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Перед смертью не надышишься

English translation: You've got a hard task, Jack!

11:07 Dec 10, 2002
Russian to English translations [Non-PRO]
Journalism / journalism
Russian term or phrase: Перед смертью не надышишься
Title of an article in a car magazine about pollution in Nizhny Novgorod due to continuing use of leaded petrol there. I've got a rough idea what it means but can't think of a neat way of putting it into English.

By the way, what is the "BSO Category (Optional)" which now appears in the KudoZ question entry form?
Jack Doughty
United Kingdom
Local time: 10:11
English translation:You've got a hard task, Jack!
Explanation:
It's rather difficult to adequately render this tittle as "Перед смертью не надышишься" in the article has two meanings (it's a pun):

1) "Перед смертью не надышишься" is a well-known Russian saying meaning that there is no point in trying to do many things on the very last minute if you haven't managed to do them before. For example you can tell this to a student trying to learn everything which was taught during a semester in one day right before an exam.

2) In this article about pollution it has also a meaning that in Nizhny Novgorod one can't even have a gulp of fresh air.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2002-12-10 12:05:17 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

The 2nd point should be read like this:

2) In this article about pollution it has also a meaning that in Nizhny Novgorod one can\'t even have a gulp of fresh air before one\'s death.
Selected response from:

Nikita Kobrin
Lithuania
Local time: 12:11
Grading comment
Thank you very much, Nikita. Though you didn't offer a translation yourself, your answer was the most helpful in terms of understanding what I am translating here. I think I'll just have to make up a title to convey the second meaning withoutmaking a pun out of it.
Thanks for the other suggestions too.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
3 +4You've got a hard task, Jack!
Nikita Kobrin
4You've got your work cut out for you!
Uly Marrero
4You're/it's doomed from the outset.
Uly Marrero
5 -2Don't breathe the air!
David Knowles
3Too Late, You're Out of Breath
Clive Wilshin


  

Answers


27 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): -2
Don't breathe the air!


Explanation:
Old Tom Lehrer song: Don't drink the water and don't breathe the air!

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Note added at 2002-12-10 11:52:56 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Actually, the song is called: Pollution!

David Knowles
Local time: 10:11
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 39

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  Inga Baranova: Don't think it's the right meaning. But it's very difficult to find the right translation of this saying in the context of such article.
44 mins
disagree  Uly Marrero: This doesn't really say anything compared to the meaning of the original Russian statement.
6411 days
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52 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +4
You've got a hard task, Jack!


Explanation:
It's rather difficult to adequately render this tittle as "Перед смертью не надышишься" in the article has two meanings (it's a pun):

1) "Перед смертью не надышишься" is a well-known Russian saying meaning that there is no point in trying to do many things on the very last minute if you haven't managed to do them before. For example you can tell this to a student trying to learn everything which was taught during a semester in one day right before an exam.

2) In this article about pollution it has also a meaning that in Nizhny Novgorod one can't even have a gulp of fresh air.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2002-12-10 12:05:17 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

The 2nd point should be read like this:

2) In this article about pollution it has also a meaning that in Nizhny Novgorod one can\'t even have a gulp of fresh air before one\'s death.


Nikita Kobrin
Lithuania
Local time: 12:11
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in RussianRussian
PRO pts in category: 4
Grading comment
Thank you very much, Nikita. Though you didn't offer a translation yourself, your answer was the most helpful in terms of understanding what I am translating here. I think I'll just have to make up a title to convey the second meaning withoutmaking a pun out of it.
Thanks for the other suggestions too.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Inga Baranova
19 mins
agree  Yelena.
30 mins
agree  Mark Vaintroub
43 mins
agree  Vera Fluhr (X)
48 mins
agree  zmejka: классное объяснение. респект! :)
9 hrs
disagree  Uly Marrero: For one, I think this just expresses the difficulty, but not the (close to) impossiblity of the original Russian.
6411 days
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
Too Late, You're Out of Breath


Explanation:
A play on words is often untranslatable,and all one can do in such cases is invent something of one's own that will serve. The above is my first 'lumpy pancake.'

As Nikita says, the phrase usually means 'you cannot do at the last moment what you didn't do before (when there was more time)', or as Sophia Lubensky's superb Russian-English Dictionary of Idioms puts it, 'You can't make up for lost time; it's too late for that now".

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2002-12-10 12:39:19 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

or \'You\'ve Run Out of Breath\'; or We\'re etc.

Presumably, the point of the igra slov is that measures should have been taken to control pollution years ago, and that it is possibly too late to do anything to remedy the situation now.

Clive Wilshin
Local time: 10:11
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 4
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6411 days   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
You've got your work cut out for you!


Explanation:
You have a hard task ahead of you and every intention of achieving it before the allotted time, but I doubt very much you'll succeed.

Uly Marrero
Local time: 05:11
Native speaker of: Native in SpanishSpanish
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6411 days   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
You're/it's doomed from the outset.


Explanation:
The thing you propose to do with almost no time left is deemed to have failed even before you start.

Uly Marrero
Local time: 05:11
Native speaker of: Native in SpanishSpanish
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