Apr 14, 2004 14:40
20 yrs ago
Hungarian term

Előre, nagyobb Eleterőre

Non-PRO Hungarian to English Marketing Marketing / Market Research
Hi there!

A few weeks ago I posted a question concerning a slogan: 'Ahead in Vitality'. I received a couple of translations in Hungarian, but now I have to give a literal translation of the exact words of the Hungarian version.

Thanks for helping me out!

Peter

Proposed translations

+2
57 mins
Selected

Ahead/go ahead to/for increased vitality

If literal translation of the exact words are needed:

előre: ahead, go ahead
nagyobb: increased
életerő: vitality

I could not decide whether to or for would be the better. Others may help.



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Note added at 2004-04-14 16:19:55 (GMT)
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Sorry, \'is\' needed.
Peer comment(s):

agree Csaba Ban : If you understand German, you may want to know that "életerő" ("vitality") is a mirror translation from German "Lebenskraft" / Yes, I meant this for the asker :)
36 mins
It may also help the Asker
disagree Daroczy : Whilst the translation is as per dictionary it does not seem to express the meaning of the phrase.
1 hr
The meaning of the phrase is known, the words had to be translated literally. Yours is also fine.
agree Eva Blanar
2 hrs
Thanks
agree Krisztina Lelik
16 hrs
Thanks
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Graded automatically based on peer agreement."
+2
1 hr
Hungarian term (edited): El�re, nagyobb Eleter�re

Forward, for greater vitality

"Forward, for greater vitality" seems to express the translation better than those put forward so far.
Peer comment(s):

agree Eva Blanar : another way to put it in English
1 hr
neutral Csaba Ban : this request is a typical example of "back translation", i.e. when an adapted slogan/marketing copy needs to be re-translated to give the client an idea about the content, any connotations, etc.
2 hrs
agree HalmoforBT
13 hrs
neutral perke : Though I wrote above that it's fine, 'forward' isn't really fine. /// Csaba, you're right.
17 hrs
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-1
31 mins
Hungarian term (edited): El�re, nagyobb Eleter�re

Hey/Hi everybody for a healthy/hearthy body

In Hungarian *életerő* is written. I am not sure in the punctuation of this sentence.

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Note added at 15 hrs 7 mins (2004-04-15 05:48:04 GMT)
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I meant *literal* not for a word-for-word translation but for a prosaic translation. Else Daroczy and perke have made the correct translation.
Peer comment(s):

disagree Daroczy : This seems "slangy" and not to present a good translation of the phrase.
1 hr
Az eredeti "Ahead in vitality" volt, és az én fordításom (átköltésem) volt az "Előre, nagyobb életerőre" rigmus (szlogen). Ezt majdnem ugyanarra visszafordítani értelmetlen. Javaslatom igenis összhangban van a magyar rigmussal.
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+1
1 day 14 hrs
Hungarian term (edited): El�re, nagyobb Eleter�re

A few comments

To my collegues:
The asker does not understand Hungarian, so comments entered in Hungarian (no matter how good they may be) will not help him.

To the asker:
The fundamental problem is that your task (I understand you are doing an internship) is not a translation task, but a copywriting one.
You said the company is a soy-product company and they are looking for the translation of their slogen into several languages.
Well, as I see it, when you are dealing with slogens, taglines, a mere translation usually does not work, you need something creative, something that "clicks" with the local audience. This is why copywriting work is charged at much higher rates than translation, and that's why companies hire professional advertising/marketing agencies (and not simple translation agencies)to accomplish such tasks.

These copywriting professionals are usually creative, and not only know the target language but also the culture, the history of the target country and the particular industry and market in that country.

That said, you were lucky, you received a very creative answer for your question (totally free of charge). HalmoforBT came up with a very creative tagline.
Your current "backtranslation" question is to confirm the literal meaning of the phrase, which is fair enough, as you don't know Hungarian.
Both translations provided by others than the original answerer (HalmoforBt) are good renderings in English.
HalmoforBt provided a different "backtranslation", and he had a good reason to do that.
This brings me to the point, that I must say, I am very much surprised, that none of my other collegues mentioned or indicated in any way any secondary meaning in this translation.
But there is one, and it related to politics.
I have to say, that Hungarian is one of those cultures where political discussions usually involve great emotions and I definitely don't want to trigger anything like that, but I think you should know about this as you are about to propose this slogan to a company that may be concerned about such issues.

"Előre" - was used as sort of a greeting during the Communist era, the official greeting for the Young Pioneers. Read a short summary about that organization at the first link.
The second link is the website of a Hungarian movie, with the same title "Előre!" - I haven't seen it but the title definitely refers to this pioneer greeting.

There were lots of posters and slogans during the 50's and the 60's (and I think the 70's too) starting with this phrase, in the meaning of "ahead, forward to, etc." referring to great targets to achieve with the planned economy, etc. I was looking for poster replicas on the internet to show you, but I couldn't find any and I don't have more time right now.
But anyway, this is the particular meaning (előre = ahead, forward to) that you are looking for, so in that sense, there is no problem with "Előre", I just thought you may want to know the additional background info related to this phrase, and the reason why HalmoforBt offered a different "backtranslation" than the others (he/she refers to this secondary meaning).

Sorry for the long comment, but I hope it helps you understand what is involved with your task.
Peer comment(s):

agree HalmoforBT : Thank you, I have ideas but do not speak so well as you, so you expressed instead of me what the essence of my translations is.
12 hrs
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