SF Translation thread

[彐ildHunter]

I couldn't find a part that is specialized for translation, so I posted this thread, hope to get some help from you guys.
I'm currently doing some translation works of science fictions between English and Chinese. But anyone who are doing translations could also use this thread as a plantform to get some help during translating.

 

[彐ildHunter]

And here's my first problem:

He tilted his head to the right and Neddard’s blow skimmed his ear on its way into the syncrete wall.

I can't find the meaning of syncrete, Is it some kind of material？

 

[彐ildHunter]

And this one:

Fortunately, Hawthorn had also learnt to fight in places of entertainment other than a gentleman’s club, places where the clientele had never heard of sportsmanship and would have mugged a gentleman on sight. He gave Neddard a Clearwater Kiss, so named after the drinking dives in Port Clearwater where sailors and dockworkers gathered to exchange philosophical opinions.

How to understand drinking dives, does it refer to the drunk sailors that dives?

 

[Droflet]

Syncrete, is, as far as I'm aware, a made up word. Personally I use the word fermocrete, which also doesn't exist. Those of us who write SF set in the future have to play around with words.
Drinking dives refers, I believe, to establishments renowned for heavy drinking, and drinkers. A dive is a low-grade drinking bar that is all too often unsafe for the drinker. You might want to consider 'low grade bar', or something along those lines. Good luck with the translation.

 

[彐ildHunter]

Thanks a lot.

 

[Alex The G and T]

"Syncrete" implies "synthetic concrete." Yes, an invented word meant to suggest some sort of futuristic concrete material with unnamed amazing ingredients.
The mundane term "Concrete" means an amalgamated mixture of various materials; as the familiar building material is a mixture of sand, gravel and cement. (Lime).

And yes, a "Dive bar" is a place where the liquor is cheap, the decor is worn and dirty and the clientele are rough and tough; maybe dangerous.

 

[彐ildHunter]

"Syncrete" implies "synthetic concrete." Yes, an invented word meant to suggest some sort of futuristic concrete material with unnamed amazing ingredients.
The mundane term "Concrete" means an amalgamated mixture of various materials; as the familiar building material is a mixture of sand, gravel and cement. (Lime).

And yes, a "Dive bar" is a place where the liquor is cheap, the decor is worn and dirty and the clientele are rough and tough; maybe dangerous.

Thanks, with your help now I can finish translating this short story.

 

[Droflet]

And ferocrete might be a ferous type of advanced concrete. Makes sense to me?

And yes, a "Dive bar" is a place where the liquor is cheap, the decor is worn and dirty and the clientele are rough and tough; maybe dangerous.
[/QUOTE]

You know this by personal experience, Alex?

 

[msstice]

And yes, a "Dive bar" is a place where the liquor is cheap, the decor is worn and dirty and the clientele are rough and tough; maybe dangerous.

In Boston, it's the exact opposite.

 

[Venusian Broon]

And ferocrete might be a ferous type of advanced concrete. Makes sense to me?

And yes, a "Dive bar" is a place where the liquor is cheap, the decor is worn and dirty and the clientele are rough and tough; maybe dangerous.


You know this by personal experience, Alex?

They are a dying breed here in the UK and I have fond memories of a couple of disgusting, sawdust on the floor, drinking dens that I and my colleagues used regularly. The Two Chairmen and The Hatchet (the latter alledgedly mentioned by Dickens in some of his work.) spring to mind . Both have now been converted into 'trendy' modern bars and no longer have the same charm.

But here I discovered someone who recorded The Hatchet just before it changed to it's current crappy refit - although because of covid, I wouldn't be surprised if it's now dead. (It's No 49, just down a bit):

City of London Pubs (1973): Forty Years On – Part 2

This is the second part of my walk around the pubs detailed in City of London Pubs: A Practical and Historical Guide by Timothy M. Richards and James Stevens Curl. Area 1 is below! AREA 4: CARTER L…

darkestlondon.com

 

[Alex The G and T]

And yes, a "Dive bar" is a place where the liquor is cheap, the decor is worn and dirty and the clientele are rough and tough; maybe dangerous.
[/QUOTE]

You know this by personal experience, Alex?
[/QUOTE]
Oh, I have stories and stories.
There's still one left downtown, "The Playroom." I haven't been in there for years. I'm too old for that "The Mud and the Blood and the Beer" stuff. (Quote from Johnny Cash "Boy Named Sue."

I sure miss the old Jambalaya club. They used to have really good live music; so a step up from a "Dive." After the fire it was turned into a Fern-Bar. Ugh.

 

[彐ildHunter]

What's up guys, It's me again, I'm all confused by this roulette game. And couldn't find anyone to help me understand this Spin-Positive bet. Here is the original paragraph：

She slowed when she reached the roulette wheel. Spectators moved aside—but she hesitated before taking a place at the table. Although she might have seemed serene to the unobservant, Hawthorn noticed an infinitesimal tremble when she placed a handful of coins on spin-positive. A spin bet gave only a one third chance of a win, less the House’s zero, worse than the fifty-fifty of even-odd but better than the one fifth chance of a color and much, much better than the probability of choosing a number.

I have looked up wiki and youtube, but none mentioned about this spin bet rule.
Can anyone help me out

 

[Droflet]

I'm no expert when it comes to roulette but I think this might be a futuristic spin on the old game. It's saying, from what I can gather, that spin-positive lessens the chances of a win significantly. I think.

 

[Venusian Broon]

What's up guys, It's me again, I'm all confused by this roulette game. And couldn't find anyone to help me understand this Spin-Positive bet. Here is the original paragraph：

She slowed when she reached the roulette wheel. Spectators moved aside—but she hesitated before taking a place at the table. Although she might have seemed serene to the unobservant, Hawthorn noticed an infinitesimal tremble when she placed a handful of coins on spin-positive. A spin bet gave only a one third chance of a win, less the House’s zero, worse than the fifty-fifty of even-odd but better than the one fifth chance of a color and much, much better than the probability of choosing a number.

I have looked up wiki and youtube, but none mentioned about this spin bet rule.
Can anyone help me out

This looks like it's a made up version of our current standard roulette. I say this because it states that the odds for 'one colour' is 1/5, implying that there are five colours. Obviously we just have black and red and the real version also has it that you can bet on '1st 12', '2nd 12' and '3rd 12' which essentially give you one third chance of a win (ignoring the zero of course! House always wins...) whereas we don't have 'spin-positive'

So essentially this is just a made up term for his/her new version of roulette I think.

Thinking about it though.... they better have the right number of numbers in their game. Because 36 - the current standard Roulette wheel, bar zero - can't be divided into 5 equal sets of numbers (to give all the colours equal weighting). It'd better be able to be divided by 2,3 and 5! So 30, 60, 90 etc... are allowable

 

[彐ildHunter]

This looks like it's a made up version of our current standard roulette. I say this because it states that the odds for 'one colour' is 1/5, implying that there are five colours. Obviously we just have black and red and the real version also has it that you can bet on '1st 12', '2nd 12' and '3rd 12' which essentially give you one third chance of a win (ignoring the zero of course! House always wins...) whereas we don't have 'spin-positive'

So essentially this is just a made up term for his/her new version of roulette I think.

Thinking about it though.... they better have the right number of numbers in their game. Because 36 - the current standard Roulette wheel, bar zero - can't be divided into 5 equal sets of numbers (to give all the colours equal weighting). It'd better be able to be divided by 2,3 and 5! So 30, 60, 90 etc... are allowable

This guy just randomly made up a roulette rule, such a terrible reading experience for a second language user like me.
Thanks a lot for your explanation.

 

[Venusian Broon]

This guy just randomly made up a roulette rule, such a terrible reading experience for a second language user like me.
Thanks a lot for your explanation.

It's confusing for me too, because with my physicist hat on, both spin and postive imply 50-50 situations to me - spin is up and down for particles, objects can only spin two ways on an axes, and then...say positive to me, I'll reply negative. So why a "spin-positive" bet gives you a 1/3 chance is a bit head scratching. Is there also a 'spin-negative' and a 'spin-indifferent' bet ????

 

[彐ildHunter]

Hello guys, It has been a long while since I last came around. Been busy with work.
Recently I'm reading a novel written by G.V.Anderson. And I find some sentence difficult for me to understand. Hope someone can help me out.

1.she grasped the rotting gate, stopping it mid-swing, and looked out at the mudflats that led down to the beach, and the Wash beyond. Sodden things frilled there like scuds of foam.

I couldn't find the meaning of Wash in the dictionary that fits this sentence.

2.They stood that way for a long time, Irene working intently on her face, the pressure of her touch making Celia rock on the balls of her feet.

This Rock on the balls of her feet, Is it a slang? What does it means?

 

[Venusian Broon]

Hello guys, It has been a long while since I last came around. Been busy with work.
Recently I'm reading a novel written by G.V.Anderson. And I find some sentence difficult for me to understand. Hope someone can help me out.

1.she grasped the rotting gate, stopping it mid-swing, and looked out at the mudflats that led down to the beach, and the Wash beyond. Sodden things frilled there like scuds of foam.

I couldn't find the meaning of Wash in the dictionary that fits this sentence.

2.They stood that way for a long time, Irene working intently on her face, the pressure of her touch making Celia rock on the balls of her feet.

This Rock on the balls of her feet, Is it a slang? What does it means?

1. A 'wash' to my first impression is a 'shallow bay' - see here, it's famous in England The Wash | bay, England, United Kingdom.

2. Rocking on the balls of your feet: The balls of your feet are (from wikipedia) "The ball of the foot is the padded portion of the sole between the toes and the arch, underneath the heads of the metatarsal bones".

So in the sentence Celia is sort of 'see-sawing' with the balls being the centre and therefore her body is 'gently swaying'. So going from pressing down on your toes to moving back to relying on pressing on the heel of the foot. I would imagine you'd be used to doing it when standing in water that is going backwards and forwards - like waves on the beach. Does that make sense?

 

[彐ildHunter]

1. A 'wash' to my first impression is a 'shallow bay' - see here, it's famous in England The Wash | bay, England, United Kingdom.

2. Rocking on the balls of your feet: The balls of your feet are (from wikipedia) "The ball of the foot is the padded portion of the sole between the toes and the arch, underneath the heads of the metatarsal bones".

So in the sentence Celia is sort of 'see-sawing' with the balls being the centre and therefore her body is 'gently swaying'. So going from pressing down on your toes to moving back to relying on pressing on the heel of the foot. I would imagine you'd be used to doing it when standing in water that is going backwards and forwards - like waves on the beach. Does that make sense?

I thought the WASH is another expression of tide.
And now I can finally imagine the move of Celia.
Thank you so much!

 

[tinkerdan]

To me; wash, when referring to the sea, could be pretty ambiguous.
There is wash used as the direction of the water flow.
There is wash that refers to the disturbance of the water by a water craft--you could have the same with air and a plane.
There is wash as in something being washed out to sea.

The trouble with direction flow is that when the tide comes in it is one direction when it goes out it's the other and when there are waves during the remainder of time it's one direction in and one out.

The passage there suggest to me that his wash might be the area where the waves come in and out and sometimes leave a sort of scummy foam along with other detritus.