Saturday, February 28, 2009

An exercise in Latin translation

I like the Super Smash Brothers series of games. I've played the N64 version, the GameCube version, and the Wii version. The Wii version has a theme song in Latin! However, the translations of this Latin theme song are often wrong. If you've seen Audi famam illius translated as "I have heard of his rumor", then you've seen a poor translation. Here is my attempt at an accurate translation of the theme song from Super Smash Brothers Brawl.

Audi famam illius. Solus in hostes ruit et patriam servavit.
(Hearken to his tale! He alone rushed upon [into] the enemy and protected his native land.)

Audi famam illius. Cucurrit quaeque tetigit destruens.
(Hearken to his tale! He charged, destroying everything he touched.)

Spes omnibus, mihi quoque.
([He is] hope for all men, not only to me.)

Terror omnibus, mihi quoque.
([He is] fear for all men, even to me.)

Ille iuxta me.
(He is at my side.)

Socii sunt mihi qui olim viri fortes rivalesque erant.
(They are allies to me, who once were strong heroes and rivals.)

Saeve certando pugnandoque sprendor crescit.
([Our] splendor increases through vying and fighting fiercely.)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ah; I want to learn Latin... :D

migs said...

Great post.Learning different languages is hard but fun.We were able to grasps the culture of every languages we translate.A lost inLatin translation or any translation should not hinder us to know exactly about one's history and culture..I could say that translators really play a big role in our society.I can't see machines taking over the jobs of human translators in the near future, as they have done with so many other professions.