Farsi Lesson 106 - Discussions on the Translation of Yahyaa

Salam!

Today, we are going to continue our discussions on the translation of Yahyaa. How was the first part?

Actually, not many of you sent me messages on this translation. I received a few messages though. Thanks God, the majority liked it! However, there were a couple persons who found this translation lesson a bit difficult. This is my fault. I should have told you before. This translation lesson is not for beginners. Of course, the beginners could enjoy it but it might be a bit difficult for them. So do not feel bad if you are a beginner and find such translation lessons confusing. It is natural.

As we did last time, we need to read the Persian text first. The second paragraph is a bit long. So, I don’t think we can finish it today. Currently, let’s read the first 3 lines.

You have one minute to read it. …………….

NOTE:

The original website for Yahyaa is no more available online and I have no idea what happened to it. Therefore, I have made the texts available on easypersian.com for you to use. The problem here is that we miss parts of the original work, which is not a big deal but affects the way the story of Yahyaa is going. When I first wrote these lessons about Yahyaa, I was addressing to François and his web page. He is gone and all you need to remember today is that there was once a François who had made these few lessons dynamic!! I wish him all the best.

Thank you for your understanding – and my special thanks to those students who told me about the missing Yahyaa! Dastetun dard nakoneh!

Finished? Good!

Now, let me read it for you. Please click here to listen.

Yahyaa 2

The first sentence reads

The translation says: In the lane in which he arrived he started to run.

/ku:cheh/ = alley

“Lane” is not the exact word for /ku:cheh/. Apparently, the office is not on the main street. He leaves the newspaper office (in the first paragraph). Then, the writer starts by /ku:cheh/.

I don’t think the Persian dictionaries give “lane” for /ku:cheh/. So, I don’t know why François has chosen “lane” here.

Then, we have /keh/ in Persian.

The main meaning of /keh/ is “that” in Persian (as a clause). Examples:

I knew that he would be late.

She claims that she is a doctor.

You may also find this /keh/ in all relative pronouns. Do you remember those lessons? Woe to you if the answer is negative!!!

So,

The man who

The book which

The lady whom

And so on.

There is only one word for all these English “ Bold ” words and that word is /keh/.

However, /keh/ has another meaning or function. One of those meanings is reflected in this Persian text .

Let me give you some examples to help you understand the concept:

/mæno keh did/ ….

/pu:lo keh gereft/ …..

/seda:mo keh shenid/ ….

And so on.

Please note that the three phrases above are oral Persian. So, this structure is mostly used in conversational situation not in formal book style texts. Here, I need to give you a very short background on Persian story. Before doing that, let me tell you something (maybe) interesting.

I had an old uncle. Whenever he wanted to speak on the phone, he talked in a very formal way as if he was talking to a very important person. We would laugh at him and, of course, he would get angry with us! We said, “the person on the other end of the phone is our neighbor or close friend. You don’t need to be so formal.”

This would make him very angry. He said, “You are stupid! Telephone is not a joke! We need to be serious whenever we are using it!! This is not invented for cheap talks!

The same happened to our Persian literature. People thought texts on papers must be formal and different from oral conversation. So, if you looked at the Persian writings of some 100 years ago, you would notice that all of them are very formal and considerably difficult to understand. It was then, appeared some people such as Mohammad Ali Jamal zadeh, Sadegh e Hedayat, Sadegh e Choobak (Choubak), Jalal Al Ahmad, and many others who started writing in oral form.

Even our poetry was purely classical. It was a must for the poets to write in the same way as Hafez did 800 years ago. Then, suddenly, appeared a man called Nima who introduced a new version or era in the Persian poetry. When, for the first time, he recited his poems in an official meeting of the poets in Tehran , almost all the great poets of his time insulted him badly in the meeting. “This man must be crazy for calling such nonsense a poem!” they concluded.

You see, Iranians are hard to convince!!

All right,

So far we have come to know that this text is oral Persian. The examples I gave you are in oral form too. In short,

/mæno keh did/ …. = no sooner he/she saw me = as soon as he/she saw me = when he/she saw me

/pu:lo keh gereft/ ….. = no sooner he/she got the money = as soon as he/she got the money = when he/she got the money

/seda:mo keh shenid/ …. = no sooner he/she heard me = as soon as he/she heard me = when he/she heard me

The Persian text says, “ ” = As soon as he reached / entered /walked into the alley.

/shoru: beh dævidæn kærd/.

/shoru: kærdæn/ = to start/begin

/dævidæn/ = to run

/shoru: beh dævidæn kærd/. = he started to run/running

/færya:d zædæn/ = to shout

The translation of this sentence is good ( He repeatedly shouted “Daily News! Daily News.). However, as much as the style in Persian text is concerned, ‘repeatedly’ could be in the beginning. So, Repeatedly, he shouted “Daily News! Daily News!

Then, we have this sentence:

No one paid any attention.

The Persian sentence says

/hich kæs/ = anybody

/tævæj.joh da:shtæn/ = to pay attention

In Persian, we have /be/ before /hich kæs/.

To pay attention to somebody/something = /beh kæsi or beh chizi tævæj.joh da:shtæn/.

To pay no attention to somebody/something = /beh kæsi or beh chizi tævæj.joh næ da:shtæn/.

Example: he paid no attention to me = /u: beh mæn tævæj.joh næda:sht/.

The text reads,

The translation reads No one paid any attention.

Apparently, it is wrong.

This is the translation:

He paid no attention to anybody.

/fæghæt særgærm e ka:r e khodæsh bu:d/ = He was the only one busy with work.

/fæghæt/ = only – just

/særgærm kari bu:dæn/ = to be busy with a work.

/khodæsh/ = himself/herself

/fæghæt særgærm e ka:r e khodæsh bu:d/= He was busy with just his own work (he paid no attention to anybody).

= However much more he repeated that name, the more people bought newspapers.

There are some points here.

There is no “however” in Persian sentence. So, the word “however” is redundant.

Do you know how to say such sentences in Persian?

The more I see you, the more I love you.

The more you practice, the better you will learn.

In Persian, we say /hær cheh bish tær/ or /hær ghædr/ for the first “the more”.

The more I see you = /hær cheh bish tær mi binæmet/

The more you practice = /hær cheh bish tær tæmrin koni/

Is it clear? Good!

The second “more” (or anything that replaces ‘more’) should be translated as follows:

/bish tær/ + adjective or verb or anything you have in your second sentence.

The more I love you = /bish tær du:set da:ræm/ => /bish tær/ + verb (du:st da:shtæn/.

The better you will learn = /bish tær ya:d migiri/ = /bish tær ya:d kha:hi gereft/. => /bish tær/ + verb (ya:d gereftæn/.

NOTE :

Better = /behtær/.

You could replace /bish tær/ with /beh tær/ => /beh tær ya:d kha:hi gereft/.

Point : the second ‘more’ (in the second sentence) could be changed according to the comparative adjective).

Example: the more you waste your time, the harder the work will be.

In this sentence, the Persian structure of the second part (the harder the work will be) should be like this:

Adjective + /tær/

Hard = /mosh kel/ = /sækht/

Harder = /mosh kel tær/ =

Did you get the point? Great!

All right,

There is a comma in our English sentence (…. he repeated that name, the more …). In Persian, we have /væ/ = and.

The sentence does not end with ‘newspapers’. So, ‘full stop’ is not needed after ‘newspapers’.

We could say, “the more he repeated that name and the more people bought the newspapers”

Then what?

/bish tær æz khodæsh khoshæsh mi a:mæd/ = the more he became happy with himself = the more he felt satisfied

The sentence should end here. So, there should be ‘full stop’ after himself. (Poor punctuations in Persian sentence)

and for a few issues that he sold he still remembered that name.

‘And‘ is not necessary.

Actually, this is not the translator’s fault. There is /væ/ in Persian sentence, which is unnecessary.

So, we could delete it in our English sentence.

My translation professor once told me in university,“If the text says 2 + 2 = 5, you should translate the same.”

I agree with him since translators are not responsible for the original text. But, sometimes when we are 100 percent sure, we could improve the original text if we really know what we are doing. Otherwise, just translate 2 + 2 = 5!!

For a few issues that he sold he still remembered that name. This sentence is ok.

All right,

I hope you enjoyed this lesson. We will continue it next time.

Till then,

Khoda Hafez!

See you next week!

Please do the Quiz first. Then go to Useful drills page.

Quiz:

(Source: Useful Drills 85)

1- Listen to the audio files first (preferably once). Repeat it for a couple of times. Write it down on a paper. Find their English equivalents. (Seen)

One

Two

Three

2- Find the Persian equivalent for the following words and make four sentences with each of them (in different tenses).

To meet

I talked to him

On TV

To teach

3- Say these numbers in Persian:

13 – 31 – 310 – 103 – 103 – 3001 – 1003 – 3100 – 1300

4- Follow the examples, combine the letters, and make words using the given letters. You’ll have to change the big letters into the small ones whenever needed.

Friend <= /du:st/ < ==