Help to translate one anecdote

[Cheb]

Well, its origin is Fallout I/II community, but it's almost universal, I think.

"Here goes XP", thought the Chosen One.
"Here goes food", thought the XP.

"Экспа", подумал Избранный.
"Еда", подумала экспа.

In the original - "ekspa", in Russian role-playing slang stays for "experience points".
1. Is it correct to use "XP" in its stance?
2. Do I use the grammatically legal constructs?

[lwf58]

It really doesn't make sense to me as stated. "Experience points" are not a creature. If it's a monster that is involved in the anecdote, then it should be something like this:

(Hero sees a monster) 'Here comes some XP,' thought the Hero.
(Monster sees the Hero) 'Here comes some food,' thought the monster.

[Cheb]

That's the very point of the anecdote. Kind of "Don't decide who gets which share of the bear's skin until it's killed."

Maybe, then,

"Here goes XP", thought the Hero.
"Here goes food", thought the "XP".

(or ...the not-yet-gained-XP).
?

P.S. Or ...the so-called "XP"

[J. St.C. Patrick]

Maybe, then,
"Here goes XP", thought the Hero.
"Here goes food", thought the "XP".

to use "goes" is wrong. At least in English.

"goes" implies going away (motion away from)- the XP is going away and the hero isn't getting any.

example:
"There goes my inheritance," thought the young man as his father spent all his savings.



In the instance you are showing the motion is towards so it would work better, in English, as lwf58 put it:

"Here comes some XP"
(motion towards the hero)

"Here comes some food"
(motion towards the source of XP)

[Cheb]

Thanks!
Seems I messed it badly trying to adapt it.

Maybe, I should just translate literally?
"XP", thought the Hero.
"Food", thought the XP.

[WG_Writer]

Maybe, I should just translate literally?
"XP", thought the Hero.
"Food", thought the XP.

much better actually, but the last XP is... well ackward, you should ask an actual table top gamer what to replace it with, to make it flow better. but otherwise the quote does translate directly well.

[UberJugla]

Thanks!
Seems I messed it badly trying to adapt it.

Maybe, I should just translate literally?
"XP", thought the Hero.
"Food", thought the XP.

maybe just a subtle change?

"XP", thought the Hero.
"Dinner", thought the XP.

[Spokavriel]

You keep dancing arround and arround the fact that whatever you are getting experience from tends not to have the name of experience.

If there's a simple noun in the language you are traslating it into to show that it is the source of the XP that is really what you need in the seccond line to make it work.

Most of the repetes have been almost identicle except for needing something to clear up that sticking point.

[Cheb]

It's not a sticking point, it's an irony. The use of "XP" in the original is no more legal than it is in English. If the point doesn't get to the reader it means just another cultural incompatibility - and there are *lots* of them between the world's nations. Humor is a highly cultural thing and what is funny on the one side, could just seem strange on the other one. And vice versa.

Basically, when the hero looks at the monster he doesn't see a creature (or a person, in the case of PWP). He sees a chunk of experience points to gain. Kind of when some cartoon character looks at another one and sees a juicy piece of roasted meat instead (the last one I can remember is that lion in "Madagascar".)

It may be so that this anecdote should be not just translated, but rebuilt in a totally different way. I have no idea how to do that.

[Pale Wolf]

(Shrug) I get it.

[lwf58]

But would you if you walked into it cold?

Obviously, we got the general idea after looking at it for awhile, but taken on its own merits, it really doesn't make sense in English because there's no clue that "XP" is referring to a creature. Everyone who has ever been involved in a roleplaying game knows what XP is. What trips this up is that we don't automatically associate "XP" with "creature". After all, XP can be gained by using one's skills, not just by fighting monsters. Perhaps a slight change to your version?

"XP," thought the Hero.
"Food," thought the monster.

That makes perfect sense in English.

[Cheb]

Ok, I agre. But then we need to find a slang word for "monster", a word used mostly by "munchkins" who abandons all other aspects of roleplaying in favor of mindless hack'n'slash. I know one, in Russian roleplaying slang the noun is "mob" (it feels like it has English origins). Unfortunately I'm not familiar with the true English role-playing slang.

[Pale Wolf]

Hm... 'Mob' has multiple meanings in English. Wouldn't be likely to get the right meaning across if you just posted up the line without a preface like 'this is RPG-talk'.

I still think 'XP' works best. I mean, 'Food'. Skills training doesn't exactly eat adventurers. Those two words pretty much isolate it down to 'monster'.

[lwf58]

So, when you play D&D, you refer to the monsters generically as "XP"? Last I heard, the generic term for creature or people encounters in role-playing games is "monster". None of the groups I ever played with ever referred to monsters as "XP".

What we are talking about here is translating the phrase into language that native speakers would use, and "thought the XP" is not a sentence that would crop up in gaming conversations in English.

[Cheb]

Well, "thought the ekspa" is not a sentence that would crop up in gaming conversations in Russian, either. It's like playing with concepts.