Competition
I’m sure many of you have heard of Irvine Welsh and his novel titled Trainspotting. It is a story of a bunch of Scottish lowlifes who do drugs, steal and do many other awful things. By all means an interesting read.
However, I’m currently reading a sequel to trainspotting in preparation for writing my thesis. The plot takes place mainly in Edinburgh and as the characters are Scottish they obviously speak Scottish English.
For those of you who are not acquainted with Scottish English I’ve prepared a competition. Basicaly, I’m asking you to translate the following piece of writing into regular English. I know it’s not difficult but it somewhat undermines one’s English proficiency. Use the comments. Good luck!
The boy’s still shitein n ah’m watchin oot fir nosey cats in the street. Any cat blabs aboot this, n it’s doon tae him, eh kens that. Wi git intae the van n take the gear back tae Kate’s. The barry thing is thit thir’s a Rod Stewart CD wi aw the hits oan it. Ah poakited that right away.
And how would you translate this into Polish?
“Their highly polished shoes lifted and stamped on the grass. They were soon joined by several women in sober dresses, who danced with their upper bodies erect and still, their feet a blur.”
And now the translator’s version:
‘Wybijali takt na trawie wypolerowanymi na glans półbutami. Dołączyły do nich przybrane w odświętne sukienki kobiety. Stojąc nieruchomo w miejscu, poruszały ekscytująco dolnymi partiami ciała”.