Thread: Translate to modern English

Here is the poem by Robert Burns,
Love and Poverty.

I cant understand it because it written in old English. Can you translate it to modern?


O poortith cauld, and restless love,
Ye wrack my peace between ye;
Yet poortith a' I could forgive,
An 'twere na for my Jeanie.
O why should Fate sic pleasure have,
Life's dearest bands untwining?
Or why sae sweet a flower as love
Depend on Fortune's shining?

The warld's wealth, when I think on,
It's pride and a' the lave o't;
O fie on silly coward man,
That he should be the slave o't!
Her e'en, sae bonie blue, betray
How she repays my passion;
But prudence is her o'erword aye,
She talks o' rank and fashion.

O wha can prudence think upon,
And sic a lassie by him?
O wha can prudence think upon,
And sae in love as I am?
How blest the simple cotter's fate!
He woos his artless dearie;
The silly bogles, wealth and state,
Can never make him eerie,

The ready made Russian translation might be helpful in your quest


Любовь и бедность навсегда
Меня поймали в сети
Но мне и бедность не беда,
Не будь любви на свете
Зачем разлучница судьба
Всегда любви помеха
И почему любовь раба
Богатсва и успеха?

Богатство честь в конце концов
Приносят мало счастья
И жаль мне трусов и глупцов,
Что их покорны власти.
Твои глаза горят в ответ,
Когда теряю ум я
А на устах твоих совет:
Хранить благоразумье.

На свете счастлив тот бедняк
С его простой любовью.
Кто не завидует никак
Богатому сословью.
Ну почему жестокий рок
Всегда любви помеха?
И не цветет любви цветок
Без славы и успеха?

Originally Posted by diogen_

The ready made Russian translation might be helpful in your quest

No, thank you. I'm russian, and, of course, I know this movie very well.
I wanna understand exactly original.

Some of the Scots dialect is shown here Robert Burns Country: Poortith Cauld And Restless Love:

Seraph, this is still un-understandable dialect for me.
But, you say right title of the poem, so I found translation myself:
O Poortith Cauld
(right side).
thanx

I think there are plenty of very old Scotch words used in this text - they are not familiar to me. The text looks like it's in the language that is sometimes called "Scots". It's considered a separate language by some.

Probably somebody from Scotland or somebody who did English A levels in a British school can tell you, but not Americans in general, and not me, unfortunately. I only understand some of the Scottish expressions in the text, not all.

I probably butchered modern English language, especially in the second part, but here you are:

Oh, cold poverty, and restless love,
You wreck my peace between you;
Yet poverty is all I could forgive,
If it were not for my Jeanie.
Oh why should Fate have such pleasure,
Untwining life's dearest bands?
Oh why such a sweet flower as love
Depends on Fortune's shining?

The world's wealth, when I think on it,
Is pride and all the rest of it;
Oh, shame on silly coward man,
That he should be the slave of it!
Her eyes, so prettily blue, betray
How she repays my passion;
But prudence is always her refrain,
She talks of rank and fashion.

Oh who can prudence think upon,
And such a girl beside him?
Oh who can prudence think upon,
And so in love as I am?
How blessed is the simple cottar's fate! (cottar = батрак)
He woos his artless dear;
The silly ghosts of wealth and state,
Can never make him scared,

The word order is almost Russian in this poem. )

My word Gromozeka!!!! Respect!
How on earth did you learn 19th century Scots?

Thank you, Hanna.
Some Old English and Scot words were familiar, because our English teacher tortured us by making us learn Robert Burns' poems by heart. )) And for the rest I used a dictionary.

Can we have less of the "old" please? There are plenty of us who still speak like that you know. In fact, if you placed that poem on the continuum between modern Scots and Standard English it would be closer to the latter than the former.

gRomoZeka totally nailed it by the way.

Sure, but this way of speaking can be very hard for non-Scottish people to understand.
When I call my British bank and the choice is between getting through to the call centre in India or Scotland I actually prefer India because I find the Scots language/accent so hard to follow at times.

I guess I am more used to the Indian accent because I work with Indians.

Originally Posted by gRomoZeka

I probably butchered modern English language, especially in the second part, but here you are:

thank you a lot, a wonderful translation!

i wonder why he omitted V's, F's and L's