two completely unrelated questions

[lexabear.livejournal.com]

Are there phrases in Russian that people use all the time that are technically incorrect, but sound much more natural? I was thinking of the common English phrase "Me and Bob went somewhere," where "me and Bob" is technically incorrect, but what (most) people say casually anyway. In this case, saying it the correct way ("Bob and I") can sound stilted. Are there examples of this sort of thing in Russian?

In a completely unrelated, and much weirder, question -- has anyone read the Russian version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series? I was thinking about the section where it talks about time travel and verb tense, and was wondering how that was translated.

Comments

[lexabear.livejournal.com]

Ooh, thanks for the link. Now if I could just remember which book it's in...!

[yk4ever.livejournal.com]

Restaurant "At the End of the Universe", chapter 15

I personally prefer Masha Spivak's translation, usually found on http://www.harrypotter.ru/HP_trans.htm, though site often goes down.

[oryx_and_crake]

Tastes differ, but I don't like this pasrticular translation.
You don't even have to go further than the introduction - Spivak translates "Ursa Minor" as "планета Урса Минор" ("Planeta OOrsa Meenor") which is an unbelievable blunder, because Ursa Minor is not a planet and is not called "Урса Минор" in Russian (it is Малая Медведица, literally - The Small She-Bear, just in case anyone is interested).

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

Spivak has a bunch of wild fans who are rather blind to her multiple factual and linguistic errors (not even entering the shaky grounds of individual tastes: I honestly cannot understand why her "Толстая Тётя" for the Gryffindor's Fat Lady is any better than the "official" translation's "Полная дама", etc.)

[yk4ever.livejournal.com]

You have the point. But multiple Spivak flaws are somewhat compensated by her attention to details (she wouldn't skip even "untranslatable" things) and phonetics. I believe "Толстая Тётя" was chosen primarily by phonetical reason.

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

For me, this is entirely the matter of personal taste. To my ear, "Толстая Тётя" sounds just awful :)

[yk4ever.livejournal.com]

well... Both Hogwarts and HP book series are aimed at children... and for them, I believe, usage of "Тётя" instead of "Дама" is more natural.

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

Children? You gotta be kidding. My 15-years-old swallowed one Harry P. after another -- when Russian translations were over, he started to gnaw the English originals. And I have forgotten when had he last used "тётя" in his life :)))

[kehlen-crow.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm 24 and I still use "дядя" sometimes. I do it when I laugh at myself yet use it :)

[kehlen-crow.livejournal.com]

When someone told me she calls Severus Snape Злеус Злей I understood I don't want to read such a translation.

Official russian "Снегг" isn't much better though :)

[oryx_and_crake]

Well, considering that Severus is clearly related to "severe", I'd say that Злеус is not that bad.

[kehlen-crow.livejournal.com]

That is right, yet Злей is far from Snape, which I believe is a derivative from "to snap", быть резким, ругаться...

I don't want him to be Злей :P

[oryx_and_crake]

Personally I think that Snape comes from "snake" and "snipe", maybe with a dash of "nape" (of one's neck that he grasps to strangle you :-))

Unfortunately, some things in this life are not to our liking :-)

And when translating a wordplay or a meaningful name of a character,it is very difficult to preserve both the meaning and the sound of it.

[kehlen-crow.livejournal.com]

I agree with you.

Let us just hope we'll see who is right this summer, not when the 7th book is out!

[angels-chinese.livejournal.com]

I guess that Snape comes from "snake" and "ape". Exactly like Snark = snape + shark ;)

[mpp181.livejournal.com]

We call such translator co-author. It's no good at all.