Cz > En, story from "Communicative Czech"

Discussion in 'Vocabulary & Translation Help' started by Ctyri koruny, Oct 31, 2009.

  1. Ctyri koruny

    Ctyri koruny Well-Known Member

    I've tried to understand this text but there are still a few details I'm not sure of, sorry it is missing a lot of Czech.. what's the English word for the hooks... something beginning with D.. anyway I typed it on an Irish laptop and had now access to the internet at the time to find a virtual keyboard.

    It's from the second chapter of the workbook for Communicative Czech Intermediate.
    ...................................
    Chlapec, Ketry jen o vásek unikl smrti, se opet musel ucit zit.
    A boy, who missed death by a hairs breath, had to learn to live again


    Rokem zivota zaplatil sedmnáctilety Filip Ríha, student strední umelecké skoly, za svoul bláznivou jízdu na stredse vagonu prazskeho metra.

    Filip Riha, a student of an artistic middle school, paid a year of his life for a crazy joyride on a... car belonging to the prague metro. - What type of car do they mean?

    Muze vsak mluvit o stestí - náraz na bespecností vrata tunelu mu roztípl lebku na tri díly a málokdo veril, ze své zranení prezije.

    However he can talk about luck*, the dangerous impact of the tunnel gate ... something something something
    málokdo - few people
    lebka - skull
    Is this a standard phrase meaning "He is lucky" or did the writer coin it?

    Dva a pul mesíce Filip lezel v bezvedomí, pak se dlouho a pomalu ucil veci, které mu úraz vymazal z pameti - mluvit, pouzivat bezné predmety, poznávat príbuzné a známé.

    For two and a half months Filip lay unconscious, then slowly for a long time he taught himself things which his injury erased from his memory - to speak, use "bezné predmety", recognize "príbuzné a známé"

    "Ve skole mám rocní zpozdení, kamaradi z party se na me vykaslali"

    In school I am a year behind, friends from my group have gone past me.
    vykaslání -"ride up"
    zpozdeni - "belated"

    "Chodí do hospody a já jeste beru léky a kvuli nim nesmím pít."

    They go to the pub. I am still taking medicine and because of this can't(must not) drink.

    "To je pro ne handicap, uz se pro me nestavují"

    It is a handicap to them..... something something something

    riká s horkostí v hlase.

    He said with ..something... in his voice.

    Pred lety se Filip seznámil s partou jezdcu na skateboardech, keteri obcas podnikali riskantní jízdy mezi vagony.

    A year ago filip used to meet with a gang of skateboarders, who often engaged in risky joyrides between cars. (these metro cars again I think)

    Zkusil to také. "Mel jsem strach, alo bylo to totálni vzrusení.

    something...... "I was afraid, but it was a total thrill."

    "Vítr mi sfoukával vlasy do obliceje krásne hucel kolem usí."

    "The wind blew through my hair and something something something around my ears. "


    vzpomína na své hazardní jízdy. Mezi vagony metra takhle jezdil rok a pul, vzdcky, kdyz se vecer vracl z klubu.

    he remembered his hazardous ride. Between metro cards he would go like this for a year and a half, always in the evening on the return from a club.

    "Ten pátek jsem zase nastoupil mezi vagony. Uz jsem tam vsechno znal."

    This friday i was again on the platform between cars. Now I knew everything there.
    I am confused by the apparent lack of something similar to past perfect here.... narrative tenses and all.. does he mean this friday as in this week (nowardays) or this friday as in "That friday again I had been.." as in the friday of the accident. I know from reading on that he meant the friday of the accident, but is there anything in the sentance to indicate that?

    Jezdil jsem ve stojce nebo s hlavou spustenou dolu.


    ????
    stojka - a handstand or a prop/post

    Tentokrat jsem chtel zazít neco noveho a tak jsem vylezl na strechu.

    This time I wanted to experiance something new and so I crawled out onto the roof.

    Zvedl jsem hlavu a vtom me to srazilo."


    I lifted my head and suddenly i was knocked down.

    Ze zacátku nemohl skoro vubec mluvit.

    to begin with he couldn't speak at all.


    Primár neurologie sedával u jeho postele a trpelive se ho ptal - co je to za strom, Filipe?

    A premier nerologist sat by his bed and firmly asked him - ... what's that from the tree Filip?
    This must be some kind of idiom?

    "Zachránil mi zivot, jemu i ostatním lékarum jsem vdecny," pripomína Filip.
    He saved my life, to him as well as the rest of the doctors i am... vdecny. Remembered Filip.
    I can guess that vdecny means something like indebted?
    Zkousi znovu jezdit na kole a koleckovych bruslích. Ríka ze mezi vagony us nenastoupí nikdy.
    ____ once again he travels by bycicle and goes ______________ skating. He says he never goes between cars.

    "Byla to hloupost", myslí si dnes.

    "It was idiocy", he thinks now.

    Podle MF Dnes, upraveno.

    From MF Dnes, abridged.



    I'm still confused as to what these teenagers were doing, they climbed outside the metro-train while it was moving? My god that would be so much fun! I must try it next time I am in Prauge. ;)

    I'd really appreciate any help anyone could give me! (with the translation I mean, but if you'd like to come train hopping with me then why not?)
     
  2. kibicz

    kibicz Well-Known Member

    "That friday i again get on between the cars. I allready knew everything there(between metro cars - where to catch etc..." = The friday the accident happened.
    You stand on your hands, legs pointing up;) stojka
    No its not idion, i suppose its some kind of neuro-test, not sure.
    Grateful

    bitterness
    They dont pick me up (from home)any more.
    The wind blew my hairs to face and nicely droned? aroun ears.

    Tries to ride bike and in-lines once again. (jezdit na bruslích, kole, etc..)
    They never get in the train - they were in the space between train cars(waggons).
     
  3. meluzina

    meluzina Well-Known Member


    na střeše vagonu maybe? on the roof of a prague metro car (wagon)


    bezpečnostní vrata = security gate i think = his collision with the tunnel security gate broke his skull into three pieces and very few thought he would survive his injuries.





    ... to speak, to use common (standard) items, recognise relatives and friends...

    vykašlat - can be more or less "to turn one's back on" or not to give a damn about something anymore"

    zpoždění = delay (as a noun)


    i think "ten" is always that? to be "this" it would be "tento pátek" ? and to me the "zase nastoupil" implies that it occurred in the past "That friday I once again got on the space between the wagons"


    trpělivě = i would say "patiently" rather than "firmly"

    he asked "what sort of tree is it" - more than a neurological test, more rehabilitative therapy to help remember the names of things ??



    he is trying to ride on a bike and roller skates again.
     
  4. wer

    wer Well-Known Member

    Rather highschool.

    Genitive needn’t be possessive. It means “car(riage) of the Prague Metro”.

    No, it was not coined by the writer. It’s a common phrase similar to English “he can count himself lucky”. It’s a notorious newspaper cliché.

    They consider it a handicap and don’t pick me up anymore.

    a year ago, last year = před rokem, loni
    před lety = years ago, long time ago

    Why “he would”? He used to… / he practised….

    I’m not sure of your translation here.

    Primář neurologie is the head neurologist, the chief of the neurology ward.

    …Filip reminds.
     
  5. Ctyri koruny

    Ctyri koruny Well-Known Member

    double post
     
  6. Ctyri koruny

    Ctyri koruny Well-Known Member

    I thought střední skolé was the one you went to after primary school but before secondary school? So I thought it was Middle School. What's the word for middle school/"junior high" then?

    [/quote]

    hee hee i'm afraid that Carriage of the Prauge Metro and The Prauge Mestro's Carridge are the same thing in English. Therefore it is possessive in meaning here.
    I know that it isn't always, but here it is.
    The reason I wrote "car belonging to" and not "car of" was because i was translating it as literally as possible since I couldn't figure out what type of car they meant! So I couldn't choose how best to put it, not knowing what it meant.
    I think I know now, I my English I would say I have to say carriage, not car or Wagon, but maybe people from different parts of the world will have different names for subway - carriages. We don't have subways and I'd been on a train maybe 5 times in my life before I came here so ha ha!



    I'll write that down!
    would = used to when used in the past tense without "have" as in "would have" third conditional.

    Exsample: I went to the dentist every day when I was young, because he would give me free sweets.
    Here it does not have a single drop of conditional meaning, it's just slightly more formal or old fashioned than used to, there are also some times when using used to sounds awkward, but I don't know the rule for it, if there is one, and I can't think of any examples!

    Here I probably used would (it was unconscious) to save me having to switch around the word order. I'm not too good at thinking in two languages at a time and rearranging everything!
    If it was used to it would have to have been:
    "He used to go between metro cars like this".. and that's just not what came into my head!

    Wupps! I just guessed it, thanks for the correction!

    Aha... I would be lost hee hee,

    What sort of tree is it Rebecca?

    -Eh... Sycamore?

    She still can't tell the maple and the sycamore apart, i've never seen such a case.



    Thank you so much everyone for your help!
    I will go through all of this again later and try and and understand and learn everything, to the point where i can read it without any English words written around it and understand it / remember what everything means.

    *does a handstand*
     
  7. MK

    MK Well-Known Member

    in czech it is:
    základní škola - 5 or 9 years (elementary school)
    střední škola - 8 or 4 years (high school)
    vysoká škola - master and/or bachelors degree only (university)

    junior high - maybe vyšší stupeň základní školy (last 5 years on elementary school) or first 4 years on 8 years long střední škola
     
  8. TomKQT

    TomKQT Well-Known Member

    Not only, you can also get PhD. etc. there ;)
     
  9. MK

    MK Well-Known Member

    yup :)

    all shools on which you can get bachelor, master or PhD degree are called vysoká škola
     
  10. scrimshaw

    scrimshaw Well-Known Member

    In United States
    Elementary....1st to either(depending on state) 5th or 6th grade
    Middle(or Junior High)....5th or 6th grade to 9th
    High school...9th to 12th
    Then Junior College(two years) or university(4 years)

    Mohu mluvit o štěstí, že jsem vyhral. Nevím jak se mi to podařilo.
     
  11. TomKQT

    TomKQT Well-Known Member

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