Шерон Линн, Обезьяна ([info]drevo_obezyani) wrote in [info]learn_russian,
@ 2008-05-08 23:48:00
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Cops and gangsters
Hi all,
I'm helping translate a few sentences into Russian for an author. Unfortunately, i've never had the pleasure of being arrested by Russian-speaking cops, so i'm iffy on how they say things like "confess."
What i need to translate is:
I know you speak English, so speak it, okay? Now talk, or I mis-translate and say you're confessing to everything.
And what i've got so far is:
Я знаю, что ты говарешь английский язык - по-английски говарей, да? Ну, говарей, или я [mistranslate] и сказу что ты признавал все.
(yeah, my spelling's shot right now, but i need to transliterate it for him anyway…)
I can't for the life of me figure out "mis-translate" - my dictionary's got "to translate" and "to make a mistake" and i can figure out "to make a mistake translating" from there, but i'm not sure how accurate it would be. And i very rarely put that many Russian words together without at least a few grammar mistakes >_<
Any help?

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[info]firebottle
2008-05-09 04:33 am UTC (link)
Try something like this:
"Мы оба знаем, что ты говоришь по-английски. Ну так говори - а то я могу случайно ошибиться в переводе и получится так, что ты во всем сознался."

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[info]drevo_obezyani
2008-05-09 04:35 am UTC (link)
Спасибо!

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[info]kunaifusu
2008-05-09 04:56 am UTC (link)
Too eloquent for a cop I think. To OP: there is no explicit verb for mis-translate you could say "переведу, что ты во всем сознался" or "переведу как будто ты во всем сознался" or something like that, "переводить" can mean "mist-translate" in a right context.

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[info]crimeanelf
2008-05-09 04:55 am UTC (link)
Ты же знаешь английский, я же знаю, ну так и говори по-английски, хорошо? А то я возьму и переведу неправильно, скажу, что ты признаёшься во всём.

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[info]krivoshey
2008-05-09 07:24 am UTC (link)
Я знаю, что ты знаешь английский - вот и говори по-английски, да? Говори, или я пойму тебя неправильно и скажу, что ты во всём сознался.

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[info]racoonbear
2008-05-09 08:16 am UTC (link)
Это вообще ужас какой-то, а не перевод. Во-первых, "да?" в конце предложения это речь грузинского торговца арбузами, а не русского. А "пойму тебя неправильно" я даже не знаю, как комментировать )))

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[info]oryx_and_crake
2008-05-10 04:06 am UTC (link)
1. I have to remind that the working language of this community is English.
2. Please abstain from personal remarks and inciting flame. If you have nothing informative to add to the discussion, don't clutter it with unnecessary comments. Thank you.

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[info]oryx_and_crake
2008-05-10 04:04 am UTC (link)
Thank you for your contribution. However, I have to remind that the working language of this community is English.

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[info]andrey_bessonov
2008-05-09 08:31 am UTC (link)
Ты ведь говоришь по-английски - вот и говори, понял? А то я переведу, что ты во всём сознаёшься.

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[info]malim_praedari
2008-05-09 12:36 pm UTC (link)
+ 1. I'd just phrase the first sentence as "Я же знаю, что ты говоришь по-английски - вот и говори, понял?". This keeps the "I know" part in.

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[info]bayukov
2008-05-09 05:28 pm UTC (link)
'по-английски говарей' - it is terrible :)))

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[info]abiura
2008-05-23 11:34 am UTC (link)
да ладно ребят, не ругайте человека. Я поржала от души ;)

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[info]pinky_the_cow
2008-05-09 10:18 pm UTC (link)
It feels real awkward even in english to me, that wording out of "I mis-translate and say that..."
Hm, and also, it looks as if the cop is being overly polite. Perhaps in a menacing style, he's tammying out the words. Hence, the russian should preserve that politeness and it'd come like this:

Я знаю, что вы знаете английский язык, поэтому разговаривайте на нём, хорошо? Теперь начинайте говорить, или я делаю ошибку в переводе и говорю, что вы признаёте себя виновным во всём.

Of course if there's a psycho cop, he'd say something like:

Слышь, я в курсах, что ты по инглишу шпаришь, так что шпарь, сечёшь? Значит, ты или щас начинаешь петь, или я им переведу, что ты сознался.

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[info]zarxos
2008-05-10 03:03 am UTC (link)
Wow...Do cops in Russia really talk like that second one?

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[info]pinky_the_cow
2008-05-10 08:37 am UTC (link)
Well, I was just trying to make examples. There are always different possible ways of expressing oneself.

I've omitted the notice of the lack of explicit lyrics in that cop speech. Fiction has to have fiction in it, alright? :)


Personally I have a grim impression of our police system. There's an extensive corruption on all levels, great lack of trust from the population is a fact.
And it's only reasonable, as police system is a part of the corrupted state system. The funny thing is that most criticism attempts that I watch are being rebuked as anti-patriotic. You'll find many people, who do not share my point of view. It's an entirely different topic to discuss, though.

Still, there must be plenty of cops that speak way worse. What do you expect, if the President throws advices of brain replacements or extreme circumсisions.

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[info]pinky_the_cow
2008-05-10 09:00 am UTC (link)
Oh, I remembered an instance. Click. There's an archived radio program (it's political satire weekly program). This issue has among other things referred the intercepted cops communication, the cops/SWAT coordinating when subduing the March of the Discontent.

It starts at 6:35 of the podcast. The "tastiest" parts start after 8:00. -_- Nothing to be surprised about, but they can talk like that and better.

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[info]abiura
2008-05-23 11:45 am UTC (link)
Мой вариант:
Я знаю, что ты говоришь по-английски, понял? Быстро говори или я передам, что ты во всем признался.
(well, actually there is so many variants to translate, and I believe there is no necessity to translate word by word or it will sound unnatural. And if is, for example, an extract from the russian film my varient will sound "russian", although not precise in words.) And also if we take into consideration that it is a russian cop and he is very annoyed your athor can add some rude word like - mmm: Говори сука! or if it is obbligatory to avoid very rude words he can use something like тварь or скотина.... to make it sound really russian:)

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