# musimy koniecznie zrobic cos,  co by od nas zależało,  poniewaz d zieje sie tak wiele,  co nie zelezy od nikogo



## Olimpio

I am trying to translate in English this sentence:

"musimy koniecznie zrobic cos,
co by od nas zależało,
poniewaz d zieje sie tak wiele,
co nie zelezy od nikogo."

It is a Stanisław Wyspiański quote.

I've produced this version:

"we must necessarily do something 
would depend on us, 
because so many thing are happening 
that will depend on no one."

Can I have your opinion?

Thank you.

Olimpio


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## zaffy

"We absolutely have to do something that would depend on us
because so many things are happening that depend on no one."


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## jasio

There are a few typos:


Olimpio said:


> "Musimy koniecznie zrobić coś,
> co by od nas zależało,
> ponieważ dzieje się tak wiele,
> co nie zależy od nikogo"


Perhaps


Olimpio said:


> "we must necessarily do *some any*thing
> *which* would depend on us,
> because so many thing*s* are happening
> that will *which don't* depend on *no one* *anybody*"


would do. 

Depending on the context "coś" can be translated both as "anything" and "something" - but I think that in this context it's "anything" which reflects the author's intentions correctly. In the last verse the present tense is used rather than the future. Other corrections simply match my "ear" better.

I don't speak English well enough to maintain the correct rythm though.


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## zaffy

Olimpio said:


> must necessarily


Those two don't collocate well.


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## zaffy

jasio said:


> we must necessarily do *some any*thing
> *which* would depend on us,



All, anything, something + that ......

"That" jest preferowaną, bardziej naturalną formą. Choć tu język literacki, to pewnie ok.


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## Olimpio

I've combined the suggestions in this version:

"We absolutely have to do anything that would depend on us,
because so many things are happening which don't depend on anybody."


I've preferred "absolutely have to" to "must necessarily" (I was also considering "imperatively have to" - but it seems uncommon based on Google results);
I've preferred "anything", as jasio said, it is more appropriate in the first sentence; It also give me a sense of rhythm with the "anybody" in the second sentence (however, I am not a native speaker);
I've used two different connectives in the two sentences: "that" in the first and "which" in the second, as suggested by zaffy;


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## Enquiring Mind

> „Musimy coś zrobić, co by od nas zależało, zważywszy, że dzieje się tak dużo, co nie zależy od nikogo” – brzmi, jakże aktualna obecnie, maksyma Stanisława Wyspiańskiego przypomniana przez Agnieszkę Holland.  (bomega.pl)





> "We have to do something that depends on us, given that there is so much going on that does not depend on anyone" - is the current maxim of Stanisław Wyspiański, recalled by Agnieszka Holland. (bomega.pl)


My Polish is not very ... erm ... polished, but with all due respect to Polish native speakers, there's no "would" (supposedly reflecting the presence of the Polish "by"), in my opinion. Czech grammar can also use the same "quasi-subjunctive" syntax in this kind of construction, but it's not translated by a conditional ("would") in English.


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## zaffy

Enquiring Mind said:


> My Polish is not very ... erm ... polished, but with all due respect to Polish native speakers, there's no "would", in my opinion. Czech grammar uses the same "quasi-subjunctive" syntax in this kind of construction, but it's not translated by a conditional ("would") in English.



Wouldn't you use "would" in this example? 

"Let's buy him something that would make him happy."


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## Enquiring Mind

Yes, but the "would" there reflects an _irrealis_, a hypothesis. We don't know if it will make him happy or not. Perhaps it will, perhaps it won't.
 In the Wyspiański quote, as I understand it (I may be wrong), the thing that we have to do *does* depend on us - it's a _realis._ There's no "perhaps" ("conditionality", "subjunctivism") about whether it depends on us or not.


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## zaffy

Enquiring Mind said:


> In the Wyspianski quote, as I understand it (I may be wrong), the thing that we have to do *does* depend on us - it's a _realis._


Well, I'm not an expert at intepretating literature, but I guess Wyspiański could have used the present tense too to express a _realis, _yet he didn't. 

"musimy koniecznie zrobić coś,
co zależy od nas,"   - that depends on us


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## Enquiring Mind

Good point. If we want to bring out that fine nuance, we could say "*might* (rather than *would*) depend", but I'm not sure that's really necessary. I've just listened to a long interview with Agnieszka Holland in English. Although she speaks with an accent, her grasp of English syntax is very good.  (Of course, we don't know if that's actually *her* translation or a translation for the website, but I give it a  ).


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## zaffy

Enquiring Mind said:


> Of course, we don't know if that's actually *her* translation


Of course it's not. It must have been proofread by a native speaker. That's why you like it  A non-native would trasnlate it like Jasio or I did.


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## jasio

zaffy said:


> Of course it's not. It must have been proofread by a native speaker. That's why you like it  A non-native would trasnlate it like Jasio or I did.


Indeed, IMHO for translations expertise in the target language is a way more important than in the source language. So a local Brit or an American - there are handful of them here - would do much better job than us.


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