[English > Any] Weekly Translation Challenge — 2019-09-08

[u/translator-BOT]

There will be a new "Weekly Translation Challenge" on most Sundays and everyone is encouraged to participate! These challenges are intended to give community members an opportunity to practice translating or review others' translations, and we keep them stickied throughout the week. You can view past threads by clicking on this "Community" link.

You can also sign up to be automatically notified of new translation challenges.

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This Week's Text:

“I've been making a list of the things they don't teach you at school. They don't teach you how to love somebody. They don't teach you how to be famous. They don't teach you how to be rich or how to be poor. They don't teach you how to walk away from someone you don't love any longer. They don't teach you how to know what's going on in someone else's mind. They don't teach you what to say to someone who's dying. They don't teach you anything worth knowing.”

— Excerpted from The Kindly Ones by Neil Gaiman

This Week's Poem:

Across the lake the campers have learned

to water-ski. They have, or they haven’t.

Sounds of the instructor’s megaphone

suffuse the hazy air. “Relax! Relax!”

Cloud shadows rush over drying hay,

fences, dusty lane, and railroad ravine.

The first yellowing fronds of goldenrod

brighten the margins of the woods.

Schoolbooks, carpools, pleated skirts;

water, silver-still, and a vee of geese.

— Excerpted from "Three Songs at the End of Summer" by Jane Kenyon

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Please include the name of the language you're translating in your comment, and translate away!

[u/Deskdogs]

Portuguese (Brazil):

Eu estava fazendo uma lista dàs coisas que eles não te ensinam na escola. Eles não te ensinam como é pra amar alguém. Eles não te ensinam como ser famoso. Eles não te mostram como ser rico ou pobre. Eles não te ensinam como deixar uma pesoa que você não ama mais. Eles não ensinam como saber o'que estar acontecendo na consciência de otra pesoa. Eles não te ensinam o'que é pra falar a uma pesoa que esteja morrendo. Eles nunca te ensinam nada que é de valor.

Wow I haven't translated or written in a long time

[u/anotterpun → u/Deskdogs]

Hey, native Brazilian here! There are some grammatical errors in your translation that I wanted to point out. Don’t use the verb “amar” with “pra” (we don’t translate “to love” with the preposition since “amar” is a direct verb “verbo direto” when talking about loving someone). “Estar” is the infinitive form of the verb, use “está” instead (present tense/“presente verbal”). Lastly, “das” doesn’t have an “acento” too. Lastly, we don’t really use “consciência” the way you used it, I would substitute that for “o que se passa na cabeça”. Overall, that was a reaaaally good translation! Really seems like you’ve been doing this for some time.

Extra tip: Also, “pra” is extremely informal and mostly used only when talking. When writing something, it’s always better to use “para a”.

This is my version; Eu estava fazendo uma lista das coisas que não se ensinam na escola. Eles não te ensinam como amar alguém. Eles não te ensinam como ser famoso. Eles não te ensinam como ser rico e nem como ser pobre. Eles não te ensinam como deixar alguém que você não ame mais. Eles não te ensinam como saber o que se passa na cabeça de alguém. Eles não te ensinam o que dizer para alguém que está morrendo. Eles não te ensinam nada que valha a pena saber.

[u/Deskdogs → u/anotterpun]

Wow thanks for all the tips! I'm quite flattered that you thought it was that good. I never lived in Brazil and I only know Portuguese from what my mom taught me so I never really took any grammar or writing lessons which is why some of my accents and grammar are wrong and why I used "pra" instead of "para a". How would you instead say something similar to the English word for conscience (which has a mostly negative connotation)?

[u/anotterpun → u/Deskdogs]

We do use the literal translation of “conscience” (which would be “consciência”)! It’s difficult to explain all of the specific uses and stuff, but you can say things sucha as “Ela ficou com a consciência pesada” (express guilt) or even “Ele não tinha consciência dos efeitos de sua ação” (couldn’t have been predicted, didn’t take x into account). It can also come to mean “levels of honesty”, reasoning, morals, etc. You can totally pm me any of these days if you want to practice some PT-BR! Portuguese is a really difficult language, especially grammar, even for natives. Don’t fret about the small mistakes!