# Living the present. Creating the future. Together.



## FedeG

Hello, 

I need to translate in a few languages the sentence: "Living the present. Creating the future. Together". Could anyone help me with the translation in Polish? 

Thanks.
Fede


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## kreci

Some context would be helpful.       Żyjąc teraźniejszością. Tworząc przyszłość. Razem.           or                      Żyjemy teraźniejszością. Tworzymy przyszłość. Razem.


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## FedeG

Thank you very much. Regarding the context, it is a standing alone sentence for a project on peace. 

In Polish, would you use the gerund form of verbs like in English, or the infinity form? I am wandering because in Italian we actually use the infinity for such kind of sentences.


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## kknd

first version of kreci was using adverbial participles (see wiki for reference), second one is less literal as for it says “we are living… we are creating…”. it seems to be a good idea to use infinitives in polish also; then it'd be _Życie teraźniejszością. Tworzenie przyszłości. Razem_. or_ Życie w teraźniejszości. Tworzenie przyszłości. Razem_. first tells something like “Living with/by the present” while second is more like “Living in the present”—you should choose suitable version by your own.


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## Karton Realista

IMHO literal translation of the phrase sounds awful. 
I'd go for sth like:
"Żyjąc teraz. Tworząc jutro. Razem"
(living now, creating tomorrow) 
Teraz and jutro are both short words which suit a slogan better than teraźniejszością and przyszłością. 
Honestly I think this slogan is just dumb and empty, therefore it won't have a really good translation. But whatever, you do you, man.


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## FedeG

Thank you for the help! Does "_Życie teraźniejszością" _confer a meaning of "active living" of the present?


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## jasio

FedeG said:


> Does "_Życie teraźniejszością" _confer a meaning of "active living" of the present?


I'm not sure what 'active living' is in this context, but I think the phrase you refer to is to get what you can of today, and do not care about the future.


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## FedeG

Actually in Italian as well (and a bit in English too), if one considers just the first part of the sentence ("Vivere il presente" = "Living the present"), this could be interpreted also as not bothering about the future. Still, it can also be attributed a deeper, more conscious meaning, especially when complemented with other sentences on this line, as in this case "Creating the future together". 

Is it the same in Polish?


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## jasio

FedeG said:


> Actually in Italian as well (and a bit in English too), if one considers just the first part of the sentence ("Vivere il presente" = "Living the present"), this could be interpreted also as not bothering about the future. Still, it can also be attributed a deeper, more conscious meaning, especially when complemented with other sentences on this line, as in this case "Creating the future together".
> 
> Is it the same in Polish?


Yes, it expresses the focus on today in the first part, and creating for the future in the second. Although I wonder if "żyj/żyjąc/żyjemy chwilą" would not be better ("chwila" = "a moment"). It has the same meaning of focusing on the present moment, while is shorter and doesn't sound so philosophically (when you google "żyć teraźniejszością" you'll get a bunch of psychology, psychotherapy and philosophical texts, which probably is not the context you would like to build on).


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## FedeG

Thank you Jasio for the explanation! "teraźniejszością" seems to be exactly what I was looking for for this sentence.
I see that you mention "żyć teraźniejszością" and not "_Życie teraźniejszością"_. Which is the difference?


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## jasio

"Żyć" (invinitive) means "to live". I used it with google because I usually search using infinitive forms (google will find relative forms anyway)

In my proposal I used "żyj" which is a second person singular imperative mode (literally "live"), ie. a call to action

"Życie" in this context is a Gerund ("living"); being close to a noun it's much more static than the verb

"Żyjąc" (which I also used as an alternative) is a transgressive (present tense adverbial participle), which in English is also "living"

"Żyjemy" is a present tense fist person plural ("we live")
The issue is, English grammar makes it much more open in terms of leaving the message interpretation to the recipient. Polish is much more restricted with this respect and requires that the message is defined more specifically.


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## FedeG

I see. Actually in Italian the sentence would be written using the infinitive (Vivere il presente. Creare il futuro. Insieme.). Does "Żyć teraźniejszością. Tworzyć przyszlości." sound better than "_Życie teraźniejszością. Tworzenie przyszłości._" in Polish? Are they equivalent?


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