alternatives...

Henry Schroeder
United States
Local time: 18:53
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 56
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20 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
sketching his sparse hair on the skull and the chin with a few light strokes


Explanation:
если там есть нотка иронии, то может быть "occasional hair"?

Evgeny Terekhin
United States
Local time: 17:53
Works in field
Native speaker of: Russian
PRO pts in category: 8
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52 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +1
with a few light strokes depicting the occasional hair on his head and chin


Explanation:
This borrows bits from the attempts of my other colleagues, so thank you to them! Moving the "light strokes" to the beginning of the sentence seems to me to make the phrase more natural.

David Knowles
Local time: 23:53
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 40

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Kirill Semenov: very good and hits the nai, David. "light strokes" is the key here, as well as in Jack's answer. The Russian source is ugly, but he (the artist) is creating his own portrait, indeed, marking his few remained hairs with light strokes on the picture
54 mins
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