# not too small



## txokarro

I am translating this sentence: "The life that throbs in us is a pulsation from it; too mighty for our comprehension, *not too small*."
 
My try is: La vida que late en nuestro interior emana de su palpitación; demasiado poderosa para nuestra comprensión, *no demasiado pequeña.*
 
To me this last sentence does not make any sense, does anybody understand it?
 
Can you help?
 
Thank you


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## turi

Quizá "...ni demasiado pequeña", o "ni muy pequeña".

Saludos, t.


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## txokarro

Hi Turissa, 

Then you mean "ni demasiado poderosa ni demasiado pequeña para nuestra comprensión". Do you not?

I just don't see what "not too small" refers to.


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## turi

Podrías tener razón, además tiene sentido.

Saludos, t.


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## txokarro

I am not sure. Maybe some native can help us.


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## Bigote Blanco

A native speaker may tell you the sentence is bien loco no es es escrito muy bien en ingles.


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## txokarro

Bigote blanco,
This is the sentence:"The life that throbs in us is a pulsation from it; too mighty for our comprehension, *not too small*."


What do you make of it?


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## Metztli

txokarro said:


> Bigote blanco,
> This is the sentence:"The life that throbs in us is a pulsation from it; too mighty for our comprehension, *not too small*."
> What do you make of it?


 

I understand the _*not too small*_ refers to the capacity of our comprehension. Even when we are capable of understanding many huge things, the life that trhobs in us is so gigantic we are not able to  understand it.

Hope it helps!


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## speedier

I believe that Metztli has hit on it, but to make full sense of the sentence it has to be read in context. It is from "The Story of an African Farm", and the passage is to be found here.

The *'it'* here = *'a whole, whose beginning and end we know not'*.
 
So the sentence could just as well read:
 
The life that throbs in us is a pulsation from *a whole, whose beginning and end we know not'*; too mighty for our comprehension, *not too small*."
 
So, the significance is that while one life is only a very small part of this whole, this whole itself is so vast, and so meaningful, where nothing is small, that even that single life is, as Metzli points out, incapable of being understood.


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## Bigote Blanco

txokarro said:


> Bigote blanco,
> This is the sentence:"The life that throbs in us is a pulsation from it; too mighty for our comprehension, *not too small*."
> 
> 
> What do you make of it?


 
Hola Txokarro,

I believe it's a poorly constructed sentence which makes is quite difficult for even a native to understand. That accounts for the problems WR members are having trying to understand and translate it.
That's just my humble observation. 
BB


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## txokarro

Hi,

I clicked your link Speedier, and I must say that my two copies of "The story of an African farm", Oxford world's classics and Dover thrift editions, do not contain the sentence: "The life that throbs in us is a beginning and end we know not."

Anyway you seem to agree that "not too small" refers to our capacity of comprehension, which is not too small, don't you?


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## speedier

txokarro said:


> Hi,
> 
> I clicked your link Speedier, and I must say that my two copies of "The story of an African farm", Oxford world's classics and Dover thrift editions, do not contain the sentence: "The life that throbs in us is a beginning and end we know not."
> 
> Anyway you seem to agree that "not too small" refers to our capacity of comprehension, which is not too small, don't you?


 
Apologies. When I found that link I concentrated on showing that *'it'*, refers to 'the whole', 'the great scheme of things', 'the One', 'The Universe', the beginning and end of which is unknown to us, and I missed the very point that you were asking about.

It's interesting that the sentence you quoted is missing from your editions txokarro, because it seems to provide an insight into the author's thoughts. She explains herself poorly, but she seems to be suggesting here that, in common with the universe, life itself, although only a tiny part of it, is nevertheless too mighty (complex?) to understand, rather than too small (simple?). This because life itself also has a beginning and end which is also unknown to us (she equates life/existence with trees that have roots far below in the dark). So in my opinion she means:

*Life* (just like the universe of which it is a tiny part)* is too big to understand, rather than too small.*

Having said that, it's difficult to visualise anything that is too small or too simple to understand, and she also states earlier 'and so it comes to pass in time that the earth ceases to be a weltering chaos', as though for her comprehension *is* emerging from that chaos, and this isn't entirely consistent with the ideas that follow.


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## Valeria Mesalina

txokarro said:


> Anyway you seem to agree that "not too small" refers to our capacity of comprehension, which is not too small, don't you?



I agree with Bigote Blanco. The sentence is a puzzle. 

I, for instance, would like to know what is that "it" where the pulsation comes from or whatever.

Though I believe that the too big/too small refers to the "it" and not to our understanding.

Anyway, the answer to the Great Question of Life, the Universe and Everything is forty-two.


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## mijoch

Hi txokarro

You know I've had trouble with this stuff----I'm going to do it again.

",not too small."-----I think this is an older style-----a modern writer would write ", and not too small."

M.

"and not"-----"nor"


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## txokarro

Ok. mijoch, but then how can something be too mighty for our understanding and not too small?

I admit it, I can't make head or tail of this.


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## mijoch

Hi.

I've now seen some of this work, and looked at the e-book. The story is fine and interesting. However, some of the constructions seem to come from a language other than English. I wonder if Olive was bi-lingual in English and Afrikaans

These comments don't help you----I know, I know.

I remember the "bird's nest view". In English----so strange. But---"a mountain top view" can be a view of a mountain top, or the view from a mountain top. In theory, there's not much difference between a "bird's nest" and a "mountain top". Olive's ear for English was distorted-----sometimes-----she wrote a good story

"too mighty for our understanding, not too small."

I bow to other opinions.

"too mighty for our comprehension; not (lack of) too small (comprehension)"

This type of construction occures in some other languages.

"Too big for me; me weak."

M.

I saw in another post "What is the source language?"----a good question.

If the source language is English "What other languages influences are there?


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## speedier

txokarro said:


> Ok. mijoch, but then how can something be too mighty for our understanding and not too small?
> 
> I admit it, I can't make head or tail of this.


 
Well, why not leave your translation as you had it, and move on?

I don't envy you if you have the whole book to translate, but Valeria was right, the answer is 42, and whatever you do, DON'T PANIC!


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## txokarro

I think I got it.

1.  "The life that throbs in us is a pulsation from it; too mighty for our comprehension, *not too small*."

My try is: La vida que late en nuestro interior emana de su palpitación; demasiado poderosa para nuestra comprensión, *que no es pequeña.*
** 
By the way, what id the meaning of 42?


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## mijoch

That's the best so far. That type of construction occurs quite often. It's clicked for you.

It's not 42,41.----As Olive would write.

M.


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## txokarro

Thanks.

By the way, what's this 41, 42 thing? is it a code?


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## Valeria Mesalina

txokarro said:


> Thanks.
> 
> By the way, what's this 42 thing? is it a code?



No, sorry. Just a quotation from The hitchhiker´s guide to the galaxy. I can´t answer for Mijoch, though.


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## gengo

txokarro said:


> "The life that throbs in us is a pulsation from it; too mighty for our comprehension, *not too small*."



I understand it.

La vida que late en nuestro interior emana de su palpitación; no es demasiado pequeña para nuestra comprensión, sino demasiado poderosa.


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## SydLexia

Am I missing something here:

"....; too mighty for our comprehension, not too small (for our comprehension)." 

Edit: I now see gengo's post and agree. 

syd


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## txokarro

Gengo,

Could it be "La vida que late en nuestro interior emana de su palpitación; demasiado poderosa para nuestra comprensión, *que no es pequeña."*
** 
*que no es pequeña* refers to our comprehension.
 
That is, we can understand lots of things, but the origen of life is far too much for us.


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## speedier

gengo said:


> I understand it.
> 
> La vida que late en nuestro interior emana de su palpitación; no es demasiado pequeña para nuestra comprensión, sino demasiado poderosa.


 
Yes, it sounds much better worded that way around; in English too.


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## gengo

txokarro said:


> Could it be "La vida que late en nuestro interior emana de su palpitación; demasiado poderosa para nuestra comprensión, *que no es pequeña."*
> 
> *que no es pequeña* refers to our comprehension.
> 
> That is, we can understand lots of things, but the origen of life is far too much for us.



The author seems to be implying that some people say that life is too small for us to understand.  That is, that life is made up of molecules, atoms, quarks, and superstrings and that we will never be able to comprehend how those small parts become life as we know it.  And he is contradicting that viewpoint, saying that, far from being too small for our comprehension, life is too big, too amazing, and too mighty for us to comprehend.


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## txokarro

A little more context:

And so, it comes to pass in time, that the earth ceases for us to be aweltering chaos. We walk in the great hall of life, looking up and roundreverentially. Nothing is despicable--all is meaning-full; nothing issmall--all is part of a whole, whose beginning and end we know not. Thelife that throbs in us is a beginning and end we know not. *The life that**throbs in us is a pulsation from it; too mighty for our comprehension,**not too small.*


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## mijoch

The "not too small, but too mighty" does need the "but" condition, which is not there.

It may be implied----but I can't see it.

I'm don't disagree with anybody---it often happens that "oraciones" can have more than one correct meaning (even if the author intended otherwise).

So another quite simple try.

"too mighty for our not too small comprehension"-----Olive's way of putting it can be seen as more dramatic, but introduces the ambiguity.

M.


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## gengo

Mijoch, since your native language is English, surely you will agree that the following all sound natural.

-This screw doesn't fit.  It's too small.
-No, it's too big, not too small.

-I don't have enough time to go fishing.
-I'm retired, so I have too much free time, not too little.

-Put on a sweater, since it's so cold today.
-I'm taking off my long-sleeve shirt; it's too hot, not too cold.

I am positive that these all share their construction with the sentence pertaining to this thread.


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## txokarro

1-If we say "not too small (for our comprehension)" we refer to life. It sounds good.

2- If we say, "(which is) not too small" we refer to our comprehension. 

I think that unless somebody proves the second option right, I will accept Gengo's suggestion.


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## mijoch

Hi gengo.

They all sound perfect.

The "screw". -----"it's too big for our not small hole" 

Although our hole is not too small (quite big really), it's still too small for the screw.

I glad I'll never have to translate stuff like this.

M.


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## gengo

mijoch said:


> The "screw". -----"it's too big for our not small hole"
> 
> Although our hole is not too small (quite big really), it's still too small for the screw.



This is why a computer will not soon take over my job as translator.  Two intelligent people can completely disagree on the meaning of a simple sentence, and yet we can communicate!


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## txokarro

It would be perfect if you two, gengo and mijoch agreed. In this way I would be
 100 % confident.


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## mijoch

I think the end result here, is the desired.

txokarro has got enough to produce a Spanish version that will be faithful to the original and pleasant to read.

M.


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