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English translation: - ...do you hear me? Jesus H. Christ! - You're a Zionist! A Zionist! But you swear like a Christian!
16:48 Feb 10, 2009
Russian to English translations [PRO] Art/Literary - Poetry & Literature
Russian term or phrase:а ругаешься по-Православному
After another great political event – the fall of the Berlin Wall the things took a nasty turn for Gorbachov. A progressive man in his time, he was a naïve politician who decided that his “Perestroyka” would go as one big party with fireworks and colourful balloons flying high. It ended for him in his arrest (the speculation of that time was- possibly an assassination ), then came black smoke and Yeltsin riding on the top of the tank with a bottle of vodka… The Soviet Union collapsed in one go and was followed by the collapse of all the economic infrastructure, nothing was working, people were not paid for three-four months and all food shops were empty, every shelf was filled with Pepsi and mineral water only. The situation was similar in every country of the former Soviet block and in every former Soviet republic. The people started to blame Russians and Moscow for everything bad that had happened to them during the Soviet years and for the current situation , for Russians themselves no one was left to blame and they started to blame the Jews again. Someone found enough documentation disclosing that Lenin and Stalin were Jews. Everywhere in the streets unbelievable gibberish was taken for granted and literature about Zionism (putting the humanity down) was sold successfully. For Jewish people their life became absolutely intolerable.
Two Russian Jewish brothers met in their father’s flat in the small town of Pushkino in the Moscow suburbs. One of them arrives later than the other with a leaflet in his hand which he was handed to him at the train station. The leaflet had the headline: ”Pushkino-is a centre of International Zionism”.
It is hard to understand for the reader that *unclean* (hideous) is very common in mentioning the Devil. The “Orthodox “ I can not put down here simply by saying “Christian”, because it says something about the Russianness of these two Jewish brothers. Please, help, I do not know what to do here.
Alexondra, обижаете, you think we don't know what Zionism (it's not a secret religion by the way, it's a quite open political movement) or нечистая is. As far as peasant "roots", Mark is right, you can only explain it in a footnote.
It's only possible if you translate literally and provide a massive footnote explaining all this. Which is an option, but very unnecessary in this case. It's always best to localize the pun for the target audience.
To understand the whole ridiculousness of the situation, of course, it is necessary to read the book I am translating. Zionism - is a secret religion and belongs to ancient Israel, supposedly it unites all of Jews as masters of the world and makes the rest of humans their slaves. By religious philosophy it was called an utopia of BC times. Massonic lodges were of the same sort spread worldwide later. How possibly a small suburban town culd be an "international centre" of such?! "Nechistaya!" - is a word of a pious Russian peasant who wants to scare the Devil away. The Russian roots of this Jewish non-religious man are so deep that he pronounced it instead of any other swear word. I see, it is possible to reach that goal that the author wants only to a certain extent.
Mr. Berelekhis is right. As a native-speaking American, I get the joke, and this is the most colloquial, natural way to say it. Not everything written can be P.C....
Michael, Alexis passed away. It's Kirill now. I do agree with you that most English speakers (at least) Americans will have no idea about Orthodox Christianity. Speaking from personal experience. In fact the use of the word Orthodox may bring up quite opposite connotations of Orthodox Judaism. I think "gentile" may be a good compromise provided that православный was used for a purpose that may be revealed prior in the text or further down in the narrative.
Then don't use either Christian or Orhodox Christian at all. To an english-speaking reader they will sound an unambiguously religious denomination and sub-denomination respectively... OH, THINK I GOT IT: ... but you swear like a Gentile!!! How 'bout that?!
You're missing the point. The brothers are accused of being Zionist, so the issue here is Zionist vs non-Zionist. Denominations don't matter one bit, especially to an English-speaking reader.
Just "Christian" ain't gonna swing it: Jehova's Witnesses are Christians, Calvinists and all sorts of Presbiterians are Christians – to name only a few denominations whose members not only never swear but regard even exclamations like "Golly" an antechamber of Hell. Hope they are never to see the version of this translation (INTO English) alleging that Christians swear worse than the Jews. That's for starters. Now, my Orthodox Christian isn't fairing any better. Many of those fellahs may also take a rather strong, and legitimate, exception to the allegation of their being foul-mouthed. Greeks, for one, take their ORTHODOX religion very seriously and don't swear almost at all.I'm not plunging you into a political corectness discourse at all; I'm just pointing out the semantic inadequacy of such a version. On the other hand, everybody knows that Russians swear a lot... if only because they are famous for their drinking (and leeches usually swear a lot too).So put "Russian Orthodox", then, and hope Alexis isn't going to excommunicate you for that! Yeah... Or add put some cliché for proverbial swearers: sailors, cobblers, dock loaders, (Russian intellectuals!!!), what have you. Hence my suggestion. "Cuss" instead of "swear"? Dunno... sounds a bit too eighteen–hundreds, in the context... or p'haps it doesn't... Anyway, that's just about all. Put Orthodox stevedore!? :)
Automatic update in 00:
Answers
51 mins confidence:
But the way you cuss makes me think you're Orthodox!
Explanation: But your cussing makes me think you're Orthodox! But your cussing sounds like Orthodox! But you do cuss in an Orthodox way!
Andrew Vdovin Local time: 07:18 Specializes in field Native speaker of: Russian PRO pts in category: 88
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thank you. But this is a reply. How would this fit in with the exclaimation of the first brother? Any suggestion?
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 25 mins (2009-02-10 17:13:37 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
I, personally, would change it completely and put: 2but you swear like an Orthodox Russian sailor “... or something like that. Because Greeks, say, are also Orthodox, но мат у них дохленький, да и мало им пользуются
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 2 hrs (2009-02-10 19:12:02 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
I think this is a good idea: BUT YOU SWEAR LIKE A GENTILE!
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 4 hrs (2009-02-10 21:15:57 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
I'd put it like that: ... Damnation! You're a Zionist, got it?! A Zionist! And you're badmouthin' like a drunken Goy!
Michael Korovkin Italy Local time: 02:18 Specializes in field Native speaker of: English, Russian PRO pts in category: 174
Notes to answerer
Asker: I do not think that "nechistaya" is a terrible word for abusing the Devil. The trouble is that nobody knows what an Orthodox curse is like and what kind of beast is an "Orthodox Russian sailor".
20 mins confidence: peer agreement (net): +2
- ...do you hear me? Jesus H. Christ! - You're a Zionist! A Zionist! But you swear like a Christian!
