I agree with you entirely Laurel and that's what I find so frustrating about preparing translations for uni - they require us to mangle the English horribly at times!  This is one of the reasons I find this group sooooo beneficial.
 
Take care,
Sarah.
----- Original Message -----
From: Laurel Bradshaw
To: norse_course@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thursday, November 04, 2004 11:42 PM
Subject: Re: [norse_course] Þáttr Auðunar 2 - feedback / Laurel

Sarah wrote:
Well done!  This didn't seem to present you with any particular problems.  Just a couple of times you translate fara and once kaupir with the past tense.  I know this fits in with English grammar 'cos we don't usually change tenses mid-sentence, so that's a fair argument for doing it like that, but at college we have to give fairly literal translations in order to prove we have grasped the grammar!  Personally, I don't mind a literal translation so long as it doesn't produce complete pidgin English :-)
 
Thanks, Sarah.
I think all my fara's are present tense in the literal word by word translation (the middle line), but yes I probably should have used "buys" for kaupir.  In the bottom line, I have tried to give a more narrative English translation, which does occasionally take liberties (using "sailed" for fara for example, and keeping to the past tense wherever appropriate.  A literal translation by itself may be fine for personal understanding, but part of the "art" of translating, for me, is to be able to render the same "meaning" in "modern" language.
 
Laurel


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