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Чтобы не было мучительно больно за бецельно прожитые годы.

English translation: ...so as to feel no torturing regretsfor wasted years, never know the burning shame of a mean and petty past.

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
Russian term or phrase:Чтобы не было мучительно больно за бецельно прожитые годы.
English translation:...so as to feel no torturing regretsfor wasted years, never know the burning shame of a mean and petty past.
Entered by: diana bb

10:27 May 31, 2002
Russian to English translations [PRO]
Russian term or phrase: Чтобы не было мучительно больно за бецельно прожитые годы.
Знаете такую фразу? Как её красиво на английский перевести?
ogo
Local time: 14:31
...so as to feel no torturing regrets...
Explanation:
"A person's dearest possession is life. It is given to him/her but once, and s/he must live it so as to feel no torturing regrets for wasted years, never know the burning shame of a mean and petty past; so live that, dying, s/he might say: All my life, all my strength were given to the finest cause in all the world - the fight for Liberation of Humankind. And one must make use of every moment of life, lest some sudden illness or tragic accident cut it short."
- Nikolai Ostrovsky, How the Steel was Tempered, Progress Publishers, 1933

It's what they call 'gender corrected'. I haven't changed anything.

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Note added at 2002-05-31 14:11:29 (GMT)
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To Steffen: Have you noticed the year of publication? I believe the book is a bibliographical rarity!.. :-)

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2002-05-31 19:40:39 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Not surprised the link doesn\'t work when a third of it is missing!

http://home.earthlink.net/~twoeyesmagazine/issue2/moments2.h...

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2002-05-31 19:48:43 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

The link to the translation:

http://home.freeuk.com/russica4/
Selected response from:

diana bb
Lithuania
Local time: 03:31
Grading comment
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +16...so as to feel no torturing regrets...
diana bb
4 +7Let not the misspent years be agonizingly painful
Jack Doughty
5 +3Зачем изобретать велосипед?!
Steffen Pollex (X)
4 +1better safe that sorry
Dimo
4[Not an answer, just an interesting-looking reference]
Charov


  

Answers


26 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +7
Let not the misspent years be agonizingly painful


Explanation:
Literally "aimlessly spent", but misspent" is commonly used in English, often lamenting someone's "misspent" youth, so the meaning is pretty close.
Is this a quotation? It has a suggestion of poetic meter about it. It might be helpful to know more about the source.

Jack Doughty
United Kingdom
Local time: 01:31
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in pair: 14525

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Yuri Geifman: Stephen is right, this is a quotation from Nikolai Ostrovski's "Kak zakalialas stal" (Николай Островский: "Жить нужно так, чтобы не было мучительно больно за бесцельно прожитые годы, за мелочное, подленькое прошлое)
12 mins
  -> Thank you. I had to read this book on a Russian course in 1955, but I don't remember much about it.
agree  diana bb: Yes, it is, from 'How the Steel Was Tempered'. If you're interested, see http://www.sovlit.com/bios/ostrovsky.html
14 mins
  -> Thank you. See reply to Yuri.
agree  Ludwig Chekhovtsov
1 hr
agree  Irene Chernenko: Very elegant. It seems, though, that diana's version may be the authorised one.
2 hrs
  -> Thank you. But as Steffen pints out, the question is "Как её красиво на английский перевести?" So there's hope for my version yet!
agree  Tatiana Neroni (X)
3 hrs
agree  protolmach: very beautiful translation, I love it much more than the authorized one ... so to say
8 hrs
  -> Спасибо большое!
agree  AYP
15 hrs
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29 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +3
Зачем изобретать велосипед?!


Explanation:
Это же из Островского. Ннужели эта кника никогда не была издана на английском. Возьми русскую версию, напиши в издательство и найди английскую. А то получится еще и нарушение чьих-то авторских прав, если вдруг уже есть на английском.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2002-05-31 11:12:08 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Sorry for the typos, fellows. I am not aware how this happened.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2002-05-31 13:24:05 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

To Diana: I wouldn\'t even have bothered anyone on the site with this buit first seeked myself through the available resources. I mean, you were very helpful with your link, but it bothers me when a person wasts my time by asking to \"somehow nicely\" to translate something that he should be able to find an authorized, official translation of himself.

Steffen Pollex (X)
Local time: 02:31
Native speaker of: Native in GermanGerman, Native in RussianRussian
PRO pts in pair: 154

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Yuri Geifman: sorry Steffen, I misspelled your name
9 mins
  -> No problem.
neutral  diana bb: I really like your 'take the original, write to the publishers and find the translation'. Very helpful, aren't you?
37 mins
  -> This is how a professional is supposed to act, dear. Don't you agree?
agree  Ludwig Chekhovtsov
1 hr
agree  Zoya ayoz (X)
2 hrs
neutral  Irene Chernenko: I guess people sometimes have deadlines that do not allow for the most thorough research. As for professionals, shouldn't a linguist write "would have sought" rather than "seeked"?
2 hrs
  -> Maybe, but, if one is unable to think himself, can we call him a professional then? After all, I am not so much about the question itself but about "Как её красиво на английский перевести?" when it's clear that an authorised version should exist already.
agree  Jack Doughty: I actually ound the authorized translation by R. Prokofyeva on the web but couldn't find this phrase in it.
2 hrs
neutral  xeni (X): You know, Stephen, very often those phrases from different books that people ask to translate are so popular, that it wouldn't hurt for others to know the correct translation too and even to enter it in the glossary.
3 hrs
disagree  protolmach: Уважаемый коллега! вы прекрасный специалист, насколько я понимаю, пожалуйста, не тратьте напрасно свое время, если Вы считаете вопрос неуместным. Мы свободные люди, можем решать за себя. Право же, ярлыки и командный стиль как-то не совсем здесь уместны...
8 hrs
  -> Никаких ярлыков и не командую (как же, когда я даже не знаю, где Вы). Просто сказал свое мнение по поводу того, как, по- моему, подойти данной проблеме, соблюдая и эффективность, и правильный перевод и авторские права. Хотите нарушать, пожалуйста.
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59 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +16
...so as to feel no torturing regrets...


Explanation:
"A person's dearest possession is life. It is given to him/her but once, and s/he must live it so as to feel no torturing regrets for wasted years, never know the burning shame of a mean and petty past; so live that, dying, s/he might say: All my life, all my strength were given to the finest cause in all the world - the fight for Liberation of Humankind. And one must make use of every moment of life, lest some sudden illness or tragic accident cut it short."
- Nikolai Ostrovsky, How the Steel was Tempered, Progress Publishers, 1933

It's what they call 'gender corrected'. I haven't changed anything.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2002-05-31 14:11:29 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

To Steffen: Have you noticed the year of publication? I believe the book is a bibliographical rarity!.. :-)

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2002-05-31 19:40:39 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Not surprised the link doesn\'t work when a third of it is missing!

http://home.earthlink.net/~twoeyesmagazine/issue2/moments2.h...

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2002-05-31 19:48:43 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

The link to the translation:

http://home.freeuk.com/russica4/


    home.earthlink.net/~twoeyesmagazine/ issue2/moments2.htm
diana bb
Lithuania
Local time: 03:31
Native speaker of: Lithuanian
PRO pts in pair: 57

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Alexander Alexandrov: And this phrase, unlike the novel itself, is very popular among Russians.
5 mins
  -> Thanks!
agree  Natalie
8 mins
  -> Thank you, Natalie.
agree  Сергей Лузан: 100 % (with comment as well)
8 mins
  -> Thanks, Sergei.
agree  Lilian Vardanyan
10 mins
  -> Thank you.
agree  Yelena.
18 mins
  -> Thank you, Yelena.
agree  Olga Simon
23 mins
  -> Thanks, Olga.
agree  Nikita Kobrin
46 mins
agree  Ludwig Chekhovtsov
1 hr
agree  Natalie Sanadze
1 hr
agree  Zoya ayoz (X)
1 hr
agree  Steffen Pollex (X)
1 hr
  -> Thank you all!
agree  Irene Chernenko: Kudos to you, Di, for taking the trouble.
2 hrs
  -> Thanks! Time will show... :-))
agree  xeni (X): That's very good and don't hesitate to enter it in the glossary - someone else might need the translation too.
2 hrs
  -> Thanks, Ksenia.
agree  Tatiana Neroni (X)
3 hrs
agree  Oleg Pashuk (X)
7 hrs
agree  AYP
14 hrs
  -> Thanks to all of you.
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

4 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
[Not an answer, just an interesting-looking reference]


Explanation:
1994 Ideological Shifts in the translation of Kak zakalyalas' stal': How the Steel was Tempered.

This thesis is mentioned on Judith A. Inggs' site (see reference below). Unfortunately no further details are given, but you may be able to obtain a copy (or useful information concerning the passage you want translated) by contacting Judith A. Inggs.


    Reference: http://www.wits.ac.za/fac/arts/translate/research.htm
Charov
PRO pts in pair: 20
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1 day 4 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
better safe that sorry


Explanation:
As I see it from here it's not all about how to translate the quotation from Ostrovski but to find some equivalent suitable in the context. Surely it all depends but in some cases I guess it can be translated as ' better safe than sorry'.
Luck!


Dimo

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  diana bb: Couldn't agree more. It seems to me that, unlike in pre-Internet times, at present the translation process is considerably influenced by the ability to know where to look for things. Twenty years ago a discussion like this wouldn't have happened.
1 day 18 hrs
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