Two-Way Translation: Three Idioms and a Counterfactual
Translation paper, 30 minutes, printed dictionary allowed, grammar notes not allowed. Section A is a Greek passage of four sentences; Section B is three English sentences. The rubric awards 2 marks per sentence and states: 'Literal renderings of idioms score zero even where the grammar is correct.'
Section A: «Όταν έφτασα στο γραφείο, μου είπαν ότι η συνάντηση είχε αναβληθεί. Δεν μου έκανε καρδιά να τους πω την αλήθεια· είχα ξενυχτήσει διαβάζοντας και είχα ξεχάσει το κείμενο στο σπίτι. Ο διευθυντής χαμογέλασε και μου είπε: “Καλύτερα αργά παρά ποτέ”. Τελικά όλα πήγαν καλά, αν και μου στοίχισε ένα ολόκληρο Σαββατοκύριακο.»
Section B: (1) 'If I had known you were coming, I would have waited for you at the station.' (2) 'Tell me when you want me to call you, and I'll bring the papers.' (3) 'The book was given to me by a friend who lives in Athens.'
1. Translate Section A into English. For each of the three idioms, show the literal rendering, the correct rendering, and why the literal one fails.
Read the worked answer
Model translation: 'When I arrived at the office, they told me that the meeting had been postponed. I did not have the heart to tell them the truth; I had been up all night studying and had left the text at home. The director smiled and said to me, “Better late than never.” In the end everything went well, although it cost me a whole weekend.'
Idiom 1 - «δεν μου έκανε καρδιά». Literal: 'it did not make my heart'. Correct: 'I did not have the heart (to)'. The Greek phrase means lack of courage to do something painful; the English body-part idiom happens to match in spirit but not in wording, so 'make my heart' is meaningless.
Idiom 2 - «μου στοίχισε». Literal: 'it costed me' is fine in English only because cost happens to work here; the trap is translating στοίχισε as 'it lined up' or 'it was worth'. Correct: 'it cost me' in the sense of it took a heavy toll on me - one whole weekend lost. Keep 'although' to preserve the concession.
Idiom 3 - «Καλύτερα αργά παρά ποτέ». Correct: 'Better late than never' - a direct equivalent proverb, so no invention is needed. Do not translate as 'better late than nothing'.
Grammar marks: «είχε αναβληθεί» = past perfect passive ('had been postponed'), not 'was postponed'; «είχα ξενυχτήσει διαβάζοντας» = pluperfect + present participle of manner ('I had stayed up all night studying').
2. Translate Section B sentences (1) and (3) into Greek, and justify the tense, the mood and the clitic order you use.
Read the worked answer
(1) Αν ήξερα ότι ερχόσουν, θα σε περίμενα στον σταθμό.
- Unreal condition in the past: Greek keeps the if-clause in the imperfect (ήξερα) and the result with θα + imperfect (θα περίμενα). It does not use a past perfect in the if-clause the way English uses 'had known'. A past-perfect result (θα σε είχα περιμένει) is also accepted and stresses the completed waiting, but the imperfect result is the standard rendering of 'I would have waited'.
- έρθει vs ερχόσουν: inside «ήξερα ότι...», the coming is a future-in-the-past and is naturally ερχόσουν; «θα ερχόσουν» is also defensible, but the simple imperfect is the safer answer.
- Clitic: σε is the accusative object of περίμενα and, with θα, sits before the verb: θα σε περίμενα.
(3) Το βιβλίο μου το έδωσε ένας φίλος που μένει στην Αθήνα.
- Clitic order: when both objects are clitics, the genitive (indirect) comes first: μου το, never *το μου.
- Doubling: Greek repeats the fronted object «Το βιβλίο» with the accusative clitic το, giving the natural topic-comment order. A version without fronting is also correct: «Ένας φίλος μου έδωσε το βιβλίο...»
- Relative: «που μένει» - present indicative, because the friend lives there now; no να is used after που.