Off topic: Try your hand at AF-EN translation Thread poster: Samuel Murray
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Samuel Murray 
Netherlands
Local time: 19:19
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
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G'day everyone (and sorry for not posting in Dutch)
Following a recent post in the English forums about Afrikaans translators thinking they can do Dutch-English easily, I wondered how Dutchies would fare translating something "general" from Afrikaans to English. So here's a little game for those who want to play -- translate the following 400 word newspaper article (or just parts of it) into English for us here. I'll tell you how far you're off. I'll gladly participate in a simil... See more G'day everyone (and sorry for not posting in Dutch)
Following a recent post in the English forums about Afrikaans translators thinking they can do Dutch-English easily, I wondered how Dutchies would fare translating something "general" from Afrikaans to English. So here's a little game for those who want to play -- translate the following 400 word newspaper article (or just parts of it) into English for us here. I'll tell you how far you're off. I'll gladly participate in a similar exercise for the other language.
Wynand Olivier bly ’n Bul!
Dié blondekop-senter het gister op Loftus Versfeld ’n kontrak met die Blou Bulle Maatskappy gesluit om steeds sy rugby tot ná die volgende Wêreldbeker-toernooi hier te speel. Met dié skuif is alle gissings nou verby dat hy volgende jaar vir die Westelike Provinsie en Stormers beskikbaar sou wees.
Olivier het erken dat hy ’n aanbod van die Kaapse span ernstig oorweeg het. “Daar was ’n baie goeie aanbod op die tafel. Die feit dat ek sedert skool al my rugby hier by die Blou Bulle speel, het daardie aanbod aanloklik gemaak, want partykeer is verandering ook ’n goeie ding. Maar hier is soveel vriende en sulke goeie strukture dat ek besluit het om te bly,” het Olivier erken.
Sy insluiting in die Bok-groep, ná ’n skitterende seisoen saam met die Bulls, het ook ’n invloed gehad in sy besluit. “Ek wil myself graag as die beste nommer twaalf-senter in die land vestig en daarom het die oorsese aanbiedinge nie so baie gewig gedra nie. Ek is ook nog jonk en sal later in my loopbaan oorsee speel as ek so voel.”
Hy het aanbiedinge van onder meer Bayonne en Clermont oorweeg. Olivier meen die sukses wat hy saam met sy huidige spanmaats behaal het, was ’n groot rede waarom hy gisteroggend besluit het om die BBM se aanbod te aanvaar.
“Ons het sulke goeie strukture hier geskep dat ons nog vir lank suksesvol kan wees. Ek het ook nuwe persoonlike doelwitte gestel. Ons kan probeer om die Super14 en Curriebeker in een jaar te wen en ons wil beslis probeer om die Super14 volgende jaar wéér te wen. Hierdie span het nog ’n paar goeie jare in hom.”
Olivier is verlig dat dié besluit nou geneem is. “Daar was twyfel, maar ek is nou bly dis verby. Ek laat gelukkig nie toe dat sulke goed my rugby beïnvloed nie. Ek sien nogtans uit na die res van die seisoen saam met die Springbokke én saam met die Bulle.”
Olivier het toevallig sy groot deurbraak vir die Ligbloues in Kimberley gekry toe hy die ontslape Ettienne Botha kort voor ’n Curriebeker-wedstryd dáár moes vervang ná Botha in ’n motorongeluk dood is.
Some context: Blue Bulls (Blou Bulle), Stormers, and Springbokke are rugby teams, and Loftus Versveld is a rugby field. The Blue Bulls have light blue jerseys. Super14 and Currie Cup are rugby tournaments. Kimberley is not a girl. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Perdon my French... | Aug 14, 2009 |
English is not my mother tongue, so please forgive any English mistakes...
"Wynand Olivier continues being a Bull!
The blonde centre signed a contract with the Blue Bulls Company on Loftus Versfeld, in order to stay playing rugby here until after the next World Cup tournament. This tranfer is putting an end to all doubts that he might be available for the Western Province and the Stormers.
Olivier did recognize that he had serious thoughts about the Cape te... See more English is not my mother tongue, so please forgive any English mistakes...
"Wynand Olivier continues being a Bull!
The blonde centre signed a contract with the Blue Bulls Company on Loftus Versfeld, in order to stay playing rugby here until after the next World Cup tournament. This tranfer is putting an end to all doubts that he might be available for the Western Province and the Stormers.
Olivier did recognize that he had serious thoughts about the Cape team. “They´ve put a great offer on the table. The fact that I´m playing rugby with the Blue Bulls since my school period, made the offer very attractive. Change is sometimes a good thing too. Still, I´ve got so many friends here and the structure is so great, that I´ve decided to stay here", Olivier recognized."
[Edited at 2009-08-14 11:25 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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His inclusion in the Springbok group, after a great season together with the Bulls, also influenced in his decision. “I would love to establish myself as the best number twelve centre in the country, and therefore the overseas offers didn´t matter so much. I´m still young and I´ll play overseas when I feel like it later in my career.”
He considered offered from Bayonne and Clermont, amongst others. Olivier considers the success he´s achieved with his current team mates were ... See more His inclusion in the Springbok group, after a great season together with the Bulls, also influenced in his decision. “I would love to establish myself as the best number twelve centre in the country, and therefore the overseas offers didn´t matter so much. I´m still young and I´ll play overseas when I feel like it later in my career.”
He considered offered from Bayonne and Clermont, amongst others. Olivier considers the success he´s achieved with his current team mates were an important reason why he took the decision yesterday morning to accept the offer with BBM (Blue Bulls Company).
“We’ve created such a great structure here that we´ll stay being succesful for a long time. I´ve made some new personal goals too. We can try to win the Super14 and Curry Cup in one year and we will definitely try to win the Super14 next year once more. This team does have a couple of great years in prospect.” ▲ Collapse
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Olivier is enchanted that a decision has been made. “There was some doubt, but now I´m glad it´s over. I do not allow this to influence my game. I´m still looking forward to the rest of the season, together with the Springboks and together with the Bulls.
Olivier did have his breakthrough for the light blues in Kimberley by accident, when he had to replace the late Ettienne Botha short before the Curry Cup game in that town, after Botha was killed in a motor accident.
... See more Olivier is enchanted that a decision has been made. “There was some doubt, but now I´m glad it´s over. I do not allow this to influence my game. I´m still looking forward to the rest of the season, together with the Springboks and together with the Bulls.
Olivier did have his breakthrough for the light blues in Kimberley by accident, when he had to replace the late Ettienne Botha short before the Curry Cup game in that town, after Botha was killed in a motor accident.
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Do you offer 1 KudoZ for the effort
FYI, I´ve never been to SA, but my mom is from the province of Zeeland. Please have a look at this video for the dialect:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fi73wwvcJgc
[Edited at 2009-08-14 12:10 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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| Why not ask how they'd translate it into Dutch first? | Aug 14, 2009 |
Rather than challenging Dutch colleagues to translate between 2 foreign languages, why not challenge them to translate the Afrikaans into Dutch first? Or is it just assumed that translating into English is an easier option?
| | | | Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 19:19
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
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TOPIC STARTER | Why English? | Aug 14, 2009 |
writeaway wrote:
Rather than challenging Dutch colleagues to translate between 2 foreign languages, why not challenge them to translate the Afrikaans into Dutch first?
Of course you're welcome to do that, but my Dutch is at tourist-level only, so I may not be able to spot a not when I see it. With English, the playing field is level. Do I hear a Dutch translation coming from you, though...?
| | | | Williamson
United Kingdom
Local time: 18:19
Flemish to English
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| In several languages... | Aug 14, 2009 |
Have translated the text partially in Dutch and English. As I have a couple of exams coming up, I don't have time to lose. I'll continue beginning of September and will post my translation in Dutch, English, French, German and Spanish (translation by translation ). Up to the others to give comments.
No, Kimberly is not a woman, but the capital of the Northern Cape Province.
Groeten,
Een fan van Ralph Rabie....
[Edited at 2009-08-14 18:38 GMT]
| | | | NMR (X)
France
Local time: 19:19
French to Dutch
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| Heb je gelezen wat er gevraagd is? | Aug 15, 2009 |
and will post my translation in Dutch, English, French, German and Spanish (translation by translation ). Up to the others to give comments.
De vraag van Samuel was of mensen met een goede kennis van het Nederlands wilden proberen om deze Zuid-Afrikaanse tekst in het Engels te vertalen. Het gaat hierbij om begrip van de brontekst en het omzeilen van valse vrienden. Eén doeltaal is genoeg: willen bewijzen wat je kan is niet de bedoeling en dient nergens voor, en zeker niet als je je daarna toch niet meedoet.
Het is een interessante taalkundige kwestie, en ik kijk met belangstelling uit naar het resultaat. Ik zit me er altijd over te verbazen dat wij gemakkelijk Zuid-Afrikaans lezen, maar dan staan er ineens woorden die me bekend voorkomen maar duidelijk iets anders betekenen. Ik zou me zelfs niet wagen aan Zuid-Afrikaans > Nederlands, en zeker niet professioneel. Daar zijn andere vertalers voor, en die moeten ook eten.
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Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 19:19
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
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TOPIC STARTER | Comment to Riens | Aug 23, 2009 |
Riens Middelhof wrote:
English is not my mother tongue, so please forgive any English mistakes...
Unfortunately I don't know any other language, and I suspect that my Dutch is not good enough that I would be able to spot errors in an Afrikaans-Dutch translation (although perhaps we should try something like that in future).
Overall I was surprised that there were so few problems with your translation. That said, one can only guess at the number of errors unless it is a frequent exercise and a carefully-prepared one too! Here are some items that jumped out at me:
AF: op Loftus
Riens: on Loftus
I think the agreement was signed at the stadium, not literally on the field, so the translation would be "at Loftus", not "on Loftus". A small error.
AF: skuif
Riens: transfer
The Afrikaans word is a direct translation of the English journalese word "move". So it simply means "action" or "act". Some newspaper editors believe that "it" is a bad word and that "this" should always be followed by a noun, hence the "move" which doesn't really mean move.
AF: is nou verby
Riens: is putting an end
I see that you use the continuous tense in English quite a lot, where the Afrikaans text has a simple (non-continuing) present or past tense. Is this typical of English translations done by Dutcies? The Afrikaans here contains an element of finality that is not present in your translation.
AF: gissing
Riens: doubts
No, a gissing is more of a rumour.
AF: erken
Riens: recognise
The use of the word "erken" here is jounalistic elegant variation. It really means "say", but you can't write "say" too often in a newspaper article, hence the variation. One might translate it as "admit" in English, but personally I'd be happy to use any synonym of "say" that retains variation within the article as a whole.
AF: sedert skool ... by the Blou Bulle
Riens: with the Blue Bulls since my school period
I suspect "by the Blou Bulle" simply means in the same region or the district where the Blue Bulls play. There are no Blue Bulls schools teams.
AF: goeie strukture
Riens: great structure
This is typically rugby jargon -- it essentially means good cohesion between players. No journalist would use the term (as it is practically meaningless), unless he is quoting someone.
AF: verlig
Riens: enchanted
The word actually means "relieved". Why did you translate it as enchanted?
| | | | Williamson
United Kingdom
Local time: 18:19
Flemish to English
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| Pardon my Dutch | Nov 7, 2009 |
Ja, ik heb gelezen wat er gevraagd is. Dus niet naar het Nederlands?
English is not my mother tongue, but here is a try (from foreign>foreign).
The blonde centre-player signed a contract with the Blue Bulls team at the Loftus Versfeld-premises yesterday that he would continue playing rugby with the Blue Bulls until after the next World-cup tournament. This move ends all speculations that he would be available for the Western Province and the Stormers.
O... See more Ja, ik heb gelezen wat er gevraagd is. Dus niet naar het Nederlands?
English is not my mother tongue, but here is a try (from foreign>foreign).
The blonde centre-player signed a contract with the Blue Bulls team at the Loftus Versfeld-premises yesterday that he would continue playing rugby with the Blue Bulls until after the next World-cup tournament. This move ends all speculations that he would be available for the Western Province and the Stormers.
Oliver recognizes that he seriously considers the offer of the Cape team. They tabled a very good proposal. The fact, that I have been playing rugby since my school days with the Blue Bulls has made the proposal the more interesting, because a change of air/of sides is good. Oliver admitted that he has many friends here and that his team has such a good infrastructure that he decided to stay.
His insertion in the Springbok group after a most successful season with the Bulls also influenced his decision. “I want to establish myself as the best number 12-centre player of the country and that is why the overseas offers don’t carry so much weight. I am still young and if I feel like it I will play abroad later in my career”.
He considered offers from amongst others Bayonne and Clermont. Oliver thinks that the successes he achieved together with his teammates was a major reason to accept the BBM-offer yesterday morning.
“We have created such good strategies that we can be successful for a long time to come. I have put forward new personal targets. We will try to win the Super14 and Curry Cup this year and we will most certainly try to gain that Super 14 again next year. There are quite some good years ahead of us”.
Oliver is enchanted that he took this decision. “I doubted, but now I am glad it is over.” I don’t allow these considerations to influence my rugby. I am looking forward to the rest of the season together with the Springboks and the Bulls.
Oliver owes his breakthrough with the Ligthblues of Kimberly to pure chance when shortly before a Curry Cup-match he had to replace Ettienne Botha, who died in a car crash.
[Edited at 2009-11-08 09:07 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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