An Approach to Translations: Catabolism then Anabolism

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holbuzvala
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An Approach to Translations: Catabolism then Anabolism

Post by holbuzvala »

Hi all,

I just thought I'd write this for the benefit of anyone who's struggling a bit with translations. I've found that it can be disheartening once I've chosen something to translate, and have it take hours to invent all the relevant vocabulary and grammar. As such, I employ a method whereby I take the target sentence, and try to dissect it into a whole host of much smaller, simpler sentences that I can then work on; then restitch to create the target sentence.

Let's start with "Trying to help his friends makes Peter happy" (this I found from the Snowball Game). I'd cut it up and build it up like so:

1. "Peter helps/is helping a friend" (2x words need inventing (unless you want to invent a word for 'Peter' too), and a bit of case grammar/syntax)
2. "Peter helps his friend" (1x possessive construction - if your lang even does this)
3. "Peter helps his friends" (1x plural method)
4. "Peter tries to help his friends" (1x word/mood/construction for 'try')
5. "Peter is happy" (1x new word, maybe some syntax)
6. "Peter becomes happy" (1x word/construction)
7. "It makes Peter happy" (1x pronoun; 1x word/causative construction)
~8. "Trying to help his friends" (this as a noun phrase, if that's what your lang does)
9. Put it all together: "Trying to help his friends makes Peter happy"

As is happens, in my current project this would be rendered as something like "[trying to help friends]-INSTR Peter happy".

I hope this method proves helpful to some of you - I have certainly found it so.
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Reyzadren
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Re: An Approach to Translations: Catabolism then Anabolism

Post by Reyzadren »

:con: griuskant (without the conscript)

slia roesa stens zhe aron reba piter.
/'slia 'rɯsa 'stəns 'ʒə 'arɔn 'rəba 'pitər/
try-V help-V friend this V-IMP-EB-PASS happy-V Peter
Trying to help his friends makes Peter happy
Image conlang summary | Image griushkoent thread
Khemehekis
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Re: An Approach to Translations: Catabolism then Anabolism

Post by Khemehekis »

I just wanted to say: Thanks for remembering the (now-pruned) Snowball Game!
♂♥♂♀

Squirrels chase koi . . . chase squirrels

My Kankonian-English dictionary: 86,336 words and counting

31,416: The number of the conlanging beast!
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Lao Kou
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Re: An Approach to Translations: Catabolism then Anabolism

Post by Lao Kou »

Khemehekis wrote: 07 Sep 2019 04:20I just wanted to say: Thanks for remembering the (now-pruned) Snowball Game!
Yeah, I had fun with that. Too bad it petered out.
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Khemehekis
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Re: An Approach to Translations: Catabolism then Anabolism

Post by Khemehekis »

holbuzvala wrote: 05 Sep 2019 18:169. Put it all together: "Trying to help his friends makes Peter happy"
Lao Kou wrote: 07 Sep 2019 04:22 Yeah, I had fun with that. Too bad it petered out.
I see what you did there.
♂♥♂♀

Squirrels chase koi . . . chase squirrels

My Kankonian-English dictionary: 86,336 words and counting

31,416: The number of the conlanging beast!
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Lao Kou
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Re: An Approach to Translations: Catabolism then Anabolism

Post by Lao Kou »

Khemehekis wrote: 07 Sep 2019 05:51
holbuzvala wrote: 05 Sep 2019 18:16"Trying to help his friends makes Peter happy"
Lao Kou wrote: 07 Sep 2019 04:22 Yeah, I had fun with that. Too bad it petered out.
I see what you did there.
Truly, no schtick was intended, but I'm glad it worked out that way now that you've pointed it out. [xP]

(but we digress)
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Salmoneus
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Re: An Approach to Translations: Catabolism then Anabolism

Post by Salmoneus »

Khemehekis wrote: 07 Sep 2019 04:20 I just wanted to say: Thanks for remembering the (now-pruned) Snowball Game!
It was pruned!? Shit!!!

I always intended to use that as a translation challenge resource some day. It's a fantastic idea: a stock of grammatically interesting sentences to translate that don't require an immense vocabulary. Unfortunately, I never quite got around to it...

EDIT: maybe I should make a replacement. Would have to think a bit about the best vocabulary items, though. Would probably try to do it with fewer words, too...

DOUBLE EDIT: oh, you already did.
Khemehekis
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Re: An Approach to Translations: Catabolism then Anabolism

Post by Khemehekis »

Salmoneus wrote: 07 Sep 2019 17:02
Khemehekis wrote: 07 Sep 2019 04:20 I just wanted to say: Thanks for remembering the (now-pruned) Snowball Game!
It was pruned!? Shit!!!

I always intended to use that as a translation challenge resource some day. It's a fantastic idea: a stock of grammatically interesting sentences to translate that don't require an immense vocabulary. Unfortunately, I never quite got around to it...

EDIT: maybe I should make a replacement. Would have to think a bit about the best vocabulary items, though. Would probably try to do it with fewer words, too...

DOUBLE EDIT: oh, you already did.
Good news: I found a webpage on which the sentences from the old Snowball Game were stored. I've put the link and sentences in this post.




BTW, Holbuzvala, I thought it was really neat the way you used the instrumental to phrase the sentence as "Peter is happy by means of trying to help friends".
♂♥♂♀

Squirrels chase koi . . . chase squirrels

My Kankonian-English dictionary: 86,336 words and counting

31,416: The number of the conlanging beast!
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