Will the Big Moment Come in Peace Talks?

[peregrine]

With license. The turn of phrase wasn’t invented for that series of stories. How many languages do you speak?  You don’t really translate things word for word.

I'm confused.  Are you talking about translating the Dresden Files, or the Bible?

[Ananda]

I'm confused.  Are you talking about translating the Dresden Files, or the Bible?

I was talking about the bible, but it’s the same for the DF.

Unless you’re translating a list of ingredients, you don’t translate word for word. You translate meaning and intent, but there are many times where language 1 has a way of saying something that is not in language 2. This is particularly evident when you get into figurative and poetic works. I’ve translated a fair amount (not literary works) but, even websites describing the beach or forest near the hotel use figurative speech and metaphor.

Here are three different translations of one of my favourite lines from the play, Agamemnon. This is Clytaemestra upon killing her husband. One is vivid, alive, and poetic, one is decent, and one is just plain boring, but all three say the same general thing. The difference? License.

Thus he went down, and the life struggled out of him;
[and as he died he spattered me with the dark red
and violent driven rain of bitter-savored blood
to make me glad, as plants stand strong amidst the showers
of god in glory at the birthtime of the buds.

Fallen thus, he gasped away his life, and as he breathed forth quick spurts of blood, [1390] he struck me with dark drops of gory dew; while I rejoiced no less than the sown earth is gladdened in heaven's refreshing rain at the birthtime of the flower buds.

So he fell, his life throbbed away; breath and blood spurting out him of like a shower, spattering me with drops of crimson dew. I soaked it up joyfully as spring buds do the gods’ sweet rain.

[peregrine]

Yeah, that's great, but "My hour has not yet come" is in no way that.  There's a bit of variation in translations, which is why there's always new version of the Bible coming out, but if you look at the original Greek that's what he said.

Basically, if they decided to just toss that phrase in there because it was a well established one, it's well established because it came from the Bible.

[morriswalters]

There is no problem with translation.  That may be faced by editors who have to translate the text into languages other than English, but it isn't the case for me.  I'm ignorant.  And since I am, I speak no language but English, or the bastardization of English as spoken in the US.    My response was to this.

And when prompted as to why he cared said "It is not your hour"- A common expression used to say "you shouldn't die right now".

While it can be read that way, obviously the Gatekeeper was prepared to kill Dresden at that point.  Since Dresden has made it perfectly clear that he would take it to the wall if he needed to.  The Biblical quote refers to the death and resurrection.  To a moment in time that when Jesus would serve his purpose on earth.  I'm assuming a similar meaning for the "starborn"(I feel foolish even writing that).  As in, Harry is destined to fulfill some function of which he remains ignorant, but which everybody(important or powerful) else knows.  By the way does Butters have a king in his family tree somewhere?