Czech Translation Game

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Multiturquoise
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Czech Translation Game

Postby Multiturquoise » 2013-07-26, 13:56

People made translation games for several languages, so why don't we start here?

The situation in my country is getting worse day by day.
native: (tr)
advanced: (en) (el)
intermediate: (fr) (ka)
focus: (de) (sl) (hr)

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Re: Czech Translation Game

Postby johnklepac » 2013-07-27, 15:13

Wrote this last night, but just as I was about to post it my dad turned off the Wi-Fi. :evil:

Situace v mém národu se stane horší stále.

Sarah, which T-shirt looks better on me? You're better at this than I am.

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Re: Czech Translation Game

Postby silmeth » 2013-08-11, 15:31

johnklepac wrote:Situace v mém národu státu (or maybe v mé zemi) se stále stává stane horší.


You used se stane, which is form of perfective verb stát se, it means that (someday) it will become). You need imperfective verb stávát sese stává here, to imply that it becomes everyday, day by day. ;-)

Sarah, které tričko vypadá na mně lépe? Ty jsi v tom lepší než já.

I would if I could but I can’t so I won’t
polszczyzna jest moją mową ojczystą (pl), Is í Gaelainn na Mumhan atá á foghlaim agam (ga) ((ga-M)), mám, myslím, dobrou znalost češtiny, rozumím a něco mluvím (cs), Jeg lærer meg bokmål på Duolingo (no-nb) (og eg ville lære nynorsk ein gong (no-nn))

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Re: Czech Translation Game

Postby johnklepac » 2013-08-11, 18:46

silmeth wrote:You used se stane, which is form of perfective verb stát se, it means that (someday) it will become). You need imperfective verb stávát sese stává here, to imply that it becomes everyday, day by day. ;-)

Right. Sorry about that.

I would if I could but I can’t so I won’t

Bych kdybych jsem uměl ale neumím takže nebudu.

I like shorts! They're comfy and easy to wear!

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Re: Czech Translation Game

Postby silmeth » 2013-08-13, 12:38

johnklepac wrote:
I would if I could but I can’t so I won’t

Bych kdybych jsem uměl ale neumím takže nebudu.


In Czech (and Slovak, and Polish, and Russian and probably any other Slavic language) you cannot literally just translate “I would” as “(já) bych”, you need here a verb, it is necessary. The sentence I gave makes most sense as answer to something like “Would you do this for me?” and then the translation should be something like that: Udělal bych, kdybych mohl (uměl), ale nemůžu (neumím), takže neudělám.

There could be, of course, other verb, depending on the context, but without any context one should assume the most general one corresponding to English “to do” – (u)dělat.

Remember, you never can say just “bych” or “bys” etc. You always need some verb in such case.

Also, moct/moci (to be able to, to have power to do sth) is better here than umít (to have learnt to, to have knowledge how to do sth). But both could be used.

johnklepac wrote:I like shorts! They're comfy and easy to wear!

Mám rád šortky! Jsou pohodlné a snadno se je nosí!

When I was writing a black cat entered my room and said I’ll die soon.
polszczyzna jest moją mową ojczystą (pl), Is í Gaelainn na Mumhan atá á foghlaim agam (ga) ((ga-M)), mám, myslím, dobrou znalost češtiny, rozumím a něco mluvím (cs), Jeg lærer meg bokmål på Duolingo (no-nb) (og eg ville lære nynorsk ein gong (no-nn))

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Re: Czech Translation Game

Postby johnklepac » 2013-08-13, 20:22

silmeth wrote:In Czech (and Slovak, and Polish, and Russian and probably any other Slavic language) you cannot literally just translate “I would” as “(já) bych”, you need here a verb, it is necessary. The sentence I gave makes most sense as answer to something like “Would you do this for me?” and then the translation should be something like that: Udělal bych, kdybych mohl (uměl), ale nemůžu (neumím), takže neudělám.

Thanks! I did not know that.

There could be, of course, other verb, depending on the context, but without any context one should assume the most general one corresponding to English “to do” – (u)dělat.

Would simply to be okay? I've seen this used as to do so, so it might be okay if there's an implied antecedent.

Also, moct/moci (to be able to, to have power to do sth) is better here than umít (to have learnt to, to have knowledge how to do sth). But both could be used.

Someone here explained to me a while ago that moct/moci means something more like to be allowed to do so sth. Are there discrepancies between moct and moci (I almost never use the latter because <t>-less verbs rankle me), or is this just another shade of meaning depending on context (if so, would you mind explaining it more)?

When I was writing a black cat entered my room and said I’ll die soon.

Když jsem psal černá kočka vstoupila do mého pokoje a řekla že budu zemřít brzy.

All right, class, can anyone tell me what three times negative six is? No cheating!

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Re: Czech Translation Game

Postby silmeth » 2013-08-13, 21:52

johnklepac wrote:Would simply to be okay? I've seen this used as to do so, so it might be okay if there's an implied antecedent.

I’m not sure if I understand correctly. If you mean Bych to udělal etc., then yes. You could replace (almost?) every verb with (u)dělat to.

johnklepac wrote:Someone here explained to me a while ago that moct/moci means something more like to be allowed to do so sth. Are there discrepancies between moct and moci (I almost never use the latter because <t>-less verbs rankle me), or is this just another shade of meaning depending on context (if so, would you mind explaining it more)?


True, it’s another (and maybe even more popular) meaning. But moct/moci basically just mean ‘to be able to’, it comes from word moc meaning ‘power’, hence my translation.

Wiktionary translates moci as:
moci on Wiktionary wrote:Verb
moci imperfective
  1. can, be able to
  2. may, be allowed to


About the difference between moct and moci: the latter is just more archaic, the first one is more modern form of infinitive but they both have just the very same meaning. So no difference in meaning at all. Two infinitives of the same verb.

johnklepac wrote:Když jsem psal černá kočka vstoupila do mého pokoje a řekla že budu zemřít zemřu brzy.


Very well! Also you have correctly chosen the perfective verb. You only made one mistake – perfective verbs form future tense just like imperfective do the present one. So you cannot say budu zemřít, only zemřu. ;-)

johnklepac wrote:All right, class, can anyone tell me what three times negative six is? No cheating!

Dobře, třído, kdokoli umí říct kolik se rovná třikrát minus šest? Bez podvádění!
(I’m very unsure about this translation, especially if minus šest should be minus šest and about this bez podvádění, would be great if a native speaker checked this… :roll:)

When I’m grown I’ll become astronaut, I’ll go into space and visit International Space Station and maybe I’ll be even walking on the Moon!
polszczyzna jest moją mową ojczystą (pl), Is í Gaelainn na Mumhan atá á foghlaim agam (ga) ((ga-M)), mám, myslím, dobrou znalost češtiny, rozumím a něco mluvím (cs), Jeg lærer meg bokmål på Duolingo (no-nb) (og eg ville lære nynorsk ein gong (no-nn))

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Re: Czech Translation Game

Postby johnklepac » 2013-08-14, 4:49

silmeth wrote:I’m not sure if I understand correctly. If you mean Bych to udělal etc., then yes. You could replace (almost?) every verb with (u)dělat to.

I didn't; I meant not having dělat at all.

About the difference between moct and moci: the latter is just more archaic, the first one is a more modern form of the infinitive but they both have just the very same meaning. So there's no difference in meaning at all. Two infinitives of the same verb.

How common would you say it is? Do people use moct about 70% of the time, maybe?

johnklepac wrote:Když jsem psal černá kočka vstoupila do mého pokoje a řekla že budu zemřít zemřu brzy.


Very good! Also you have correctly chosen the perfective verb. You only made one mistake – perfective verbs form future tense just like imperfective do the present one. So you cannot say budu zemřít, only zemřu. ;-)

I had no idea of that. Thanks!

Dobře, třído, kdokoli umí říct kolik se rovná třikrát minus šest? Bez podvádění!
(I’m very unsure about this translation, especially if minus šest should be minus šest and about this bez podvádění, would be great if a native speaker checked this… :roll:)

I think minus is for subtraction while negativní is an adjective that means *-1. I couldn't say for sure, either, but other than that it looks right.

When I’m grown I’ll become an astronaut, I’ll go into space and visit International Space Station and maybe I’ll be even walking on the Moon!

Když jsem vyrostl stanu se astronautem, jedu do vesmíru, navstívím Mezinárodní Vesmírnou Stanice a možná jdu na měsíc!

Have you ever flown in a dream? Sometimes you can even control it; it's called lucid dreaming and I try to do it every night.

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Re: Czech Translation Game

Postby silmeth » 2013-08-14, 16:18

johnklepac wrote:I didn't; I meant not having dělat at all.

Then no. You need some verb after by, bych, bys, bychom… Always.

johnklepac wrote:How common would you say it is? Do people use moct about 70% of the time, maybe?

I don’t know. I’m not native speaker and lately don’t have much contact with the language. But if I have to guess, I’d say it’s more like 90% in everyday speech and probably 50%/50% in literature.

Actually in Czech language every single verb has two infinitive forms: moct/moci, být/býti, dělat/dělati etc., but the -t ones are more common than the -(t)i ones. However, both have the same meaning and are perfectly interchangeable in all contexts.

johnklepac wrote:I think minus is for subtraction while negativní is an adjective that means *-1. I couldn't say for sure, either, but other than that it looks right.

OK, possibly, I haven’t ever done math in Czech… :P

johnklepac wrote:When I’m grown I’ll become an astronaut, I’ll go into space and visit International Space Station and maybe I’ll be even walking on the Moon!
Když jsem vyrostl vyrostu, stanu se astronautem, jedu poletím do vesmíru, navštívím Mezinárodní Vesmírnou Stanici a dokonce možná jdu na měsíc budu chodit po Měsíci!


OK, this one was quite tricky.

First: conditions. In English when you say about future events depending on other future events, you say the condition in present tense. “When I’m grown”, “when I go home”, “if I eat the whole breakfast”… In Slavic languages if you want to say about condition-event that will happen in future, you use future tense. So you say something like “when I will grow up”, “when I will go home”, “if I will eat my breakfast”.

You wrote když jsem vyrostl – this is past tense. It means “when I grew up” (some time ago). You can see that even in English it’d be mistake: when I grew up, I’ll go…

My proposal is když vyrostu (which is googleable in similar contexts) – it means, very literally, when I will have grown up. You could also say když budu dospělý, it means literally when I will be adult.

Second: You used jedu. Jet is imperfective verb, thus jedu means ‘I am riding’ in present tense. You need future here.

Also in In Czech you fly into space. Thus you need some form of verb letět.

This is tricky part, because it is movement verb that (besides being imperfective) has simple future form: poletím (there are other in this type: pojedu, půjdu, poběžím). Czech grammar says it is imperfective form (corresponding to budu letět) but as I see it Czechs often use it in perfective contexts.

You could also use perfective verb and say vyletím do vesmíru.

And you can say “I will (repeatedly, many times) go into space”: budu létat do vesmíru.

You can compare usage of these phrases in Google: poletí do vesmíru, vyletí do vesmíru and bude létat do vesmíru.

EDIT: Third: about the Moon… Again, you used present tense, should use some future. You probably could use půjdu po Měsici (the future tense I mentioned above), but I chose translation that sounds more natural to me, and that again I could google.

Native speaker would give us more info about usage of those půjdu, pojedu etc. forms.

johnklepac wrote:
About the difference between moct and moci: the latter is just more archaic, the first one is a more modern form of the infinitive but they both have just the very same meaning. So there's no difference in meaning at all. Two infinitives of the same verb.


I’m pretty sure I could say here “the very same meaning”… Also, why not just “So no diffeence at all” with no verb?

Anyway, thanks for your corrections, my English isn’t perfect, hopefully it’ll improve :).

I don’t have time for thinking about another sentence to translate, so I’ll just leave your one for next person:

Have you ever flown in a dream? Sometimes you can even control it; it's called lucid dreaming and I try to do it every night.
polszczyzna jest moją mową ojczystą (pl), Is í Gaelainn na Mumhan atá á foghlaim agam (ga) ((ga-M)), mám, myslím, dobrou znalost češtiny, rozumím a něco mluvím (cs), Jeg lærer meg bokmål på Duolingo (no-nb) (og eg ville lære nynorsk ein gong (no-nn))

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Re: Czech Translation Game

Postby johnklepac » 2013-08-14, 17:07

silmeth wrote:Actually in Czech language every single verb has two infinitive forms: moct/moci, být/býti, dělat/dělati etc., but the -t ones are more common than the -(t)i ones. However, both have the same meaning and are perfectly interchangeable in all contexts.

Ohhh. I know about the second form; I just didn't know moci was one of those.

First: conditions. In English when you say about future events depending on other future events, you say the condition in present tense. “When I’m grown”, “when I go home”, “if I eat the whole breakfast”… In Slavic languages if you want to say about condition-event that will happen in future, you use future tense. So you say something like “when I will grow up”, “when I will go home”, “if I will eat my breakfast”.

You wrote když jsem vyrostl – this is past tense. It means “when I grew up” (some time ago). You can see that even in English it’d be mistake: when I grew up, I’ll go…

My proposal is když vyrostu (which is googleable in similar contexts) – it means, very literally, when I will have grown up. You could also say když budu dospělý, it means literally when I will be adult.

I know that about tenses in Slavic languages (or at least in Czech); the problem is that vyrostl isn't in present tense to begin with, so I didn't really know what to do. I thought about když vyrostu but that would already mean when I grow up. Ugh.

Second: You used jedu. Jet is imperfective verb, thus jedu means ‘I am riding’ in present tense. You need future here.

I can never remember which of jet/projet and jít/chodit is perfective. Thanks.
You could also use perfective verb and say vyletím do vesmíru.

And you can say “I will (repeatedly, many times) go into space”: budu létat do vesmíru.

That sounds the easiest.

johnklepac wrote:
About the difference between moct and moci: the latter is just more archaic, the first one is a more modern form of the infinitive but they both have just the very same meaning. So there's no difference in meaning at all. Two infinitives of the same verb.


I’m pretty sure I could say here “the very same meaning”…

It's not wrong, exactly, but very same is rare and sounds stilted in English.

Also, why not just “So no diffeence at all” with no verb?

Because that's a sentence fragment. While those are usually okay in colloquial speech, they can be jarring when read.

Anyway, thanks for your corrections, my English isn’t perfect, hopefully it’ll improve :).

It's better than my Czech and better than that of most native Slavic language speakers. The biggest thing that clues native English speakers in to you all being foreign is the absence of articles, e.g. I have dog instead of I have a dog. This article explains it.

I don’t have time for thinking about another sentence to translate, so I’ll just leave your one for next person

I don't know if anyone else looks at this game, so I'll just do it for practice.

Have you ever flown in a dream? Sometimes you can even control it; it's called lucid dreaming and I try to do it every night.

Už jsi letěl ve snu? Někdy dokonce umíš to kontrolovat, to se nazývá lucidne sníti a já se snažím to noc.

Nobody likes you; everyone left you; they're all out without you, having fun.

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Re: Czech Translation Game

Postby hreru » 2013-08-21, 18:18

silmeth wrote:
johnklepac wrote:All right, class, can anyone tell me what three times negative six is? No cheating!

Dobře, třído, kdokoli umí říct kolik se rovná třikrát minus šest? Bez podvádění!
(I’m very unsure about this translation, especially if minus šest should be minus šest and about this bez podvádění, would be great if a native speaker checked this… :roll:)

"Minus šest" je v pořádku a "bez podvádění" taky. :yep: Ale "kdokoli" se do otázky vůbec nehodí, a zrovna v téhle větě je lepší "moct" než "umět". Já bych řekla: Může mi/nám někdo říct, kolik ...

silmeth wrote:Then no. You need some verb after by, bych, bys, bychom… Always.

With perhaps one exception: já bych rád (+object), there's no verb necessary. But here "rád" kind of replaces "chtěl", so it's as if there was a verb. :)

silmeth wrote:I don’t know. I’m not native speaker and lately don’t have much contact with the language. But if I have to guess, I’d say it’s more like 90% in everyday speech and probably 50%/50% in literature.

That's right. I would perhaps even increase the percentage in favour of "moct". The other verbs ending in -(t)i are not used at all.

johnklepac wrote:the problem is that vyrostl isn't in present tense to begin with,

But the "grown" in "when I'm grown" is not a verb, so there's no need to worry about tenses of "vyrůst" - it can be translated as "dospělý" as silmeth offered.
One correction only: it should be "až vyrostu/budu dospělý/budu velký" (not " když vyrostu") because "when" here refers to a period of time in the future that is expected as certainty. It's not a probability only. "Když vyrostu" sounds like it was said by a seriously ill child which is not sure if it ever reaches its adult age. Or by Pippi Longstocking. :P

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Re: Czech Translation Game

Postby onetwothreefour » 2013-09-01, 5:58

Rozhodně bych v oslovení neřekl "třído". Možná se to od mých let studijních změnilo, ale když jsem chodil na gymnázium, tak se rozhodně neoslovovalo "třído". To ani náhodou. Možná ve špatně přeložených anglických filmech se to tak dělá, ale kdybych učil a měl oslovit studenty, tak začnu slovesem ("Může nám někdo říct, ...").

A rozhodně jsem za svých školních let neslyšel, že by mi některý učitel říkal, abych "nepodváděl". Vždycky nám bylo řečeno, že nemáme buď "opisovat" nebo "napovídat" nebo něco takového. Ale že by někdy učitel vyvolal žáka a řekl mu "bez podvádění", to jsem snad v životě neslyšel. Podle kontextu bych prostě spíš řekl "nenapovídat" nebo "neopisovat".

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Re: Czech Translation Game

Postby Tobias » 2014-01-01, 10:50

johnklepac wrote:
Nobody likes you; everyone left you; they're all out without you, having fun.

Nikdo ti nemiluje; kdokoli ti opustil; všichni vycházejí bez tebe, baví.

I am looking for friends. What does that mean - tame?
Please correct my mistakes - auch in Deutsch.

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Re: Czech Translation Game

Postby Vala » 2014-01-02, 23:19

Tobias wrote:
Nobody likes you; everyone left you; they're all out without you, having fun.
Nikdo ti nemiluje; kdokoli ti opustil; všichni vycházejí bez tebe, baví.


Little correction: Nikdo tě nemá rád, všichni tě opustili, baví se venku bez tebe.
Native language: Czech
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A Little: Spanish
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Re: Czech Translation Game

Postby Niccirae29 » 2016-03-22, 16:22

How do you translate "grandma" and "grandpa"?


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