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Translation for helping

Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2005 7:08 am
by Ni
hey, everyone, I am a new beginner who live in China for learning Latin. I have some problems in translating Latin into English or Chinese inasmuch as the key to the sentence training I do not possess. So I list the my translation as follows please tell me whether they are right or not.many thanks.
The sentences are listed on the Page 6 to 7 of the 6th revised Wheellock's Latin.
1. Mone me, amabo te, si erro.
Please advise me the right way if I am in a dilemma.

2. Festina lente
Make haste slowly

3. Laudas me, culpant me!
Praise me, blame me.

4. Saepe peccanmus!
Apt to sin

5. Quid debemus cogitare?
what do we need to ponder?

6 Conservate me!
Talk with me

7 Rumor volate
The rumor is all around the world.

8. Me non amat
I dislike.

9 Nihil me terret!
I am not frightened.

10. Apollo me saepe servat
Apollo often bless (safeguard) me.

11 Salvete! quid videtis? Nihil videmus!
To be well(splendid)! What do you see? We see nothing.

12.Saepe nihil cogitas
Nothing to think about ( or Much ado about nothing)

13 Bis das, si cito das.
Before you make decision, please thinks about seriously. (N.B.Confucianist once said the similar witty saying).

14. Si vales, valeo.
Greetings( it is really unknown to me to translate into English, please tell me the exact meaning of this one, thanks)

15.What does he see?
Quid videt?

16 They ought not to praise me.
Demetis me laudate.


17. If you love me, save me, please.
Servate me te, si me amate!

18. They ought not to praise me. ( I do not know how to translate this)


I am very obliged to meet the Latin lovers around the world. You can contact me by e-mail: popenanxiang@yahoo.com.cn or popenanxiang@sina.com. Thanks a lot, Mentors.

translation

Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2005 7:47 pm
by Kip
I will try to take a stab at this without the "key"

1. Mone me, amabo te, si erro.
Please advise me the right way if I am in a dilemma.


If I err, advise me, please!
2. Festina lente
Make haste slowly


Hasten slowly
3. Laudas me, culpant me!
Praise me, blame me.
You praise me, they blame me
4. Saepe peccanmus!
Apt to sin


We often sin


5. Quid debemus cogitare?
what do we need to ponder?


What should I think?
6 Conservate me!
Talk with me
Save me!
7 Rumor volate
The rumor is all around the world.


Rumor flies
8. Me non amat
I dislike.
She does not love you.
9 Nihil me terret!
I am not frightened.
Nothing scares me
10. Apollo me saepe servat
Apollo often bless (safeguard) me.
Apollo often protects (saves) me
11 Salvete! quid videtis? Nihil videmus!
To be well(splendid)! What do you see? We see nothing.
Greetings! What do you see? We see nothing.
12.Saepe nihil cogitas
Nothing to think about ( or Much ado about nothing)


We often plan nothing. This one stumped me a few times. :oops:
13 Bis das, si cito das.
Before you make decision, please thinks about seriously. (N.B.Confucianist once said the similar witty saying).
You give twice, if you give quickly.
14. Si vales, valeo.
Greetings( it is really unknown to me to translate into English, please tell me the exact meaning of this one, thanks)
If you are well, I am well or something close to it.
15.What does he see?
Quid videt?


I think this one is right.
16 They ought not to praise me.
Demetis me laudate.
Me laudare non debes

17. If you love me, save me, please.
Servate me te, si me amate!


Si me amas, serva me, amabo te!

Took a chance here to see how close I got and checking my memory. I won't even check the key until an expert comes along and checks this post. :wink:

Posted: Thu Nov 10, 2005 10:52 pm
by Ni
Thanks a lot for your kindness

Posted: Thu Nov 10, 2005 10:59 pm
by Ni
Excuese me, I do not understand the sentence "Me non amat", the subject is not existed, why?

Posted: Thu Nov 10, 2005 11:29 pm
by edonnelly
Ni wrote:Excuese me, I do not understand the sentence "Me non amat", the subject is not existed, why?
The subject is understood from the verb. e.g.:

me non amo = "I do not love me"
me non amas = "you do not love me"
me non amat = "he/she/it does not love me"

Puzzlement

Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2005 1:08 pm
by Ni
Thank you very much, Edonnelly. The following is the Catullus's sentences:
The Latin
Pullea mea me non amat. Vale, puella! Catullus obdurat: poeta puellam non amat! Forman puellae non laudat, puellae rosas, non dat, et puellam non busidt! ira mea est magna! Obduro, mea pulle-sed sine te non valeo.

The post-translated English:
My angel, you love me no more. Farewell, my angel! Catulus will be iron-hearted. The poet does not love the girl, he ain't care the flowers of the girl, he will not give the roses to the girls and kiss her. My anger is at its height now. Firmity, my angel- but without you, my heart will sink into the bottom of the valley.

Please give me some suggestions about my translation, Thanks.

Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2005 1:22 pm
by edonnelly
You have made a couple of similar mistakes, e.g.:

Pullea mea me non amat. The subject of amat is not "you" (2nd person) but "Puella mea" (3rd person). thus, "My girl does not love me." Look also at how you have translated obduro and valeo and think about the subject of these verbs. I'm not sure if you were trying to be poetic in your translation of the last sentence, but it is far from literal. Looking at obduro and valeo should clear it up for you.

In a couple of places you use the future tense, when the poet is using the present tense.

Also, I don't exactly understand you translation of "Forman [?Formam] puellae non laudat" I would say something like "he [the poet] does not praise the beauty (shape) of the girl."

Thanks

Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2005 1:52 pm
by Ni
Thanks a lot for your helping!! :) :)

Posted: Wed Nov 16, 2005 12:56 pm
by Ni
Me saevis catenis onerat.
Post-translated one:
He/she put cruel chain on me. Is that right?
Me philosphiae do.
I offer me the philosophy. :wink: It bewilders me.

Posted: Wed Nov 16, 2005 1:32 pm
by edonnelly
Ni wrote:Me saevis catenis onerat.
Post-translated one:
He/she put cruel chain on me. Is that right?
Yes, but saevis catenis is plural (chains).
Ni wrote: Me philosphiae do.
I offer me the philosophy.
here I believe philosophiae is dative, and thus an indirect object:

I give myself to philosophy.

Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2005 10:49 am
by Ni
Many thanks, edonnelly, Mentor. Have every sunshine day. :D :D

Posted: Fri Nov 18, 2005 4:03 am
by Ni
I have some questions wanna ask friends here:
1. The declension of adjectives is conformity with the gender of nouns, maybe I termed as shadow of nouns, is that right? Thanks
2. The nouns are divided into masculine, feminine and neuter and henceforce the 1st declension and 2nd one are followed, but I am unknown that under what condition the 1st declension is used and so is the 2nd declension. And -ae(endings) are found following many stems, is that perchance be confused with each other? And how I can tell them? Thanks.

And the sentences as follows is my translation, please check them, thanks a lot.
1.Otium est bonum, sed otium multorum est parvum.
Peace is good, but peace in number is small( although I translated, I do not know the meaning of it , please explain simply to me, thanks)

2.Bella sunt mala et multa pericula habent.
Handsome who are bad, and have many risks.

3. Offcium nautam de otio hodie vocat.
The duty of sailors are about relax and play(N.B. otio is a verb, and vocat is also, verb plus noun plus verb? what is the order of syntax is this? Puzzled,
:(
4.Fortuna est caeca
Fortune is blind.

5. Si pericula sunt vera, infortunatus es.
If money are true, you are unfortunate.

6. Salve, O amice: vir bonnus es.
O, Friends! You are good man.

7. Non bella est fama filii tui.
The fame of your son is not good.

8.Errare est humanum.
This is one is hard to translate, can you kindly enough explain it to me? Thanks.

9. Nihil est omnino beatum.
Nothing is wholly happy.

10 Remedium irae est mora.
Remedy of ire delays

11. Salve, mea bella puella-da mihi multa basia amabo te.
Greetings, my beauty! ("da mihi" , what is that means?) kiss much, please.

I am very sorry for asking so many questions and occupying you so much valuable time. Thanks a lot. :D :D :D Have a good day!

Posted: Fri Nov 18, 2005 8:44 am
by bellum paxque
Hi Ni,

I have some questions wanna ask friends here:

I hope that I can answer them for you!

1. The declension of adjectives is conformity with the gender of nouns, maybe I termed as shadow of nouns, is that right? Thanks

Yes, adjectives "agree with" nouns, as it is usually called. This is how Latin indicates which adjective goes with which noun. But you should note that they agree in three ways: gender, yes, but also number and case.

Thus: "regina bona" is "the good queen." If we put "regina" in accusative case, the phrase would become, "reginam bonam." If we then made it plural, it would become "reginas bonas." See how the adjective changes to match the noun that it is attached to?


2. The nouns are divided into masculine, feminine and neuter and henceforce the 1st declension and 2nd one are followed, but I am unknown that under what condition the 1st declension is used and so is the 2nd declension. And -ae(endings) are found following many stems, is that perchance be confused with each other? And how I can tell them? Thanks.

The division of nouns into declensions is, for the most part, completely arbitrary. So you can't usually predict what gender or declension a noun will be! This is one of the tricky parts about Latin. However, once you learn a noun, you know which declension and gender it has--these are stable properties. "Officium" will always be 2nd declension neuter; "Poeta" will always be 1st declension masculine, etc.

Also, as you notice, many of the case endings are the same, so it can be tricky to know what case a noun is in.

Example: "Nautae reginae rosas dant." Because the -ae ending can be either dative singular, genitive singular, or nominative plural in the first declension, there are a lot of options here! It could be: "The sailors give rosas to the queen" or "The queens give rosas to the sailor" or, possibly, "The sailors of the queen give roses." Let context be your guide.


And the sentences as follows is my translation, please check them, thanks a lot.
1.Otium est bonum, sed otium multorum est parvum.
Peace is good, but peace in number is small( although I translated, I do not know the meaning of it , please explain simply to me, thanks)

"Otium" can mean "peace" or "leisure." Also, "multorum" is genitive plural, so you should translate it as "of many." "Otium multorum," then, is "the leisure of many (people)," or "many people's leisure." Remember that Latin often uses adjectives by themselves with nouns implied. So "Multus" means "much, many," but it can imply people or things. "Multa" - neuter nominative/accusative plural often means "many things; "Multi" - masculine nominative plural often means many people.

2.Bella sunt mala et multa pericula habent.
Handsome who are bad, and have many risks.

The adjective "bellus, -a, -um" can mean handsome, but there is another choice here. What about "bellum," the neuter noun meaning war? You did the second part of the sentence correctly.

3. Offcium nautam de otio hodie vocat.
The duty of sailors are about relax and play(N.B. otio is a verb, and vocat is also, verb plus noun plus verb? what is the order of syntax is this? Puzzled,

"Otio" is not a verb; instead, it is the ablative case of "otium," leisure or peace, which you saw in sentence 1. Notice that it follows the preposition "de" - usually, in Latin, prepositions come before the noun they control. For the syntax, then, the verb is "vocat" - from voco, a 1st conjugation verb meaning to call. "Nautam" is object; "hodie" is adverb. I think that will help you figure it out.

4.Fortuna est caeca
Fortune is blind.

Well done.

5. Si pericula sunt vera, infortunatus es.
If money are true, you are unfortunate.

You probably expected "pecunia," meaning "money," here. However, consider that "sunt" is plural, but pecunia is singular. "Periculum," however, means danger. Thus, "If [the] dangers. . ."

6. Salve, O amice: vir bonnus es.
O, Friends! You are good man.

You put an extra "n" in bonus. Also, what about "Salve"? Literally, it is the singular imperative of Salveo, a 2nd conj. verb meaning "to be in good health." In the imperative, though, it was a common greeting - kind of like "Hello!"

7. Non bella est fama filii tui.
The fame of your son is not good.

Good, except that "Bella" means "handsome, pretty." So: "...is not pretty."

8.Errare est humanum.
This is one is hard to translate, can you kindly enough explain it to me? Thanks.

Sure. This is probably easier for native English speakers since it is a common expression. Now, "errare" is the infinitive of the verb "erro," which means to make a mistake or to wander. The infintive is a verbal noun, and it can be the subject of a sentence. The "est" here is connecting "errare" and "humanum." So we might say, "To make mistakes is human," in other words, humans often mess up. (The expression, by the way, is "To err is human," which comes from a poem by Alexander Pope, I think.)

9. Nihil est omnino beatum.
Nothing is wholly happy.

Exactly

10 Remedium irae est mora.
Remedy of ire delays

"Mora" here is a noun, not a verb, though it does mean "a delay."
So, "The remedy of anger is..."


11. Salve, mea bella puella-da mihi multa basia amabo te.
Greetings, my beauty! ("da mihi" , what is that means?) kiss much, please.

"Da" is the imperative singular from the verb "do," I give. Mihi is the dative of the first person pronoun (in English, "I, me). So you give something to someone, right? "multa basia" is neuter plural, accusative, here: many kisses. That should make it clear. By the way, "mea bella puella" is literally "my pretty girl," though "my beauty" may be more colloquial.

I am very sorry for asking so many questions and occupying you so much valuable time. Thanks a lot. Have a good day!

There is no need to apologize. I enjoy discussing Latin and sharing what I've learned. If I didn't, I would have no right to expect those who know more than me to help me.

Best luck,

David

_________________
Hi, every one. I am very obliged to meet you who share the same interest with me. Thanks[/b]

Posted: Fri Nov 18, 2005 5:18 pm
by Ni
Thanks you very much, David!! :D :D :D

Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2005 4:42 am
by Ni
And acquaintances, I am now learning dumb Latin, is there any prounciation software available? Thanks a lot