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Translation - German-English - Aphorisme 70

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Category Essay

Title
Aphorisme 70
Text
Submitted by Minny
Source language: German

Verschwende deine kraft
nicht auf etwas,
was du nicht beeinflussen kannst.
Verwende sie für das,
was du beeinflussen kannst.
Remarks about the translation
Britisch
Fransösisch aus Frankreich

Title
Aphorism 70
Translation
English

Translated by bgl88
Target language: English

Don't waste your energy
on things over which
you have no influence.
Use it for things
you can influence.
Validated by lilian canale - 30 January 2009 10:51





Last messages

Author
Message

29 January 2009 01:07

itsatrap100
Number of messages: 279
Maybe influence instead of control.

29 January 2009 09:36

Minny
Number of messages: 271
Exactly - influence! :-)

29 January 2009 10:06

peterbald
Number of messages: 53
"influence" instead of "control" is better

29 January 2009 14:54

bgl88
Number of messages: 32
I agree, usually I would translate 'beeinflussen' as influence, but it does not sound right to me here, if you simply use it both times in this translation.

It has been asked for specifically in British English, so, as an English person, I wrote what I think seems the best way to express what is written in German, in a British style that befits an Aphorism.

But thank you for making me think again about using 'influence' - it enabled me to incorporate it

30 January 2009 08:30

IanMegill2
Number of messages: 1671
I think there should be more parallelism between the first half and the second half of the quotation, as in the original.
For example, we could either use "control"
Don't waste your energy on things you can't control. Use it for things you can control.
or "influence"
Don't waste your energy on things over which you have no influence. Use it for things you can influence.
But meaning-wise, the translation is fine, of course!

30 January 2009 09:34

Minny
Number of messages: 271
I wote for IanMegill2's 2nd translation"Don't waste your energy on things over which you have no influence. Use it for things you can influence."
Thanks a lot all of you for your endeavours!
:-)

30 January 2009 10:28

Francky5591
Number of messages: 12396
Yes, sorry I didn't see Ian's post before voting, but I think "use it for things you can influence" would be better.