Thread: Translation help for adopted child

Hi, I would appreciate any help translating the following letter into English for our impending adoption of a young boy from Kazakhstan. Thank you for any help.

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Madi's New Family
November 2003

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Dear Madi-

Hello from your new Mom and Dad in America! Here are some pictures of your new house. We are sitting on the bed in your bedroom next to some of your stuffed animals. Can you see the stuffed animal that we gave you?

We are so excited that you will soon be our new son, and we can't wait for you to come home and be with us. You are a very special boy and we love you very much!

Mom and Dad

That's cool. are you guys gunna fly to kazakhstan to get him? how old is he? is it hard to adopt kids from russian/ soviet countries? Sorry, my russian is only good enough to translate about 50% of it accurately, but i'm sure someone will come along before too long. good luck with your kid!

This is just me trying out my russian, not an official translation. someone tell me how i did? (i know it is not exact, but does it make sense?)


Dear Madi-

Hello from your new Mom and Dad in America! Here are some pictures of your new house. We are sitting on the bed in your bedroom next to some of your stuffed animals. Can you see the stuffed animal that we gave you?

We are so excited that you will soon be our new son, and we can't wait for you to come home and be with us. You are a very special boy and we love you very much!

Mom and Dad

Дорогой мади,

Привет! Мы твои новые родители в Америке! Вот - фотогафии из твоего нового дома. Мы сидим на кровати в твоей новой спальне рядом с твоими подушками. Ты видишь подушки мы подарили тебе?

Мы возбуждены что ты будешь наш новый сын, и мы не можем ждать для тебя прибывать домой с нами. Ты очень специальный мальчик, и мы уже любим тебя!


мама и папа!

Here is a Russian translation, but you would be best off waiting for another to come by. I'm not a native speaker so there might be a mistake in there.

Дорогой Мади,

Привет от твоих новых родителей в США! Вот несколько фотографий твоего нового дома. Мы сидим на кровати в твоей спальне рядом с несколько твоих мишек. Ты видешь мишку, которую мы тебе дали?

Мы так рады, что ты скоро станешь нашим новым сыном, и мы ждем с нетерпением того, что ты приедешь жить с нами. Ты очень специальный малыш и мы тебя очень любим!

Мама и Папа

A few questions to the Russians:
I wasn't sure about "We are so excited." I have rarely seen someone write something like "Мы так возбуждены", and возбужден doesn't really mean "glad-excited" in that sense does it? So I have changed it to "We are so glad." Is that good?

Специальный I was unsure of. Perhaps that means special only in the sense of "Special Forces" or "You need a special tool to fix this" and not "You are a very special boy, e.g. you are very important to us"? But I have kept the word anway.

Stuffed animal I have translated as simply Мишка teddy bear because the phrase "наполненное животное" sounds a little awkward to me. Is this good?

We can't wait I have translated as "ждать с нетерпением." I haven't heard "Мы не можем ждать" in the sense of "We're so excited we are impatient", rather, "We can't wait, we will soon be caught."

Certainly it makes sense, but I can point out a few mistakes:

Originally Posted by Dogboy182

Дорогой мади,

Дорогой Мади

Вот - фотогафии из твоего нового дома.

The из isn't really necessary there is it? Unless you were trying to express "The photos were in your new house, and now you have them" as oppposed to "These are photos OF your new house."

Мы сидим на кровати в твоей новой спальне рядом с твоими подушками. Ты видишь подушки мы подарили тебе?

Подушка is a pillow as far as I know. Ты видешь подушку, которую мы тебе подарили? Russian doesn't have "I saw her dancing" structure so you always have to break things up into relative clauses.

Мы возбуждены что ты будешь наш новый сын,

I have rarely heard people say Мы возбуждены in the sense that they are glad-excited, but, I'm not sure, so I'll leave it. Быть always takes the instrumental, so будешь нашим новым сыном.

и мы не можем ждать для тебя прибывать домой с нами.

I haven't heard of "мы не можем ждать" in the sense that "We're so excited about this we grow impatient and don't want to wait." It's usually used to mean literally "We cannot wait, e.g. We cannot wait or else the police will catch us", etc. Для here is incorrect, для is usually used in the sense of "This present is for you" or something. At any rate ждать takes the genitive. As for прибывать it doesn't sound that right to me but I will leave it because I'm unsure.

Ты очень специальный мальчик, и мы уже любим тебя!

Уже = already.

фотогафии из твоего нового дома.

i know, i debated on wether or not to put it in. i thought it looked good either way.

"Подушка is a pillow as far as I know

"- yea i know, but i had seen somewhere that it means "pillow/ stuffed animal" , and i couldn't find stuffed animal in my dictionary! so i figured it could fit .

"Мы возбуждены"-

Again, my limited vocab, i'm making due with what i know.

I haven't heard of "мы не можем ждать"-

Neither has anyone i have ever said that too. but, no one ever told me the correct way to say it, so i continue to say it .

Для here is incorrect. i know, but i didn't know any other way to write it.

Уже = already

. yea, i know... i don't know how to say "very much", or if it even exists in russian, i figured "We already love you!" would make just as much sense, and work just as well.

as for

Быть always takes the instrumental

. i didn't know!

thanks pravit. i guess i didn't do that bad! but i could have done better! i just wanted to see if i could do it or not. hopefully, i'm getting better.

Your translation is very good, Pravit. I took it as a basis but changed a little in order it sounded more Russian.

Дорогой Мади,

Привет от твоих новых родителей из Америки! Вот несколько фотографий твоего нового дома. Мы сидим на кровати в твоей спальне рядом с твоими мягкими игрушками. Видишь мягкую игрушку, которую мы тебе подарили?

Мы очень рады, что ты скоро станешь нашим новым сыном и ждем не дождемся, когда ты приедешь домой и будешь с нами. Ты очень особый мальчик и мы тебя очень любим!

Мама и Папа

Good luck to you, jacebc!

Originally Posted by Pravit

We can't wait I have translated as "ждать с нетерпением." I haven't heard "Мы не можем ждать" in the sense of "We're so excited we are impatient", rather, "We can't wait, we will soon be caught."

There are several expressions (rather informal, but very common) with "дождаться" meaning the same:
мы ждем не дождемся (the one I used in translation)
мы никак не дождемся
мы (никак) не можем дождаться

Thank you for all of your help! To answer some question...

Yes when we are invited to Kaz (hopefully February) we will fly to Almaty. Our son will be about 4 years old when we meet him. The process is both easy and hard. It takes time, dedication, and patience (not to mention money), but we think it's well worth it. You can check the agency we used at http://www.worldpartnersadoption.org.

Again many thanks for your help, and I'm sure we'll be back for more.

/Jason

Can Madi already read?

That's nice, Friendy corrects Pravit corrects Dogboy. Maybe Propp could correct Friendy?

We don't think Madi can read, so the note is for his caregivers to read to him. I wish we had time to learn more Russian before the adoption. We have some audio cds to practice so we can understand some common words he may use.

Ah, of course, I have silly moments sometimes. Are you planning on gradually teaching him English but letting him continue speaking Russian or are you aiming for a more total-immersion type thing? Does Madi speak Kazakh?

The baby houses speak a mixture of Kazakh and Russia, so he's probably been exposed to both. He's currently in a Russian speaking group. If we knew Russian, we would hope for him to keep it. We will probably try to learn enough to communicate and then expose him to English. Another family adopted a child in the same situtation, and within a couple of months he had a vocabulary of approximately 100 English words.

I think Friendy's translation was very nice. I think "stuffed animal" is "мягкая игрушка" indeed. And of course he is "особый" and not "специальный" мальчик.
And "возбуждены" is a kind of hmm... VERY dubious meaning in Russian.
"Мы очень рады" of course.
"Ждём не дождёмся" и "ждём с нетерпением" is the same IMHO. Although the first is a little bit more colloquial.

I have a question about "Ждём не дождёмся" и "ждём с нетерпением." What exactly does each of them mean, and is there a difference in when you would use them? Is it possible to say "жду не дождусь"??

Originally Posted by emka71aln

I have a question about "Ждём не дождёмся" и "ждём с нетерпением." What exactly does each of them mean, and is there a difference in when you would use them? Is it possible to say "жду не дождусь"??

The word for word translation of "ждём не дождёмся" is "(we're) waiting (and can) not wait (anymore for smth or smb)". The translation of "ждём с нетерпением" is "(we're) waiting impatiently". The diffrence is that "ждём с нетерпением" sounds slightly official. "Жду не дождусь" is absolutely correct and evrybody use it.