Language betas

[xenakis]

So friends, here we are again: a new fandom with an international/multilingual cast (ah, the good old days of Inception!).

A lot of fics I’ve been reading are using bits and pieces of various languages, so I thought it might not be a bad idea to have some place where writers can ask for translation betas, and multilingual fans can offer their help!

Italian and Arabic seem to be the main focus right now, but we have all the places and times in history to explore! Of course, if you happen to have a PhD in Medieval Ligurian, I’m sure your gonna make a lot of friends here ;)

In the meantime, I’m offering my services for French (so hit me with your Booker backstory fics!).

Comments

[shipperslist]

If any of you end up writing about the gang in Finland, let the hell me know!

[gardinha]

I can help with Portuguese / research on Brazilian history if need be!

[geckoholic]

If you find yourself in need for assistance with translations in and out of German, feel free to hit me up! I'm also a bit of a history geek, so I might be able to offer some assistance there as well.

[falena]

I'm Italian, born and raised (and still living) in Genova. If you find someone with that PhD in Medieval Ligurian I have questions to ask them, I only speak the current local dialect (which is on its way out, unfortunately, my generation is the last to speak it). :D

[castalie]

Oh, ottimo!

Hi! I might have a question for you, then, if you don't mind :)

How would you say "Welcome back, my love" in Ligurian (in the fic, Nicky goes mute for reasons that I promise make sense and at the very end he speaks again and I wanted to have Joe say "welcome back, my love")

At the very least, "my love" would be ok too.

Grazie mille :)

[falena]

I'm sure the Genoese dialect I spoke with my grandparents must be pretty different from whatever they spoke in the 12th century, just FYI.

Also, perhaps I should have mentioned it before, but Genoese is just a spoken dialect (we don't study it in school) so I have never had to write it! It's so weird. There are some websites giving pointers on how to learn Genoese spelling but it's complicated, different scholars use different systems.

Anyway, 'Bèn turnòu a càza, amô' it's a very simple 'Welcome home, [my] love'. I just realised I know basically zero terms of endearment that would work with a lover, as I said I mostly spoke Genoese with my grandparents, so all I know are affectionate words you would use with a child, ooops.

Sorry, turns out I'm not that helpful.

[castalie]

Oh, yes, I know that. I should have mentioned that the part I'm talking about happens in 2020, sorry.

Please, don't apologise! This is very interesting, actually :) Thanks for taking the time to explain. I'm taking note, then.

I previously found this for "my lover" - "u mae amu", do you know it could be/mean, then?

Thank you again!

[falena]

I see. I was just wondering if Joe and Nicky would still be speaking whatever version of Genoese Nicky learnt in the 1100s and then taught to Nicky, you know? Lol, this language thing is more complicated than I originally thought. :D

Different spelling conventions aside, that's an accurate translation of 'my lover'. I'd left the possessive out in my translation because I realised I wasn't 100% sure if the article + possessive worked grammatically in your sentence (for what would be called a vocative in Latin). I mean, if I say ' U mae amô se ciamma Nicky' (My lover is called Nicky) or ' U l' a ascurdoeu u mae amô' (He has forgotten my lover), I'm pretty sure it's correct. As I said, it's very disconcerting to see how many gaps there are in my Genoese knowledge. It's sad.

Thanks for being understanding!

[marina]

If anyone wants to ask details about modern day Jerusalem (or Jerusalem from 1099 geographically, since the Old City hasn't changed much and the topography is still the same). I don't live in the city but I've visited many times and know locals.