help wanted with: Peggy Zina - μη ρωτατε

Hello, can anyone give me good pointers as to where this translation goes wrong? (or right?). If any Greek is interested in Dutch songs, maybe I can help them!

Thanks!
Grtz. Sarieke

Σ’ ένα δωμάτιο αδειανό
in an empty room

γεμάτο μόνο αναμνήσεις
full of only memories

Ένα σημείωμα κενό
an unwritten note (is this really 'unwritten'?)

για όσα δεν πρόλαβες ποτέ
never before there was time

να μου εξηγήσεις
to explain to me

Σ’ ένα δωμάτιο σκοτεινό
in an empty room

σβησμένα της ψυχής τα φώτα
the light of the soul dimmed

Ένα νεκρό ακουστικό
a black akoustic

ένα γεια σου και μια κλειδωμένη πόρτα
a goodbye and a closed door

Μη ρωτάτε γιατί πίνω
don't ask why i drink

Πίνω απόψε στην υγειά του
tonight I drink to his health

για ότι πρόλαβα να ζήσω
so that I take time to live

Λίγο μεσ’ στην αγκαλιά του
a little in his arms

Μη ρωτάτε πως αντέχει
don't ask me how he bears it

Μια καρδιά στα δυο κομμένη
a heart broken in two

Να ‘ν’ καλά όπου και να ‘ναι
if it's okay where he will be

Και ας μ’ έχει ξεγραμμένη
let him no longer think of me

Σ’ ένα δωμάτιο μια ζωή
in one room, one life

χάθηκε μεσ’ σε λίγες λέξεις
got lost in your little words

Για δες λοιπόν, λείπεις εσύ
before you say something, you leave

Εσύ που έλεγες μακριά μου δε θ’ αντέξεις
You, who said couldn't stand to be far from me

Hi! First of all, I think that a better word for "unwritten" in this case would be "blank". Now for the rest:

για όσα δεν πρόλαβες ποτέ
for everything you never had the time

σβησμένα της ψυχής τα φώτα
the lights of the souls are not lit

Ένα νεκρό ακουστικό
a dead receiver

για ότι πρόλαβα να ζήσω
for everything I had the time to live

Λίγο μεσ’ στην αγκαλιά του
for a while in his arms (I think this is a better translation due to the above sentence)

Να ‘ν’ καλά όπου και να ‘ναι
I wish he's well wherever he is

Και ας μ’ έχει ξεγραμμένη
Even though he's done with me

χάθηκε μεσ’ σε λίγες λέξεις
got lost in a few words

Για δες λοιπόν, λείπεις εσύ
So see,you are the one who's away

Εσύ που έλεγες μακριά μου δε θ’ αντέξεις
You,who used to say you couldn't bear to be away from me.

Everything I haven't translated seems fine to me. ;-)

Hey Beholder,

thanks a lot for your reply ! This helps a lot. Sometimes a sentence goes wrong just because I didn't quite understand what was said before, so that colours my interpretation of what follows. From what country are you?

Grtz. Sarieke

Glad I could help! I'm from Greece,so whenever you need help... ;-)

Hello Beholder,

could you explain to me why you translate για όσα and για ότι the same?

για όσα δεν πρόλαβες ποτέ - for everything you never had the time

για ότι πρόλαβα να ζήσω - for everything I had the time to live

I found these kinds of words especially hard to translate, as it seems that they change in interpretation depending on the context.

Για δες λοιπόν - So see.

Here the word 'gia' doesn't seem to have meaning, because 'des' comes from the verb 'to see', and 'loipon' means 'so'. It could also be translated as 'now /so , look'.

Hello Sarieke,

this is actually the main difficulty of greek,that words change meaning depending on the context all the time but I'll try to explain.First of all,in greek we have 3 genders.Masculine,feminine and neutral(sorry if I mispelled any of them ;-) ) Neutral in mostly used for things although that's not always the case for example "the smoke" is "ο καπνός" in Greek with the "ο" and the "-ος" ending showing that this is masculine. A feminine word would be "the noise" = "η φασαρία" and a neutral one "the ashtray" ="το τασάκι". All these also have plural.

If I tried to translate "everyone" I would be referring to either men or women so the translation would be "οι πάντες". In the above sentences if we omit the words "όσα" and "ότι" we would have:

για =for , δεν=not , πρόλαβες=you had the time (προλαβ- is actually "have the time" and by -ες we see that he is talking directly to a person, "you") and ποτέ=never

δεν and ποτέ go together just to show negation,so they only mean "never". So up to now we have "for (blank) you never had the time" .The only word that would fit in english in this case would be "everything" since the final -α in όσα shows we are talking about neutral plural, many things.

The abstract answer to "Πόσα?" (How much?) would be "Τόσα" (As much). "Όσα" is something in between. It would be translated as "as much as (you can handle,you can think of,you can take,there can be etc etc)". So its closest translation is "everything".

Now, the word "ότι" actually means "that" as in "he told me *that* I have to go there" . A variation of this word is "ό,τι" (noticed the comma?) That's actually the word we are talking about here. And "ό,τι" actually has the same meaning with όσα. "as much as (you can handle,you can think of,you can take,there can be etc etc)".

The difference is that όσα is plural so it actually means in this sentence "all of the things that" whereas "ό,τι" is singular and means "every single thing that" with the most simple translation of both being "everything".

Now with "Για δες λοιπόν ". You are correct, δες means see and λοιπόν commonly means so. However the whole sentence is a bit theatrical. Για is used to show emphasis,the colour of the voice and the posture of the person who says this sentence.Imagine a woman pointing and moving her finger at your face and saying "Do you see now you little brat?" The same sentence would be used if you were alone in your room,thinking of something incredibly odd that happened and while nodding in question or despair saying "So see what happened;that's amazing"

The whole sentence could be translated as "Ha,do you see now?" or "Ha,so see" with the word "για" adding that "ha" tone in the sentence, like "I told you so".

I hope I helped and didn't confuse you even more.If you need anything else,don't hesitate to ask.

Hi Belolder,

what an abundant wealth of information you gave! This is really great.
I have lots of books for studying Greek, from some 10 years ago when my mother decided to learn the language, but these kind of explanations don't occur in them. Thanks a lot.
I will keep it in mind when i go for another translation of a song.

No problem! Glad I could help!

Thanks a lot guys - we were searching this song with my friend =)
I'm so glad to find it =) thanks again...

such beautiful words... heartbreaking...

can you write me the text ot peggi zina of `mi rotate` with latin letters

Σ’ ένα δωμάτιο αδειανό
S'ena domatio adeiano
γεμάτο μόνο αναμνήσεις
gemato mono anamniseis
Ένα σημείωμα κενό
Ena simeioma keno
για όσα δεν πρόλαβες ποτέ
gia osa den prolaves pote
να μου εξηγήσεις
na mou eksigiseis

Σ’ ένα δωμάτιο σκοτεινό
S'ena domatio skoteino
σβησμένα της ψυχής τα φώτα
svismena tis psixis ta fota
Ένα νεκρό ακουστικό
Ena nekro akoustiko
ένα γεια σου και μια κλειδωμένη πόρτα
ena geia sou kai mia kleidomeni porta

Μη ρωτάτε γιατί πίνω
Mi rotate giati pino
Πίνω απόψε στην υγειά του
Pino apopse stin igeia tou
για ότι πρόλαβα να ζήσω
gia oti prolava na ziso
Λίγο μεσ’ στην αγκαλιά του
Ligo mes' stin agkalia tou
Μη ρωτάτε πως αντέχει
Mi rotate pos antexei
Μια καρδιά στα δυο κομμένη
Mia kardia sta dio kommeni
Να ‘ν’ καλά όπου και να ‘ναι
Na 'n' kala opou kai na 'nai
Και ας μ’ έχει ξεγραμμένη
Kai as m'exei ksegrammeni

Σ’ ένα δωμάτιο μια ζωή
S'ena domatio mia zoi
χάθηκε μεσ’ σε λίγες λέξεις
xathike mes' se liges lekseis
Για δες λοιπόν, λείπεις εσύ
Gia des loipon, leipeis esi
Εσύ που έλεγες μακριά μου δε θ’ αντέξεις
Esi pou eleges makria mou de th' antekseis

enjoy

thank u very very much!!!!

no problem, glad I could help