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bonch.bruevich
Just Starting
Joined: 15 May 2009
Posts: 8
Location: Kiev, Ukraine
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 Posted: Fri May 15, 2009 5:07 pm Post subject: please help me to translate an expression |
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Hello!
Please help me to translate in English this expression:
"Нет плохих и хороших, есть свои и чужие"
Literally it sounds like
Нет плохих и хороших
There are no bad (people) and good (people)
есть свои и чужие
there are only our own people and strangers
It means that whatever your do (good or bad behaviour) you will be judged according to whether you are our own man (e.g. the member of the family, then ‘judge’ shuts his eyes to your crime) or stranger (then there is no necessity to be indulgent toward the defendant)
Is there some English proverb or common expression which could reproduce this meaning?
If not how could I express it in English to be brief and laconical? |
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Kir
Just Starting
Joined: 16 May 2009
Posts: 2
Location: Russia, Moscow
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| Posted: Sat May 16, 2009 3:41 pm Post subject: |
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That is ethic problem of evil's relativity.
We can't directly tell that somebody/something is good or bad, because that is bad or good only for us, not for all. |
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NetStranger
Just Starting
Joined: 16 May 2009
Posts: 1
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| Posted: Sat May 16, 2009 4:44 pm Post subject: |
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| The second part is more like "there are friends and enemies", which explains, who are good or bad for you personally |
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Amiga
Just Starting
Joined: 17 May 2009
Posts: 1
Location: Russia, Smolensk
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| Posted: Sun May 17, 2009 1:27 pm Post subject: |
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| My English not so well, but Russian I study very good. I think, the second раrt jf this idim mean that СВОИ never do harm to you. It's a different between СВОИ and ЧУЖИЕ, Хорошие and Плохие. |
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bonch.bruevich
Just Starting
Joined: 15 May 2009
Posts: 8
Location: Kiev, Ukraine
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| Posted: Sun May 17, 2009 6:32 pm Post subject: |
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| NetStranger wrote: | | The second part is more like "there are friends and enemies", which explains, who are good or bad for you personally |
You may be right; "there are friends and enemies" is translated closely enough.
Which variant is wright?
1) First part
There are no bad and (or) good people
There are no bad guys and (or) good guys
There are no bad and (or) good guys
There are no the bad and (or) the good
I'm hesitating over a choice and (or) because I want to describe the fact that either of the persons exist at the same time. Perhaps or couldn't emphasize that.
2) Second part
There are only friends and (or) enemies
Which combination of first and second parts is better?
I'm trying to obtain the most harmonius and laconical sounding  |
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Morzuka-Azbe
Just Starting
Joined: 17 May 2009
Posts: 6
Location: Russia, Krasnodar
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| Posted: Sun May 17, 2009 10:22 pm Post subject: |
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I'm a student of Kuban State University, Dep. of Theoretical and Practical Translation.
There are no bad or good people,
There are only friends and enemies.
This variant is good but I would suggest you to replace the word "enemies" for "strangers". "Чужой" doesn't always mean "enemy". |
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Morzuka-Azbe
Just Starting
Joined: 17 May 2009
Posts: 6
Location: Russia, Krasnodar
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| Posted: Sun May 17, 2009 10:46 pm Post subject: |
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| Офигеть! Пишу человеку из Киева на английском языке ))))) лол |
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bonch.bruevich
Just Starting
Joined: 15 May 2009
Posts: 8
Location: Kiev, Ukraine
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| Posted: Sun May 17, 2009 11:08 pm Post subject: |
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| Morzuka Azbe wrote: | | Офигеть! Пишу человеку из Киева на английском языке ))))) лол |
Мда, где бы еще встретились?  |
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romdur
Lounge Lizard
Joined: 17 Mar 2010
Posts: 189
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| Posted: Mon May 18, 2009 12:51 am Post subject: |
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The idea of the saying is familiar, but I'm not aware of any commonly-used expression for it in present-day America. To sound natural по-американски, I suggest wording like:
"There aren't good and bad people, only friends and strangers."
или
"People aren't good or bad, they are either friends or strangers."
или
"There are no good or bad people, only friends and strangers."
Choosing between and/or in negative expressions is a bit tricky. |
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RyZ
Frequent Guest
Joined: 16 May 2009
Posts: 33
Location: Volgograd, Russia
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| Posted: Mon May 18, 2009 7:01 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: | "People aren't good or bad, they are either friends or strangers."
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I think that it's the best choise |
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bonch.bruevich
Just Starting
Joined: 15 May 2009
Posts: 8
Location: Kiev, Ukraine
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| Posted: Mon May 18, 2009 2:10 pm Post subject: |
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| romdur wrote: | The idea of the saying is familiar, but I'm not aware of any commonly-used expression for it in present-day America. To sound natural по-американски, I suggest wording like:
"There aren't good and bad people, only friends and strangers."
или
"People aren't good or bad, they are either friends or strangers."
или
"There are no good or bad people, only friends and strangers."
Choosing between and/or in negative expressions is a bit tricky. |
"There aren't good and bad people, only friends and strangers."
In my opinion it sounds better. Thanks a lot! |
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Morzuka-Azbe
Just Starting
Joined: 17 May 2009
Posts: 6
Location: Russia, Krasnodar
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| Posted: Mon May 18, 2009 5:10 pm Post subject: |
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| Коллективный разум рулит ))) |
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