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она «по- взрослому» воспринимала смерть бабушки

English translation: She took [her] grandmother's death like an adult

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18:00 Aug 14, 2011

Russian to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Poetry & Literature

Russian term or phrase: она «по- взрослому» *воспринимала* смерть бабушки

Context:

К тому времени она «по- взрослому» *воспринимала* смерть бабушки - от даты к дате, а я еще не научился «по -взрослому» понимать и воспринимать мир.

Question:

I am having a little difficulty rendering this in a way that is pleasing to my eye, my suggestion would be this:

By that time, she, as a "grown-up", acknowledged grandmother's death on certain dates, but I had not yet begun to understand and perceive the world in a "grown-up" way.

Is it acceptable to translate "воспринимала" as "acknowledged" in this context?

Thank you for any potential thoughts on this.

Sara

Sara Noss KudoZ activity Questions: 33 (none open) Answers: 499 United Kingdom
Local time: 04:51

English translation:She took [her] grandmother's death like an adult

Explanation:
That's how I'd say it in American English

Selected response from:

GaryG
Local time: 23:51

Grading comment

Selected automatically based on peer agreement.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

4 +8

She took [her] grandmother's death like an adult

GaryG

4 +2

she assimilated her grandmother's death like a "grown-up"

Susan Welsh

5 +1

she perceived [the] grandmother's death as a "grown-up"

Andrei B

4 -1

she in an adult way perceived grandmother's death

xxxjuli b

3 -1

She reacted mature to her grandmother's death

Andrei Yefimov

Discussion entries: 1

Answers

28 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): -1

she in an adult way perceived grandmother's death

Explanation:
perceive - понимать; осознавать; постигать; различать; ощущать; чувствовать; воспринимать; воспринять; понять; осознать; постичь; ощутить; почувствовать; различить; подмечать; прозреть; распознавать; подметить; познавать; расценивать (jrene); улицезреть (Anglophile); относиться к (spy); считывать (BElizaveta); сознавать

психол. получать знания посредством чувств

Reference: http://www.multitran.ru/c/m.exe?CL=1&s=perceive&l1=1

xxxjuli b
Does not meet criteria
Native speaker of:

Russian,

Ukrainian

1 hr confidence:

peer agreement (net): +2

she assimilated her grandmother's death like a "grown-up"

Explanation:
I don't think "acknowledged" is quite right, and "perceived" makes it seem too remote for the subject of a loved one's death (like perceiving an amoeba through a microscope). As for the "grown-up" vs. "adult," of course "grown-up" is a phrase that would be used by children, and we don't know how old the people concerned are. Since it's in quotes, I assume it's a better choice than "adult."

Another choice could be "responded to."

Susan Welsh
United States
Local time: 23:51
Meets criteria
Works in field
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 32

1 hr confidence:

peer agreement (net): -1

She reacted mature to her grandmother's death

Explanation:
She behaved/acted mature when her grandmother had died...

Andrei Yefimov
Ukraine
Local time: 06:51
Meets criteria
Works in field
Native speaker of:

Ukrainian,

Russian
PRO pts in category: 12

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)

disagree

Susan Welsh: "maturely" It's an adverb. :-)//Google is not an authoritative source for grammar!!! But anyhow, if you search for ["to react mature" -act] you will get some 326 hits, and all the top ones are porn sites. I didn't explore further.

34 mins

-> Google has returned some 450,000 exact matches for "to act mature"// Please google ''to act mature". I don't see any porn sites there. Please also check http://tinyurl.com/3whsf86. You can't deny "mature'' and "responsible" are used as adverbs there.

neutral

Jim Tucker: You can't "react mature". Has to be "maturely." (In "act mature", mature is not an adverb; the sentence is an ellipsis for "act as if s/he were mature" so is diff. from "act maturely." The same option is not available for "react" in standard EN.)

13 hrs

-> Could you explain the difference? Here is an entry from Urban dictionary http://tinyurl.com/3whsf86 where ''act mature" is used in the same meaning.

1 hr confidence:

peer agreement (net): +8

She took [her] grandmother's death like an adult

Explanation:
That's how I'd say it in American English

GaryG
Local time: 23:51
Does not meet criteria
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 116

Grading comment

Selected automatically based on peer agreement.

30 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

she perceived [the] grandmother's death as a "grown-up"

Explanation:
Seems pretty straightforward:
воспринимать -> понимать, осмыслять
see
Толковый словарь русского языка под редакцией Т. Ф. Ефремовой
http://www.slovopedia.com/15/194/1495564.html

Compare
to perceive = to achieve understanding of; apprehend
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/perceive

P.S.
However, it's not so clear why
от даты к дате -> on certain dates
To me, it sounds more like "date by date"

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 48 мин (2011-08-14 18:49:57 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

A correct translation of the fragment should be like
'she perceived [the/her?] grandmother's death as a "grown-up" would'
where 'would' is required to convey the actual meaning
'as a "grown-up" would perceive'

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 час (2011-08-14 20:27:50 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

An interpretation of 'воспринимала' as 'assimilated' - presumably meaning 'absorbed on an emotional level' - does not look adequate (particularly to a Russian reader of this Russian text)
Apparently, the author's idea is that the death of even a close relative, as seen with the eyes of a "grown-up," means apprehending it more with mind and less with heart
This kind of perception is contrasted with a child's lack of understanding of the world in a "grown-up" way
Here's an example where 'perceived' is used to describe the author's apprehension of the death of her grandmother without making the description resemble looking at an amoeba through a microscope:
"But my words were quite different from the comfort words that I give to the patient. I only said to my grandmother, “Hi.” And I was astonished that I could not believe that she was dying. The moment of her death was perceived by me in a different way. I was afraid. It seems like when the word death is present in my personal life, the nurse’s knowledge is left behind. My grandmother’s death shows me how difficult it is for me as a human being to assume the death of one of my relatives"
see
http://www.phenomenologyonline.com/sources/textorium/camargo...

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 3 час (2011-08-14 21:06:19 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

It's regrettable that 'responded' seems good as an equivalent of 'воспринимала'
Such a translation would misrepresent the actual meaning
Indeed, responding is pretty much synonymous to reaction, which connotes an action or attitude directed "outwards"
The Russian verb 'воспринимать' describes taking in some information, a process (directed "inwards") by which information reaches into someone's mind. It has no connotation of "outwardness" (as characteristic of response) in any context
The dissonance between the "outwardness" of 'responded' and the "inwardness" of 'воспринимала' would make such a translation inadequate

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 дн18 час (2011-08-17 12:05:15 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

The Russian verb 'воспринимать,' as well as 'to perceive' (given as its English equivalent in every dictionary), describes processes of two kinds:
- becoming aware of something through one's senses (as 'to see' etc.)
- work done by the mind (to apprehend)
Susan must understand that the former is inapplicable in the present context. Therefore, her referring to 'perceiving an amoeba through a microscope' as an argument against 'perceived' looks like an intentional shift of meaning (a trick in polemics when arguments are given to refute a point that sounds similar but is actually different from what's meant by the opponent)
Enough said about the applicability of the latter meaning (see above)
One is left to wonder why 'воспринимала' -> 'took' is so readily supported
This translation may seem adequate (even if simplistic) only at first glance: there are strong doubts that it correlates with 'воспринимать' as referring to mental work (воспринимать <-> понимать, осмыслять)
Indeed, it's so easy to imagine someone who "took" someone else's death (just as a fact) without giving it a thought, but does it go well with the context?
No wonder it's hard to find 'to take' in any list of synonyms of 'to perceive'

Andrei B
Local time: 07:51
Meets criteria
Works in field
Native speaker of:

Russian

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она «по- взрослому» воспринимала смерть бабушки

English translation: She took [her] grandmother's death like an adult

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она «по- взрослому» *воспринимала* смерть бабушки

English translation: She took [her] grandmother's death like an adult

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Answers

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она «по- взрослому» воспринимала смерть бабушки

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