daily articles

[kman1]

Hello all, I have been studying Latvian for a while and I’m trying to test out and improve my knowledge base. I have done this by translating newspaper articles. As you can see, there are a lot of things that I’m not sure on so can you let me know what’s correct and incorrect with my sentences/translations. Please indicate where I went wrong in my analyzing the sentences and grammar. For example, if I mess up a grammar pattern or plural or adjective formation, please let me know this and then indicate the correct way. Thank you very much.

My goal for studying is to be able to talk to people on the street and to my friends. Please feel free to list any places where I can find and translate very colloquial Latvian articles, essays, etc.

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VID aizturēto kravu grib atzīt par nelikumīgi iegūtu mantu
   to detain  ?  purpose allow about  illegal to obtain ?
Inga Spriņģe, Nekā personīga, TV3
   name      than  personal
Pirmdiena, 2. jūnijs (2008) 07:23
Monday      June
AA
Komentāri: 4 Vērtējums: 0 -1 balss +1 balss
commentary judgement        part
Drukāt Sūtīt draugam   Komentēt
print   send friend     comment


“VID detain ___ for allowing about obtaining illegal ___
Inga Springe, than personal, TV3
Monday, June 2, 2008
Commentary: 4 judgement 0 -1 part +1 part
Print send to a friend comment ”

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Tieši pirms gada Valsts ieņēmumu dienests (VID) lepni paziņoja par aizturētu lielāko
this day year?  country income tax?           high communicable about  mainly
degvielas kontrabandu Baltijā. Tranzītā no Kazahstānas uz Igauniju muitnieki 62
gas       contraband ?         transit from Kazajatsan      on    customs inspector
cisternās ar šķīdinātāju konstatēja it kā uz pusi dārgāko zemas kvalitātes degvielu. Valsts
cistern     solvent     establish  as if   ?   high ?               degree
aģentūra Materiālās rezerves kravu pārdeva izsolē kādai pašmāju kompānijai par 700 000
agency            backlog          saleslady to radiate why homemade company
 latu, bet naudu noglabāja īpašā kontā. Nu ir pagājis gads. Saskaņā ar kriminālprocesu
  ?  but money to hide especially ? now ?   ?          year after      criminal action
lieta jānodod tiesai vai arī jānoņem visi ierobežojumi attiecībā uz mantu. Tā kā
affair   ?   court  or  also  ?    all   confinement   anent          ?    because
izmeklēšana joprojām turpinās, tas nozīmē, ka nauda par pārdoto kravu jāatdod
investigation ?    to continue that to mean money  to sell oneself?      ?
īpašniekam vācu kompānijai SET Select Energy.
owner    German  company


“This day this year? national income tax (VID) communicated high about obtaining mainly Baltic combustible contraband. Transiting from Kazajstan on Igauniju customs inspector(s) established 62 cisterns and solvents as if ___ high ___ ____.... The country’s Material agency’s backlog ___ saleslady radiated why the homemade company on 700,000 ___ but hid ___ specifically. Now and ___ year. After the criminal action affair ___ court or also ___ all confinement anents ___. Because investigations ___ continue that means money ___ will sell itself ___ ___ to the owner of the German company SET Select Energy. ”

[Sol Invictus]

If you are using news from webpages, you could point to those webpages

“VID detain ___ for allowing about obtaining illegal ___

[They] want (grib) to declare (atzīt) cargo (kravu) arrested (aizturēto) by State Revenue Service (VID) to be (par) illegaly (nelegāli) acquired (iegūtu) possession (mantu).
VID is State Revenue Service, in abbreviations you are supposed to guess case (it is genative). Gribēt is to want or to wish not to allow. Par has several meanings, one of which indeed is about. Manta is legal term here it can mean property,fortune, thing in this context, but in everyday use it usualy means toy, also can mean treasure.

Inga Springe, than personal, TV3
Monday, June 2, 2008
Commentary: 4 judgement 0 -1 part +1 part
Print send to a friend comment ”

Nothing personal not than. Balss is voice, can also mean vote (as it is here). Part in latvian is daļa my dictionary also says balss is part, but dosen't translate part as balss - perhaps it is meant as share in company (where there also can be voting)

This day this year national income tax (VID) communicated high about obtaining mainly Baltic combustible contraband.

Exactly (tieši) a year (gada) ago (pirms) State Revenue Service (Valsts ieņēmumu dienests) proudly (lepni) announced (paziņoja)...
Now, they use idiotic wording in Latvian par aizturētu lielāko degvielas kontrabandu Baltijā means literally "to be (par) arrested (aizturētu) largest (lielāko) fuel (degvielas) smuggling (kontrabandu) in Baltics (Baltijā)". Dienests is service not tax, tax would be nodoklis

Transiting from Kazajstan on Igauniju customs inspector(s) established 62 cisterns and solvents as if ___ high ___ ____....

In transit (tranzītā) from (no) Kazakhstan (Kazahstānas) to (uz) Estonia (Igauniju) customs inspectors (muitnieki) found (konstatēja) in 62 cisterns (62 cisternās) with (ar) solvent (šķīdinātāju) suposedly (it kā) the half more (uz pusi ~for a half) expansive (dārgāka) low (zemas) quality (kvalitātes) fuel (degvielu)...
As far as I understand the cisterns where suposed to contain solvent, but contained fuel, which was low quality yet cost half more than the solvent would. It kā does mean as if and is often used as supposedly

The country’s Material agency’s backlog ___ saleslady radiated why the homemade company on 700,000 ___ but hid ___ specifically. Now and ___ year. After the criminal action affair ___ court or also ___ all confinement anents ___. Because investigations ___ continue that means money ___ will sell itself ___ ___ to the owner of the German company SET Select Energy. ”

State (Valsts) agency (ģentūra) sold (pārdeva) material (materiālās) reserve (rezerves) kravu (cargo) in accution (izsolē) to some (kādai) local (pašmāju) company (kompānijai) for (par) 700 000 lats (700 000 latu), but (bet) money (naudu) was stored (noglabāja) in a special (īpašā) account (kontā). Now (nu) a year (gads) has (ir) passed (pagājis).In accordance with (saskaņā ar) criminal procedure (kriminālprocesu) the case (lieta) must be brought to trial (ir jānodod tiesai) or (vai) all (visi) limitations (ierobežojumi) concerning (attiecībā uz) property (mantu) must be canceled (jānoņem). Since (tā kā) investigation (izmeklēšana) still (joprojām) continues (turpinās), it (tas) means (nozīmē), that (ka) money (nauda) [received] for (par) sold (pārdoto) cargo (kravu) must be given back (jāatdod) to owner [of the cargo] (īpašniekam) German company SET Select Energy.
I think they are saying that the cargo was sold, the money from sale was kept in bank, and since State Revenue Service isn't done with their investigation yet, there is a risk that money will be given to owners of the cargo (though they very well could be guilty), judging from headline Revenue Service has figured that if they declare cargo illegaly gotten they get to keep the money.

[kman1]

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nelegāli

you mean ‘nelikumīgi’ ?

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in abbreviations you are supposed to guess case (it is genative)

so abbreviations are always genitive? Also, the genitive case signifies ‘by VID’ here?

par – means ‘to be’ here?

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lepni paziņoja par aizturētu lielāko degvielas kontrabandu Baltijā

What’s a better way to translate this in regular English?

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it kā uz pusi dārgāko zemas kvalitātes degvielu

What’s a better way to translate this in regular English?

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Materiālās rezerves kravu pārdeva izsolē

What’s a better way to translate this in regular English?

jānodod - ?

arī - ?

jāatdod - ?

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īpašniekam vācu kompānijai SET Select Energy

What’s a better way to translate this in regular English?

Btw, thanks for the corrections.

[amoeba]

If you want to talk to people on the street, news articles are probably not the best source to learn from, cause you might end up sounding pedantic and miss out on basic phrases. Although resources for learning Latvian are precious few, I recommend reading blogs (the most popular is http://www.onkulis.com) and listening to Latvijas Radio (http://www.latvijasradio.lv/Lapas/LV_Tiesraide.htm).

Ja patiešām vēlies normāli runāt ar cilvēkiem, avīzes nav vislabākie izglītības avoti, jo tu negribētu runāt pedantiski. Tev vajag iemācīties ikdienas frāzes. Krājumu latviešu valodas mācīšanai ir diemžēl maz, bet ieteicu tev lasīt blogus un klausīties Latvijas Radio.

(corrections are welcome)

[Sol Invictus]

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nelegāli

you mean ‘nelikumīgi’ ?

yeah, sorry

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in abbreviations you are supposed to guess case (it is genitive)

so abbreviations are always genitive? Also, the genitive case signifies ‘by VID’ here?

No, as I said you have to guess what case it is (you can figure out from words around it), and yes genitive can sometimes be translated as "by"

par – means ‘to be’ here?

Par has several meanings, my dictionary dosen't say it can be translated as "to be", from what it has to offer it's "as"

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lepni paziņoja par aizturētu lielāko degvielas kontrabandu Baltijā

What’s a better way to translate this in regular English?

(I will freely translate what the whole text means, ignoring exact words and grammar) boasted about arresting largest cargo of smuggled fuel in Baltic States

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it kā uz pusi dārgāko zemas kvalitātes degvielu

What’s a better way to translate this in regular English?

The low quality fuel which suposedly was half more expansive

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Materiālās rezerves kravu pārdeva izsolē

What’s a better way to translate this in regular English?

Sorry, I didn't know there was state agency called materiālās rezerves. It means State agency "Material reserves" acutioned the cargo

jānodod - must give to
arī - also
jāatdod - must give back

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īpašniekam vācu kompānijai SET Select Energy

What’s a better way to translate this in regular English?

To the owner, german company SET Select Energy
---
You could also try delfi.lv, apollo.lv, nra.lv

If you want to talk to people on the street, news articles are probably not the best source to learn from, cause you might end up sounding pedantic and miss out on basic phrases. Although resources for learning Latvian are precious few, I recommend reading blogs (the most popular is http://www.onkulis.com) and listening to Latvijas Radio (http://www.latvijasradio.lv/Lapas/LV_Tiesraide.htm).

Ja patiešām vēlies normāli runāt ar cilvēkiem, avīzes nav vislabākie izglītības avoti, jo tu negribētu runāt pedantiski. Tev vajag iemācīties ikdienas frāzes. Krājumu latviešu valodas mācīšanai ir diemžēl maz, bet ieteicusaku tev lasīt blogus un klausīties Latvijas Radio.

(corrections are welcome)

He seems to be trying to learn several languages this way, I don't think he needs anything more creative than short texts. News usually use correct Latvian, and IMHO dosen't sound too pedantic, in blogs you may learn too much slang. For people who have better knowlege I'd suggest finding some website where one can submit serious translations - feeling that someone else might acctualy care how good it is might make you learn better (like one could translate fanfiction in some forum, or Wikipedia articles...)

[mak]

I'd suggest avoiding newspaper articles for the simple fact that they are difficult to understand and hard to translate. Not only are sentences in them long and complex, sometimes journalists try to sound smart and use all kinds of synonyms (arī => arīdzan, vienmēr => allaž, pagājušogad => pērn, just to name a few) which are perfectly valid but I've never heard or used them in a conversation. I sometimes have to go back and reread the previous paragraphs because I simply forget what they were about, they are so dull and boring. Blogs on the other hand are great because blog posts are usually short and interesting, they are written in a casual language and while they may contain idiomatic language I think it's much more fun. I recommend nekur.lv (pretty much every single Latvian blog is listed there).

You could also start a blog just like one German guy did when he came to Latvia. He would blog about his daily life and Latvians would read it and correct his mistakes in the comments. He doesn't blog anymore though.

http://latviski.wordpress.com/

[kman1]

You could also start a blog just like one German guy did when he came to Latvia. He would blog about his daily life and Latvians would read it and correct his mistakes in the comments.

Now that's a good idea!! (provided that mistakes are corrected)