translation problem

[Gość: poh]

I want to translate a word 'naznaczeni' into English. It's quite important
because it's the title of a book. I can't make up my mind whether it should
be 'touched' or 'marked'. Touched sounds much better, but I think it may send
some negative message to the English reader (such as 'dotknięci' in Polish).
And this bloody similarity to 'untouchables'!
Any advice?

[Gość: banal]

Maybe "The chosen"?

[Gość: sleepy]

well, poh, you are not telling us in what sense 'naznaczeni' is meant in your
book, but expect us to offer you advice on translating it into english. gimme a
break. tell us exactly what sens that 'naznaczeni' carries in the book: is it
spiritual, religious, in crime context, or what?

[Gość: poh]

Ok., sleepy, I guess you are right.

So, the book is basically about AIDS in Afryka. The Polish title
is 'Naznaczeni. Afryka i AIDS'. It's a reportage by Adam Leszczyński, very
interesting indeed.

As for the sense it's both social and cultural. The book shows how HIV-positive
people deal with their illness in Africa. Their struggle is none of the easy
ones, as we can imagine. Apart from the problems HIV/AIDS brings with itself,
they have to fight against stupid government policy - a policy which denies
that AIDS is a huge problem in their country. Moreover, the attitude of most of
the African communities towards AIDS-infected people is horrible, they are
treated as, well, pretty much 'untouchables'.

Though, on the whole the book gives a ray of hope for a better tomorrow for
AIDS-infected people in Africa. There are some slow, yet visible, changes in
progress. That's actually why I thought that 'The Touched' is not such a good
title. But, I think I will stick to it, as I can't think of anything better.

Back to the book, I really recommend it. It's in Polish of course, so you won't
master your English by reading it, but it's really well worth a go.


banal,
Thanks for your try.

[Gość: sleepy]

yeah, sure, that's a good synopsis of the book, poh; it gives us basic idea
about its purpose and intended audience.
it seems to me that the purpose is to put the westerners, without whose aid
africa will never solve its aids problem on its own, to shame for not doing
anything about it. 'it's their problem, and not ours' type of attitude.
secondly, your audience is the west. the polish sense of the title seems to
come very close to what the book is about: the africans are marked as target is
for practice shooting. that title is a sort of reverse of 'the chosen' or
of 'selected', for these carry more positive connotations, though being chosen
implies also being 'cursed' in some way for being in that lot, as the history
of the jewish people seems to teach us. the polish title is highly ironic, in
the black sense, for 'naznaczeni' clearly are the others, not like the
majority, and therefore stigmatized.
for an english audience, the title would have to be the essence, and not too
ambiguous at all: it has to hit the eyes of the customer in the book store with
an exact sense

[azm]

my suggestions: the decease-marked (people), the HIV-marked (people).

[Gość: kismeth]

"The stigmatized" perhaps?

[Gość: ewunia_uk]

Ja bym proponowala "Afflicted". Ewentualnie "Stygmatised" jak ktos juz
wczesniej proponowal. Bez "The".

naznaczeni

[prat]

what a stupid word for a title..i dont think there is an english equivalent for
such an idiotic term..somebody who named a book or something "naznaczeni" must
be a real prat..

[nothing.special]

"The stigmatized" (or "The stigmatised" if it's meant to sound British) is the
best you can do, I think. I wouldn't omit the determiner ("the"); otherwise
it's not so clear that the word refers to a group of people (rather than
Africa or even something else).

The word can evoke both positive (in religious contexts, say) and negative
associations, and gives the sense of uniqueness or exceptionality you're
probably looking for.

All the best

n.s.

How about stamped?

[nowamloda]

It would be normal in English to understand that someone is stamped against
their will (marked can be willful, and stigmatised has a negative connotation,
which is not necessaruly the intended effected).

Tak sobie myślę, ze to by było OK...

[Gość: awalk]

hmm, so they are like lepers but then HIV isn't so infectious, or is it?

OK: So how about Tarnished?

[nowamloda]

Or disgraced.
Or dihonoured.
Or I better shut up...

thanks

[Gość: poh]

hey, guys and gals, thank you all for your suggestions
sorry, it has taken me so long to respond

I think the best translation is 'The stigmatised', so I'm gonna use it.


Sleepy, interesting post on your part.
Though, I think I will disappoint you. I am not translating the whole book into
English. I have neither enough skills (yet) nor permission to do the job. I was
just writing a review of the book for my English-speaking friends and needed a
good and quite simple translation of the title.

As for the purpose of the book, I think it is in a huge part intended to show
the real life in Africa - especially the one affected by HIV/AIDS. Leszczyński
wanted to fight many misconceptions and stereotypes Poles (and Westerners) have
about Africa. He emphasised how many factors contribute to the spread of the
disease in Africa. Among many there are tradition, poverty, hopeless government
policy.

Of course, the book leaves one wonder what can be done to, at least, stop the
spread of AIDS and help poor African counties get their chance to develop. IMO,
Westerners' response to the problem should be very careful and well-thought-
out. Too much money has been wasted foolishly. Instead of helping the poor it
was getting into African dictators' pockets. Also, the attitude towards
Africa's problems should be one of more understanding and in-depth analyses.
Local solutions should be encouraged. What worked in the West is not
necessarily the best for Africa. Africans must feel that the West is honestly
trying to help them, not just pretending to do so in order to gain economic
control over African markets. A very important thing right now is introduction
of inexpensive anti-AIDS drugs. And who opposes? Rich pharmacological companies
who fear to lose some of their profits. 'So, does the West really want to help
us or what?' could be the question of Africans.

That's how I see it.

[Gość: Ewa]

A jednak myślę, że the Untouchable byloby najlepiej.

[Gość: The Untouchables?]

many years ago, Sean Connery and Kevin Costner were starring in "The
Untouchables". The title has been reserved since, I'm afraid.