Nov 4, 2007 15:08
16 yrs ago
Russian term

бесцеремонное поведение

Russian to English Art/Literary Slang
An old man pulls on the sleeve of his young interlocutor, who is also given to bursts of irritation. So even though the pulling on the sleeve is done in a friendly manner, the young man calls it бесцеремонным поведением and sends the old man to hell.

So far I have 'careless gesture' which is too soft, or 'careless behaviour' which is too abstract, 'rude movements... or whatever' is also too harsh, but better. I can put in in quotes, but that is not pretty in English.

Any ideas?

Discussion

katerina turevich (asker) Nov 4, 2007:
So far my two working versions are : 'This non-chalance/careless gesture exhausted the little patience Kumba had for his uncle, and jerking his arm away from the old man, he said furiously:
‘Hey, go freaking wherever you want to, old fart!’
But it does all happen in a highly civilized elite residence of rich bitches in ....

Proposed translations

+1
7 mins
Selected

undue familiarity

Since this is physical and we all like our "space" and many don't like being touched inappropriately, I think this grasps the idea.
Peer comment(s):

agree Dorene Cornwell : I agree. Get at the meaning, not just literal translation. Excessive intimacy or just affront because in the US just grabbing other people, even relatives, is often inappropriate.
16 hrs
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thanks, I shall probably keep what I have so far, but this answer is quite appropriate for the text too."
+3
6 mins

inappropriate behaviour

Literally, of course, it is unceremonious behaviour, but "inappropriate behaviour" is often used, e.g. as between a teacher and a pupil.
(Our US friends please read "behavior")
Peer comment(s):

agree Tevah_Trans : this could work...
1 hr
Thank you.
agree Mark Berelekhis : Probably the most popular way to express this.
1 hr
Thank you.
agree James McVay
6 hrs
Thank you.
Something went wrong...
32 mins

informal

I would jettison the "behavior" part, Russian is always more pedantic than English. It's obvious they are talking about "behavior".

If it takes place in Jane Austen's time, you could use "unceremonious", but that's a little oldfashioned for contemporary english.
Something went wrong...
1 hr

out of line

Typically, you would just say "this is out of line", or "what you did just now is out of line", so skip the word "behavior" imho.
Something went wrong...
1 hr

some more ideas

I also agree with Henry and Tevah that the word behavior could easily be omitted, but that all depends on the tone of the material and your feel of it. For instance, something like: "The young man calls it inappropriate and sends the old man to hell." However, after thinking about it, "inappropriate" just sounds a bit too official for me, so here are some other options for "бесцеремонное" that, IMHO, give the text a bit more flavor:

Unbecoming, brusque, tactless. Also, if you don't want to omit "поведение", consider using "conduct." Something along the lines of "unbecoming conduct" sounds a bit more vibrant.
Something went wrong...
Term search
  • All of ProZ.com
  • Term search
  • Jobs
  • Forums
  • Multiple search