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

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    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!

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

    We tried our best, you know the rest.
    «И всё, что сейчас происходит внутре — тоже является частью вселенной».

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    Hmmm, I found this translation on the 'net.

    We wanted to do good, but it all turned out the same as before.
    Hei, rett norsken min og du er død.
    I am a notourriouse misspeller. Be easy on me.
    Пожалуйста! Исправляйте мои глупые ошибки (но оставьте умные)!
    Yo hablo español mejor que tú.
    Trusnse kal'rt eturule sikay!!! ))

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    Quote 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?
    Quote 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?

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    It does sound slightly amusing, yes
    Hei, rett norsken min og du er død.
    I am a notourriouse misspeller. Be easy on me.
    Пожалуйста! Исправляйте мои глупые ошибки (но оставьте умные)!
    Yo hablo español mejor que tú.
    Trusnse kal'rt eturule sikay!!! ))

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    Quote Originally Posted by kalinka_vinnie
    It does sound slightly amusing, yes
    Great, thank you!

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    Quote Originally Posted by Ataklena
    Quote 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.
    «И всё, что сейчас происходит внутре — тоже является частью вселенной».

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    How about "we tried our best but it came out as always"?
    "Happy new year, happy new year
    May we all have a vision now and then
    Of a world where every neighbour is a friend"

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    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.
    Hei, rett norsken min og du er død.
    I am a notourriouse misspeller. Be easy on me.
    Пожалуйста! Исправляйте мои глупые ошибки (но оставьте умные)!
    Yo hablo español mejor que tú.
    Trusnse kal'rt eturule sikay!!! ))

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    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?"
    Заранее благодарю всех за исправление ошибок в моём русском.

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    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?"
    Заранее благодарю всех за исправление ошибок в моём русском.

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    But now he is a russian ambassador in Ukraine
    Придёт весна и мы раскроем окна..
    Айда на встречу друг другу!
    Придёт весна и яркое солнце
    Растопит лёд старых обид глупых.

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    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...)

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    У нас говорили немного иначе: Хотели, как лучше, а получилось, как надо.
    "...Важно, чтобы форум оставался местом, объединяющим людей, для которых интересны русский язык и культура. ..." - MasterАdmin (из переписки)



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

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    Quote Originally Posted by Rtyom
    I think the sense is kept as close as possible.
    OK, then it's fine, thank you!

    Quote 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"

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    Quote 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.
    Заранее благодарю всех за исправление ошибок в моём русском.

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    Quote 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.

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    Quote Originally Posted by gRomoZeka
    Quote 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.
    Заранее благодарю всех за исправление ошибок в моём русском.

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    "We tried our best, but shiт happens"
    Ingenting kan stoppa mig
    In Post-Soviet Russia internet porn downloads YOU!

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