Cucumis - Free online translation service
. .



Translation - Serbian-English - Help

Current statusTranslation
This text is available in the following languages: SerbianEnglish

Category Letter / Email - Love / Friendship

Title
Help
Text
Submitted by amandadawson11
Source language: Serbian

znas koliko me je obradovalo sto si nasla posao i sto si preselila ...bas mi je mnogo drago!!!! samo napred bas sam ponosan na tebe!!! ljubim te!!!
Remarks about the translation
a friend sent this to me, but i don't speak serbian that well...may have some slang, but would appreciate a translation. thanks!

Title
You have no idea how glad I was to hear
Translation
English

Translated by imogilnitskaya
Target language: English

You have no idea how glad I was to hear that you have found a job and moved... I am very delighted!!! Just go ahead! I am very proud of you!!! Kiss you!!!
Last validated or edited by lilian canale - 18 July 2008 17:07





Latest messages

Author
Message

17 July 2008 00:27

lilian canale
Number of messages: 14972
Hi imo,

You have to work the first line better.
Is that a question? if not, it shouldn't read "Do you know..." which is an interrogative form.
Also:
"how much I was glad to hear " has the wrong syntax, it should be:
"how glad I was to hear..."

in short, I think that first line could be something like this:

"You must know how glad I was to hear that you've found a job and moved... I am really delighted!!!"
or "I want/'d like you to know how glad I was ..."

What do you think?

16 July 2008 08:57

imogilnitskaya
Number of messages: 84
Hi, Lilian.
Well, in original this is simply "you know how much glad I was ..." without any interrogative punctuation, but the meaning is most likely interrogative: if you are aware how much glad i was...

If I say: "You know how glad i was that you found a job and moved", will it sound better?

Just "I want you to know" or smth like that would be expressed slightly differently in serbian.

Also I think, if to use "to find" and "to move" in the Present Perfect here, I need to put the verb "to be" in the Present Indefinite, which wouldn`t match the original

16 July 2008 12:42

lilian canale
Number of messages: 14972
Hi imo,

What we have to do when translating a text is not only passing the words and verb tenses used in the original to the target language, but also make the text in the target language sound as natural as possible for a native speaker of that target language.
There are many ways to say the same thing, but there will always be one which is the most largely used by native speakers, and this one is to be used.
Sometimes we have to change a verb tense or some words in a text to get that effect.

That first line means that the writer wants the other person to know that s/he was really happy for something. Right?
You can put that in English in some different ways too. I gave you one suggestion of a common use. What really matters is keeping the intention, the meaning of the sentence. Changing a verb tense does not mean that the meaning will change. That kind of statement is usually made into Present Perfect in English. See what I mean?

Also...please write the pronoun "I" always in caps.

16 July 2008 13:59

imogilnitskaya
Number of messages: 84
I see your point, Lilian. I know that it`s impossible always to make literal translations. Probably, I just stick to the words in this case, cause I know for sure that English speaking people say simply: "You know that... ", "You know how..."
You know , I have to agree with you about Perfect tense. I just was thinking about that. If he was glad, but now he is not, I should have said that in Past, but since he is still glad, I must use Present Perfect.
If you are ok with my "you know", I would prefer to leave it. If not, I will change it to "I want you to know" Or maybe "You have no idea how glad..."?

16 July 2008 14:33

lilian canale
Number of messages: 14972
Actually, I liked that "You have no idea how glad I was ..."

That keeps the meaning and sounds fine in English. The best option to my ears for the whole sentence would be:

"You have no idea how glad I was to hear that you've found a job and moved."

If you agree, you can edit that and we set a poll, since I don't read Serbian.

16 July 2008 15:02

imogilnitskaya
Number of messages: 84
We have come to consensus

18 July 2008 08:33

imogilnitskaya
Number of messages: 84
Tantine suggested such a variant: "You know, I was very glad that you found a job and moved."
It is seems to be the closest to the original...