Re: Are these translations correct? Or is the word order off?
Savannah,
the first phrase is a translation by meaning rather than a literal translation. “Ná hoscail doras na hiaróige” literally translates as “Don’t open the door of the disturbances”, but it is a correct translation, word order and all, of the advice that is expressed in English by “Let sleeping dogs lie”.
(Note that Irish vowels should be written with the long vowel marks, “síntí fada”, whenever appropriate. Sometimes a word has a different meaning when it has a long vowel vs. when it doesn’t, e.g. “stán cáca” [“cake tin, cake pan”] vs. “stán caca” [“tin of excrement, pan of excrement”].)
The second phrase is a bit ambiguous, even in English; perhaps “get” would be better expressed by “got”. Was the reason that they got into trouble because they’d rolled in the mud, or was it because they ran into his house while being muddy? The phrasing of the Irish translation would vary a bit depending upon the reason. If it was the former reason, something like
• Bhí na madraí i dtrioblóid nuair a bhí siad á n-únfairt féin sa láib, agus rith siad isteach ina theach.
might work; if it was the latter reason, then
• Bhí na madraí i dtrioblóid nuair a bhí siad á n-únfairt féin sa láib agus a rith siad isteach ina theach.
would be better — and for clarity in the English version, the comma should be deleted. (For the former reason, the “ran” clause is not part of the relative clause that starts with the relative conjunction “when”; for the latter reason, the “ran” clause is part of that relative clause. The relative particle “a” before a verb in Irish shows that the verb is part of a relative clause.)
“Nuair” is the translation of the relative conjunction “when”; “cathain” is one of the translations of the interrogative adverb “when”. For example, “Cathain a tharla sé? Tharla sé nuair a tháinig siad amach as an gconchró.” = “When did it happen? It happened when they got out of the kennel.”
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