# I'm as ready as I'm going to be.



## Маркиз

Does anyone have a theory how to translate the phrase "I'm as ready as I'm going to be" into Russian?


----------



## morzh

It is usually "I am as read as I'm EVER going to be". But can be without ""ever".
Or "I'm as ready as ever".

"Я готов, как никогда".
"Я готов, и дальше уже некуда".
"Я в наилучшей возможной форме".


----------



## Маркиз

Thank you very much for the comprehensive explaination, Morzh. It is clear now.


----------



## jmackny

morzh said:


> It is usually "I am as read as I'm EVER going to be". But can be without ""ever".
> Or "I'm as ready as ever".
> 
> "Я готов, как никогда".
> "Я готов, и дальше уже некуда".
> "Я в наилучшей возможной форме".



Do these variants convey the hesitation/apprehension implicit in the English phrase? In English, when you say, "I'm as ready as I'm (ever) going to be," you're actually suggesting that you're *not* particularly ready, but that waiting any longer won't improve your readiness.  

It's typically used before doing something relatively big and scary that you have to do. In fact, when I read the phrase, I actually felt a little twinge of nervousness in the pit of my stomach. It's not used to convey confidence, in other words.


----------



## WordOrder

Actually not, they mean that a person has the strongest confidence in his readiness. No other side meanings.


----------



## morzh

jmackny said:


> Do these variants convey the hesitation/apprehension implicit in the English phrase? In English, when you say, "I'm as ready as I'm (ever) going to be," you're actually suggesting that you're *not* particularly ready, but that waiting any longer won't improve your readiness.
> 
> It's typically used before doing something relatively big and scary that you have to do. In fact, when I read the phrase, I actually felt a little twinge of nervousness in the pit of my stomach. It's not used to convey confidence, in other words.



Actually I would disagree that it always mean "I doubt I'm ready but this is as good as it gets with me". The way I see it used here in the US is often saying matter-of-factly that "yes, I am ready", and the doubt is not necessarily expressed.

Example, news:

"WBO minimumweight champion Donnie Nietes says  he is as ready as ever to defend his WBO minimum weight title  against  Mexico’s Mario Rodriguez on August 15, Manila Time, in the hometown of  the challenger in Sinaloa, Mexico.  "

Do you think by saying "I am as ready as ever" (this is an equivalent of "I am as ready as I am ever going to be") the champion here expresses some doubts as to his ability to defend the title, but then, well, he has no other choice so he will do it anyway?

I doubt so.


----------



## jmackny

morzh said:


> Actually I would disagree that it always mean "I doubt I'm ready but this is as good as it gets with me". The way I see it used here in the US is often saying matter-of-factly that "yes, I am ready", and the doubt is not necessarily expressed.
> 
> Example, news:
> 
> "WBO minimumweight champion Donnie Nietes says  he is as ready as ever to defend his WBO minimum weight title  against  Mexico’s Mario Rodriguez on August 15, Manila Time, in the hometown of  the challenger in Sinaloa, Mexico.  "
> 
> Do you think by saying "I am as ready as ever" (this is an equivalent of "I am as ready as I am ever going to be") the champion here expresses some doubts as to his ability to defend the title, but then, well, he has no other choice so he will do it anyway?
> 
> I doubt so.



Sorry, but "I am as ready as ever" is not even remotely the equivalent of "I'm as ready as I'm going to be." 

Totally different connotation. The first suggests confidence; the second, a lack of complete preparedness.


----------



## morzh

I actually went to ask 3 local natives (all Americans / NJ residents).

Here are their responses:

("longer / shorter" refers to "I am as ready as I am ever gonna be / I am as ready as ever" respectively)

1. No, there is no difference. However I prefer the longer version. The expression of doubt depends on the way you say it.
(He also indicated that to him the shorter version is simply the abbreviated longer one).

2. No, there is no difference. Yes it hints a slight possible doubt.

3. There is a slight difference, and the long one has some negative connotation, as it implies "I am never going to improve" while expressing full confidence.

---


I guess people use it according to their own understanding.

PS. I found some examples of usage of "Ready as ever" - I failed to find any "as ready as ever going to be" on Google. I found one instance of "Perfect as I'm ever gonna be" (used as a name in Myspace). But not "ready". The woman in the profile looks very confident


----------



## jmackny

morzh said:


> I actually went to ask 3 local natives (all Americans / NJ residents).
> 
> Here are their responses:
> 
> ("longer / shorter" refers to "I am as ready as I am ever gonna be / I am as ready as ever" respectively)
> 
> 1. No, there is no difference. However I prefer the longer version. The expression of doubt depends on the way you say it.
> 
> 2. No, there is no difference. Yes it hints a slight possible doubt.
> 
> 3. There is a slight difference, and the long one has some negative connotation, as it implies "I am never going to improve" while expressing full confidence.
> 
> ---
> 
> 
> I guess people use it according to their own understanding.



No, I assure you, "I'm as ready as I'm going to be" has a clear connotation, and it is used in a specific context.  Two of the native speakers you asked probably just got a little confused at first because you added the word "ever" and put the two expressions side-by-side. But we are not discussing the second (shorter) expression because all agree what that one means. 

To get a real read on how native speakers use it, drop the word "ever" (which was not in the original). Then ask, "When might a person say, 'I'm as ready as I'm going to be?' Can you give me an example?" Don't mention the shorter expression at all. Then you will see a consistent pattern: They will *not *give examples suggesting confidence.


----------



## morzh

jmackny said:


> To get a real read on how native speakers use it, drop the word "ever" (which was not in the original). Then ask, "When might a person say, 'I'm as ready as I'm going to be?' Can you give me an example?" Don't mention the shorter expression at all. Then you will see a consistent pattern: They will *not *give examples suggesting confidence.




OK, I am sure you are right and I will try it.

But when you said this:

" In English, when you say, "I'm as ready as I'm (ever) going to be,"  you're actually suggesting that you're *not* particularly ready" 

you yourself allowed for "ever" to be present without changing the meaning of doubtfulness (I guess this what parentheses usually mean). (I admit I never heard the phrase without "ever" used at all, though I do know it exists as I googled it and found whopping 1 case ).

PS> The answer to your question of expressing some hesitation in Russian phrases - no, I don't think there is any doubt in those.


----------



## morzh

Маркиз said:


> Does anyone have a theory how to translate the phrase "I'm as ready as I'm going to be" into Russian?



Маркиз,

Can you possibly list the source of this phrase, or give the link, or a reasonably large block of text surrounding the phrase?

This would actually help with the "doubt vs readiness" part.


----------



## WordOrder

It seems in Russian it'll be something like the following.

_Я готов, но не так, как хотелось бы._


----------



## morzh

One more native's opinion (he's an older guy, late 50-s). I specifically missed "ever".

"It is a cynical sarcastic phrase, like "it doesn't matter if we wait any longer - we are not going to gain anything by it; if we are defusing a bomb, and we have no idea what we are doing, so it doesn't matter if we cut the red wire now or in 14 seconds, we are likely to see a big flash".

He also said "I never heard it without "ever", so I did not notice you not using it; I always use it with "ever"".

His last notice to my question about the differences between "as ready as ever / as ready as I'm gonna be/ as ready as I'm ever gonna be" was: "No, to me they're all the same, no difference".
-----
From all this I can say that 

1. This is kind of a saying that for me is difficult to deal with even in my own language, as it conveys a subtle mix of various degrees of readiness, hesitation and a dose of possible sarcasm, so the meaning may vary from a  person to a person, with the weight coefficients of the mixture ingredients ranging from 0% to 100%.
2. although I am sure there is a standardized meaning of these phrases, many people will use them to their own custom/understanding.
3. You are right in saying that it may relay feelings other than full readiness, and this is why I would like to see a larger chunk of text surrounding the phrase in question to accurately construe it, as prior to this I did it to my own understanding and it was "100% confidence" version of it.


----------



## morzh

OK, I think I've got it now.

Third person indicated that the meaning of this is the same as "why wait!" or "there's no point in waiting any longer!".

So, if this is agreed upon, I would translate it then as:

*I'm as ready as I'm going to be. - Нечего тянуть.* (no point in putting it off.)
Other possible versions:

"Незачем ждать"/"Нечего откладывать"/"Нет смысла ждать"/ "Все одно ничего не высидим" etc.

That is as a part of a theoretical dialog it would be:

- Do you think you are ready? - Как ты думаешь, ты готов?
- As ready as I'm gonna be. - Я думаю, что дальше ждать все одно смысла нет. / Готов - неготов, все одно больше ничего не высидим.


----------



## jmackny

morzh said:


> OK, I think I've got it now.
> 
> Third person indicated that the meaning of this is the same as "why wait!" or "there's no point in waiting any longer!".
> 
> So, if this is agreed upon, I would translate it then as:
> 
> *I'm as ready as I'm going to be. - Нечего тянуть.* (no point in putting it off.)
> Other possible versions:
> 
> "Незачем ждать"/"Нечего откладывать"/"Нет смысла ждать"/ etc.



I agree -- "Незачем ждать," "Нечего тянуть", etc., seem like decent equivalents!


----------



## morzh

jmackny said:


> I agree -- "Незачем ждать," "Нечего тянуть", etc., seem like decent equivalents!



Woo-hoo! 

Thanks for setting me off to investigate this one - it's been fun.


----------



## morzh

I thought some more of that.

Even though the translation is correct in conveying the meaning, my problem with what I suggested is that the "I am as ready a I'm gonna be" is not an idiom, which one sometimes has to project on other language idioms to translate, but a stable construct, and so the meaning of it can be derived from the words, unlike in a true idiom.

So, the translation would have to convey the sense of "It makes no sense to wait any longer" and at the same time try to make usage of "I am ready".

I came up with this:

"*Готовее уже все одно не буду*".

This clearly is a spoken form (I don't think "готовей" is a literary form), but it accurately fits the original.

Example"

- So, do you think you're ready? Should we start doing it? - Ну, ты как думаешь, ты готов? Будем начинать?
- I*'m as ready as I'm going to be*. Let's do it. - *Готовей все одно уже не буду*. Давай.


----------



## jmackny

morzh said:


> I thought some more of that.
> 
> Even though the translation is correct in conveying the meaning, my problem with what I suggested is that the "I am as ready a I'm gonna be" is not an idiom, which one sometimes has to project on other language idioms to translate, but a stable construct, and so the meaning of it can be derived from the words, unlike in a true idiom.
> 
> So, the translation would have to convey the sense of "It makes no sense to wait any longer" and at the same time try to make usage of "I am ready".
> 
> I came up with this:
> 
> "*Готовее уже все одно не буду*".
> 
> This clearly is a spoken form (I don't think "готовей" is a literary form), but it accurately fits the original.
> 
> Example"
> 
> - So, do you think you're ready? Should we start doing it? - Ну, ты как думаешь, ты готов? Будем начинать?
> - I*'m as ready as I'm going to be*. Let's do it. - *Готовей все одно уже не буду*. Давай.




*"Готовей все одно уже не буду"* does indeed seem like it  captures the spirit of "I'm as ready as I'm going to be" much more  closely than does "Незачем ждать," but my Russian isn't strong enough to  know for sure.

1. Does *"все одно"* essentially mean "whether I'm ready or not" in this particular case?  

2.  As long as the suggestion is not "I've never been readier!" but is  instead "Well, whether I'm ready or not, waiting isn't going to make me  any readier," then I think you've got it.

Just FYI: Here's the context for the English expression that immediately comes to mind for me: 

A game-show host asks a contestant before asking a series of trivia questions: "Ready?"
"Ready as I'm gonna be,"  replies the contestant.

What  the contestant means is, "I'm not sure if I'm truly 'ready,' but I do  know that waiting any longer isn't going to make me readier. So we might  as well start now."

And now we risk aptly transitioning to another English expression, "to beat a dead horse."


----------



## morzh

jmackny said:


> 1. Does *"все одно"* essentially mean "whether I'm ready or not" in this particular case?



Literally "all the same". It is often used with such phrases to intensify the meaning of "it won't be any better".

You can just say "Готовей не буду" and the meaning will remain the same.
But you will hear it often together in the spoken version, so I kept it in to keep the peas with the carrots 



jmackny said:


> 2.  As long as the suggestion is not "I've never been readier!" but is  instead "Well, whether I'm ready or not, waiting isn't going to make me  any readier," then I think you've got it.



You've got it too. It is not "I've never been readier" but "I won't be any readier anyway, so.....".



jmackny said:


> And now we risk aptly transitioning to another English expression, "to beat a dead horse."


----------



## Natalisha

jmackny said:


> 2.  As long as the suggestion is not "I've never been readier!" but is  instead "Well, whether I'm ready or not, waiting isn't going to make me  any readier," then I think you've got it.


I consider in some context it can mean "Не наевшись, не налижешься." 
But the meaning is a little bit different. 

We can address this phrase, for example, to students who try to revise exam material at the last moment.

But they can say themselves: "Ну, я пошел (сдавать экзамен). Не наевшись, не налижешься."


----------



## estreets

Natalisha said:


> I consider in some context it can mean "Не наевшись, не налижешься."
> But the meaning is a little bit different.
> 
> We can address this phrase, for example, to students who try to revise exam material at the last moment.
> 
> But they can say themselves: "Ну, я пошел (сдавать экзамен). Не наевшись, не налижешься."


Это как вариант к "Перед смертью не надышишься"?


----------



## morzh

Natalisha said:


> I consider in some context it can mean "Не наевшись, не налижешься."
> But the meaning is a little bit different.
> 
> We can address this phrase, for example, to students who try to revise exam material at the last moment.
> 
> But they can say themselves: "Ну, я пошел (сдавать экзамен). Не наевшись, не налижешься."




Yes, although I never heard this one, I heard similar in the same situations (students/exams and such):

"*Перед смертью не надышишься*". (literally "can't have enough breathing done before you die").

But the meaning is indeed just a tad different. It actually clearly indicates "I am not ready, but what the heck.....".

Also these are true idioms, unlike the original phrase.

PS. Just noticed Estreets' post - did not see it.


----------



## Natalisha

morzh said:


> Yes, although I never heard this one, ...


The full version is "Если ложкой не наелся, языком не налижешься."


----------



## estreets

I've never heard this before either but it makes sense. But this sense has nothing common with Готовей не буду... or other variants.


----------



## morzh

estreets said:


> But this sense has nothing common with Готовей не буду... or other variants.




Well, it kinda does. But the undertones are different, as well as degree of the readiness expressed.

One is expressing that, well, ready or not, waiting won't help - let's do it. In which case one may or may not be fully ready; the main idea is - waiting any longer doesn't buy us anything.

Another one is:"No, I don't think I am ready. Actually I think I'll fail. Also, I am afraid and I am desperately trying to postpone the action to which I think I am not ready - I am frantically reading the textbook before drawing my "ticket", and I don't really want to do it, but I have no choice; and as long as I have to do it anyway - might as well do it now."

Actually, let JmacNY correct me, but I think "*Here goes nothing*" is exactly that, "*Перед смертью не надышишься*".

So while they are not the same, they are somewhat related, and whether the person will use one or another, will depend on that person's degree of readiness and fear of the action.


----------



## estreets

Мне кажется, что Если ложкой не наелся.... ближе к "Снявши голову, по волосам не плачут" или "обжегшись на молоке, на воду дуют" и тому подобное. Ничего общего с *I'm as ready as I'm going to be* нет.


----------



## jmackny

Natalisha said:


> I consider in some context it can mean "Не наевшись, не налижешься."
> But the meaning is a little bit different.
> 
> We can address this phrase, for example, to students who try to revise exam material at the last moment.
> 
> But they can say themselves: "Ну, я пошел (сдавать экзамен). Не наевшись, не налижешься."



What does "Не наевшись, не налижешься" actually mean, literally? Is it something like, "If you haven't eaten enough (by now), you won't get your fill by licking"?


----------



## morzh

jmackny said:


> What does "Не наевшись, не налижешься" actually mean, literally? Is it something like, "If you haven't eaten enough (by now), you won't get your fill by licking"?



Literally - "Если ложкой не наелся, языком не налижешься." - "If you couldn't eat enough with a spoon, you won't get enough by licking it with your tongue".



estreets said:


> Мне кажется, что Если ложкой не наелся.... ближе  к "Снявши голову, по волосам не плачут" или "обжегшись на молоке, на  воду дуют" и тому подобное. Ничего общего с *I'm as ready as I'm going to be* нет.



No, I think Natalisha is right.

1. "Снявши голову, по волосам не плачут" and "обжегшись на молоке, на  воду дуют" are two entirely different sayings.

"Снявши голову, по волосам не плачут" -  means, that if you've lost a whole lot, you don't care for small things. Like if your house burned down, you don't care much about the broken fence. Or if your stock went from 10 million bucks down to zero, you won't care, at least for awhile, about gas prices going up 5%.

"обжегшись на молоке, на  воду дуют" - "once beaten - twice shy", that is you become overly cautions after a failure.

2. I honestly think "Ложкой не наевшись, языком не налижешься" is indeed the same as "перед смертью не надышишься". A good translation of the latter, I think (I gave it already) is "here goes nothing". Which is related to "I am as ready as I'm gonna be" but is not the same, expressing lack of readiness and expectation of failure.

(I'll let JmacNY to analyze "here goes nothing" for my interpretation).


----------



## cyanista

jmackny said:


> What does "Не наевшись, не налижешься" actually mean, literally? Is it something like, "If you haven't eaten enough (by now), you won't get your fill by licking"?


Yes, something like that. I'd imagine licking your plate is what the phrase alludes to, as in "if you haven't had enough food on your plate, licking it won't help matters much".

I think this is quite similar to the "pessimistic" meaning of "ready as I'm going to" (although I've mostly heard it used referring to others, i.e. pupils finishing writing a test).

By the way, I am very surprised that Russian foreros do not seem to know this phrase. I've heard it millions of times at school and uni.   Maybe that's a local, "Belarus-based" saying...

P.S. Oh, I haven't noticed the variant with the spoon. (Never heard it, either.)


----------



## estreets

As for me, I don't know what Не наевшись, не налижешься means.
As to "Если ложкой не наелся, языком не налижешься" it means that if you couldn't have achieved your purpose using bigger means you won't achieve them with smaller means.


----------



## morzh

estreets said:


> As for me, I don't know what Не наевшись, не налижешься means.
> As to "Если ложкой не наелся, языком не налижешься" it means that if you couldn't have achieved your purpose using bigger means you won't achieve them with smaller means.




Yes, but isn't that the same with "Перед смертью не надышишься?"

Just think of it: it is usually used by poorly prepared/scared  students prior to exams.

It means "If you had all this time (bigger means) to learn the material; what can you possibly accomplish by frantically browsing the book now, when you have 20 minutes left (small means)?" - literally, "You had all your life to breath (large thing) - now that you have 1 minute to live, and you still can't have enough, though it will be another 10 or 20 of them left in you? Give up the ghost already!" 

So I think those two are the same. And, as the testimonies go here from two people, those are used in the same situation for the same purpose.


----------



## Natalisha

jmackny said:


> What does "Не наевшись, не налижешься" actually mean, literally? Is it something like, "If you haven't eaten enough (by now), you won't get your fill by licking"?



 Exactly!



estreets said:


> Мне кажется, что Если ложкой не наелся.... ближе к "Снявши голову, по волосам не плачут" или "обжегшись на молоке, на воду дуют" и тому подобное. Ничего общего с *I'm as ready as I'm going to be* нет.


Нет, estreet, значение у этой пословицы другое.
Ну, например, утром не хочется вставать. Думаешь, еще немножко полежу.
Вот тут-то и могут тебе сказать: "Не наевшись, не налижешься" (т.е. если ты не выспался, то и эти 5 минут тебя не спасут)

Вот что касается студентов, то здесь не обязательно имеется в виду, что они плохо выучили предмет. Есть студенты, которые перед экзаменом стараются все повторить, им кажется, что они, возможно, что-то все-таки упустили (я сама, когда была студенткой, где-то на первом курсе все листала учебники, конспекты под дверью аудитории). Вот здесь, даже зная, что перед тобой хороший студент, можно услышать: "Иди уже, не наевшись, не налижешься."


----------



## morzh

cyanista said:


> Yes, something like that. I'd imagine licking your plate is what the phrase alludes to, as in "if you haven't had enough food on your plate, licking it won't help matters much".
> 
> I think this is quite similar to the "pessimistic" meaning of "ready as I'm going to" (although I've mostly heard it used referring to others, i.e. pupils finishing writing a test).
> 
> By the way, I am very surprised that Russian foreros do not seem to know this phrase. I've heard it millions of times at school and uni.   Maybe that's a local, "Belarus-based" saying...
> 
> P.S. Oh, I haven't noticed the variant with the spoon. (Never heard it, either.)



Honest - never ever heard it.


----------



## estreets

Me either, never heard it. Most probably, it's really a local phrase.


----------



## Natalisha

morzh said:


> It means "If you had all this time (bigger means) to learn the material; what can you possibly accomplish by frantically browsing the book now, when you have 20 minutes left (small means)?" - literally, "You had all your life to breath (large thing) - now that you have 1 minute to live, and you still can't have enough, though it will be another 10 or 20 of them left in you? Give up the ghost already!"


Dead right!


----------

