Help With Translation...

[RIONHOJ23]

Will somebody please help me translate "ONLY GOD CAN JUDGE ME" into thai? I would really appreciate it.

thank you,

Ryan

[BambinA]

mee tae pra jao tao nun tee sa mart tud sin chan(phom) dai

มีแต่พระเจ้าเท่านั้นที่สามารถตัดสินฉัน(ผม)ได้

chan =I (can use both man and woman)

phom=I (for man only)

[Patex]

In which context do you want to use it??

[Wolfie]

I'll just pop this over into the Thai Language forum... altho i think BambinA has probably answered your question already!

[PaulPerth]

Hi

I am arranging a surprise party for my wife and her son who arrive tomorrow to start thier lives in Australia (on Spouse Visa). The party is in a weeks time at a freinds house. I wish to make a banner, preferably in Thai, to put in front of his house.

Can anyone translate this for me please:

Welcome to Australia

Thip and Kane

I have Thai fonts on my PC but I have been asked just to provide a JPEG file of the text.

I can cut and paste from this forum if somebody can please translate for me.

Many thanks

Paul

[ProfessorFart]

Welcome to Australia;

ยินดีต้อนรับประเทศออสเตรเลีย

[ProfessorFart]

I think that the spelling for the name 'Thip' is

ทิพย์

I'm not sure about 'Kane' though.

[meadish_sweetball]

ยินดีต้อนรับ

ทิพย์ และ เคน

สู่ประเทศออสเตรเลีย

I think the phrase looks better with the preposition สู่ - it is how I remember having seen it written.

As for "Kane", it depends how his mother has decided to register it in Thai writing.

The most logical way of writing it in Thai would be เคน, but in some cases Thais will want to add silent letters to names even when it is not necessary, to make them look more unusual, so I cannot guarantee it is correct.

[PaulPerth]

Thanks so much Meadish and Professor, thats excellent!

Paul

[gburns57au]

Welcome to Australia;

ยินดีต้อนรับประเทศออสเตรเลีย

I would use this one....but would probably add

Their namesมาถึงที่

between รับ and ประเทศ

[BambinA]

ยินดีต้อนรับ

ทิพย์ และ เคน

สู่ประเทศออสเตรเลีย

Perfect as always

[siamesekitty]

Seconded!

Although for "Kane" you could write it as "เคย์น" which looks a bit weird, but emphasizes the pronounciation as "Kayne" rather than "เคน" which would sound like "Ken". But... up to you!

[Johpa]

Will somebody please help me translate "ONLY GOD CAN JUDGE ME" into thai? I would really appreciate it.

thank you,

Ryan

Uh, being a Buddhist country, I doubt there is any commonly used and understood phrase that would resonate in Thai, that is truly equivalent to the above phrase which is clearly embedded in the Judeo-Christian- Islamic world view.

[Rikker]

On the topic of "ONLY GOD CAN JUDGE ME," I agree with you, Johpa... I haven't responded because I found it a particularly difficult assignment. The phrase should be somewhat succinct, like the English, but capture the right feel. The English "can" is a bit ambiguous, and Bambina's translation would be translated back into English as "It is God alone who is able to judge me." Still seems too wordy to me, and perhaps simply using ได้ instead of สามารถ...ได้ would help keep it succinct without really sacrificing any key meaning. I think we could actually argue about the philosophical meaning intended by the "can" of the English.. is it God alone who is able to judge, or God alone who is entitled to judge, or God alone who the speaker is allowing to judge... etc. Just ได้ actually retains that ambiguity in a good way, I feel. สามารถ is too specific.

As for the pronoun, I wonder if something a bit more formal than ฉัน or ผม wouldn't be more appropriate. My thoughts tend toward a translation more like:

พระเจ้าเท่านั้นที่ตัดสินข้าได้

Or perhaps ข้าพเจ้า or even ข้าพระองค์.

I don't think leaving off มีแต่ causes any critical loss of meaning, either.

What do you think?

[Edward B]

On the topic of "ONLY GOD CAN JUDGE ME," I agree with you, Johpa... I haven't responded because I found it a particularly difficult assignment. The phrase should be somewhat succinct, like the English, but capture the right feel. The English "can" is a bit ambiguous, and Bambina's translation would be translated back into English as "It is God alone who is able to judge me." Still seems too wordy to me, and perhaps simply using ได้ instead of สามารถ...ได้ would help keep it succinct without really sacrificing any key meaning. I think we could actually argue about the philosophical meaning intended by the "can" of the English.. is it God alone who is able to judge, or God alone who is entitled to judge, or God alone who the speaker is allowing to judge... etc. Just ได้ actually retains that ambiguity in a good way, I feel. สามารถ is too specific.

As for the pronoun, I wonder if something a bit more formal than ฉัน or ผม wouldn't be more appropriate. My thoughts tend toward a translation more like:

พระเจ้าเท่านั้นที่ตัดสินข้าได้

Or perhaps ข้าพเจ้า or even ข้าพระองค์.

I don't think leaving off มีแต่ causes any critical loss of meaning, either.

What do you think?

I agree with Rikker regarding the use of ข้า or ข้าพเจ้า instead of ฉัน, although I don't know which one sounds better in this context. The pronoun to me indicates the speaker is being humble or submissive (used when speaking to a superior - especially royal family or a God).

[ProfessorFart]

Uh, being a Buddhist country, I doubt there is any commonly used and understood phrase that would resonate in Thai, that is truly equivalent to the above phrase which is clearly embedded in the Judeo-Christian- Islamic world view.

I'm sure however that the 5% of the Thai population which are Muslims and the 1% of the Thai population who are Christians may disagree.

[siamesekitty]

Uh, being a Buddhist country, I doubt there is any commonly used and understood phrase that would resonate in Thai, that is truly equivalent to the above phrase which is clearly embedded in the Judeo-Christian- Islamic world view.

I'm sure however that the 5% of the Thai population which are Muslims and the 1% of the Thai population who are Christians may disagree.

I know what you mean, but IMHO the Christian phrases used in Thailand sound a bit "English to Thai translation wording" to me. As the teachings haven't been integrated in the Thai culture and language for centuries, they don't sound very "Thai".

[ProfessorFart]

I hear what you are saying Siamesekitty SiameseKitty

While I agree that their religious languge may sound strange to non Christian or Muslim Thais, it is certainly not merely translated from English/Arabic into Thai, but simply from a different cultural platform.

[Rikker]

Well, to a certain extent (at least for Christians) it *is* simply translated from English/other European languages... consider the Bible, the Catholic catechism, none of it has any native Thai foundation.

As for Pali and Buddhism, as Siamese kitty pointed out, it has had centuries to become integrated, to the point where words of Pali origin are practically as common as Thai words (it'd be interested to do a statistical comparison... I'll have to think about that).

So as for now, the language of Christian theology still smacks of recent adaptation to the Thai culture, since Christianity dates back less than 200 years there.

But it has been around long enough that there are plenty of post-first generation Christians who have grown up in all-Christian villages, etc. Perhaps the most integrated is Catholicism, since it was the first Christian sect in Thailand. In Thailand it is nearly identical to Buddhism in practice at this point.

So, yeah. I think the point simply was that there's no codified expression expressing that sentiment, since the Christian/etc. groups are a relative minority, and thus can be fairly widely spread out, and different sects may have different translations of these ideas, since there are certainly many possible interpretations of religious ideas, especially ones through the medium of a foreign language.

However, the Catholics and Protestant Christians in Thailand did come together and decide on common basic religous terminology, for use in the Bible and in services, etc.

Hmm... what was my point again?

[Bobcat]

Actually, I like Rikker's transalation - although I do think that the words มีแต่ at the beginning of the sentence are useful. The pronoun ข้าพเจ้า is also the most appropriate.

[Johpa]

I know what you mean, but IMHO the Christian phrases used in Thailand sound a bit "English to Thai translation wording" to me. As the teachings haven't been integrated in the Thai culture and language for centuries, they don't sound very "Thai".

Having grown up around rather mainstream Chistians from a number of Christian flavors, I find many Thai Christians sounding not very Christian at all. Just as most Thais are fundamentally animist with a veneer of Buddhism so too are many Thai Christians animists with a veneer of Christianity. They are more akin to the Catholics in South America without the saints but with the added zeal of the recent converts.