Thread: Хотели как лучше, а получилось как всегда (Chernomyrdin)

Please help me to translate it into English so that it would sound just as funny as in Russian!
Thank you in advance!

Перевод, предложнный известным переводчиком П. Палажченко (но, по-моему, не его изобретения):

We tried our best, you know the rest.

Hmmm, I found this translation on the 'net.

We wanted to do good, but it all turned out the same as before.

Originally Posted by Rtyom

Перевод, предложнный известным переводчиком П. Палажченко (но, по-моему, не его изобретения):

We tried our best, you know the rest.

It sounds funny but isn't the sense a bit different?

Originally Posted by kalinka_vinnie

Hmmm, I found this translation on the 'net.

We wanted to do good, but it all turned out the same as before.

Does it sound funny?

It does sound slightly amusing, yes

Originally Posted by kalinka_vinnie

It does sound slightly amusing, yes

Great, thank you!

Originally Posted by Ataklena

Originally Posted by Rtyom

Перевод, предложнный известным переводчиком П. Палажченко (но, по-моему, не его изобретения):

We tried our best, you know the rest.

It sounds funny but isn't the sense a bit different?

I think the sense is kept as close as possible.

How about "we tried our best but it came out as always"?

I don't like "...it came out as always"

получиться has always been a difficult word to translate, "to turn out" is the best fit in this context.

I think it only has a "humourous" value to it if you provide the context. I know what you're talking about (well, I know Chernomyrdin was a Yeltsin-era Prime Minister, so I can guess), but I guarantee you that if you go up to people on a non-Russian street, and just give the quote and say it was from Chernomyrdin, 99.99% of people will just say "Huh? Chernobyl said that? I thought he got nuked or something?"

And besides, in a really darkly humorous way, this Chernomyrdin quote was better:
In 2003, he dismissed talk of an apology for the Holodomor Famine by saying: "We're not going to apologise... there is nobody to apologise to."
(from Wikipedia)

How did the Putin quote go in Russian (We'll kill the bastards in the toilet) -- "Мы убем кого-то в туалетах?"

But now he is a russian ambassador in Ukraine

I heard that in a speech on December 30, 2004, Putin said: "We are working on the methods for deciding what the problems are." How did that go in Russian?

(Assuming Barmaley has made it acceptable to bring up Putin on this thread...)

У нас говорили немного иначе: Хотели, как лучше, а получилось, как надо.

How about:
We wanted to do our best, but we could screw it up at least

Originally Posted by Rtyom

I think the sense is kept as close as possible.

OK, then it's fine, thank you!

Originally Posted by Barmaley

I think it only has a "humourous" value to it if you provide the context. I know what you're talking about (well, I know Chernomyrdin was a Yeltsin-era Prime Minister, so I can guess), but I guarantee you that if you go up to people on a non-Russian street, and just give the quote and say it was from Chernomyrdin, 99.99% of people will just say "Huh? Chernobyl said that? I thought he got nuked or something?"

Yeah, I guess so. The context was that we were talking about politicians who could hardly speak their own language, but I couldn't translate my favorite saying properly
What about Putin, he said "Мы будем убивать их (террористов) там, где найдем... Найдем в сортире -- замочим их в сортире" -- it's a criminal slang.
But I prefere this saying by Putin (talking about Russian and Ukrainian peoples):"В нашей истории было столько кровосмешения... (что трудно понять, кто русский, а кто украинец)." He meant "смешение кровей" - mix of bloods, but it turned out to be "incest"

Originally Posted by Chuvak

How about:
We wanted to do our best, but we could screw it up at least

Yours doesn't sound right -- "at least" makes it sound optimistic.
Examples:
It's raining AGAIN!??! Well, at least we don't have a baseball game today.
or
The Nazis took much of western Russian and Eastern Europe. But, at least, they didn't take Moscow or Stalingrad.

Do you see why your variant doesn't sound quite right? If you were going to do something similar, I'd say "We wanted to do our best, but we ended up with the (worst) (worst outcome) (worst-case scenario)." Pick one of those in parentheses.

Originally Posted by Barmaley

I'd say "We wanted to do our best, but we ended up with the (worst) (worst outcome) (worst-case scenario)." Pick one of those in parentheses.

The funniest thing about this phrase is that it unwittingly implies that usually we screw up ("получилось, как всегда"). Your variant is "Хотели как лучше, а получилось как хуже". It's too straightforward and so it's not so funny.

Originally Posted by gRomoZeka

Originally Posted by Barmaley

I'd say "We wanted to do our best, but we ended up with the (worst) (worst outcome) (worst-case scenario)." Pick one of those in parentheses.

The funniest thing about this phrase is that it unwittingly implies that usually we screw up ("получилось, как всегда"). Your variant is "Хотели как лучше, а получилось как хуже". It's too straightforward and so it's not so funny.

No, I completely understand that. That's why I told him something similar to HIS variant was .... It does change the meaning as you said.

"We tried our best, but shiт happens"