NY Times and Farsi philology

[xaxam]

NY Times and Farsi philology

Какие тонкие ценители фарси! Какие глубокие ориенталисты!

Ahmadinejad did not say he was going to wipe Israel off the map because no such idiom exists in Persian...

...The second translation issue concerns the word "map." Khomeini's words were abstract: "Sahneh roozgar." Sahneh means scene or stage, and roozgar means time. The phrase was widely interpreted as "map," and for years, no one objected. In October, when Mr. Ahmadinejad quoted Khomeini, he actually misquoted him, saying not "Sahneh roozgar" but "Safheh roozgar," meaning pages of time or history. No one noticed the change, and news agencies used the word "map" again.

...The final translation issue is Mr. Ahmadinejad's use of "occupying regime of Jerusalem" rather than "Israel." To some analysts, this means he is calling for regime change, not war, and therefore it need not be regarded as a call for military action.

Я с большим удовольствием посмотрел бы, как выглядит в глазах NYT знаменитая формулировка одной из последних Росссийских Национальных Программ, "...мы их замочим в сортире". Видимо, ВВП имел в виду водные процедуры...