Quick translation question:

[philena.livejournal.com]

For my homework, I must answer the following question: Почему Саид хотел во что бы то ни стало найти Джевдета, который его закопал? The problem is that I have no idea what this question is asking. Any help would be very welcome. Thanks!

Comments

[semionov.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure in spelling of personal pronouns, but I'll try to translate...
"Why did Saheed by all means wanted to find Jewdet who had dug him?"

[hope1972.livejournal.com]

"Why did Saheed by all means want to find Jewdet who had dug him?"
I believe the author of the message did not understand not the words, but the meaning. Because it`s not linguistic, but rather cultural!

You see, there is a torture or even a death-penalty in asia and the middle east - they place a human into the sand, leaving only his head above it. And either leave him to die this way of thirst or keep him there for a few days. Then dig him out.
Hope that helps.
Yeah.. it`s not Russian torture.

[madrumos.livejournal.com]

I would translate it as:
"Why did Sayid at any cost (or 'no matter what it took') want to find Jevdet, who had buried him [referring to hope1972's torture]?"

"во что бы то ни стало" is a set expression meaning "no matter what" or "at any price". don't necessarily try and understand the parts, just take it as a whole.

[philena.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I was scratching my head for a while trying to figure out how that expression worked, but without avail.

[mricon.livejournal.com]

In addition: this is from the classic Soviet movie "Белое солнце пустыни" (yay, it's on Netflix (http://www.netflix.com/MovieDisplay?movieid=60033362&trkid=33859)).

[philena.livejournal.com]

Yeah--that's what we're studying in class right now :)

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

Did you see the movie? It starts with Saheed's head sticking out from the sand.

It was Jawdet who put Saheed into sand. Being released by Red Army Soldier Camrade Sukhov, Saheed dearly wanted to thank Jawdet for those refreshing and entertaining hours in the sand.

:)

[slapsh.livejournal.com]

Потому что Джавдед убил всю семью Саида.

По-моему так.

[hope1972.livejournal.com]

And he wanted to revenge.

[slapsh.livejournal.com]

Ну понятно, не для того что бы поблагодарить.

:-)

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

Hey, don't misguide people: чтобы, NOT что бы. Что бы can only be used in forms like во что бы то ни стало or что бы он ни говорил. In all other cases it's чтобы.

[slapsh.livejournal.com]

Т.е., в данном комьюнити непозволительны орфографические ошибки, даже во второстепенных комментариях?

йоу (с) ob_ivan

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

1. I would love to remind that the working language of this community is English, so if you post or comment in Russian, you are expected to provide a comprehensive English translation as well. This is because this community is not for the native speakers who cannot write and/or speak their own language properly (which is the case with pishu_pravilno, but for thise who learn Russian as a foreign language. Many of them are still in a very early stage of their study.
2. Since we, the native Russian speakers, are here to help, we are expected to provide accurate information. Nobody's perfect though, this I know.

[ob-ivan.livejournal.com]

йоу! some Russians here are more illiterate than some non-Russians :)

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

I think that the opposite is also true :)