Re: David Brin short story

["Robert J. Chassell" <bob@GNU.AI.MIT.EDU>]

Jorge J. Llambias just posted the first translation of David Brin's
"Toujours Voir".

For those of us who are still poor at Lojban, here is a
word by word retranslation of the second paragraph.


Original:

    From my regular booth by the window, I saw several customers
    abruptly leave. The brave, or curious, remained.

Translation:

    i to'o le mi tcaci stuzi pe ne'a le canko mi viska le nu so'o te
    barja cu suksa cliva i le virnu ja kucli cu stali

Word by word:

i               <sentence start>

  to'o          beyond/outward/receding from    <location tense direction>
    le          the thing(s)/entity(ies) described as
      mi tcaci  my accustomed
      stuzi     inherent/inalienable site/place/spot/location

  pe            which is                <restrictive relative phrase marker>
   ne'a         approximating/next to   <location tense relation/direction>
    le          the thing/entity described as
    canko       a window/portal/opening [portal] in wall/building/structure

  mi            I/we the speaker(s)/author(s)
  viska         see/perceive visually        <no tense specified>

    le          the thing(s)/entity(ies) described as
      nu        the state/process/achievement/activity of
      so'o      several
      te barja  patrons of the bar

  cu            <separates preceding from following, so not seen as compound>

  suksa         suddenly/sharply/abruptly/discontinuously
  cliva         leave/go away/depart

i               <new sentence start>
  le            the thing(s)/entity(ies) described as
    virnu       brave/valiant/courageous
    ja          and/or                        <logical connective>
    kucli       curious/wonders about/is interested in

  cu            <separates preceding from following, so not seen as compound>

  stali         remains/stays at/abides        <no tense specified>



As far as I can see, there is nothing dramatically interesting in the
paragraph's translation, except that it lacks a tense which the
English is forced to have.  Also, the translation says that what
leaves the bar is the entity that is a process or activity of several
customers rather than the customers themselves, thus emphasizing those
customers as a coherence rather than as individuals.

--
    Robert J. Chassell               bob@gnu.ai.mit.edu
    25 Rattlesnake Mountain Road     bob@rattlesnake.com
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