Interludes done. Both versions updated.
I'll need some advice on translation soon. I will hit one of the worst spots soon. We are getting close to meeting an old legendary mage - Ortolan. He has very specific way of speaking. I'm unable to come up with idea how to convey it. He uses macaronic language full of polonized (or whatever is proper single word for "made Polish") Latin terms. This will not play out as English has much larger Latin influence, and idea how unnatural Ortolan's language is will be lost. For example in Polish "experience" is "doświadczenie", but Ortolan would use baroque "eksperiencja" that is understandable for educated people, but not used anymore. And there is a ton of such terms that are understandable in Ortolan's speech but are extremely unnatural.
I admit that I flattened language so far. Peasants are using more archaic language than clerks do, and mages still another. My knowledge of English is lacking as how to convey it.
Sapkowski uses dirty tricks. Peasants are using regional words, or words from other Slavic languages. And there is no such liberty in English. If you drop a word from different language it's going to cause trouble with understanding. Slavic languages are closer, so such mixing works better. (I'm not objective being of mixed heritage. I think I know more Slavic languages than regular Pole).
For example in first chapter Albert Smulka says "My ninie tu w Ansegis bezpieczni" "We today [are] safe here in Ansegis". "Ninie" is a old word no longer used in Polish, but still used in Ukrainian (as нині nyni), meaning today, but used here figuratively to mean "now" or "at the moment".
Even word order is different for different social groups. But losing it is not as important to story as is telling just how strangely Ortolan speaks. My translation lacks something of course, but it's not about story, it's about how it's told
I'll need some advice on translation soon. I will hit one of the worst spots soon. We are getting close to meeting an old legendary mage - Ortolan. He has very specific way of speaking. I'm unable to come up with idea how to convey it. He uses macaronic language full of polonized (or whatever is proper single word for "made Polish") Latin terms. This will not play out as English has much larger Latin influence, and idea how unnatural Ortolan's language is will be lost. For example in Polish "experience" is "doświadczenie", but Ortolan would use baroque "eksperiencja" that is understandable for educated people, but not used anymore. And there is a ton of such terms that are understandable in Ortolan's speech but are extremely unnatural.
I admit that I flattened language so far. Peasants are using more archaic language than clerks do, and mages still another. My knowledge of English is lacking as how to convey it.
Sapkowski uses dirty tricks. Peasants are using regional words, or words from other Slavic languages. And there is no such liberty in English. If you drop a word from different language it's going to cause trouble with understanding. Slavic languages are closer, so such mixing works better. (I'm not objective being of mixed heritage. I think I know more Slavic languages than regular Pole).
For example in first chapter Albert Smulka says "My ninie tu w Ansegis bezpieczni" "We today [are] safe here in Ansegis". "Ninie" is a old word no longer used in Polish, but still used in Ukrainian (as нині nyni), meaning today, but used here figuratively to mean "now" or "at the moment".
Even word order is different for different social groups. But losing it is not as important to story as is telling just how strangely Ortolan speaks. My translation lacks something of course, but it's not about story, it's about how it's told
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A small update, just a few first pages of chapter nine added to epub version.
I'm glad to hear about a translation of Season of Storms; I will see if I can help with your English Phrasing.
The client addresses the attorney by name; no honorific. If talking to someone else, they might say "My Attorney" or "My Lawyer" if they've hired the lawyer, otherwise again; by name, no honorific. A judge doesn't usually refer to a lawyer by name, but if they do it's "Mr. Lastname". They do refer to the lawyer by their station, such as "The Prosecutor", or "The Defense". The Attorney tends to refer to their client most of the time as "My Client". Typically they refer to "The Defendant", and "The Plaintiff" for the one on trial, sometimes they include a name with honorifics. In Britain, at least some places say "The Accused" or "The Defender" depending on the type of court case. The judge is addressed as "Your Honor" and referred to as "The Honorable Firstname Lastname".
A Klonica is a Stanchion. The type of cart you're referring to is just called a "Ladder Wagon". You could probably also call it a "Ladder Cart". I did not know about these terms or objects until I looked them up, so I imagine many people won't get the joke, but those are the terms you're looking for.
I think altering a word to make it seem foreign might work better than using a foreign word in many cases; unless the language you're borrowing from is French, or Latin. But Dialectal words could work. Foreign words CAN work; but should be used sparingly.
I wish history's "Vikings" used Jarl instead of Earl, for instance, because they're very different things.
But say you're doing the text for a Nilfgaardian speaking common. Nilfgaardian is supposed to have evolved from the Elder Speech (IIRC) so you might use the occasional Elder Speech/Gaelic/Scottish/Welsh words, or spell things as though they're being pronounced with a heavy Irish accent; and use Hiberno-English grammar as your standard rather than North-American or "The Queen's" English.
Could the term you're looking for be something along the lines of Governor, Mayor, or Earl?
Wow; yeah, you're right. We don't have those associations with Rutabagas or Turnips. We have the concept of Gruel, but no association between any form of turnip and gruel. It's just a vegetable that's widely disliked.
In the official translations, I believe they used his profession as an honorific. Several times I saw him referred to in formal situations as "Witcher Geralt".
It took some guessing to know what you meant by advocate. Eventually I put "mecenas" in google translate to check, and sure enough, you're referring to a lawyer. Advocate is not a common way to refer to a lawyer or attorney in English, and is usually used in other contexts. The problem you're running into is that lawyers don't typically get an honorific in English, nor are they generally referred to by their profession. Sometimes you might see a lawyer introduce themselves as Firstname Lastname Esquire, or see it written that way on letterhead or a business card, but it's not universal in that context, and it basically never appears outside that context.
The client addresses the attorney by name; no honorific. If talking to someone else, they might say "My Attorney" or "My Lawyer" if they've hired the lawyer, otherwise again; by name, no honorific. A judge doesn't usually refer to a lawyer by name, but if they do it's "Mr. Lastname". They do refer to the lawyer by their station, such as "The Prosecutor", or "The Defense". The Attorney tends to refer to their client most of the time as "My Client". Typically they refer to "The Defendant", and "The Plaintiff" for the one on trial, sometimes they include a name with honorifics. In Britain, at least some places say "The Accused" or "The Defender" depending on the type of court case. The judge is addressed as "Your Honor" and referred to as "The Honorable Firstname Lastname".
Not a lawyer, either, but court cases show up pretty frequently in television and movies, and I have taken some law classes, so I know some of the terminology.
You could just put the translation beside it in square brackets. I'd like translations of the Elder Speech if possible, too; I've found it jarring when I can't figure out what the elder speech in the book says.
This is tricky.
A Klonica is a Stanchion. The type of cart you're referring to is just called a "Ladder Wagon". You could probably also call it a "Ladder Cart". I did not know about these terms or objects until I looked them up, so I imagine many people won't get the joke, but those are the terms you're looking for.
I'd probably go with something like "Horned Beast" or "Hornbeast", if there's not an official translation for the term in the context of the Witcher already available.
If it's not meant to be foul, I would not use Rot-Gut. Your other two options are Moonshine and Hooch.
Google Translate tells me Tur just means Aurochs. Is it supposed to be an Aurochs? If so, I'd just say Aurochs. The Aurochs didn't go extinct until 1627, according to wikipedia, so it's probably appropriate to just call it an Aurochs; rather than assuming it's some other form of wild bovine.
In English, "Good Fortune" can efer both to good luck, and reasons for you to be happy. Perhaps that would work for you? Otherwise you could choose one or the other, as situation dictates.
Hmm. Tricky. You could have him speak in Shakespearean english, or possibly make up skakespeareanesque sounding words with meanings that would still be clear to someone with an education.
There are several English regional and class-based dialects, with differences that are evident in word-choice, word order, use of grammar, use of some verbs, and unusual expressions. Here are a list of english dialects . I would probably try to assign dialects to things and try to stick to them, choosing dialects with similar preconceived notions to the dialects of polish used. Not an easy task, to be sure. But for instance, Hiberno English (Ireland) sounds quite different from north american or British English, in part because of heavy grammatical influences from Gaelic.
Yeah; you could use existing English dialects; or even make up unusual dialects to fit your translation. Word orders could be unusual but still clear (ideally in a consistent way); you could use antiquated words; you could anglicize or lift words from french or latin - you could check other germanic languages such as german, and use the german word if it is close to the english one (would not be reliable, but you might get some that way); perhaps some peculiar spellings. Maybe some Farmer doesn't say Peculiar when trying to sound intelligent, but instead Peculer. You could also take normal english words, and play them up as though they were more foreign. Peculiar could be Peculiere to sound faux-french or Peculiaris(the actual latin sourceword), or Peculiarri for faux-italian. The more you know about the languages you're going toward/the better your research on the matter, the better your altered words would come out. I wouldn't hesitate to use thesaurus or thesaurus.com or google a word + synonym and see what it gives you. As a bonus, when you look up synonyms on google and click more info, you get the word history including where the word came from, such as I just did for Peculiar. Perhaps instead of Peculiar you start with Anomalous which has a very similar meaning but is less used. Anomalous came to English through the late latin Anomalos from greek. You could put a french twist on it and go Anomaleux/Anomaleuse.
I think altering a word to make it seem foreign might work better than using a foreign word in many cases; unless the language you're borrowing from is French, or Latin. But Dialectal words could work. Foreign words CAN work; but should be used sparingly.
I wish history's "Vikings" used Jarl instead of Earl, for instance, because they're very different things.
But say you're doing the text for a Nilfgaardian speaking common. Nilfgaardian is supposed to have evolved from the Elder Speech (IIRC) so you might use the occasional Elder Speech/Gaelic/Scottish/Welsh words, or spell things as though they're being pronounced with a heavy Irish accent; and use Hiberno-English grammar as your standard rather than North-American or "The Queen's" English.
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First of all I'd like to thank sylrae for feedback - it's much appreciated. Further thanks for SMiki55 for giving me some help with translating names of villages. They will be needed in next chapter, so pretty soon. I'm struggling with chapter nine now. I will put suggestions to good use when I will finish it. It's not much longer. I decided to put unusual words in Polish original in usual forms here, but in italics. I'm not sure that is good solution, but it may work. Using strange words is a form of emphasizing so it just may.
There is a passage here when wizard arguing with witcher alludes to him having sex with Lytta not so subtly. In my translation it's much more subtle than in original. In docx this could be remedied by a footnote. Then there is a joke that is based on preservative having two meanings - agent preventing food decay and condom. In Polish word used (prezerwatywa) has only the second meaning in vernacular. The first is named completely different (konserwant to be precise). Prezerwacja (preservation) is sometimes used in scientific context though.
I uploaded updated epub.Page 140/407.
There is a passage here when wizard arguing with witcher alludes to him having sex with Lytta not so subtly. In my translation it's much more subtle than in original. In docx this could be remedied by a footnote. Then there is a joke that is based on preservative having two meanings - agent preventing food decay and condom. In Polish word used (prezerwatywa) has only the second meaning in vernacular. The first is named completely different (konserwant to be precise). Prezerwacja (preservation) is sometimes used in scientific context though.
I uploaded updated epub.Page 140/407.
For some words, I recommend this specialist dictionary - it have really helped my many times in my life 
How come when I click on the links all I get are cat gifs?
The forums are celebrating April Fool's Day.
I was about to post my realization when it was happening with every link in the forums. Oh well, I downloaded them elsewhere. I decided the official translations would take too long and I want to finish the books before Wild Hunt.
So chapter nine done, both versions were updated. It's page 149 of 407 so approximately 3/8 of book. It seems that translation is getting ever slower. But there is ever more action - the tale gets to tempo. I'm leaving today for the Easter and will be back to translation on next Tuesday.
So have happy Easter if you celebrate it, otherwise day off is still nice. At least here in Poland Monday after Easter is free. I don't know how it is elsewhere in the world. It seems that Canada has Good Friday free. We don't. At least theoretically.
Links for reference.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/aj2dojqlmocvxym/season.docx?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/j65a607avbshse3/season.epub?dl=0
So have happy Easter if you celebrate it, otherwise day off is still nice. At least here in Poland Monday after Easter is free. I don't know how it is elsewhere in the world. It seems that Canada has Good Friday free. We don't. At least theoretically.
Links for reference.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/aj2dojqlmocvxym/season.docx?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/j65a607avbshse3/season.epub?dl=0
@spektroskopista have a nice Easter too and thank you for your work. Also, yeah, we italians have also free monday after Easter, it's a custom.
Happy Holidays.
Happy Holidays.
How's Lady of the Lake coming along? Really want to finish the books before 3 comes out, with enough time for another full play through.
I really appreciate your format changes so much easier than reading Sword of Destiny. The only niggle I'd have is that there isn't an English English version instead of a US English.
Hello, everybody. I just wanted to let you know that I have finished my edit of The Lady of the Lake. If anyone spots any errors, please feel free to let me know and I'll try to update it. I'll keep the most up to date version on google drive.
TLotL link: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B9D350j7nYkNNjRDdF9YVDZNVmc&authuser=0
Also, I did a quick reformat of The Tower of the Swallow. It might read better on e-readers, so check it out: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B9D350j7nYkNX3k1bEViSXV6ZXc&authuser=0
---------- Updated at 03:11 AM ----------
It's all done! I left "grey" with an e, if that helps any. Really, the most common changes were with armour, colour, honour, and realise. Also, the punctuation marks being inside quotation marks. Besides being a personal preference, it's also a way to make sure things are spelled correctly, as Word doesn't recognize the UK spellings.
TLotL link: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B9D350j7nYkNNjRDdF9YVDZNVmc&authuser=0
Also, I did a quick reformat of The Tower of the Swallow. It might read better on e-readers, so check it out: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B9D350j7nYkNX3k1bEViSXV6ZXc&authuser=0
---------- Updated at 03:11 AM ----------
It's all done! I left "grey" with an e, if that helps any. Really, the most common changes were with armour, colour, honour, and realise. Also, the punctuation marks being inside quotation marks. Besides being a personal preference, it's also a way to make sure things are spelled correctly, as Word doesn't recognize the UK spellings.
Mine uses English English. Maybe not perfectly, as I'm sciences rather than humanities, but should have the correct colour and humour for proper English users.
We in Canada don't actually get both (Some jobs give both, but not most). If you live in Quebec, you get Easter Monday off, but not Good Friday. If you live in the rest of Canada, it's the other way around. You get Good Friday off, but not Easter Monday.
I started chapter ten.
Translation suffered from shorter week - I'm alpha testing Galaxy client for gog.com. I found a bug, and was asked to send details ASAP. So I showed up at work (affected machine was my work laptop - and as we have software audit ongoing I preferred to leave it there) on my off day - that's Tuesday. Bad idea. Boss of course spotted me and it turned out to be a busy day. Secondly I was fighting with matter related to shopping. One of internet shops that I buy from changed it's software recently and this was not smooth transition. I had ordered to two addresses in the past - mine and my in-laws. I ordered two things and they got my addresses mixed up. Address is good, but with wrong postcode. My package now lies in some warehouse in neighbouring city, and the next will surely go there too. I was probably successful in redirecting the first but the other has to wait. Shop of course does not respond, and I was told only sender can redirect the package. So my mind was not on translation unfortunately, but next week should be smoother. I certainly hope so.
But ad rem - I have doubts about translation. There is a list of apparently false claims, and one of them is "ten bigos jest świeży" - this [...] is fresh. I rendered it as sauerkraut stew, but it doesn't give bigos proper recognition. I have no clue as to how much bigos is recognizable outside of Poland (and Lithuania, Belarus an Ukraine), but it's akin to perpetual stew. It certainly does get better with every cooking. Main ingredients are sauerkraut (fermented cabbage - it tastes a lot better than it sounds) and meat, and the rest is just like you like it. You can add red wine, sausage, any kind of meat. Some people add tomatoes. You could put plums in, sometimes honey is added (it was not traditionally used though), possibilities are almost unlimited. As it gets better with every cooking claim that it's fresh is almost surely false.
Only epub updated for now.
Translation suffered from shorter week - I'm alpha testing Galaxy client for gog.com. I found a bug, and was asked to send details ASAP. So I showed up at work (affected machine was my work laptop - and as we have software audit ongoing I preferred to leave it there) on my off day - that's Tuesday. Bad idea. Boss of course spotted me and it turned out to be a busy day. Secondly I was fighting with matter related to shopping. One of internet shops that I buy from changed it's software recently and this was not smooth transition. I had ordered to two addresses in the past - mine and my in-laws. I ordered two things and they got my addresses mixed up. Address is good, but with wrong postcode. My package now lies in some warehouse in neighbouring city, and the next will surely go there too. I was probably successful in redirecting the first but the other has to wait. Shop of course does not respond, and I was told only sender can redirect the package. So my mind was not on translation unfortunately, but next week should be smoother. I certainly hope so.
But ad rem - I have doubts about translation. There is a list of apparently false claims, and one of them is "ten bigos jest świeży" - this [...] is fresh. I rendered it as sauerkraut stew, but it doesn't give bigos proper recognition. I have no clue as to how much bigos is recognizable outside of Poland (and Lithuania, Belarus an Ukraine), but it's akin to perpetual stew. It certainly does get better with every cooking. Main ingredients are sauerkraut (fermented cabbage - it tastes a lot better than it sounds) and meat, and the rest is just like you like it. You can add red wine, sausage, any kind of meat. Some people add tomatoes. You could put plums in, sometimes honey is added (it was not traditionally used though), possibilities are almost unlimited. As it gets better with every cooking claim that it's fresh is almost surely false.
Only epub updated for now.
I think leaving it as "bigos" is fine .. there's even a wikipedia entry for it so anyone confused by a new term has a reference. Also, Polish immigrants are not exactly unknown in North Ameria .. so many of us have heard of bigos independently . But if you feel you must give it an english spin, the wikipedia article calls it "hunter's stew"
.. so many of us have heard of bigos independently . But if you feel you must give it an english spin, the wikipedia article calls it "hunter's stew"The dropbox link for the books are expired. I've noticed you are missing links for The Last Wish and the first few installments of the saga as well..
Links to the books that have been officially translated into English aren't supposed to be available.