# A Classic



## idialegre

"A classic is a book that everyone wants to have read but nobody wants read."

I want to translate this aphorism of Mark Twain into Korean. Here's my best effort:

고전 작품은 모든 사람 읽었고 싶어 하는데 아무도 읽고 싶어 하지 않은 책이다.

Am I close?

감사합니다!


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## kenjoluma

idialegre said:


> "A classic is a book that everyone wants to have read but nobody wants read."
> 
> I want to translate this aphorism of Mark Twain into Korean. Here's my best effort:
> 
> 고전 작품은 모든 사람 읽었고 싶어 하는데 아무도 읽고 싶어 하지 않은 책이다.
> 
> Am I close?
> 
> 감사합니다!



My attempt:

고전 작품은 모든 사람이 읽었기를 바라지만 사실 아무도 읽고 싶어하지 않는 책이다.



A reminder:
(verb with 고) + 싶다
Sorry but in this case, verb with -고 cannot contain -었-. 싶다 is such a picky one. 
You can say '읽고 싶었다', but I know. It's quite different.

So, please abandon 싶다, and feel free to browse around other verbs such as 바라다, 원하다... 
Those ones take the -었- form.


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## kenjoluma

Oh, and one more.
-었- is usually used for something happened for real.
Especially when you finish a verb with -고, it feels like it really happened.
(Probably that's why 싶다 doesn't accept 었 form)

So, there are a couple of techniques to make it 'unreal' as it is meant in the original text.
Notice in my example there is -기 as in 있었기를
-기 is a nominalizer, and make it kind of 'subjunctive' sense.

Je veux que tu viennes. (you said you can speak French, idialegre)
Je veux que tu sois venu(e) (I'm not good at French. Is it correct?)

"You" are not coming, but I wish you do. It's exactly what -기 does in here.
"You" didn't come, but I wish you did.
'너가 오기를 바란다'
'너가 왔기를 바란다'


Or you can say '고전 작품은 모든 사람들이 읽었으면 하지만 아무도 읽지 않은 책이다'
You know -(으)면, making a verb conditional. Same idea, basically.


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## terredepomme

I would suggest 고전 작품이란 to give it a definitive nuance. 고전 작품은 is fine as well though.


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## idialegre

Thanks for the quick answers!

Kenjoluma, just to make sure I understand: does 너가 오기를 바란다 mean "I hope you come" or does it mean, "I wish you were coming (but you're not)"? Similarly, does 너가 왔기를 바란다 mean "I wish you had come (but you didn't)" or "I wish you were coming (but you're not)"? I'm not quite clear on that.

고전 작품이란 could be translated more or less as "a so-called classic," is that right?

Thanks for your help.

P.S. "Je veux que tu viennes" is correct. "I want you to come." "Je veux que tu sois venu" sounds a little weird to me. It means "I want you to have come." I think what you were going for was something along the lines of "J'aurais aimé que tu sois venu." (I would have liked you to come.") Probably worth asking about in the French forum!


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## terredepomme

-(이)란 is used when you want to give something a definitive statement.
인간이란 생각하는 동물이다. A human is a thinking animal.
남자란 다 똑같다. Men are all the same.


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## Superhero1

(내일) 네가 오기를 바란다: I hope you come (tomorrow). 

-> In colloquial situation, we usually say, '내일 와' or '내일 와라' or '내일 오세요' etc.
'바란다' is a written style.


(지금) 네가 오기를 바란다: I hope you were coming (now).

-> In colloquial situation, we usually say, '이리 (좀) 와줘' or '(좀) 와주세요' or '오면 좋겠는데' or '오셨으면 좋겠는데요' etc.


Anyway, it depends on the context. 



네가 왔기를 바란다: well.. although the sentence for 'I wish you had come' is correct in English, but this sentece is kind of weird. 
'네가 오기를 바랐다' would be better. or you can say 네가 왔으면 좋았을텐데: You should have come.


If I had a opening ceremony for my business, and loads of people were there, so I couldn't exactly remember who came to my event,

and two weeks later, I say to my friend, '네가 왔기를 바란다'. 

but it's a very rare case.


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## idialegre

terredepomme said:


> -(이)란 is used when you want to give something a definitive statement.
> 인간이란 생각하는 동물이다. A human is a thinking animal.
> 남자란 다 똑같다. Men are all the same.



Wow, I hadn't learned that yet!

이 포럼의 사용자란 세상에 가장 좋은 한국어선생이다.  (I hope that's right.)


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## terredepomme

세상에 가장 좋은 한국어선생이란 이 포럼의 사용자다.
Would sound more correct. I can't really explain why, though.


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## idialegre

terredepomme said:


> 세상에 가장 좋은 한국어선생이란 이 포럼의 사용자다.
> Would sound more correct. I can't really explain why, though.



Can you say why it's 사용자다 and not 사용자이다 ?


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## terredepomme

> Can you say why it's 사용자다 and not 사용자이다 ?


Both are right. 사용자이다 would be more formal.
But when it's a closed syllable, it can only be -이다.
For example it's 사람이다 and never 사람다.


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## idialegre

Thanks for the explanation!


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