Re: Request: translate the following phrase into a non-English language

From: Helmut Richter (a282244_at_mail.lrz-muenchen.de)
Date: 09/24/04 

Date: 24 Sep 2004 16:24:27 GMT

S Kaufman:

> I'm working on a piece right now where I need the phrase: "Yours is
> the one true God" in many different languages,

So intricate sentences are impossible to translate without context.
In German, for instance, the translation of "yours" depends on whether
it is to mean in the context:

a) something or someone belonging to you
b) of all gods in question, the one belonging to you

1) belonging to you (singular), "thine"
2) belonging to you (plural)
3) belonging to you (polite form)

Result for German:

a1) dein
a2) euer
a3) Ihnen or Ihr
b1) deiner
b2) eurer
b3) Ihrer

where (a3) sounds awkward as the construct sounds archaic whereas the
usage of "Sie" as polite form is fairly recent.

Possible translation, assuming (b2):

  Eurer ist der eine wahre Gott.

Just to illustrate the possible pitfalls. In other languages, for
instance Hebrew, the form of "yours" might be dependent not only on
singular/plural but also on the gender of "you".

Helmut Richter

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