# Największe straty poniosło stare miasto, zniszczone przez



## pachnidlo

Cześć. Jak przełożyć na angielski zdanie:|

Największe straty wojenne poniosło stare miasto, zniszczone przez liczne bombardowania. Pochłonęło to życie 40 tysięcy ludzi.


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## dreamlike

The old town bore the brunt of the war, destroyed by numerous air strikes. It claimed the lives of 40 000 people.


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## majlo

My try: Having been destroyed by numerous bombings, the Old Town has suffered the greatest loss. 40,000 people have lost their lives.

Of course we know COMPLETELY NOTHING about the context so do not treat this translation as an absolute truth.


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## LilianaB

The Old Town was the hardest hit during the war. It was destroyed by numerous bombings or air strikes, which took 40,000 lives, or, the cost of which was 40,000 casualties. You could also say: The war took 40,000 lives in this area only, or in this particular area. This makes more sense, I think. You could also combine the first two sentences: The Old Town was the hardest hit during the war, destroyed by numerous air strikes. The war claimed 40,000 lives  in this area is a better choice of words, in fact.


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## majlo

How on earth can you know anything about a better choice of words if you don't know anything about the context, Liliana?


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## LilianaB

No, I just think the war claimed X thousand lives is a better expression than the war took X thousand lives. I agree context is important, or more precisely, essential.


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## majlo

It may be better for a certain type of writing, but worse for other, no?


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## LilianaB

I may just like it more: this is it.  Took is good too, I think, in fact.


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## dreamlike

I think the context is ample. The passage is clearly a part of some war-recounting piece of writing. The sentence I came up with is, to my mind, more idiomatic than the ones suggested by Majlo and Liliana, although all these are perfectly fine. It's entirely up to you, pachnidlo. To my mind, all the sentences are equally good.


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## pachnidlo

Dzięki za pomoc  Zrobię sklejkę z kilku zdań, tak chyba będzie najlepiej.


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## majlo

dreamlike said:


> The passage is clearly a part of some war-recounting piece of writing.



That's ample for you?


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## dreamlike

I thought I made myself clear, majlo. Yes, that's ample amount of context for me.


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## majlo

It can be an encyclopaedia entry, a piece of homework, a message board post, etc. That's by no means ample for me.


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## Szkot

dreamlike said:


> The old town bore the brunt of the war, destroyed  by numerous air strikes_, *which*_claimed the lives of 40_,_000 people.


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## dreamlike

majlo said:
			
		

> It can be an encyclopaedia entry, a piece of homework, a message board post, etc



 And what difference does it make? Let's suppose it's an encyclopedia entry - armed with this knowledge, would you alter your sentence? Regardless of where the sentence comes from, I'd translate it the way I did. 

Szkot - the sentence sounds better with the amendments you have made.


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## majlo

Yes, depending on what the text comes from, I would probably use different wording. I'm surprised that you should state otherwise as you usually stress the importance of the context and/or language register...


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## dreamlike

I hate repeating myself, but as I said - although we were not provided with the context, it's pretty clear for me. As far as the register goes, the source sentence strikes me as quite formal, and it was certainly written using elevated language - why would anyone want to change it? It would be tampering with the original sentence.


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## majlo

Because to me it's not elevated language. It's neither formal nor informal.


dreamlike said:


> why would anyone want to change it? It would be tampering with the original sentence.


For best possible results.


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## dreamlike

Well, I have a different take on this. To me, it's certainly formal. I can imagine more flowery language, but that's not something one would be likely to hear in a regular conversation. I find the language typical of encyclopedias. Whatever the case might be, Majlo, I think we are splitting hairs


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## majlo

I don't think we're splitting hairs. To me it's a very important issue. The most important, in fact, as far as translation goes.


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## dreamlike

I take your point but, to my mind, the source of the sentence has no bearing on the translation. Wherever it comes from, it doesn't change the way it was worded.


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