Translation

Started by Sanhìyä Tirea, June 01, 2010, 08:52:54 AM

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Sanhìyä Tirea

I've attempted to translate the well-known poem that begins "May the road rise to meet you" using Taronyu's dictionary and Na'vi in a Nutshell.
Please could someone correct my attempt?

R<ìyev>itx nefä fy'ao ultx<iv>arun nga-hu
May the road rise to meet you
Hufwe l<ìyev>u frakrr uo nga
May the wind be always at your back
Tsawke som s<ìyev>i nge-yä key
May the sun shine warm upon your face
Tompa z<ìyev>up 'ango mì-tayo ngeyä
May the rain fall soft upon your fields
Ulte vaykrr oeng nìmun ultx<iv>arun
And until we meet again
Eywa ngahu ulte hawnu ngat.
May God hold you in the hollow of His hand.

Irayo,
Tanhìyä Tirea.
Eywa ngahu,
Sanhìyä Tirea.

kewnya txamew'itan

You use <ìyev> a lot. The English version is in the present tense with a hint of optativity. The optative mood in na'vi is best expressed with <iv> and possibly, if you feel it necessary, a "oe sìlpey tsnì", because of this, I would use a plain subjunctive, the optative implies a semantic future tense anyway.

The first line is almost correct, you just want a fte connecting the two clauses and replace ultxarun ngahu with ultxa si hu nga. The road is meeting you intentionally, not by chance. Also, both infixes go in the last syllable of ultxarun as the verbal part of it is run.

I'd probably use hufwe sivi frakrr txalur ngeyä which only makes a slight assumption about how na'vi treats weather verbs instead of saying that the wind is behind me. Also, if you do choose to use "may the wind be behind you", you should use tok, even if the adposition is used, you are still describing physical location.

keyur, you have to mark the object of the shining. Also, I'd probably say atan si nìsom which is clsoer to the original than wishing for the sun to warm your face.

Soft is being used as an adverb here, it should be nì'ango unless you wish to maintain a rhythm and choose to drop the nì (as the original poet dropped the -ly on soft and warm). Also, txayo is field as in an open field whereas what the poet means is a field for growing crops (hence the rain is desirable), I'd probably go out on a limb and say that an appropriate na'vi replacement would be helutralne.

I'm in two minds about whether this should be ultxa si instead of ultxarun. Semantically there's little to swing it either way from the poem, but from a poetic point of view, it mirrors the meeting that the road does so I'd say use ultxa si instead. This line, is a future subjunctive (although, as often happens in English, the subjunctive has been dropped) so <iyev> is correct here.

So I'd say:

fya'o rivikx nefä fte ultxa sivi hu nga
hufwe sivi frakrr talur ngeyä
tsawke atan sivi nìsom ngeyä keyur
tompa zivup nì'ango helutralne
ulte vaykrr oeng nìmun ultxa siyevi
eywa ngahu ulte hawnu ngat.
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Sanhìyä Tirea

#2
Irayo, ma tsmuk!
This is very helpful.
I will post the corrected version here.
R<iv>itx nefä fy'ao fte ultxa s<iv>i nga-hu
May the road rise to meet you
Hufwe s<iv>i frakrr talur ngeyä
May the wind be always at your back
Tsawke atan s<iv>i nìsom nge-yä key-ur
May the sun shine warm upon your face
Tompa z<iv>up nì 'ango ne helutral ngeyä
May the rain fall soft upon your fields
Ulte vaykrr oeng nìmun ultx<ìyev>arun
And until we meet again
Eywa ngahu ulte hawnu ngat.
May God hold you in the hollow of His hand.
Eywa ngahu,
Sanhìyä Tirea.

kewnya txamew'itan

Quote from: Tanhìyä Tirea on June 01, 2010, 11:35:18 AM
Irayo, ma tsmuk!
This is very helpful.
I will post the corrected version here.
R<iv>itx nefä fy'ao ultxa s<iv>i nga-hu
May the road rise to meet you
Hufwe s<iv>i frakrr talur ngeyä
May the wind be always at your back
Tsawke atan s<iv>i nìsom nge-yä key-ur
May the sun shine warm upon your face
Tompa z<iv>up nì 'ango ne helutral ngeyä
May the rain fall soft upon your fields
Ulte vaykrr oeng nìmun ultx<ìyev>arun
And until we meet again
Eywa ngahu ulte hawnu ngat.
May God hold you in the hollow of His hand.


1. The phrase we've been given is "ultxa si hu" which could be an indication that the hu normally preceeds the noun in this phrase. To be on the safe side, I'd say hu nga.

2. ultxiyevarun is wrong, if you do choose to use ultxarun then infixes all go in the run syllable because it is derived from a noun-verb compound (ultxa-run), it would be ultxarìyevun although I still think ultxa siyevi is more poetic.
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http://bit.ly/53GnAB
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Sanhìyä Tirea

#4
Irayo!
How's this?
R<iv>itx nefä fy'ao fte ultxa s<iv>i hu nga
May the road rise to meet you
Hufwe s<iv>i frakrr talur ngeyä
May the wind be always at your back
Tsawke atan s<iv>i nìsom nge-yä key-ur
May the sun shine warm upon your face
Tompa z<iv>up nì 'ango ne helutral ngeyä
May the rain fall soft upon your fields
Ulte vaykrr oeng nìmun ultxar<ìyev>un
And until we meet again
Eywa ngahu ulte hawnu ngat.
May God hold you in the hollow of His hand.

EDIT: Paste brought up the wrong version.
Eywa ngahu,
Sanhìyä Tirea.

kewnya txamew'itan

Internet Acronyms Nìna'vi

hamletä tìralpuseng lena'vi sngolä'eiyi. tìkangkem si awngahu ro
http://bit.ly/53GnAB
The translation of Hamlet into Na'vi has started! Join with us at http://bit.ly/53GnAB

txo nga new oehu pivlltxe nìna'vi, nga oer 'eylan si mì fayspuk (http://bit.ly/bp9fwf)
If you want to speak na'vi to me, friend me on facebook (http://bit.ly/bp9fwf)

numena'viyä hapxì amezamkivohinve
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Sanhìyä Tirea

I've translated another well-know poem ("What is this life if full of care") and figured I may as well use the same thread.
Please can someone correct my attempt?

Pe-u fì-tì-rey lu, txo, teya tì-yawne-yä,
What is this life if, full of care,
Awnga-ru ke-a krr a k<iv>llkxem sì n<iv>ìn? —
We have no time to stand and stare?—

Ke-a krr a k<iv>llkxem äo ay-vul,
No time to stand beneath the boughs,
Ulte n<iv>ìn na txan-a krr na (ay-syip) sì (ay-haw):
And stare as long as sheep and cows:

Ke-a krr a ts<iv>e'a, krr a ay-na'ring-it awnga-l ftem,
No time to see, when woods we pass,
Tseng a (ay-skuìrìlil)  yem fo-yä ay-rina'-t mì ewll:
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass:

Ke-a krr a ts<iv>e'a, mì txan-a atan,
No time to see, in broad daylight,
Ay-fayfya-t a teya sanhìyä lu, na ay-saw mì txon:
Streams full of stars, like skies at night:

Ke-a krr a m<iv>ìn taweyka tì-nìn Tì-lor-ä,
No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
Ulte n<iv>ìn poe-yä ay-venu ulte fya'o tsnì fo tsun sr<iv>ew:
And watch her feet, how they can dance:

Ke-a krr a p<iv>ey vaykrr poe-yä kxa tsun
No time to wait till her mouth can
Tsa lrrtok sìltsan s<iv>i, a poe-yä me-nari sng<ìm>ä'i?
Enrich that smile her eyes began?

Kawng fì-tì-rey lu, txo, teya tì-yawne-yä,
A poor life this if, full of care,
Awnga-ru ke-a krr a k<iv>llkxem sì n<iv>ìn.
We have no time to stand and stare.

Irayo,
Tanhìyä Tirea
Eywa ngahu,
Sanhìyä Tirea.