Bacon Meteor

Chapter 8 up for comments

Tue, 25 Dec 2007 19:40:52 GMT

Merry non-Russian Christmas, everyone! I've put up a draft of Chapter 8 for comments and correction, please have at it.

диктовые листи

Tue, 18 Dec 2007 03:06:58 GMT

In chapter 11 we have:

Последний год геркулесовцы, отбросив всякую мысль о скучных бревнах, диктовых листах, экспортных кедрах и прочих неинтересных вещах

What are диктовые листи? Wood panels of some kind?

Sun, 16 Dec 2007 15:37:10 GMT

т. Справченко в заготовке древесной коры понадеялся на самотек, чем эти заготовки и провалил..

Is the meaning here that Comrade Spravchenko was negligent? i.e. counting on the fact that the wood bark would collect itself?

саженные стекла

Sun, 16 Dec 2007 15:15:35 GMT

At the very end of Chapter X, we have "Солнце прыгало по саженным стеклам вертящейся двери". What is the meaning of саженные here?

работник центра

Tue, 24 Oct 2006 12:15:57 GMT

Anyone have a good suggestion for how to translate работник центра? The phrase occurs in chapter 8:

Товарищ Поцелуев -- известный работник центра, наш горожанин. Теперь из Москвы в отпуск приехал.

начальник угрозыска

Tue, 24 Oct 2006 11:31:44 GMT

"Пусть в лиловой машине разъезжает начальник угрозыска"

What is the approximate equivalent here? Police detective? Chief investigator? District attorney?

день жаворонка

Tue, 24 Oct 2006 11:24:34 GMT

From chapter 8:

Не бежать же в исполком и просить там красок на проведение "Дня жаворонка"?

As best I can tell, this refers to a traditional spring holiday for greeting the arrival of migrating birds. Does anyone have more info, or suggestions for how to convey it?

художник-пушкарь

Tue, 24 Oct 2006 11:13:09 GMT

What is the meaning of пушкарь in this excerpt from chapter 8?

Товарища Плотского мы не видели, но если указанный
товарищ вас действительно интересует, то поспешите. Его ищет
какой-то трудящийся, по виду художник-пушкарь.

Is it someone who fires cannons, or someone who makes them?

Взвейтесь, соколы, орлами, полно горе горевать!

Mon, 23 Oct 2006 18:41:59 GMT

The lyrics are easy to find, and I know is that it's a tsarist soldiers' song, but can anyone shed further light on its provenance?

As a bonus question, I don't fully understand what is going on grammatically in "Взвейтесь, соколы, орлами". "Fly up, falcons, as eagles do?"

I apologize in advance for some simplistic questions like these, but I'm stranded for the moment in Beijing with only online materials to work with...

чур меня, чур!

Mon, 23 Oct 2006 18:37:59 GMT

Ожегов gives this definition of чур:

межд. (разг.). 1. Возглас (обычно в детских играх), к-рым запрещают касаться чего-н., переходить за какой-н. предел [первонач. в заклинаниях, где слово "чур" обозначает границу, межу]. Ч. меня! Т.. Возглас, к-рым требуют соолюдать какое-н. условие. Ч. я первый! Только ч. я остаюсь! Ч. это секрет!

Even so, I'm still not sure I understand what an English equivalent would be for the old man's cry "чур меня, чур!" in chapter 8.

золотая рота

Fri, 20 Oct 2006 18:15:53 GMT

In chapter 8, Bender addresses Panikovski with this phrase

Молчать, золотая рота! -- закричал Остап

I understand it means something vaguely like "ruffians" and assume there's a pun here on золотой рот, but I could use some ideas for how to translate it.

Chapter 7 rough draft

Thu, 19 Oct 2006 10:36:44 GMT

I've put up a rough draft of Chapter 7, please let me know if you find substantive errors. The prose is choppy, but based on looking back on earlier chapters I think it will be much easier to edit if I let it out of my mind for a while.

As you can see, I've temporarily left out the piece of lyrical nature writing at the beginning of the chapter. This is one of the most difficult parts of the translation, so I'll set it aside for later. Ideas are still welcome in the relevant comment thread.

Two other temporary placeholders: "factory bosses" for хозяйственники, and "workers' collective" for актив.

Thanks to everyone for the continuing stream of helpful comments and reference material. I'm learning an enormous amount from you as I go.

бесплатные обеды на постном масле

Wed, 18 Oct 2006 13:50:00 GMT

Towards the end of Chapter 7, Ostap says "Хватит с нас триумфов, пальмовых ветвей и бесплатных обедов на постном масле". I'm not sure what he means by the last expression. I know that "чепуха на постном масле" refers to something completely foolish, and that постное масло is vegetable oil, with на постном масле implying something intentionally less than top quality. But is that Ostap's meaning here?

хозяйственники

Tue, 17 Oct 2006 06:02:46 GMT

The clothing store in Chapter 7 has a big sign showing, among other things, gloomy хозяйственники in felt boots. Can anyone suggest a good English equivalent?

Off-topic, regarding Vysotski

Mon, 16 Oct 2006 13:54:37 GMT

This has nothing to do with Zolotoj Telenok, but I was hoping some of you might be willing to critique small set of song translations, part of a post or two I've been preparing for American readers on Vysotski. The first is Moya Tsiganskaya. Any corrections or ideas for improvement would be welcome. Here is a link to the Russian text.

I think translating song lyrics for poetic value is a lost cause, but I wanted to at least give non-Russian speaking readers an accurate idea of the song's meaning. The only translations I could find online were either inaccurate or didn't sound like actual English.

деревенский актив

Mon, 16 Oct 2006 06:35:34 GMT

In Chapter 7, the Antelope crew are 'окруженные заботами деревенского актива'. What is the precise meaning of актив in this context? Is it the socially active population of the village, the leadership, everyone of working age? Clearly I should have spent more of my formative years under advanced socialism, the vocabulary is slipping on me...

мелкая птичья сволочь

Mon, 16 Oct 2006 05:42:01 GMT

Right at the beginning of Chapter 7: В травах кричала мелкая птичья сволочь.

Right now I have "little bird swine were yelling in the grass" for this but I am open to suggestions.

терпите бедствие?

Mon, 16 Oct 2006 05:38:20 GMT

Ostap asks this question of the American motorists in Chapter 7. I'm not sure whether I'm missing an allusion here, and I don't quite know how to match the tone. Can anyone shed light or suggest a good equivalent?

тарантас

Sat, 14 Oct 2006 12:38:10 GMT

Is there an English equivalent for тарантас? "Tarantas" appears in a dictionary of rare English words, but I thought there might exist some happy medium between that and just plain "cart".

хромовый черный картуз

Sat, 14 Oct 2006 11:12:41 GMT

I'm wondering about the meaning of "хромовый " in this phrase, which occurs in Chapter 7 (Ostap's sartorial plans for Kozlevich). Is it referring to a black cap with bits of chrome on it?

топленое молоко

Sat, 14 Oct 2006 10:16:03 GMT

Does anyone know a good English equivalent for топленое молоко, which occurs in Chapter 7? I've been thinking about 'scalded milk' but am not convinced. There is a recipe of sorts here.

Chapter 6 first draft

Tue, 10 Oct 2006 06:14:00 GMT

I've posted a rough draft of Chapter 6. Help!

врач–общественник

Mon, 09 Oct 2006 14:25:31 GMT

Can someone give me an equivalent for this phrase, which occurs in Chapter 6?

Chapter 5 first draft

Sun, 11 Jun 2006 05:58:27 GMT

I've put up an initial draft of chapter 5. Please help by performing the usual constructive evisceration.

I apologize for the way the translation suddenly ground to a halt - it has been an eventful six months for me. I'm going to try to pick up the pace here now, at the cost of a few more errors for you guys to catch, in hopes of getting a full rough draft done before the heat death of the Universe. I figure as long as it's an improvement on the Malamuth baseline, anything will be better than nothing.

Malamuth translation

Wed, 12 Apr 2006 05:41:59 GMT

Thanks to an alert reader I was able to download a copy of the Malamuth translation, from 1932. A rough text version is here:

http://idlewords.com/telenok/malamuth.txt

I'll try to clean up the formatting a little bit later. Ha!