Mikhail Korolev (asker) May 30, 2016:

Thank you. Gallagy.

Yvonne Gallagher May 30, 2016:

@ KLP

Sorry up to my eyes this morning...I have never asked a questio on the forums but that's what that moderator was telling you to do... I can't check out right now which forum where you need to go but I think you should definitely post "bones" as an En > Blg on Kudoz and see what people think...and then perhaps a general one on forums. Good luck!

Mikhail Korolev (asker) May 30, 2016:

To make my question about the forums more specific.

I have seen there threads like, for example, the one below:
http://www.proz.com/forum/translation_theory_and_practice/30...

So I mean, do translators ask questions there that are specifically job-related, i.e. part of performing an order for a client/customer?

Mikhail Korolev (asker) May 30, 2016:

Thank you, Gallagy.

Well, yes, some phrases in the English subtitles do look suspicious and I'll probably have to ask native Bulgaran speakers about them as well.

And, by the way, what forums do you mean? The ones in the Member activities section (http://www.proz.com/forum/)? One can ask questions about the meanings of phrases there as well?

Yvonne Gallagher May 29, 2016:

@ KLP

The English is bad so you could ask about the other phrases as well I think!
"There was permanently mud on the roads"=there was mud on the roads all the time??
But the problem is that the transcription was most likely done by a Bulgarian with shaky English (At some places for IN some places. Non-natives stick out a mile!)so the meaning needs to be teased out...hopefully with the help of the images! Good luck


- To the bones permanently muddy.=?? Wet/muddy to the bone/core?? (which means the following line could be read as "he's freezing"?) or what is "bones" here?
BTW I really don't understand why you had such a problem with the Mod. asking the question. Site rules are not uniform it seems across all moderators and languages. BTW Did you try asking in the forums?

Mikhail Korolev (asker) May 29, 2016:

Well, first of all many thanks to everyone for their input.

Although I myself originally thought that "shell" referred to some kind of clothes, I was still puzzled by the tense used -- that guy says he doesn't have a jacket left and then he puts a jacket on (I mean why not "I hadn't a shell left"?).

So I decided to post the "I do not have a shell left" in the English-Bulgarian pair asking what exactly was said in the corresponding Bulgarian phrase.

And here is what a native Bulgarian speaker says:
"It's hard to say because that guy mumbles something unintelligible, but after listening to his "line" several times, I'd say he says "И сега няма минаване" --> And now there is no way we can make it."

Mikhail Korolev (asker) May 29, 2016:

Thank you, Daryo. Well, "the mud was frozen in many places" makes much more sense than "He is freezing." And in about 20-30 seconds, while still sitting in the car, he does put on a jacket and says (according to the subtitles), "Running in August, running... I do not go skiing that well dressed."

Daryo May 28, 2016:

"He is freezing" should be "the mud was frozen in many places" - that bit I could figure out;
the bit about a "shell" has quite bad sound, couldn't figure out what was said in Bulgarian, but as it was said while a passenger is putting on a T-shirt, presumably after being soaked in rain previously, it ought to be some piece of clothing - T-shirt? jacket?

Bulgarian to French shouldn't be a particularly exotic language combination, not much more than Bulgarian to English - the sensible thing would be to ignore the "Bulgarian English" subtitles and translate straight from Bulgarian to French.

lorenab23 May 28, 2016:

what about asking English<>Bulgarian enter shell as the term and then ask if somebody can confirm if shell is the correct translation based on audio or if they can at least tell you what they hear...Just an idea

Mikhail Korolev (asker) May 28, 2016:

I tried to explain to her that as the original is in Bulgarian, it's better to ask native Bulgarian speakers, not native English ones, but failed to convince her.

Mikhail Korolev (asker) May 28, 2016:

@Lingua 5B Well, when asking that question, I put "смисъла на фразата" (meaning of the phrase). When the question was deleted I wrote to the moderator asking her why my question had been deleted. Below is a quote from her reply:

"As indicated in the reasons for deleting the question, asked this way, it should be posted in the forum, and with a different language pair.

Please remember that KudoZ is an open glossary, whose idea is to be helpful for everyone, not only for you as an asker. That is why glossary form must be maintained, which also is imposed by site rules: http://www.proz.com/siterules/kudoz_general/1.4#1.4 .

Please rephrase the question and post it again."

Lingua 5B May 28, 2016:

then just put in any Bulgarian term but in the explanation box refer to your video and ask your specific question. for instance translate "hiking" into Bulgarian using GT, then use that BG term to open your question there. this is the word, acc. to GT:

туризъм

Jonathan MacKerron May 28, 2016:

I think the moderator overstepped his/her bounds. The whole idea is to figure out what is being said. Such questions come up from time to time in the German-English and French-English groups and I've never heard of them being deleted.

Mikhail Korolev (asker) May 28, 2016:

@Jonathan You're absolutely right. Of course posting this question in the Bulgarian-Russian or Bulgarian-English pair would be the best option, but a moderator there requires that an exact Bulgarian term be entered when posting a question. A while ago I posted a question about this very documentary (in Bulgarian-Russian) and it got deleted because I hadn't entered an exact term in Bulgarian.

Lingua 5B May 28, 2016:

Agree. I agree with Jonathan, we can't confirm the credibility of the subtitles. However, the source language audio quality does not appear very good either.

Jonathan MacKerron May 28, 2016:

@klp Don't think we can come up with a good solution given the bad quality of the subtitles. Better to have a Bulgarian speaker listen to it and transcribe what is being said.

Mikhail Korolev (asker) May 28, 2016:

Travelling in the mountains It is from this documentary

http://www.reachyourlimits.com/en/

Kom-Emine is the longest tourist route in Bulgaria. It crosses the country from the western to the eastern point of the so-called Old Mountain. Kom-Emine is a legendary route. Many people say they hold the record – 5 days, 7 days, 20 days. It’s like the time it takes to walk it through measures how much someone has overcame his survival instinct.

Lingua 5B May 28, 2016:

hum ok then in the slang dictionary, they also provide this interpretation; but slang for "shell" vary greatly between US and UK English:

2. shell. A slang term used in Cleveland and surrounding cities to refer to a cigar of any kind used to smoke marijuana. I got some green, but do you got a shell?

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=shell

Jonathan MacKerron May 28, 2016:

If it's about a war then "shell" probably means bullets, i.e. he has no ammunition left.
If it is not about a war or hunting or guns in general. there is a good chance that is simply a bad translation.

Lingua 5B May 28, 2016:

random convo who are these people, having access to more context would help, as "shell" has many usages in slang