Heaven #4504 Begin Happiness
Dear Gloria,
in http://www.heavenletters.org/begin-happiness.html
parag. 10
"You protest that others, the world etc., rule the roost, while you let a habit of speech or procedure of someone else’s wishes make you lose your cool, even when it is only your inner cool. Oh, yes, others are ruling over you all right. You line yourself right up to dance to their tune all in the name of control."
The first sentence seems to me like a steeplechase. What do you mean by "a habit of speech or procedure of someone else's wishes"? I can understand habit of speech but how do I connect the habit of speech or procedure with someone else's wishes? My interpretation would be : while you let someone else's wishes, no matter the way these wishes are expressed, make you lose your cool.
Also, what is the difference between losing your cool and losing your inner cool?
Thanks
Steeplechase is a good
Steeplechase is a good description, Normand!
Let's see what we can do to simplify it.
a habit of speech = manner of speaking OR someone else's words
procedure of someone else's wishes = someone else's wishes
about inner and outer cool -- Someone can be fuming on the inside and keep his outer cool -- someone can lose his inner cool but not show it
Now what to do.
Here's one possibility:
"You protest that others, the world etc., rule the roost, while you let others' manner of speech and their ways of thinking make you lose your inner cool, even when you don't let it show. Oh, yes, others are ruling over you all right. You line yourself right up to dance to their tune all in the name of control."
Are others also having difficulty with this?
If others also had difficulty with this, please say. Thanks.
Thanks Gloria, its a relief!
Thanks Gloria, its a relief! Ouf!
Title Begin Happiness
Dear Gloria and Normand,
today I will begin translating this HL and I waited for your answer, dear Gloria. I did understand it, but the explaination helps al lot to understand it better. So thanks.
For me the title is more difficult to translate, because I have to use more words. I can't translate it with: Begin Geluk; I have to use 'with' : 'met' . So it will be: Begin met Geluk
But I will talk to Luus about it, maybe she has another idea.
from heart to heart, namasté, Anneke
Your chosen title great to
Your chosen title great to me, beloved Anneke! Thank you so much for responding.
I'd better go to the Heavenletter and change it then and let Theophil know.
May all translators be blessed. You sure bless the world and the people in it.
Title
Dear Gloria,
Theophil translated the title Begin Happiness in German as SETZE MIT DEM GLÜCKLICHSEIN EIN, this is in English: Begin with Being Happy. I don't know whether you meant it this way.
Please let me know, so that I can translate it the right way.
from heart to heart, namasté, Anneke
The structure of the title
The structure of the title Begin Happiness is an unusual structure. The ordinary structure in English would likely be: Begin with Happiness.
The title of this Heavenletter is the last sentence of this Heavenletter. God says Begin Happiness here as someone might say: Begin Cooking or Begin School.
To my mind, there is a slightly different cast to this sentence of Begin Happiness..It's possibly more like Start Up Happiness. I suppose that, if God were to say the opposite, he would say End Misery which seems more typical to me than Begin Happiness does.
I don't know that this slightly different cast can be translated literally in another language and work as it does in English, or how I see it in English.
I really wouldn't know how to advise you. I think this is a case where each translator can only do what feels right to him or her. This isn't changing a title to something else altogether because he likes another title better. Every translator would translate in his language to what seems best to him at the time.I don't think there's any wrong here.
And, oh, my goodness, translators can't sweat over every phrase, or they would never finish!
When I pick out a title, I have the constraints of time too. As I pointed out either on the forum or the blog, after a particular Heavenletter was already published, that's when I saw immediately another title I I liked much more.
I hope I am making sense. Translators are conscientious. Translators do their best to translate all the nuances. At the same time, they don't have all day to do it. We ask translators not to take liberties with their translations. At the same time, translators have to make decisions and move along.
Thank you, beloved Anneke.
I agree with Gloria, there
I agree with Gloria, there is a nuance between "Begin Happiness" and "Begin with Happiness". In French, I will use the verb "entreprendre" which has the English meaning of "undertake". In German and Dutch perhaps "unternehmen" and "ondernemen" would suit(?). That's the closest I can get to the title of this HL.
title
Dear Normand,
I can't use the word ondernemen and I doubt that Theophil will use unternehmen, because we use this verb for instance to let one know that we make a trip: we ondernemen een reisje. But Geluk Ondernemen, that is not right in Dutch. Maybe I could translate Begin Happiness with Start met Geluk. I think that covers what is meant by Begin Happiness.
from heart to heart, namasté, Anneke
mache dich dran
It's true, I pondered for a long time about a good translation into German, always being aware that there is a difference in English between "Begin with happiness" and "Begin happiness". What I found was not - I was aware of it - even 50% representing in German what was the English content and intent.
Times are changing.
Now I found a way.
We have in German ...
"Mach dich dran ans Essenkochen."
"Mache dich dran ans Zimmer aufräumen."
"Mache dich dran an die Gymnastik."
So, "Mache dich dran ans Glücklichsein" is now, as I see it, about 80% of the original English content.
Theophil
Beloved Theophil, I love it!
Beloved Theophil, I love it!
I am going to look up the meaning of the world dran!