For the last four-five weeks, we have been translating a 20-page Russian story called "The Return," written at the end of WWII, about (surprise surprise) a general coming home after the war. He is worried about how well he will adapt to civilian life after serving five years in a war, and rightfully so. Using the considerable number of resources at my disposal, I felt I had a pretty secure grasp on what was going on, but was getting more and more upset with the story as it progressed.
By about page seven, he has returned home to find his children, now seven and eleven years old, barely remember him, his son has taken over command of the house, and his wife- as I read- was desperately happy to see him. For ten pages, they had conversation after conversation about how much she missed him, she was dead without him, please stay home now... and he was incredibly mean to her, calling her a liar, saying she made a laughingstock out of him, calling her names, etc. She had admitted to him that an older gentleman (who had lost his wife and children in the war) had been coming over to help with the children, but all they had done- as I read it- was hug, and she let him give her one kiss. Being as that the first seven pages had been the husband flirting with a young woman on the train ride home, and staying at her place instead of going to his own city, I thought that was pretty rich...
Finally we get to that incriminating paragraph in class -I was way ahead of the assigned pages- and sure enough, I get called on to read. The main crux of the paragraph read (my translation):
Three short words, in this case, managed to obscure and then clarify twenty pages of a pretty good story. Being as that I communicate regularly with people whose first language is not English, I try to watch my word selection and use of idioms pretty carefully, but the wrong word, or the wrong inflection can make things confusing even for someone who shares your language. Keep that in mind the next time you're aiming to express yourself- it's amazing how much impact a few short words can have.
By about page seven, he has returned home to find his children, now seven and eleven years old, barely remember him, his son has taken over command of the house, and his wife- as I read- was desperately happy to see him. For ten pages, they had conversation after conversation about how much she missed him, she was dead without him, please stay home now... and he was incredibly mean to her, calling her a liar, saying she made a laughingstock out of him, calling her names, etc. She had admitted to him that an older gentleman (who had lost his wife and children in the war) had been coming over to help with the children, but all they had done- as I read it- was hug, and she let him give her one kiss. Being as that the first seven pages had been the husband flirting with a young woman on the train ride home, and staying at her place instead of going to his own city, I thought that was pretty rich...
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| A still from the movie |
Finally we get to that incriminating paragraph in class -I was way ahead of the assigned pages- and sure enough, I get called on to read. The main crux of the paragraph read (my translation):
I never got from him (the older gentleman) any happiness, and afterwards, it was even worse. My soul reached out to him, because it was dying within me, but when he came close to me, so close, I was indifferent- I thought at that moment of our family troubles, and felt sorry that I had allowed him so close. I understood that only with you could I be at peace [and be] happy.What, I thought, was so horrible about giving someone a hug and realizing you're not attracted to them? The professor, who is a very polite, conscientious person, coughed, hedged, looked rather uncomfortable, and said, "Well... that phrase, "coming so close," actually means in Russian that you... had sex." The entire class, as one, lit up and went "Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" The entire story, the ten pages of arguments, the husband walking out, being angry- it all suddenly made sense, and just because of one idiomatic phrase.
Three short words, in this case, managed to obscure and then clarify twenty pages of a pretty good story. Being as that I communicate regularly with people whose first language is not English, I try to watch my word selection and use of idioms pretty carefully, but the wrong word, or the wrong inflection can make things confusing even for someone who shares your language. Keep that in mind the next time you're aiming to express yourself- it's amazing how much impact a few short words can have.
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