# Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a dream, today is what counts.



## star1231213

Hi Everyone, 

I would like to know how you translate the phrase: 
"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a dream, today is what counts." in hebrew. If someone could help I would really appreciate it because I have no idea how to say this. 

Thank you.


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## elroy

Welcome to the forum. 

Here's my suggestion:

אתמול כבר עבר, מחר פשות חלום, מה שחשוב זה היום


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## Nunty

My idea:
אתמול כבר איננו ומחר רק חלום, החשוב הוא - היום.
It even rhymes. Sort of.


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## Mjolnir

Nun-Translator said:


> My idea:
> אתמול כבר איננו ומחר רק חלום, החשוב הוא - היום.
> It even rhymes. Sort of.



I really like your idea


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## Nunty

I should point out that my translation is not literal. It means "Yesterday is no longer and tomorrow is just a dream, the important thing is - today."


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## star1231213

Are you sure? Because I actually want to get it tattooed and I want it to be perfect  And the thing is I have no other way to find out what the best translation would be! 
Thank you very much for your help.


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## Mjolnir

I think Nun's translation is quite perfect 

It's not literal, but it conveys your idea beautifully (and of course - it rhymes ).


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## Nunty

Star, setting aside the relative value of my translation in this case, I can tell you as a professional translator that literal translations are not always the best ones. 

I just wanted to let you know, is all. The _meaning_ is translated, but not each and every word in the same order.


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## star1231213

Ok thank you so much, I will then take your word for it!


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## scriptum

I am afraid I am missing something here. What exactly prevents us from translating the phrase literally?
אתמול הוא היסטוריה, מחר הוא חלום, היום הוא הנחשב​ 
Anything wrong with that ?​


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## Nunty

Nothing prevents us. I just chose to go the non-literal route. How would you like to do it?


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## Mjolnir

scriptum said:


> I am afraid I am missing something here. What exactly prevents us from translating the phrase literally?
> אתמול הוא היסטוריה, מחר הוא חלום, היום הוא הנחשב​
> Anything wrong with that ?​



Nothing is wrong with that, I just think Nun's translation sounds better.


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## scriptum

Nun-Translator said:


> Nothing prevents us. I just chose to go the non-literal route. How would you like to do it?


 
Well, literal translation, if possible, is always preferable. It is required by the principles of truth and precision. That seems obvious to me.


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## Nunty

There are different schools of thought about translation. In my work I use the approach that seems best suited to the purpose of the text. Other people prefer to stick what they see as always preferable. Different strokes...

But I fear we are wandering from the topic.


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## elroy

In this case, I am particularly against a literal translation of "Yesterday is history" because "history" in this context means "a thing of the past," and as far as I know the Hebrew word היסטוריה is not used that way.

By the way, I'd appreciate some feedback on my suggestion.  How does it sound to native speakers?


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## scriptum

elroy said:


> In this case, I am particularly against a literal translation of "Yesterday is history" because "history" in this context means "a thing of the past," and as far as I know the Hebrew word היסטוריה is not used that way.


 
Google swarms with expressions like
האתמול הוא היסטוריה
השאר הוא היסטוריה
המשחק הקודם הוא היסטוריה
etc., etc. “Historia” in Hebrew is used very much like “history” in English.


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## elroy

Ah, sounds like yet another calque from English.  

In light of what you say, I suppose a literal translation would work, but personally I don't find it fitting in this context.  I think it lacks the poetic flavor of the English original.

But it could just be me. 

(By the way, I too think that translators should be as literal as possible, but only as long as the translation is natural, idiomatic, fluid, and contextually appropriate.)


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## Mjolnir

elroy said:


> In light of what you say, I suppose a literal translation would work, but personally I don't find it fitting in this context.  I think it lacks the poetic flavor of the English original.



I agree. A literal translation does work here, I just find it to be less elegant than the non-literal translation Nun has suggested.


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## scriptum

My very strong suggestion is that we all refrain from using phrases such as “I just think that, etc”. They do not take us anywhere. They cannot be effectively discussed. With all respect, I challenge Nun-Translator, Elroy and Mjolnir to provide definitions, explanations and evidence in support of their feelings, sensations and intuitions. I just think it will be fun...


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## Mjolnir

Muy kef, but I can't explain my intuition... I simply prefer the non-literal translation in this case, what's wrong with that?


> But I fear we are wandering from the topic.


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## elroy

We're still on-topic if we continue discussing this particular translation, and not the practice of translation in general without relating it to this example. 

I tried to explain my (non-native!) intuition by saying that I think the non-literal translation sounds more poetic in this case, which to me makes it more contextually appropriate (cf. my criteria above for a good translation).


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