Context:
...17 years later I became the chief inspector of shipbuilding, i.e. occupied the highest post in shipbuilding, and then I remembered the words of my namesake, the fabulist:
There do not waste the words in vain,
Where power should be used.
When L., the Chief Ship Engineer of the Port of Sevastopol, did not comply with the instructions concerning shipbuilding calculations, he was dismissed at my request.
Krylov quote is slightly off (great thanks to Elana Pick for providing correction!)
| A. N. Krylov |
Ivan Krylov
|
"Там слов не тратить по-пустому,
Где надо власть употребить."
|
"Чтоб там речей не тратить по-пустому,
Где нужно власть употребить." |
Several very good translations of this fable exist, but unfortunately they do not fit the context in which A.N. Krylov used them. Kind souls on Russian translators LinkedIn group offered additional variants.
Lydia Razran Stone was kind enough to provide a new translation for this context.
Lydia Razran Stone was kind enough to provide a new translation for this context.
Which one do you prefer? Do you know of another translation that fits the context better?
When underlings transgress one ought
To act and not waste words for naught.
| |
All done with words, we’ll say no more,
Ye rascal will be shown the doore… | |
Ethel Heins
|
Don't waste time in useless speech
When it is action that is needed |
Ethan Heins is the best of three, IMO. Lena Lozovsky
ReplyDeleteLydia's and Artem's translations are both skillful and well-suited to your context. Adding a rhyme helps, I think, to label the quote more clearly as a proverb for readers who might not be familiar with Krylov's fables. But I think that the context is clear enough to not require too much tweaking in the wording of the proverb, and for this reason I also like Ethel's approach.
ReplyDeleteOne could take the middle road: do add the rhyme, but don't add extra explanatory context, with the intent of keeping the quote short and pithy and sounding, well, quotable, something like:
Where discussion would fail,
Authority must prevail.