[SuperWho]

Hi there!

I started reading the Malazan Book of the Fallen not so long ago and I'm already addicted to it. I actually chose Memories of Ice for my master's dissertation subject. I began translating a passage of the book (oh yeah, one thing: I'm French and my work for university consists in translating a passage of Memories of Ice from English to French) and unfortunately, I don't have all the answers to my questions since I don't have time to read all the books before beginning my dissertation. That's why I figured I could use the help of die-hard fans

My immediate concern is about the phrase "Spirits below!"/"Gods below!", which is actually quite hard to translate. So my question is: does this refer to Gods from some kind of underworld? Because I've only heard about ascendants and High Houses up until now. Or is it just a plain figure of speech not referring to particular Gods being at a particular "location"?

[Felisin Fatter]

Could be a figure of speech, like 'Hood's Breath'. Or could refer to the buried ancestor-spirits that play a significant role in MoI, the 'Barghast Gods'. Then there are gods and spirits in a dreamworld (Rhivi, beast gods, K'rul and more), wich you could call 'below'. There is Burn, who is literally sleeping below/inside the earth. There are things in the Abyss too. And all those buried/sank temples from past ages... I'd say it's ambigous (reading more of the series won't help in this case either). So keep the translation as ambigous as possible too. Leave the many possible interpretations open, just like Erikson does.

[Egwene]

I don't think it refers to any specific spirits or gods. It is more likely in the same vain as many other Malazan exclamations which are opposite to reality... as in 'Hood's breath' but he doesn't breathe...

If you are interested in the range of exclamations in the book, check out the Wiki:

http://malazan.wikia...s_.28general.29

I don't think that they'll spoiler anything for you - out of context as they are. Just don't follow refs to books you have not yet read.

[Egwene]

By the way... have you ever considered starting a Wiki, SuperWho? We don't have a French versions as yet...

[worry]

I'd consider it a figure of speech in-world, and a cheeky take by Erikson & Esslemont on the IRL tendency to speak to/at "God above".

[SuperWho]

Thanks for the answers guys ! I'd really love to start a wiki in French Egwene but unfortunately I don't have quite enough time as of now and I think my knowledge of the MBOF is too weak. Thanks for the link, I'll take a look !

Maybe it's a way of mocking "God above" but I'm not too sure about that since I found that "Gods below" could be a reference to the latin dii inferi. But since Felisin Fatter says it's ambiguous and doesn't seem to have a particular meaning in the rest of the series appart from being a figure of speech... I think I'll try to keep the ambiguity as much as possible. As of now, I'll stick with "By the spirits of the other world" but I'm not too satisfied so I guess it will change. Anyway, thanks for your help... until next time

This post has been edited by SuperWho: 16 February 2016 - 08:09 AM

[Egwene]

What are the French translations which you are considering? In French that is?

[SuperWho]

Par les esprit de l'autre monde / Par les esprit de l'au-delà / Par les esprits sépulcraux/caverneux

[worry]

I can confirm, that is in fact French.

[Abyss]

SuperWho, on 16 February 2016 - 10:06 AM, said:

Par les esprit de l'autre monde / Par les esprit de l'au-delà / Par les esprits sépulcraux/caverneux

First one works best of the three, tho slang-wise... I might suggest 'esprit en bas!' or èsprit dessous!',

[Kanese S's]

It's a different take on "god above."

If gods can dwell above, then why not below? In some cultures they have.

[SuperWho]

Ok, then I have a problem since we do not translate "God above" into French .

[Kanese S's]

Well, what would you say when talking about, like, the ancient Greek gods?

[SuperWho]

That's the thing, I can't think of any reference to "above" when speaking of the gods in French, it would be very weird. And since the gods and spirits in Erikson's books dwell in others realms, I might just not mention that "below". Because the main difference with our culture is that we do "believe" that God is above in the skies. It doesn't really seem to be this way in the MBOF, it appears to be a wink from Erikson before all.

[SuperWho]

Hello guys, can you help me with this passage please ?

"The abandonmentand all it signified darkened his mood momentarily.

'Even for me,' Humbrall Taur growled beside him, 'itis an unwelcome sight.'

Whiskeyjack sighed.

'We approach the city, yes?'

The Malazan nodded. 'Perhaps another day.'"

I don't quite understand why Whiskeyjack nods but basically answers no just after that. Is there a logic I'm missing there?

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

I don't have the book by me to check, but my guess is he means that they will approach the city, but it will take them another day to get there due to distance.

This post has been edited by Whisperzzzzzzz: 05 March 2016 - 03:28 PM

[SuperWho]

Oh, right ! Thank you very much !

[worry]

Exactly. "Another day" here = 1 more day, not 'maybe someday'.

[SuperWho]

Hey guys, what's up ?

I was wondering if you could help me with this one :

Scowling, Paran turned to Quick Ben.

The wizard shrugged, 'Shank wouldn't cough himself tothe front of the line if he wasn't sure of this, Captain. I'll sniff theSeerdomin out as he's asked. And I'll have a few back-ups in case it goessour.'



I'm having trouble with the verb "to cough" here. If the sentence was affirmative I'd have said that Shank would go to the front line coughing, almost painfully, and even then I find it weird. But to understand the negative form here... I'm a bit at a loss^^

[worry]

Here I think it essentially means "volunteer himself".

One possibility is Shank "coughing" is kind of a metaphor for catching someone's attention -- he didn't literally cough, as far as I can tell, but you can imagine someone in a crew coughing to stand out and catch the leader's ear.

The other possibility is still a metaphor, but it's making "the line" a creature that has coughed up Shank like phlegm. In this case Shank deliberately caused a tickle in the line's throat, coughing him up to the front.

So in either case, it's the same result: Shank has volunteered, and he wouldn't have if he didn't think his plan would work.