Смысл жизни

English translation: meaning of life

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
Russian term or phrase:Смысл жизни
English translation:meaning of life
Entered by: Iren

03:08 Mar 30, 2002
Russian to English translations [Non-PRO]
Art/Literary
Russian term or phrase: Смысл жизни
Подскажите, пожалуйста, точный (или наиболее общеупотребительный) английский и немецкий эквивалент этого выражения (переводится сайт www.olegsiefer.bigmir.net)
MaximS
the meaning of life
Explanation:
Though, it's not the only variation...
Selected response from:

Iren
Grading comment
Спасибо. Действительно, наиболее часто встречается. Спасибо также всем за помощь.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +12the meaning of life
Iren
4 +4raison d'etre
Nikita Kobrin
5 +1Sense of Life
Rostov
5essence of life
Vladimir Dubisskiy
5purport/meaning of life
AYP
4 +1Purpose of life
Yuri Geifman
4A sense of life
Timur Nakashidze
5 -1sense of living
iana


  

Answers


26 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +12
the meaning of life


Explanation:
Though, it's not the only variation...

Iren
PRO pts in pair: 23
Grading comment
Спасибо. Действительно, наиболее часто встречается. Спасибо также всем за помощь.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  protolmach
9 mins

agree  Natalia Bearden: Not the only one, but definitely the most appropriate in the given context (not to say, the most popular one)
38 mins

agree  Yuri Geifman: this the best way of saying it as far as I'm concerned (speaking of which, has anyone seen a Russian translation of The Meaning of Liff?)
41 mins

agree  Lyubov Stevens
1 hr

agree  Maria Knorr
2 hrs

agree  Jack Doughty
3 hrs

agree  Elisabeth Ghysels
4 hrs

agree  Yelena.
5 hrs

agree  Tatiana Neroni (X)
14 hrs

agree  Jim F.
15 hrs

agree  xeni (X): agree with Natalia's comment
16 hrs

agree  helena590
2 days 9 hrs
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28 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5
essence of life


Explanation:
or
meaning of life
or
purport of life

Vladimir Dubisskiy
United States
Local time: 07:32
Native speaker of: Native in RussianRussian, Native in UkrainianUkrainian
PRO pts in pair: 1408
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32 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5
purport/meaning of life


Explanation:
Смысл жизни:

purport/meaning of life (англ.)

Lebenszweck (нем.)


AYP
Local time: 14:32
Native speaker of: Native in RussianRussian
PRO pts in pair: 90
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +1
Sense of Life


Explanation:
...Dancing in Limbo : Making Sense of Life After Cancer (Jossey-Bass Health)

...Sense Of Life by V. Shevchenko
What is the sense of life?
Your life is like a steam which you're melting in...

...Sense of life on Франку
Searches of sense of life.
In the doctrine Франк speaks about true life and sense of life. ...
http://selfmaster.dax.ru/eng/psix/life.htm


    Reference: http://www.arkanar.minsk.by/medicine/25/Dancing_Limbo_Making...
    Reference: http://www.emmanuel.kiev.ua/About/Verse16v4E.html
Rostov
PRO pts in pair: 8

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  xeni (X): "sense of life" is also used in books by Ayn Rand (philosophical)
14 hrs
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
Purpose of life


Explanation:
I just thought of another good one - you will have to decide which fits the best, "meaning", "purpose", or something else (why are we here... what does all this mean... think Woody Allen :-)

Yuri Geifman
Canada
Local time: 08:32
Native speaker of: Native in RussianRussian, Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in pair: 389

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Nikita Kobrin: Мне нравится этот вариант: для чего ты живешь, какова ЦЕЛЬ (а, следовательно, и смысл) твоей жизни, твоего существования.
6 hrs
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2 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
A sense of life


Explanation:
Sense of Life (in English)
Examples: The Tragic Sense of Life
THE TRAGIC SENSE OF LIFE. by Ray C. Stedman. The first
sixteen verses of Paul's letter to the ...
www.pbc.org/dp/stedman/romans2/3502.html - 27k - Cached - Similar pages

Making sense of life. SOON Online Magazine contents page bringing ...
SOON is a free world-wide easy-English literature programme.
We are here to help you. ...
www.soon.org.uk/content.htm - 11k - Cached - Similar pages

Making sense of life. What is the good news of the Christian ...
bookmark this gospel outreach evangelism page contents Online
translation 15. Top good news pages. ...
www.brigada.org/today/articles/web-evangelism4.html - 33k

You may add a note:

Timur Nakashidze
Georgia
Local time: 16:32
Native speaker of: Native in GeorgianGeorgian, Native in RussianRussian
PRO pts in pair: 14

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  xeni (X): already suggested by Rostov
14 hrs
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8 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +4
raison d'etre


Explanation:
или "life raison d'etre" ("raison d'etre of life")

"Raison d'etre" - французское выражение, дословно означающее "смысл существования; причина бытия". Оно стало международным и употребляется во всех (по крайней мере европейских) языках.


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Note added at 2002-03-30 11:38:00 (GMT)
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Примеры:

\"И знаете, отчего вышел такой скандальный итог жизни?... Оттого, что я потерял свой raison d\'etre!.. Что такое я?\"
Осипов-Новодворский, \"Эпизод из жизни\".

\"After his wife died, his children became his raison d\'etre.\"

\"Her job is her raison d\'etre.\"

Camridge Dictionary of English

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Note added at 2002-03-30 11:42:40 (GMT)
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Поскольку данное выражение международное, Вы вполне можете его употребить и в переводе на немецкий.

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Note added at 2002-03-30 11:44:07 (GMT)
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Поскольку данное выражение международное, Вы вполне можете его употребить и в переводе на немецкий.

Nikita Kobrin
Lithuania
Local time: 14:32
Native speaker of: Native in RussianRussian
PRO pts in pair: 244

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Irina Filippova: Great expression! It is much less philosophical than "meaning of life" and can be used in a much wider context.
4 hrs
  -> Thanks a lot.

agree  Tatiana Neroni (X)
6 hrs
  -> Спасибо.

agree  Timur Nakashidze: красиво!
17 hrs
  -> И кратко. Спасибо.

agree  Yuri Geifman: great idea
1 day 3 hrs
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5 days   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): -1
sense of living


Explanation:
"meaning" should rather be applied to a word. Life doesn't have a meaning because it doesn't mean anything. sense of living sounds a bit more English.

iana
Russian Federation
Local time: 15:32

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  Irina Ivanova (X): Wrong. What about Monty Pythons Meaning Of Life. You cannot get more British than that...
11 days
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