Hungarian translation project - Dirty Fred

[chris-gr]

What it actually says is: "he died (or was dying) for 36 years".If the poet wanted to say he died at the age of 36, he would have said (although probably the ryhme and rhythm wouldn't match):

Harminchat éves volt mikor meghalt

or

Meghalt harminchat éves korában.

Now it makes sense! Thank you, once again Gábor, I really didn't know what to do with that -ig suffix there. I mean I knew it denotes a limit, an end, and -to be frank- I was expecting an accusative to denote duration. I was completely wrong, and that's why one needs a native speaker in order to learn properly a foreign language!

[chris-gr]

OK, here it is. As usual, there are parts that my translation got a bit free, other parts that my translation was too close to the original, and -finally- some parts that remained untranslated, because I wasn't sure what on earth he was talking about! Here you go, Gábor, and PLEASE have mercy!

-I have to be careful because of my wound. Where (in which direction) do you want to go?
-I don’t know. I have no money, and no job.
- Let’s stay around here, because of the doctor. Gosh, I didn’t ask the restaurant-owner whether I could smoke my pipe (being) in such a serious condition. Can I risk it?
-Take it easy. Mi lehet belőle? (what can come out of it?)
-Nothing?
-Nothing in the world! At most you’ll die. That can happen anyway.
-That’s absolutely right. Well, listen here. I’m the crew-quarter manager on Honolulu Star. What’s your name?
-Jimmy Uptohisears.
-Why do you have such a stupid name?
-Because I love to laugh and someone pointed out that on such occasions I stretch my mouth up to my ears.
-You’re still sucking your mother’s milk. That’s rare (coming) from a big, bony (?) man. How old are you?
-21.
-A teenager.
-Your family’s (Chris-gr: I know how to say this in Greek, but not in English.)
-Do you know stuff on boats?
-Silly question… I was twice on an expedition with capt. Byrd back when I was young.
-What’s your handwriting like?
-Flowing. I just don’t know all the capital letters. I learned to write from a crew-quarter manager!
-Idiot!
-It’s true! But rarely is one clever, because of a crew-quarter manager. [?]
-What papers do you have?
-I resent the question!
-Szóval semmilyen írása sincs? (Chris-gr: I am completely lost here. I know what these words mean, individually, but I can’t understand the sentence as a whole!)
-It’s from the police!
-That’s good!
-Well then, don’t worry about anything! I got a handwriting [?] from a ship-captain in Valparaiso that every day I must report myself to the inspector, and two hours later I couldn’t go out to the street. (Chris-gr: I don’t even understand this.)
-That’s not good!
-You can say that again! That’s why I came back from Valparaiso.
-Are you in the sailors’ register?
-I don’t accept it.
-Has it been erased?
-If so, what’s that to me?
Every sailor in the world knows me without a register!
-I was afraid of that. Do you want a job?
-No.
-Why?
-They made me lose my certainties.
-And where does this come from?
-Last year in Naples I stole a checkered suit, and since then I feel that I was born a gentleman. I decided that I won’t work anymore.
-Did you work before?
-No. But the decision was missing.
-let’s see. I need a ship-waiter and a stoker, otherwise I’ll get fired and I’ll have no job.
-Don’t worry. We could do that together! I’m an expert on those things.
-Keep your mouth shut… Here, in Port Suez I won’t find a waiter or a stoker until dawn. At that time the Honolulu Star will be sailing away. We are in season. So, listen here: I have the stoker’s and the waiter’s papers. Let’s stand in their place. You’d provide the work of those two. Rarely have I seen such a strong buffalo.
-Flattering won’t get you anywhere.
-Then perhaps something else. From here to Tahiti the payment of 2 people is a true, small fortune. You can earn the whole amount all by yourself. Half a day working as a stoker, half a day bussing tables. No one would know that the stoker and the waiter are one and the same person.
-And when could I sleep?
-Well, when we’ll arrive at Tahiti. If it sounds too much, 5 weeks that’s all. As far as receiving 2 persons’ payment. Well, are you coming? Look, they’re already making arrangements.
-You’re right. I accept.
-In the night, [you’ll be] Wilson Hutchins, an American stoker, and in the daytime [you’ll be] Jose Pombio, the Spanish waiter. Remember this! Do you speak Spanish?
-A few hors d’oeuvre names, but I somehow made myself understood with that.
-Where did you learn [to speak] the hors d’ oeuvre language?
-In Barcelona I used to work in a restaurant shop-window as a banner for a long time.
-What do you mean?!
-I sat there in the shop-window, between sausages and pies, from time to time I bowed, pointed to my stomach, and in the end a big smile followed, that lit up several light bulbs on my belly.
-That’s a good job.
-You only need brains and a gentlemanly appearance. I can smile fantastically! Hence my name: Jimmy Uptohisears.
-So?
-Let’s enter all three of us: Jose Pombio, Wilson Hutchins and Jimmy Uptohisears.
And he immediately followed his partner, who (from being close to death), rushed with a really surprising speed towards the docks.

[gsandi]

This is so well done, chris, I burst out laughing! You have a real knack for getting the feel of the original.

OK, now for details (you know I am a strict task-master, definitely not in the spirit of Modern Pedagogy):

OK, here it is. As usual, there are parts that my translation got a bit free, other parts that my translation was too close to the original, and -finally- some parts that remained untranslated, because I wasn't sure what on earth he was talking about! Here you go, Gábor, and PLEASE have mercy!

-I have to be careful because of my wound. Where (in which direction) do you want to go?
-I don’t know. I have no money, and no job.
- Let’s stay around here, because of the doctor. Gosh, I didn’t ask the restaurant-owner whether I could smoke my pipe (being) in such a serious condition. Can I risk it?
-Take it easy. Mi lehet belőle? (what can come out of it?)
-Nothing?
-Nothing in the world! At most you’ll die. That can happen anyway.
-That’s absolutely right. Well, listen here. I’m the crew-quarter manager on Honolulu Star. What’s your name?
-Jimmy Uptohisears.
-Why do you have such a stupid name?
-Because I love to laugh and someone pointed out that on such occasions I stretch my mouth up to my ears.
-You’re still sucking your mother’s milk. That’s rare (coming) from a big, bony (?) man. How old are you?
-21.

24 (huszonnégy)

-A teenager.
-Your family’s (Chris-gr: I know how to say this in Greek, but not in English.)
-Do you know stuff on boats?
-Silly question… I was twice on an expedition with capt. Byrd back when I was young.
-What’s your handwriting like?
-Flowing. I just don’t know all the capital letters. I learned to write from a crew-quarter manager!
-Idiot!
-It’s true! But rarely is one clever, because of a crew-quarter manager. [?]

This is hard to translate, I agree. It may be difficult to transmit the full flavour into English, you need the structure of Hungarian. But let's try:

- Flowing. I learned to write from a crew-quarter manager [there must be a better term for this, by the way, the English used to be a seafaring nation - quartermaster?]
- What an idiot!
- True. But quartermasters are rarely intelligent.

-What papers do you have?
-I resent the question!
-Szóval semmilyen írása sincs? (Chris-gr: I am completely lost here. I know what these words mean, individually, but I can’t understand the sentence as a whole!)

Are you trying to say that you have absolutely no papers? [Szóval, lit. with a word, is idiomatic for "That is to say"]

-It’s from the police!

Better: "I do have something from the police".

-That’s good!

- Well then, don’t worry about anything! I got a handwriting [?] from a ship-captain

From the police station [kapitányság, nothing to do with ship captains]

in Valparaiso that every day I must report myself to the inspector, and two hours later I couldn’t go out to the street. (Chris-gr: I don’t even understand this.)

After two o'clock (presumably a.m.)

-That’s not good!
-You can say that again! That’s why I came back from Valparaiso.

That's why I left Valparaiso.

-Are you in the sailors’ register?
-I don’t accept it.
-Has it been erased?
-If so, what’s that to me?

- I resent that.
- Has your name been erased (taken off)?
- If so, so what? Who are they to me?

Every sailor in the world knows me without a register!
-I was afraid of that. Do you want a job?
-No.
-Why?
-They made me lose my certainties.

I have lost my convictions.

-And where does this come from?
-Last year in Naples I stole a checkered suit, and since then I feel that I was born a gentleman. I decided that I won’t work anymore.
-Did you work before?
-No. But the decision was missing.

No. But the determination was missing.

-let’s see. I need a ship-waiter and a stoker, otherwise I’ll get fired and I’ll have no job.
-Don’t worry. We could do that together! I’m an expert on those things.
-Keep your mouth shut… Here, in Port Suez I won’t find a waiter or a stoker until dawn. At that time the Honolulu Star will be sailing away. We are in season. So, listen here: I have the stoker’s and the waiter’s papers. Let’s stand in their place.

You take their places.

You’d provide the work of those two. Rarely have I seen such a strong buffalo.
-Flattering won’t get you anywhere.
-Then perhaps something else. From here to Tahiti the payment of 2 people is a true, small fortune. You can earn the whole amount all by yourself. Half a day working as a stoker, half a day bussing tables. No one would know that the stoker and the waiter are one and the same person.
-And when could I sleep?

And when would I sleep?

-Well, when we’ll arrive at Tahiti. If it sounds too much, 5 weeks that’s all. As far as receiving 2 persons’ payment.

Until then you'd be receiving two peoples' pay

Well, are you coming? Look, they’re already making arrangements.
-You’re right.

It's fine.

I accept.
-In the night, [you’ll be] Wilson Hutchins, an American stoker, and in the daytime [you’ll be] Jose Pombio, the Spanish waiter. Remember this! Do you speak Spanish?
-A few hors d’oeuvre names, but I somehow made myself understood with that.
-Where did you learn [to speak] the hors d’ oeuvre language?
-In Barcelona I used to work in a restaurant shop-window as a banner for a long time.
-What do you mean?!
-I sat there in the shop-window, between sausages and pies, from time to time I bowed, pointed to my stomach, and in the end a big smile followed, that lit up several light bulbs on my belly.
-That’s a good job.
-You only need brains and a gentlemanly appearance. I can smile fantastically! Hence my name: Jimmy Uptohisears.
-So?
-Let’s enter all three of us: Jose Pombio, Wilson Hutchins and Jimmy Uptohisears.
And he immediately followed his partner, who (from being close to death), rushed with a really surprising speed towards the docks.

As I said, this is superbly done, congratulations as usual. I hope you are enjoying this, as I am. I'll post the next section as soon as I can.

[gsandi]

Chris, here is Chapter 3. This, I am sure, will be harder, because it's not dialogue any more, but - mostly - descriptions and narrative. There are quite a few idioms, some (or many) of which may not be in your dictionary. There are also compound verbs with the separable prefix coming after the verb - in such cases, I try to provide the proper infinitive.

----------------------------------------------------------
3.

Fülig Jimmy talpig világfi volt. Külsejére, modorára igen sokat adott, szerette a muzsikát, állandóan látogatta a filmszínházakat, és savanyúcukorkákat hordott magánál, mint a jótársaságbeli urak.

talpig = all the way to his soles (i.e. from top to bottom); világfi = man of the world; –ra/re adni = to pay attention to; filmszínház = cinema (today we normally say “mozi”); savanyúcukorka = sour candy; jótársaságbeli = belonging to “good society” [a somewhat dated term]

Feltűnő ismertetőjele volt, hogy szeretett mosakodni, amit senki sem értett. Szikár, vállas alakjához nem illett a kamaszosan sima arc, amely azonban csontos és széles volt, középen egy jókora szájjal és hatalmas fogakkal. Örökös vigyora nemegyszer tévedésbe ejtette azokat, akik kissé könnyelműen a külsejük után ítélik meg embertársaikat, és ezért a vigyorgó Jimmyt felületesen kezelték vagy kicsúfolták.

ismertetőjel = characteristic; vállas alak = “shouldery shape” (having broad shoulders); illeni = to fit; csontos = bony; jókora = large, very large; nemegyszer = quite a few times; tévedésbe ejteni = to mislead; kissé = slightly, a little bit; könnyelműen = without reflexion; itélik meg = 3rd person pl. indef. of megitélni = to judge; embertárs = fellow human being; kicsúfolni = to mock, make fun of.

Az ilyen emberek, felépülésük után, sokat gondolkodtak a látszat megtévesztő benyomásairól, és elhatározták, hogy a jövőben senkiről sem vonnak le következtetéseket alapos tájékozódás híján.

felépülés = recovery; látszat = appearances; megtévesztő = misleading; benyomás = impression; elhatározni = to decide; következtetést vonni = to draw conclusions; híján = without.

Különös ismeretsége a szállásmesterrel úgy kezdődött, hogy Fülig Jimmy a port said-i Elintéző nevű vendéglőben a vacsoráját fogyasztotta, és egy kis füzetkét olvasott. Szokása szerint aránylag úri külsővel tette ezt, ami nem vonatkozik gombhíjas, sárga kabátjára, tépett gyapjúingére, valamint harisnyáira sem. Az utóbbiakra már csak azért sem vonatkozhat, mert az egyiket négy év előtt Brüsszelben hagyta.

Elintéző = “taking care of” (I guess the best translation is. “The Enforcer”); füzetke = small exercise book; szokása szerint = according to his habit; vonatkozni ... –ra/re = concerning sg.; gombhíjas = lacking buttons; gyapjúing = woollen shirt; utóbbi = the latter.

Azonban a felső zsebéből egy selyem zsebkendő csücske kandikált ki, és a nyakából egy kifogástalan, finom mívű kerékpár-áttételen nyeles pápaszem, úgynevezett „lorgnon” függött, amit csak igen előkelő és idős úrhölgyek viselnek. Egyik kezével evett, a másikkal a lorgnont tartotta, és a korsónak támasztott könyvet olvasta, ami figyelemre méltó teljesítmény, ha tekintetbe vesszük, hogy Fülig Jimmynek kitűnő szeme volt, viszont a lorgnon üvege erősen nagyított.

Azonban = despite all that, however; csücske = 3rd pers. sing. possessive of csücsök = edge, tip; kandikálni = to gaze out of; finom-mívű = finely made; áttétel = (in this case: transmission); pápaszem = “pope’s eye” (old fashioned [or jocular] term for spectacles, glasses); evett = 3rd person sing. indef. past of enni = to eat; figyelemre méltó = worthy of attention; tekintetbe venni = to take in to consideration [vesszük = 1st person plural def. of venni]; viszont = however.

De az ember néha kénytelen kisebb-nagyobb áldozatot hozni az úri látszat kedvéért.

Közben az Elintézőben tartózkodó húszegynéhány matróz már jó tíz perce verekedett. De Fülig Jimmy csak akkor figyelt fel, amikor egy korsó a feje mellett tört szét a falon. Ekkor felállt, és erősen nagyító üvegein át körülnézve, hűvös figyelemre méltatta a társaságot.

Az ember = The man (in this case, the impersonal, like German mann); kénytelen = obliged (goes with ... áldozatot hozni = to make sacrifices) [NB: despite the very complex syntax, there is no formal finite verb in the phrase, since it would be the 3rd person sing. copula]; kedvéért = for the sake of; közben = meanwhile; húszegynéhány = somewhat more than 20; jó tíz perce = for a good 10 minutes; figyelt fel = from felfigyelni = to start paying attention; tört szét = from széttörni = to break apart; körülnézve = looking around; figyelemre méltatni = to ask for attention.

- A fejemre igen kényes vagyok, uraim - mondta pedáns szigorral -, tehát az ilyen ingerkedést lehetőleg mellőzzük.
Még be sem fejezte korholását, amikor a második korsó repült feléje úgy, hogy a vállát súrolta.

- A verekedésnek ezennel vége! - jelentette ki határozottan.

Kényes lenni ... –ra/re = to be rather particular about ...; ingerkedés = aggression, something upsetting; mellőzzük = imperative 1st person plural def. of mellőzni = to marginalize, do without [he is truly being pedantic, using almost legalistic language] ; be sem fejezte = he hadn't even finished; korholás = scolding; feléje = in his direction; úgy, hogy = in such a way that.

A többit tudjuk... Fülig Jimmy elkezdte kidobálni a verekedőket. Mire befejezte a nagytakarítást, vagy húsz ember feküdt ájultan szerteszét, és csak a Tahitibe készülő Honolulu-Star nevű luxushajó legényei tizenkét főnyi csoporttal képviseltették magukat aznap a port-szuezi közkórházban.

nagytakarítás = major cleaning out; vagy = (in this case) about; ájultan = unconscious(ly); szerteszét (all over the place); legény = young man, [in this case]: crew members; tizenkét főnyi = with twelve heads (meaning 12 men); képviseltetni = causative of képviselni, to represent; aznap = that same day.

(Közöttük José Pombio spanyol pincér és Wilson Hutchins amerikai fűtő.)
Ezek után kifizette a vacsoráját, leemelte az ájult kormányost a könyvéről, és elment. Csak a kése miatt jött ismét vissza, amikor is találkozott a szállásmesterrel.
És este már munkába állt egy hajón, két ember helyett, de dupla fizetésért. Boldog volt.
Ismét dolgozott!
Így jár, aki verekszik.

leemelni = to lift off; így jár = idiomatic for “this is what happens to”; munkába állni = to start work.

[chris-gr]

Thank you, Gábor, I'll start working on the 3. part right away!

[chris-gr]

...And here are my 2 words, hard enough to give me a pain in the neck:
feküd and verekszik , Also, one more question: How about me posting the Greek translation of a Hungarian poem (by Petőfi): would you like to try translating it back to its original?

[gsandi]

...And here are my 2 words, hard enough to give me a pain in the neck:
feküd and verekszik , Also, one more question: How about me posting the Greek translation of a Hungarian poem (by Petőfi): would you like to try translating it back to its original?

I am back from London, and you sure deserve my first contribution since then!

1. feküd - the only form I could find in the text is feküdt 'he lay (on the ground)', 3rd person sing. past indefinite of feküdni 'to be lying down'.

2. verekszik is 3rd person sing. indefinite of verekedni 'to fight (physically), the way kids do'

As for the Petöfi poem, I'll gladly do it, but what do you mean - find the original and post it, or try to translate it as an exercise in the style of the polyglottal telephone? If the latter, well, OK, let's give it a try, but I think I would lean a lot more if I tried my hand at translating some historical or linguistic text from Greek, or even the Athens trolleybus timetable. Translating poetry is dreadfully hard, in my experience.

[chris-gr]

OK, here it is, Gábor! As usual there are mistakes (not too many, I hope), and I’ll be waiting for my next assignment.


Jimmy Uptohisears was from top to bottom a man of the world. He really paid attention to his appearance and his manners, loved music, permanently attended movie-theaters, and carried sour candy with him, just like men belonging to ‘good society’.
His striking characteristic was that he liked to wash, which no one understood. The adolescent-like smooth face with a large mouth and huge teeth in the middle, didn’t match with his lean, shouldery shape, which however was bony and broad. His never-ending smile mislead quite a few times those that judge their fellow human beings byt heir appearance without reflection, and for this reason they treated smiling Jimmy superficially or made fun of him.
Such people, after their recovery, thought of his impression to be misleading and decided that in the future they won’t draw conclusions for anyone without deep information.
His unusual acquaintance with the quarters-manager started [like this] when Jimmy Uptohisears was having his dinner at the Port Said restaurant ‘The Enforcer’, and was reading a small exercise book. According to his habit, he did this with a relatively gentlemanly appearance, which didn’t concern his buttonless yellow jacket, his ripped woolen shirt as well as his stockings. It couldn’t possibly concern the latter because he had left one of them 4 years ago in Brussels.
Despite all that, a silk handkerchief gazed out of the upper pocket and from his neck was hanging an unobjectionably finely-made pair of spectacles with a handle resembling to a bicycle-transmission, a so-called lorgnon, which only fashionable and old ladies wear.
He was eating with one hand –with the other he was holding the lorgnon— and read the book which was leaning against the jug, an accomplishment worthy of attention, if we’d take into consideration that Jimmy Uptohisears had excellent eyes, however greatly magnified by the lorgnon glasses.
But one is sometimes obliged to make bigger or smaller sacrifices for the sake of gentlemanly appearance.
Meanwhile, somewhat more than 20 sailors living in The Enforcer were brawling for a good 10 minutes. But Jimmy started paying attention only when a jug whizzed past his head and crashed on the wall. At this time he stood up and, looking around through his glasses, asked in a cold manner for the group’s attention.
“I’m rather sensitive about my head, gentlemen”, he said with profound strictness, “consequently we should preferably marginalize such aggression”.
He hadn’t even finished scolding when another jug was sent flying towards him and brushed by his shoulder.
“That’s the end of this fight!”, he declared firmly.

We know the rest… Jimmy Uptohisears began throwing out the fussers. By the time he had finished the major cleaning out, about 20 men were lying down unconscious all over the place, and only a 12-meber group of the luxurious boat Honolulu Star, preparing for Tahiti [?], was made to represent them that same day at the Port Suez community hospital. (The Spanish waiter Jose Pombio and the American stoker Wilson Hutchins being among them.)
After this, he paid for his dinner, lifted the unconscious steersman off his book and walked away. He came back once more for his knife and then he met the quarters-manager.
In the evening he started working on a ship, in the place of two people –but for double payment.
He was happy.
He was working again!
This is what happens to those that fight.

[gsandi]

OK, here it is, Gábor! As usual there are mistakes (not too many, I hope), and I’ll be waiting for my next assignment.

I can't believe how fast you work, Chris. May I ask how many languages can you do this from?

You got the story right 100%. I am making small corrections below, if you look at the original text you'll probably see where the problems come from. As is usual in highly inflected languages, it is sometimes hard to see what goes with what - my brief excursions into Classical Greek taught me that (as do my present struggles with Japanese).

-------------------------

Jimmy Uptohisears was from top to bottom a man of the world. He really paid attention to his appearance and his manners, loved music, permanently attended movie-theaters, and carried sour candy with him, just like men belonging to ‘good society’.
His striking characteristic was that he liked to wash, which no one understood. The adolescent-like smooth face with a large mouth and huge teeth in the middle, didn’t match with his lean, shouldery shape, which however was bony and broad.

Actually, it was his face that was bony and broad, unless I misread your English syntax!

I know from similar constructions in Japanese, however, how hard it can be to disambiguate compound sentences of this kind!

His never-ending smile mislead quite a few times those that judge their fellow human beings byt heir appearance without reflection, and for this reason they treated smiling Jimmy superficially or made fun of him.
Such people, after their recovery, thought of his impression to be misleading and decided that in the future they won’t draw conclusions for anyone without deep information.
His unusual acquaintance with the quarters-manager started [like this] when Jimmy Uptohisears was having his dinner at the Port Said restaurant ‘The Enforcer’, and was reading a small exercise book. According to his habit, he did this with a relatively gentlemanly appearance, which didn’t concern his buttonless yellow jacket, his ripped woolen shirt as well as his stockings. It couldn’t possibly concern the latter because he had left one of them 4 years ago in Brussels.
Despite all that, a silk handkerchief gazed out of the upper pocket and from his neck was hanging an unobjectionably finely-made pair of spectacles with a handle resembling to a bicycle-transmission,

I actually read this as if the lorgnon was actually hanging on a bicycle chain (or transmission) from his neck.

a so-called lorgnon, which only fashionable and old ladies wear.
He was eating with one hand –with the other he was holding the lorgnon— and read the book which was leaning against the jug, an accomplishment worthy of attention, if we’d take into consideration that Jimmy Uptohisears had excellent eyes, however greatly magnified by the lorgnon glasses.

… and the lorgnon glasses produced a great degree of magnification [which is why reading like this was quite an achievement]

But one is sometimes obliged to make bigger or smaller sacrifices for the sake of gentlemanly appearance.
Meanwhile, somewhat more than 20 sailors living

… present … (why would the sailors live there?). tartózkodni = to stay, to be present [to everyone’s bitter mirth, the Red Army was usually described in Hungary as “A hazánkban ideiglesen tartózkodó szovjet csapatok” = “The Soviet troops temporarily staying in our country”]

in The Enforcer were brawling for a good 10 minutes. But Jimmy started paying attention only when a jug whizzed past his head and crashed on the wall. At this time he stood up and, looking around through his glasses, asked in a cold manner for the group’s attention.

… looking around through his greatly magnifying glasses, he asked the company for cool [i.e. formal] attention

"I’m rather sensitive about my head, gentlemen”, he said with profound strictness, “consequently we should preferably marginalize such aggression".
He hadn’t even finished scolding when another jug was sent flying towards him and brushed by his shoulder.
"That’s the end of this fight!", he declared firmly.

We know the rest… Jimmy Uptohisears began throwing out the fussers. By the time he had finished the major cleaning out, about 20 men were lying down unconscious all over the place, and only a 12-member group of the luxurious boat Honolulu Star, preparing for Tahiti [?], was made to represent them that same day at the Port Suez community hospital.

… and the luxury ship Honolulu Star alone was represented by 12 crew members in the hospital

(The Spanish waiter Jose Pombio and the American stoker Wilson Hutchins being among them.)
After this, he paid for his dinner, lifted the unconscious steersman off his book and walked away. He came back once more for his knife and then he met the quarters-manager.
In the evening he started working on a ship, in the place of two people –but for double payment.
He was happy.
He was working again!
This is what happens to those that fight.

-------------------------

I'll send the next chapter your way before the weekend is out, I hope!

[gsandi]

Chris, if we are ever in Budapest at the same time, here is where we should meet: http://www.piszkos-fred.hu/

(it even sells ouzo!)

Now for the meat of the matter

Chapter I, Section 4, Part 1 (it would be too long otherwise, we'll do Part 2 next):

---------

A Honolulu-Star New York kikötőjéből indult Gibraltáron és a Szuezi-csatornán át San Franciscóba, India és a csendes-óceáni szigetek érintésével. A világ leghosszabb járatú luxushajója volt, szeszélyes milliomosok, világhírű filmsztárok és elkényeztetett hamiskártyások igényeinek megfelelő berendezéssel.

Járat = route
Szeszélyes = spoiled, picky
Elkényeztetni = to spoil
Hamiskártyás = card cheater
Igény = requirement, need

A szalonban előkelő, finom emberek unatkoztak naphosszat, kisebb csoportokban. A vacsorákat csodás estélyi ruhák és ékszerek felvonulása tette ünnepélyessé. Szertartásos vidámság, udvarias barátkozás, megjegyzések időről, tengerészeti szakkérdésekről, a gépekről, a hajózásról és mindenféléről, amihez nem is konyítottak; ez jelentette a társas életet.

Unatkozni = to be bored
Naphosszat = all day long
Estélyi ruha = evening dress
Szertartásos = ceremonial
Szakkérdés = specialized knowledge
Konyítani = to understand (somewhat jocular; valamihez konyítani = to have some knowledge of the matter)
Társas élet = social life

A bárban halk, finom dzsessz, pezsgő, hollandi ginevre és angol whisky. Egy-egy durvább egyéniségű milliomos, az indiai ültetvényesek közül, olykor mulat, ami abból áll, hogy dalszövegeket ordít, és egy pezsgősvödörrel a fején vezényli a zenekart.

Angol = (probably Scotch; like many continentals, Hungarians tend to call all British people English)
Durvább egyéniségű = rougher type (person)
Ültetvényes = plantation owner
Dalszöveg = lyric (of song)
Pezsgősvödör = Bucket of champagne
Vezényelni = to conduct (an orchestra)

Ezt a többiek megszólják. És kissé irigylik.

Megszólni = to criticize

Aztán elérik a Vörös-tengert, ahol a kisebb flörtök és nagyobb szabású tengeribetegségek poetikus időszaka következik.

Elérni = to reach
Nagyobb szabású = of larger importance
Tengeribetegség = seasickness

José, a pincér mindenkihez szolgálatkész, tréfás, és különös kézügyességével szeret tüntetni. Sajnos olykor mérsékelt jó szerencsével. A zsonglőrök rossz szelleme üldözi. Előfordul, hogy valamelyik hölgyre mosolyog, és mintegy oda sem nézve, könnyedén tölti a teát, de közben, hogy, hogy nem, a forró vízsugár egy idős úr kopasz fejére ömlik. Ebből nagy botrány lesz, és néhányan a spanyol pincér azonnali távozását követelik a kapitánytól. De a családapák minden tekintélyüket latba vetve pártfogásukba veszik, mert a gyerekek sokat mulatnak azon, hogy Fülig Jimmy leönti az utasokat. És mi az, amit nem tesz meg egy szülő a gyermekéért?

Szolgálatkész = helpful
Kézügyesség = manual dexterity
Szeret tüntetni (valamivel) = He loves showing off (with something)
Olykor = at times
Zsonglőr = juggler
Mintegy = somewhat
Oda sem nézve = Not even looking that way
Könnyedén = lightly
Hogy, hogy nem = we can have no idea how
Vízsugár = water stream
Botrány = scandal
Családapa = Père de famille, father (of a family)
Latba vetve = using (all their influence)
Pártfogásba venni = To support, prop up
Leönteni = to pour all over

Ezzel szemben lenn a kazánházban Wilson Hutchins (az amerikai fűtő) olykor állva aludt mint a lovak, és amikor felriadt, meleg húsokat húzott elő a belső zsebéből. Mire elérték a Bab el Mandeb-szorost, már képes volt enni is álmában.

Ezzel szemben = On the other hand [lit.: in the eye of this]
Felriadni = to wake up suddenly
Előhúzni = to pull out of
Képes lenni = to be able to

A főgépész félt tőle, mert azt hitte, hogy megszállott. Egy arab fűtő végét akarta vetni ennek az állapotnak, és beledöfött Hutchinsba a lapáttal, de ezt nem fogja tenni többé, mert azóta olyan az orra, mint egy különleges formájú burgonya.

Megszállott = Insane, obsessed person
Végét … vetni = To end (a situation)
Beledöfni = to poke (into something or somebody)

Így álltak a dolgok Adennál. Aden után fenn az étteremben José, a pincér aluszékonysága tűnt fel. A főgépész a kazánház lépcsőfeljárójánál állva hallotta, amikor az első tiszt jelentette a kapitánynak, hogy José pincér folyton álmos.

Aluszékonyság = tendency to fall asleep (narcolepsy?)
Feltűnni = to be noticed
Lépcsőfeljáró = staircase
Első tiszt = First officer

A gépész erre szerényen megjegyezte, hogy Wilson Hutchins, az egyik fűtő is állandóan alszik, és úgy véli, hogy valahol egy cecelégy lehet a hajón, amely ezeket a szórványos álomkór eseteket okozza.

Szerényen = modestly
Cecelégy = tsetse fly
Szórványos = sporadic

A kapitány szerint a gépész hülye volt a pálinkaivástól, ami elég kézenfekvő feltevésnek látszott ahhoz, hogy a tiszt is elfogadja.

Pálinkaivás = brandy drinking
Kézenfekvő = evident, obvious

Mr. Irving, a hajó legkülönösebb utasa őszintén szívébe zárta Josét, a sorsüldözött zsonglőrt és álomkórgyanús pincért. Mr. Irving nem lehetett idősebb húszévesnél, de annyinak sem látszott. Szmokingban úgy hatott, mint valami leány. Szép, gömbölyű szemöldöke, csodálkozó, nagy fekete szeme, szabályos, finom arca meghatóan kisfiús volt. Alig beszélt, olyankor is halkan, udvariasan szólt, és nem érintkezett senkivel, leszámítva az első közös étkezés szokványos bemutatkozását.

Szívbe zárni = to take someone into one’s heart, to take a liking to
Sorsüldözött = victim of fate
Álomkórgyanús = suspected of sleeping sickness
Szmoking = Evening dress, tuxedo
Hatni = to give the impression of
Szokványos = usual

Csakis Mr. Gould társaságában mutatkozott a hajón. Ezt a Gouldot szívből gyűlölték az utasok. Kövér, óriási, ősz ember volt, és mindenki úgy érezte, hogy zsarnokoskodik a bájos fiatalember felett. Pedig oly csendes, oly szomorúan előkelő volt ez az ifjú, mint aki papnak készül, vagy mély gyászban van.

Zsarnokoskodni = to behave tyrannically
Gyászban lenni = to be in mourning

Penang előtt furcsa esete volt vele Josénak. A kikötőből egy maláj óriás jött a fedélzetre. Bilincset tört, szöget evett, és izmait játszatta néhány fillérért. Hatalmas izmai voltak. Később a japán dzsiudzsicu birkózás fogásait mutatta be a matrózoknak. José ott szaladgált fel-le a lépcsőkön, frissítővel, tortával, de valamelyik rosszul kiszámított, nagy ívű, kecses mozdulata révén a sétafedélzetről pontosan az erőművész fejére pottyant egy habostorta.

Dzsiudzsicu = jiu jitsu
Erőművész = strongman, muscleman
Pottyanni = to drop on something or somebody (usually sg. of small weight)

A maláj hörögve kaparta magáról a csokoládés habot, csattogtatta hatalmas fogait, és végül lovagias mosollyal fojtva el dühét, közölte, hogy Josét szétmorzsolná, ha nem lenne tekintettel az előkelő környezetre.

Szétmorzsolni = to tear apart into pieces
Tekintettel lenni = to take into consideration

A spanyol pincér igen erélyes hangon többféle előétel nevét kiáltotta oda a bennszülöttnek, amitől az érthetően felbőszült.

Felbőszülni = to become extremely angry

- M'Bisung! Glonga! Bon-Bon! - hörögte a maláj.

- Omlette... à la Sevilla! - üvöltötte José.

- Sihungi! Mizonga dzur bsefár!

- Olla potrida! - idézte a pincér transzparens korából, és lerohant. Ott állt lihegve a maláj előtt, és az utasok, boldogan a sok egyhangúság után, mindenfelől összecsődültek.

Összecsődülni = to come together (from many directions)

----------------------------------

This should last until Christmas!

[chris-gr]

Thank you Gábor, I'll post my attempt within 10-15 days or so. Until then, merry christmas to you and your family

[chris-gr]

5 weeks later... here it is!

The Honolulu Star sailed from the New York port through Gibraltar and the Suez canal to San Francisco, with a few stops to India and the islands of the Pacific Ocean. The luxury boat had the world’s longest route as well as the appropriate furnishing to the requirements of picky millionaires, world-famous film stars and spoiled card cheaters.
In the lounge, refined people of high rank were getting bored all day long in smaller groups. The marvelous evening dresses and jewelry turned the dinners into celebrations. Ceremonial bliss, courteous acquaintances, comments on the weather, on maritime trivia, on the machinery, on sailing and on everything they had no idea about; this is what social life meant.
In the bar, mellow, fine jazz, champagne, Dutch ginevre and Scotch whisky. A millionaire of a rougher type, one of the Indian plantation owners, from time to time was amused by screaming the lyrics and by conducting the band with a champagne-bucket on his head. The others frowned upon this. And envied him a bit.
After that, they had reached the Red Sea, where flirtations of smaller importance, and seasickness of a greater one, follow the poetic period.
Jose, the waiter, is helpful to everybody, amusing, and loves showing off with his strange manual dexterity. Unfortunately, at times he had a moderately good luck. The jugglers pursued his bad attitude. He was smiling to one of the ladies and, while not even looking that way, he was pouring lightly the tea, when –we can have no idea how- the boiling water stream went on an old man’s bald head. This created a big scandal and several people demanded the Spanish waiter’s immediate exit from the captain. But the fathers using all their influence supported him, because their children had enjoyed greatly that Jimmy Uptohisears was pouring stuff all over the passengers. And is there anything a parent wouldn’t do for his children?
On the other hand, down to the boiler room, Wilson Hutchins, the American stoker, sometimes was sleeping standing like horses do, and when woke up would pull out of his inside pocket some hot meat. By the time they arrived at the Bab el Mandeb strait, he was already able to eat while sleeping.
The chief-engineer was afraid of him, because he thought that he was insane. An Arab stoker wanted to end this situation, and poked Hutchinson with a shovel, but this wouldn’t do anything more, because since then his nose was like a strangely-shaped potato.
That’s how things went to Aden. After Aden, upstairs in the restaurant everyone noticed Jose’s tendency to fall asleep. The chief-engineer standing on the boiler-room staircase, heard it when the first officer reported to the captain that Jose the waiter was constantly sleepy.
The engineer modestly commented on this, that Wilson Hutchins one of the stokers was also constantly sleeping, and guessed that there must be a tsetse fly somewhere on the boat, which gave rise to these sporadic sleeping disease cases.
According to the captain the engineer got stupid from all his brandy drinking, which this sufficiently evident assumption could be seen, so even the officer accepted it. [Too unnatural, I know]
Mr. Irving, the ship’s most special passenger had sincerely taken in his heart Jose, the victim-of-fate juggler and the suspected of sleeping disease waiter. Mr. Irving couldn’t be older that 20 years old, but he didn’t even look as much. In a tuxedo, he gave the impression of a young lady. His nice, round eyebrows, his wondering big black eyes, his symmetrical fine face was like a little boy’s. He hardly spoke, and on such occasions he did it softly and politely. And he didn’t have any contacts with anyone, calculating the first common meal’s introductions.
He only appeared on the ship in Mr. Gould’s company. The passengers loathed this Mr. Gould’s guts. He was a fat, huge, old man and everyone felt that he behaved tyrannically over the charming young man. But this young man was so silent, so tragically illustrious, like someone who is preparing to become a priest, or is in deep mourning.
Before Penang, a strange event happened to Jose. A Malay giant came from the harbor on the deck. He played with his broken hand-duffs the eaten fringes and his muscles for a few pennies. They were some huge muscles. Later on he presented to the sailors his technique on the Japanese wrestling called jiu-jitsu. Jose was running up and down the stairs with refreshments and a cake, but one of them through a graceful large-arched movement dropped on the strong artist’s head a cream-cake.
The Malayan rattling cleaned the chocolate cream off himself, he ground his huge teeth and in the end gulping back his rage with a gallant smile, he announced that he would have torn Jose into pieces if he hadn’t taken into consideration the illustrious environment.
The Spanish waiter, with a really loud voice called the native guy a lot of hors-d’oeuvre names, from which it became clear that he was extremely angry.
-M’Bisung! Glonga! Bon-Bon! –rattled the Malay.
-Omlette… a la Sevilla! –howled Jose.
-Sihungi ! Mizonga dzur bsefar !
-Olla potrida ! –quoted the waiter from his banner-period and ran. He stood there gasping for breath in front of the Malayan guy, and the passengers –after so much dullness- gladly gathered around from all directions.

[gsandi]

5 weeks later... here it is!

Excellent work as usual. My (meager) corrections and occasional commentary:

The Honolulu Star sailed from the New York port through Gibraltar and the Suez canal to San Francisco, with a few stops to India and the islands of the Pacific Ocean. The luxury boat had the world’s longest route as well as the appropriate furnishing to the requirements of picky millionaires, world-famous film stars and spoiled card cheaters.

In the lounge, refined people of high rank were getting bored all day long in smaller groups. The marvelous evening dresses and jewelry turned the dinners into celebrations. Ceremonial bliss, courteous acquaintances,

udvarias barátkozás = polite making of friends

comments on the weather, on maritime trivia, on the machinery, on sailing and on everything they had no idea about; this is what social life meant.

In the bar, mellow, fine jazz, champagne, Dutch ginevre and Scotch whisky. A millionaire of a rougher type,

egy-egy ... milliomos = a couple of millionaires (or a few, one or two), from among the Indian planters

, from time to time was amused

mulat = has fun (the kind people have in bars, nightclubs and the like)

, by screaming the lyrics and by conducting the band with a champagne-bucket on his head. The others frowned upon this. And envied him a bit.

After that, they had reached the Red Sea, where flirtations of smaller importance, and seasickness of a greater one, follow the poetic period.

José, the waiter, is helpful to everybody, amusing, and loves showing off with his strange manual dexterity.

különös = special, noteworthy

Unfortunately, at times he had a moderately good luck. The jugglers pursued his bad attitude.

He is pursued by the bad luck of jugglers.

He was smiling to one of the ladies and, while not even looking that way, he was pouring lightly the tea, when –we can have no idea how- the boiling water stream went on an old man’s bald head.

úr = gentleman (not a mistake, but to emphasize that this was one of the passengers, and not just any man)

, This created a big scandal and several people demanded the Spanish waiter’s immediate exit from the captain. But the fathers using all their influence supported him, because their children had enjoyed greatly that Jimmy Uptohisears was pouring stuff all over the passengers. And is there anything a parent wouldn’t do for his children?

On the other hand, down to the boiler room, Wilson Hutchins, the American stoker, sometimes was sleeping standing like horses do, and when woke up would pull out of his inside pocket some hot meat. By the time they arrived at the Bab el Mandeb strait, he was already able to eat while sleeping.

The chief-engineer was afraid of him, because he thought that he was insane. An Arab stoker wanted to end this situation, and poked Hutchinson with a shovel, but this [he] wouldn’t do anything more, because since then his nose was like a strangely-shaped potato.

That’s how things went to Aden. After Aden, upstairs in the restaurant everyone noticed Jose’s tendency to fall asleep. The chief-engineer standing on the boiler-room staircase, heard it when the first officer reported to the captain that Jose the waiter was constantly sleepy.

The engineer modestly commented on this, that Wilson Hutchins one of the stokers was also constantly sleeping, and guessed that there must be a tsetse fly somewhere on the boat, which gave rise to these sporadic sleeping disease cases.

According to the captain the engineer got stupid from all his brandy drinking, which this sufficiently evident assumption could be seen, so even the officer accepted it. [Too unnatural, I know]

Mr. Irving, the ship’s most special passenger,

legkülönösebb = strangest

had sincerely taken in his heart Jose, the victim-of-fate juggler and the suspected of sleeping disease waiter. Mr. Irving couldn’t be older that 20 years old, but he didn’t even look as much. In a tuxedo, he gave the impression of a young lady.

valami lány = some (kind of a) girl. "young lady" is not wrong, but that would be "fiatal hölgy", normally. Basically, Mr Irving looked quite feminine.

His nice, round eyebrows, his wondering big black eyes, his symmetrical fine face was like a little boy’s. He hardly spoke, and on such occasions he did it softly and politely. And he didn’t have any contacts with anyone, calculating the first common meal’s introductions.

leszámítva = excluding
szokványos = habitual, usual
(i.e. he had no contact with anyone, except for the normal introductions at the first common meal)

He only appeared on the ship in Mr. Gould’s company. The passengers loathed this Mr. Gould’s guts. He was a fat, huge, old man and everyone felt that he behaved tyrannically over the charming young man. But this young man was so silent, so tragically illustrious, like someone who is preparing to become a priest, or is in deep mourning.

Before Penang, a strange event happened to Jose. A Malay giant came from the harbor on the deck. He played with his broken hand-cuffs the eaten fringes and his muscles for a few pennies.

He broke (out of) handcuffs, he ate nails, he played (i.e. showed off) his muscles for a few pennies.

They were some huge muscles. Later on he presented to the sailors his technique on the Japanese wrestling called jiu-jitsu. Jose was running up and down the stairs with refreshments and a cake,

Tricky language, Hungarian, with singulars. Tortával = with cakes (you don't have to pluralize it, but it's clearly not just one cake - if it was, it would be "egy tortával")

but one of them through a graceful large-arched movement dropped on the strong artist’s head a cream-cake.

The Malayan, rattling, cleaned the chocolate cream off himself, he ground his huge teeth and in the end gulping back his rage with a gallant smile, he announced that he would have torn Jose into pieces if he hadn’t taken into consideration the illustrious environment.

The Spanish waiter, with a really loud voice called the native guy a lot of hors-d’oeuvre names, from which it became clear that he was extremely angry.

No, it's the Malay who became angry, for understandable reasons

-M’Bisung! Glonga! Bon-Bon! –rattled the Malay.
-Omlette… a la Sevilla! –howled Jose.
-Sihungi ! Mizonga dzur bsefar !
-Olla potrida ! –quoted the waiter from his banner-period and ran.

lerohant = he ran downstairs (in fact, even faster, as rohanni = to run (or hurry) (very fast) is faster than futni (to run))

He stood there gasping for breath in front of the Malayan guy, and the passengers –after so much dullness- gladly gathered around from all directions.

--------------

Chris, just one question: are you gathering these translations together? This is valuable stuff, one of us should archive the texts. They may disappear from the board, I don't know how long they are kept.

I shall proceed with the next instalment when I can.

[gsandi]

Next instalment:

Fenn a korlátnál állt Mr. Irving, szokott szomorúságával, és lenézett unott, közömbös arccal.

fenn = fent = up above
unott = bored
közömbös = uncaring

A maláj megvillogtatta fehér fogait. Ismét mosolygott.

villogtatni = to flash (something)

- Mit ez akar gyenge fehér... Én megenni őt...

An attempt at Pidgin Hungarian

- Hát csak fogj hozzá - mondta José.

fogj hozzá = imperative of hozzáfogni - to get going, to start

- Én nem ütni! Hindu önvédelem... Te üss oda teljes erődből. Én csak kivédeni.

- Az nem lesz jó... - szabadkozott José.

szabadkozni = to be reluctant to do sg.

- Te ütni! Fogás biztos, gyors, úgysem találni.

fogás = grabbing something or somebody

- Hát jó. Mehet?

- Mehet.

Fülig Jimmy kíváncsi volt a fogásra. Biztos dzsiudzsicu.

kiváncsi = curious

- Na ütni! - sürgette a maláj. - Lesz meglepetés!

Csakugyan nagy meglepetést okozott. Mert hogy valaki egyetlen pofontól valóságos szaltót csináljon, négy utast és több kisasztal málnaszörpöt felborítson, az igazán meglepő .

málnaszörp = raspberry syrup (a Hungarian specialty, unlikely to be served on a British cruise ship in the 1930s, but waht the hell...)

felborítson = 3rd person sing. indefinite optative of felborítani = to topple

A maláj orrán, száján, fülén dőlt a vér, és a jobb szemétől a szája széléig felrepedt a bőre. Így pihegett kissé elterülve, miközben a négy utas állandóan sürgette, hogy keljen fel róluk.

pihegni = to pant, gasp

Ezalatt José aludt egy keveset. Állva. Mint egy idős paripa. A maláj ordítva ugrott fel.

Ezalatt = meanwhile
paripa = steed, racehorse

- Nem számít! Te lenni balkezes! Én várni ütés jobbról.

Pidgin again. It should be: Nem számit! Te balkezes vagy. Jobbról vártam az ütést.

José vállat vont.

- Nem lehet minden pofon mellé egy forgalmi rendőrt állítani.

vállat vonni = to shrug one's shoulders
forgalmi rendõr = traffic cop

- Ütni agyon... téged!

Pidgin. Should be: Agyon ütlek (I bash your brains out, normally means: I kill you)

Nekirohant. José kissé hátrált, mert a maláj ragadt a málnaszörptől, és a pincér féltette a szép, aranygombos ruháját. Gyorsan elhelyezett egy horogütést, hogy az első támadó hevet lefékezze. Aztán kibújt egy balkezes egyenes alatt, és könnyedén felütötte a bennszülött állát.

hátrálni = to back up
félteni = to fear for something
horogütés = a hook (as in boxing)
hevet = acc. of hõ 'heat'
lefékezze = 3rd person sing. def. present of lefékezni = to brake

Ekkor egy rúgás érte.

Szabálytalan, pimasz, sportszerűtlen rúgás. Fülig Jimmyt elöntötte az indulat, és szörnyűt kiáltott:

pimasz = impertinent
sportszerûtlen = unsportsmanlike
az indulat elönt = emotions overwhelm

- Insalade fritte... à la Escorreal!

Ettől mindenkiben meghűlt a vér. Tisztában voltak vele, hogy az ókori mór hódítóktól származó esküvést hallották, amelyet spanyol ifjak csak olyankor hangoztatnak, ha élet-halál küzdelemre szánják magukat.

tisztában lenni ... -val/vel = to be certain of sg.
ókori = ancient
mór = Moorish (there were hardly Moors in ancient times, but people around are ignorant)
hódító = conqueror
hangoztatni = to assert, declare
magát szánni = to get ready for sg.

És ugrott!

Könyökhajlásba kapta a maláj nyakát, és a dereka mellé szorította. A bennszülött bivalyszerű, fekete nyakizmai kidagadtak az erőfeszítéstől, és...

könyökhajlás = the bend in the arm opposite the elbow
bivalyszerû = buffalo-like
nyakizom = muscle in the neck

És ekkor Fülig Jimmy véletlenül felpillantott a sétafedélzetre. Amit látott, attól kishíján elengedte a malájt meglepetésében.

felpillantani = to glance upwards
sétafedélzet = walking deck, promenade

Mr. Irving, a korlátra könyökölve, odavágott feléje a szeme sarkából biztatóan, pajtásosan, mintha azt mondaná, hogy: "Rajta! Tanítsd meg!"

pajtás = comrade, friend, pal; pajtásosan - like a friend
mondaná = 3rd person sing. possessive of the infinitive mondani 'to say'

José egyet csavart a nyakon, egyet emelt térdével a gyomron, amitől a bennszülött messze repült és akkorát zuhant, roppant testének teljes hosszában, hogy a hajó beleremegett.

roppanni = to crack

Valamennyi szemlélő önkéntelen tapsba tört ki. A malájt, mint ledöfött bikát az arénából, a lábainál fogva kihurcolták a porondról.

önkéntelen = involuntarily
taps = clapping
kitörni = to break out; but in this case: to suddenly start doing sg.

José, mint egy fáradt hegedűművész, könnyed mosollyal hajlongott, szorongatta a saját kezét, csókokat hintett, de véletlenül nekihátrált a büfének, amely állványostól felborult, és a társaság felét lefröcskölte jeges italokkal.

hegedûmûvész = violinist
könnyed = slight, léger
hajlongani = to bow (several times)
szorongatni = to press, squeeze
csókot hinteni = to throw kisses
lefröcskölni = to spray (all over)

...Csengő, vidám, kellemes kacagás hangzott a magasból. Mindenki felnézett. Mr. Irving nevetett a korlátnál. De ekkor megjelent a nevelő roppant alakja, és a tiszta gyerekhang nyomban elhalt. A fiatalember komoran, előkelően távozott.

kacagás = hearty laughter
korlát = barrier
jelenni = to appear
nevelõ = tutor
komor = serious, gloomy

- Őrült alak ez a pincér, de férfi - jegyezte meg a kapitány. És a körszakállas, vörös képű szállásmester felé fordult. - Tudja maga, hogy milyen kemény kezű fiú ez?

alak = person, guy, fellow
megjegyezni = to note, to mention
körszakállas = with a round beard

- Én tudom - felelte szomorúan a szállásmester, de erről nem mondott bővebbet.

bõvebb = comparative of bõ (loose, as of clothing), but in this case: more at length

[chris-gr]

Chris, just one question: are you gathering these translations together? This is valuable stuff, one of us should archive the texts. They may disappear from the board, I don't know how long they are kept.

Yes, I am
And once again, thank you for your help. If I've learned anything about this wonderful language, it's because of you, sir! I'll start with the new installment right away.

/A CLOSE-TO-DEMENTIA-PRAECOX EPILOGUE: I'm so happy!!

[chris-gr]

As usual, the translation was too loose on some points and too 'faithful' on some others. Well, here it is!

Up above the handrail stood Mr. Irving, with his usual sadness, and looked down with a bored, uncaring face. The Malayan flashed his white teeth. Once again he smiled.
-What this weak white want… I eat him…
-Well, get going already! said Jose.
-I not hit! Hinduism self-defense… You hit with all your might. I only hold ground.
Jose was reluctant: “That won’t be good…”
-You hit! Grab sure, fast, not hit target.
-Well, OK. Can I?
-You can.
Jimmy Uptohisears was curious about the grasp. Jiu-jitsu certainly.
“Well hit!” hurried the Malayan, “it will be a surprise!”
And it really caused a great deal of surprise. Because with just a single slap in the face to do a real somersault, and topple four passengers and even more tables with raspberry syrup –that was truly astonishing.
The Malayan was bleeding in his nose, mouth and ear and from his right eye down to his mouth-corner his skin was torn. So he was lightly gasping lying down, while the four passengers were constantly urging him to get up off them.
Meanwhile, Jose fell asleep a bit. Standing. Like an old steed. The Malayan jumped up screaming.
-Doesn’t matter! You left-hander. I was expecting the hit from right.
Jose shrugged his shoulders.
-We can’t have a traffic policeman next to every slap.
-I kill you!
He ran towards him. Jose backed up a little, because the Malayan grasped the raspberry syrup, and the waiter was worried about his fancy, golden-buttoned clothes. He did a ‘hook’ fast to brake the arising heat. After that, he came out of a left direct and easily hit the native’s chin.
At this time came a kick for him.
And it was an unfair, impertinent, unsportsmanlike kick. Jimmy Uptohisears was emotionally overwhelmed and cried the dreadful [words]:
-Insalade fritte.. a la Escorreal!
From this, everyone’s blood froze. They were certain that they had heard swear-words dating from the ancient Moorish conquerors, that young Spanish men assert only on such occasions, when they get ready for a life-or-death fight.
And he jumped! He did the Malayan guy a headlock and grasped his waist. The native’s buffalo-like, dark, neck-muscles were swollen because of the effort, and…
… And then Jimmy Uptohisears accidentally glanced upwards to the walking deck. What he saw almost made him let the Malayan go because of his astonishment.
Mr. Irving, with his elbows on the handrail, cast a glance to him in an encouraging, friendly way, as if he was saying “Go! Teach him a lesson!”
Jose twisted his neck, hit with his knee his stomach, which made the native fly away and fall at full length with his huge body that made the ship shake up.
Suddenly all of those watching started clapping involuntarily. The Malayan, like a stabbed bull in the arena, was dragged in the ring by his legs.
Jose, like an exhausted violinist, bowed with a slight smile, squeezed his own hand, threw kisses, but accidentally went a few steps behind and the buffet fell over and sprayed the whole gathering with frozen beverages.
Tinkling, cheerful, pleasant laughter was heard from above. Everyone looked up.
Mr. Irving was laughing at the handrail. But at this time the tutor’s huge figure appeared and the clear child-voice faded away. The young man departed in a serious and illustrious manner.
“This waiter is a lunatic, yet a real man”, noted the captain. And the head-steward with the round beard and the ruddy face turned towards him: “Do you know what a strong-armed guy he was?”
“I know”, replied sadly the captain, but he didn’t say anything more about this.

[jlyne]

This thread has inspired me to return to learning Hungarian. All I can do is curse (very well, I'm told), say the days of the week, count to 10, say I love you, and I know what the word for "attic" is. I really ought to learn more, as my best friend is from Hungary (I miss my István!).

Anyways, sorry for the interruption!

jlyne

[gsandi]

I'll do this quickly:

Up above the handrail stood Mr. Irving, with his usual sadness, and looked down with a bored, uncaring face.

közömbös = neutral, rather than uncaring (which would be "érdektelen")

The Malayan flashed his white teeth. Once again he smiled.
-What this weak white want… I eat him…
-Well, get going already! said Jose.
-I not hit! Hinduism self-defense… You hit with all your might. I only hold ground.
Jose was reluctant: “That won’t be good…”
-You hit! Grab sure, fast, not hit target.
-Well, OK. Can I?
-You can.
Jimmy Uptohisears was curious about the grasp. Jiu-jitsu certainly.
“Well hit!” hurried the Malayan, “it will be a surprise!”
And it really caused a great deal of surprise. Because with just a single slap in the face to do a real somersault, and topple four passengers and even more tables with raspberry syrup –that was truly astonishing.
The Malayan was bleeding in his nose, mouth and ear and from his right eye down to his mouth-corner his skin was torn. So he was lightly gasping lying down, while the four passengers were constantly urging him to get up off them.
Meanwhile, Jose fell asleep a bit. Standing. Like an old steed. The Malayan jumped up screaming.
-Doesn’t matter! You left-hander. I was expecting the hit from right.
Jose shrugged his shoulders.
-We can’t have a traffic policeman next to every slap.
-I kill you!
He ran towards him. Jose backed up a little, because the Malayan grasped the raspberry syrup

ragadt a málnaszörptõl = he was sticky with raspberry syrup

and the waiter was worried about his fancy, golden-buttoned clothes. He did a ‘hook’ fast to brake the arising heat.

támadó hevet = fervor of the attack [acc.]

After that, he came out of a left direct and easily hit the native’s chin.

he ducked the straight left smash

At this time came a kick for him.
And it was an unfair, impertinent, unsportsmanlike kick. Jimmy Uptohisears was emotionally overwhelmed and cried the dreadful [words]:
-Insalade fritte.. a la Escorreal!
From this, everyone’s blood froze. They were certain that they had heard swear-words dating from the ancient Moorish conquerors, that young Spanish men assert only on such occasions, when they get ready for a life-or-death fight.
And he jumped! He did the Malayan guy a headlock and grasped his waist. The native’s buffalo-like, dark, neck-muscles were swollen because of the effort, and…
… And then Jimmy Uptohisears accidentally glanced upwards to the walking deck. What he saw almost made him let the Malayan go because of his astonishment.
Mr. Irving, with his elbows on the handrail, cast a glance to him in an encouraging, friendly way, as if he was saying “Go! Teach him a lesson!”
Jose twisted his neck, hit with his knee his stomach, which made the native fly away and fall at full length with his huge body that made the ship shake up.
Suddenly all of those watching started clapping involuntarily. The Malayan, like a stabbed bull in the arena, was dragged in the ring by his legs.
Jose, like an exhausted violinist, bowed with a slight smile, squeezed his own hand, threw kisses, but accidentally went a few steps behind and the buffet fell over and sprayed the whole gathering with frozen beverages.
Tinkling, cheerful, pleasant laughter was heard from above. Everyone looked up.
Mr. Irving was laughing at the handrail. But at this time the tutor’s huge figure appeared and the clear child-voice faded away. The young man departed in a serious and illustrious manner.
“This waiter is a lunatic, yet a real man”, noted the captain. And the head-steward with the round beard and the ruddy face turned towards him: “Do you know what a strong-armed guy he was?”

Who did what to whom?

It is the captain who turned towards the quartermaster, and asked the question.

“I know”, replied sadly the captain, but he didn’t say anything more about this.

And of course it's the quartermaster who said this, he had reason to know...

-------

Excellent work as usual Chris. I'll post the next instalment soon, hopefully before Sunday. The fun part is about to begin.

[chris-gr]

Gábor, I'd like to let you know that until you post the next installement, I'll try to translate this text in greek too. I've described the plot to some friends of mine, and they'd love to read it in greek. Of course, my greek translation will be a bit better!

It's too bad I don't have a web page to save this online. I don't know if there are any english translations of Dirty Fred, but it would be nice to have one on the web.

[gsandi]

Gábor, I'd like to let you know that until you post the next installement, I'll try to translate this text in greek too. I've described the plot to some friends of mine, and they'd love to read it in greek. Of course, my greek translation will be a bit better!

It's too bad I don't have a web page to save this online. I don't know if there are any english translations of Dirty Fred, but it would be nice to have one on the web.

There isn't an English translation, AFAIK - unlike that of Rejtõ's other masterpiece, "A tizennégykarátos autó" (The 14-carat car). The latter takes place in and around the French Foreign Legion, a topic made more topical these days when the next President of France may well be the son of a Hungarian who joined (or tried to join) the FL in order to be allowed to move to France.

----------

You have an interesting project there, I hope I'll get a copy if it ever gets into print. Meanwhile, I'll post the next instalment, I just thought you may be needing a break:

------------


5

- Uram... három hete nem aludtam...
- Csak két hétig bírja még - suttogta a szállásmester. - Az ilyesmit meg lehet szokni idővel.

bírja = imperative 3rd person sing (i.e. the polite form) of bírni 'to suffer, weather, stand'
megszokni = to get used to (needs the acc.)

...Szép, langyos este volt, de kissé fülledt.

kissé = a little bit, slightly

A Maláj-félsziget és Szingapur között csillogó, fekete hullámokon rohant a gőzös, és Fülig Jimmy a kazánházból vezető vaslépcső tetején ült, a szállásmester mellett.
- Csak vigyázzon - súgta a szakállas. - Feltűnő, hogy mindig alszik. Senki más nem ácsorog alvajáró módján.

súgni = to wisper.
feltűnő = adjectivized form of feltűnni 'to stick out, to be noticed'

- Mit csináljak, ha olyan élénk utasok vannak itt?
- Ha felfedezik, hogy José pincér és Hutchins fűtő egyazon ember, akkor engem is kidobnak a csalásért.

egyazon = one and the same
kidobni = to throw out, to fire (in this case)
csalás = crookery, fraud

- Ne féljen, már csak két hét, addig elvirrasztok valahogy.

elvirrasztani = el (away) + virrasztani 'to stay up (until dawn)'

- Aludjon most egy félórát itt a lépcsőlejárón... Majd felkeltem idejében.

lépcsőlejáró = down staircase
felkeltem = 1st person sing. pres. of felkelteni 'to wake someone up' (and not 1st person sing. past of felkelni 'to wake up [intr.]'!)
idejében = in its time, when it's time

Felelet helyett a pincér már aludt is.
...Később felrezzent, mert valaki megérintette a vállát.

felrezzenni = to be woken up (from a light sleep) [as in ki-, le- etc. notice the use of directional prefixes to indicate the perfective mood]

- Hagyjon még... - motyogta - maga hóhér... Csak öt perc...

motyogni = to mutter
maga = you (relatively formal, not as polite as ön)

- Ébredjen, idegen!
Felrezzent. Nagyon elcsodálkozott, amikor meglátta, hogy ki ül mellette a vaslépcsőn... Mr. Irving!
- Pszt... - súgta. - Mr. Gould azt hiszi, hogy alszom.

Pszt... = Shush

Fogadja legmagasabb elismerésemet, pincér. Maga pompás fiú! Ezt akartam mondani.

legmagasabb elismerésemet = my highest admiration [acc.] (highly inappropriate language, very formal style)
pompás = wonderful, incredible

A gumiba ágyazott gépek tompán zakatoltak alattuk.

gumiba ágyazott = set into rubber
zakatolni = to clatter, rattle (make a noise like a machine - especially like a locomotive)

Különben csend volt. Mr. Irving ott ült mellette, a vaslépcsőn, de olyan ünnepélyesen, mint aki komoly szertartást végez.

ünnepélyesen = ceremoniously
szertartást végezni = to conduct a ceremony

- Jól elbánt azzal a bennszülöttel - mondta elismerően.

elbánni = to handle, to get the better of (takes -val/-vel)
elismerően = adverb from elismerő 'appreciative'

- Ugye, maga nagyon erős? Megengedi... hogy megtapintsam a karizmát? - kérdezte szinte kenetteljesen.

megtapintsam = from tapintani 'to touch, palpate'
karizmát = acc. 3rd pers.sing. (formal 2nd person) possessive of karizom 'arm muscle'

- Na ne hülyéskedjen!

hülyéskedjen = from hülyéskedni ' to fool around' (more like another English verb beginning with f... in fact)

Az ifjú szeme felragyogott.

ragyogni = to shine, glow

- Ugyebár ez sértés?! - kérdezte örömmel.

ugyebár = idiomatic for "that really is...?"

- Hm... Úgy tesz, Mr. Irving, mintha részeg lenne.

Úgy tesz = You behave as if ...

- Engem még sohasem sértettek meg.

sértettek meg = from megsérteni 'to insult'

- Ne mondja. Olyan erős?
- Nem tudom. Senkit sem ütlegeltem még. Mondja, idegen, hogy történik ez a művelet?

megütlegelni = archaic or legalese for megverni 'to beat up'
művelet = act (sounds artificial, as it is intended to be - certainly not something you'd say to a sleepy waiter on a ship)

- Na ne ugrasson! Nem tudja, milyen az, amikor odasóznak? Láthatta eleget, ha az utcán járt.

ugrasson = from ugratni 'to kid somebody'
odasóznak = from odasózni (to throw salt at someone), slang for 'to hit someone'
eleget = acc. of elég 'enough'

- Én soha életemben nem sétáltam még nyílt utcán.

nyílt utca = open street

- Nem sétált?... Hát... kicsoda ön... Mr. Irving? Nem Mr. ... Irving?

hát = interjection, meaning 'well, really'

- Én inkognitóban vagyok.
- Az miféle viselet?

miféle = what kind of
viselet = clothing

- Inkognitó az, ha valaki álnéven él...
- Nagyszerű! Akkor én is inkognitóban vagyok! Szintén szélhámos?

szélhámos = crook, conman

- Haha! Igazán kedves alattvaló maga, José pincér, de megyek, mert Mr. Gould még észreveszi a távolmaradásomat.

alattvaló = subject (as of a king)
távolmaradásomat = from távolmaradás = staying away

- Mit fél attól a pasastól? Ha akarja, holnap leöntöm ebédnél egy adag marinírozott hallal, à la tournedot.

fél = from félni 'to be afraid of' (takes -tól/-tõl)
pasas = guy (slang)

- Ne, ne!... Nagyon kérem, kedves goromba úr! Szegény jó atyám teljhatalmú nevelőmmé tette Fernandez bácsit, ő a régens herceg, és ebben meg kell nyugodnunk.

goromba = rude, impolite
atyám = apám = my father (quite formal)
teljhatalmú = plenipotential
nevelőmmé tette = made (named) into being my tutor
bácsi = Mr (usually used by children for older men)
meg kell nyugodnunk = we have to accept it

- Kissé homályos előttem, amit mond. Annyi bizonyos, hogy a pofa nem tetszik nekem, és szívesen odaütögetném a fejét bármihez, ami szilárd és dudoros.

homályos = unclear
pofa = slang for arc 'face', but is also used as slang for a man you don't like
odaütögetném = from odaütögetni 'to hit against sg., repeatedly'
dudoros = having a surface with things butting out of it (I can't think of a good English adjective for this right now)


- Ó!... Ember! Ne merészelje! Ön derék dolgozó, és kegyeinket élvezi, de ez súlyos büntetést vonna maga után...

derék dolgozó = praiseworthy worker
kegyeinket = from kegy 'favour' (said by a king or suchlike)
büntetést vonna maga után = from büntetést vonni valami után 'to be punished for sg.'

És most, kedves idegen, mennem kell... Egyszer majd ismét beszélgetünk. Nagyon jól szórakoztam önnel. Ezért megjutalmazom! Akar pénzt?
- Mi?...
- Nem ismerem jól a pénz értékét. Ha ötszáz dollárt adok, az sok? Nem, nem! Az túl kevés, és megbántom vele...

megbántani = to offend, hurt someone's feelings (not quite as bad as megsérteni)

- Hogy... hogy mit?... Mi az, kérem?
- Megvan! Egyszer Isten kegyelméből parancsoló nagybátyám megjutalmazta valamelyik hűséges hívét, és kétezer dollárt adott neki.

megvan! = I've got it!
Isten kegyelméből parancsoló = someone giving orders by the grace of God
hív = faithful retainer or follower

Ez tehát nem olyan csekélység, hogy szégyenkeznem kelljen miatta!... Tessék, jóember...

csekélység = slight amount
Tessék = Here, take it

...Előhúzta a tárcáját, és átadott kétezer dollárt, azután vállon veregette a pincért, és otthagyta.
Nem hitte, hogy ébren van, vagy ha igen, akkor a fiú őrült, és a hatalmas, ronda ember az ápolója.

őrült = insane person (not to be confused with örült 'he was happy')
ápoló = carer, nurse (as in an asylum)

Két... ezer... dollár! Ezen az eseten érdemes gondolkozni! De hiába tartotta ilyesmire érdemesnek az esetet, mert rajtaütésszerűen elaludt.

tartani ... -ra/-re = to consider something as
érdemesnek = from érdemes 'worthy of sg.'
rajtaütésszerűen = very suddenly (as in an ambuscade)

[chris-gr]

God, I can be so slow! So, here it is:

-Sir… I haven’t slept for 3 weeks.
“Just bear it up for 2 weeks” whispered the steward, “you could get used to this over time”.
… It was a nice, tepid evening, a bit hot.
Between the Malayan peninsula and Singapure the steamboat hurried on the glittering, dark waves, and Jimmy Uptohisears stood on the top of the iron-stairs coming from the boiler, next to the steward.
-Just look, whispered the bearded one, It is noticeable that he’s always asleep. Nobody else hangs around in sleep-walker mode.
-What should I do, if there are such lively passengers?
-If they find out that Jose the waiter and Hutchins the stoker are one and the same person, they’d fire me too for fraud.
-Don’t worry, there’re only two weeks left until I’ll stay up somehow.
-You nay sleep now for half an hour here, at the down staircase… I’ll wake you up when it’s time.
Instead of an answer, the waiter had already fallen asleep.
…Later on, he was waken up because someone touched him on the shoulder.
-Let me… -he muttered- you’re killing me… Just five minutes…
-Wake up, stranger!
He woke up. And he was surprised when he saw who was sitting next to him on the stairs: Mr. Irving!
-Shush… he whispered. Mr. Gould thinks that I’m sleeping.
-Please, accept my highest admiration, waiter. You are a wonderful young man! I wanted to say this.
The set into rubber machines were rattling bluntly below them.
Otherwise, there was silence. Mr Irving was sitting there next to him, on the stairs, but so ceremoniously, like someone who conducts a serious ceremony.
-You handled well that native guy, he said with great appreciation.
-You are strong, aren’t you? My I touch your arm muscle? He asked almost sanctimoniously.
-Hey, stop fooling around!
The young man’s eyes sparkled.
-Is this really an insult? He asked happily.
-Hmm… You behave as if you‘re drunk, Mr Irving.
-You never insulted me.
-Don’t say that. Are you so strong?
-I don’t know. I never beat anyone up. Tell me, does this act really occur?
-Stop pulling my leg! You don’t know what is to beat someone? You could see enough, if you got out on the street.
-Never in my life have I ever walked on the open street.
-You haven’t walked? Well… whoever are you… Mr Irving? Or… not?
-I’m undercover.
-In these clothes?
-Undercover means to have an alias…
-Splendid! In this case, I’m also undercover! Are you too a crook?
-Haha! You are truly a charming subject, Jose the waiter, but I’m going now because Mr Gould will notice my absence.
-What are you afraid of that guy? If you want, tomorrow at lunch I’ll spill all over him a portion of marinated fish a la tournedot.
-Don’t! I’m begging you, dear impolite sir! My poor father made Mr Fernandez my plenipotential tutor, he, the former prince, and we have to accept this.
-What you say is a bit unclear to me. One thing is certain, that this guy doesn’t like me, and I’d heartily bang his head on anything that is solid and has pointed things standing out of it.
-Oh, my man! Don’t you dare! You are a praiseworthy worker, and you enjoy our favors, but you’ll be seriously punished for that. And now, I really have to go. We might chat again another time. I had a great time with you. I’ll reward you for this. Do you want any money?
-What? I beg your pardon?
-I’ve got it! One day, my uncle –giving orders by the grace of God- rewarded one of the loyal followers and gave him 2,000 dollars. For this reason, it’s not such a slight amount that I should feel ashamed of that! Here, good man…
… He draw his wallet and handed over 2,000 dollars; after that he patted the waiter on the shoulders and left him.
He didn’t think that he was awake, or if he had, then the young man would be the lunatic and the huge, ugly man his nurse.
Two. Thousand. Dollars! In this case, it’s worth thinking! But he considered such things worthy in vain, because he suddenly fell asleep.


FUN FACT. As you said, pofa = slang for arc 'face', but is also used as slang for a man you don't like. The Greek equivalent is μούτρο which has also both meanings.

[gsandi]

Looks good, Chris, I'll do my more thorough checking when I can, I hope within a few days.

On pofa, it came to me that the colloquial expression jó pofa (even spelled jópofa sometimes) is quite complementary: you'd say about someone who is funny, good company, pleasant. For some reason, I associate it with maleness - but I'll ask my Hungarian colleague tomorrow whether it can be applied to a woman.

[gsandi]

I haven't forgotten you Chris: here are my corrections and notes:

----------------------------------

- Uram... három hete nem aludtam...
- Csak két hétig bírja még - suttogta a szállásmester. - Az ilyesmit meg lehet szokni idővel.
...Szép, langyos este volt, de kissé fülledt.

- Sir… I haven’t slept for 3 weeks.
- “Just bear it up for 2 weeks” whispered the steward, “you could get used to this over time”.
It was a nice, tepid evening, a bit hot.

Muggy, humid, more exactly.

----------------------------------

A Maláj-félsziget és Szingapur között csillogó, fekete hullámokon rohant a gőzös, és Fülig Jimmy a kazánházból vezető vaslépcső tetején ült, a szállásmester mellett.
- Csak vigyázzon - súgta a szakállas. - Feltűnő, hogy mindig alszik. Senki más nem ácsorog alvajáró módján.

Between the Malayan peninsula and Singapure the steamboat hurried on the glittering, dark waves, and Jimmy Uptohisears stood on the top of the iron-stairs coming from the boiler, next to the steward.
- Just look, whispered the bearded one, It is noticeable that he’s always asleep. Nobody else hangs around in sleep-walker mode.

Csak vigyázzon = Just be careful.
Alszik = You are asleep. (2nd person polite mode using 3rd person endings; clearly, he is not talking about someone else)

----------------------------------

- Mit csináljak, ha olyan élénk utasok vannak itt?
- Ha felfedezik, hogy José pincér és Hutchins fűtő egyazon ember, akkor engem is kidobnak a csalásért.
- Ne féljen, már csak két hét, addig elvirrasztok valahogy.
- Aludjon most egy félórát itt a lépcsőlejárón... Majd felkeltem idejében.
Felelet helyett a pincér már aludt is.
...Később felrezzent, mert valaki megérintette a vállát.
- Hagyjon még... - motyogta - maga hóhér... Csak öt perc...
- Ébredjen, idegen!
Felrezzent. Nagyon elcsodálkozott, amikor meglátta, hogy ki ül mellette a vaslépcsőn... Mr. Irving!
- Pszt... - súgta. - Mr. Gould azt hiszi, hogy alszom.
Fogadja legmagasabb elismerésemet, pincér. Maga pompás fiú! Ezt akartam mondani.
A gumiba ágyazott gépek tompán zakatoltak alattuk.
Különben csend volt. Mr. Irving ott ült mellette, a vaslépcsőn, de olyan ünnepélyesen, mint aki komoly szertartást végez.
- Jól elbánt azzal a bennszülöttel - mondta elismerően.
- Ugye, maga nagyon erős? Megengedi... hogy megtapintsam a karizmát? - kérdezte szinte kenetteljesen.
- Na ne hülyéskedjen!
Az ifjú szeme felragyogott.
- Ugyebár ez sértés?! - kérdezte örömmel.
- Hm... Úgy tesz, Mr. Irving, mintha részeg lenne.
- Engem még sohasem sértettek meg.

-What should I do, if there are such lively passengers?
-If they find out that Jose the waiter and Hutchins the stoker are one and the same person, they’d fire me too for fraud.
-Don’t worry, there’re only two weeks left until I’ll stay up somehow.
-You nay sleep now for half an hour here, at the down staircase… I’ll wake you up when it’s time.
Instead of an answer, the waiter had already fallen asleep.
…Later on, he was waken up because someone touched him on the shoulder.
-Let me… -he muttered- you’re killing me… Just five minutes…
-Wake up, stranger!
He woke up. And he was surprised when he saw who was sitting next to him on the stairs: Mr. Irving!
-Shush… he whispered. Mr. Gould thinks that I’m sleeping.
-Please, accept my highest admiration, waiter. You are a wonderful young man! I wanted to say this.
The set into rubber machines were rattling bluntly below them.
Otherwise, there was silence. Mr Irving was sitting there next to him, on the stairs, but so ceremoniously, like someone who conducts a serious ceremony.
-You handled well that native guy, he said with great appreciation.
-You are strong, aren’t you? My I touch your arm muscle? He asked almost sanctimoniously.
-Hey, stop fooling around!
The young man’s eyes sparkled.
-Is this really an insult? He asked happily.
-Hmm… You behave as if you‘re drunk, Mr Irving.
-You never insulted me.

No-one has ever insulted me before. This is the 3rd person plural used as the impersonal subject (cf. Írtak az iskolából, lit. they have written from the school, meaning someone from the school has written us)

----------------------------------

- Ne mondja. Olyan erős?

-Don’t say that. Are you so strong?

This is idiomatic for “You are kidding me”.

----------------------------------

- Nem tudom. Senkit sem ütlegeltem még. Mondja, idegen, hogy történik ez a művelet?

- I don’t know. I never beat anyone up. Tell me, does this act really occur?

Actually: How does this action (i.e. beating someone up) happen?

----------------------------------

- Na ne ugrasson! Nem tudja, milyen az, amikor odasóznak? Láthatta eleget, ha az utcán járt.
- Én soha életemben nem sétáltam még nyílt utcán.
- Nem sétált?... Hát... kicsoda ön... Mr. Irving? Nem Mr. ... Irving?
- Én inkognitóban vagyok.
- Az miféle viselet?

-Stop pulling my leg! You don’t know what is to beat someone? You could see enough, if you got out on the street.
-Never in my life have I ever walked on the open street.
-You haven’t walked? Well… whoever are you… Mr Irving? Or… not?
-I’m undercover.
-In these clothes?

What kind of clothes are those? Jimmy thinks that “incognito” maybe something you wear.

----------------------------------

- Inkognitó az, ha valaki álnéven él...
- Nagyszerű! Akkor én is inkognitóban vagyok! Szintén szélhámos?
- Haha! Igazán kedves alattvaló maga, José pincér, de megyek, mert Mr. Gould még észreveszi a távolmaradásomat.
- Mit fél attól a pasastól? Ha akarja, holnap leöntöm ebédnél egy adag marinírozott hallal, à la tournedot.
- Ne, ne!... Nagyon kérem, kedves goromba úr! Szegény jó atyám teljhatalmú nevelőmmé tette Fernandez bácsit, ő a régens herceg, és ebben meg kell nyugodnunk.

-Undercover means to have an alias…
-Splendid! In this case, I’m also undercover! Are you too a crook?
-Haha! You are truly a charming subject, Jose the waiter, but I’m going now because Mr Gould will notice my absence.
-What are you afraid of that guy? If you want, tomorrow at lunch I’ll spill all over him a portion of marinated fish a la tournedot.
-Don’t! I’m begging you, dear impolite sir! My poor father made Mr Fernandez my plenipotential tutor, he, the former prince, and we have to accept this.

He is the Prince Regent (nothing former about it). Mr Irving’s father (presumably a hereditary ruler of some kind) died and made the Prince Regent his son’s tutor. “Bácsi” sugests that Fernandez may in fact be Irving’s uncle, but not necessarily. (“Bácsi” is somewhat ambiguous in Hungarian, especially in older writings)

----------------------------------

- Kissé homályos előttem, amit mond. Annyi bizonyos, hogy a pofa nem tetszik nekem, és szívesen odaütögetném a fejét bármihez, ami szilárd és dudoros.

- What you say is a bit unclear to me. One thing is certain, that this guy doesn’t like me, and I’d heartily bang his head on anything that is solid and has pointed things standing out of it.

I don’t like the guy. (tetszik is used like “gusta” in Spanish – nem teszik nekem = no me gusta)

----------------------------------

- Ó!... Ember! Ne merészelje! Ön derék dolgozó, és kegyeinket élvezi, de ez súlyos büntetést vonna maga után...
És most, kedves idegen, mennem kell... Egyszer majd ismét beszélgetünk. Nagyon jól szórakoztam önnel. Ezért megjutalmazom! Akar pénzt?
- Mi?...
- Nem ismerem jól a pénz értékét. Ha ötszáz dollárt adok, az sok? Nem, nem! Az túl kevés, és megbántom vele...
- Hogy... hogy mit?... Mi az, kérem?

-Oh, my man! Don’t you dare! You are a praiseworthy worker, and you enjoy our favors, but you’ll be seriously punished for that. And now, I really have to go. We might chat again another time. I had a great time with you. I’ll reward you for this. Do you want any money?
-What? I beg your pardon?

Kedves idegen = Dear stranger
And you left out a sentence:
I don’t properly know the value of money. If I give you $500, is that a lot? No, no. It’s too little, and I may insult you with it… (Keep in mind that this was written in the 1930s – in today’s money that may be $10,000 or so)

----------------------------------

- Megvan! Egyszer Isten kegyelméből parancsoló nagybátyám megjutalmazta valamelyik hűséges hívét, és kétezer dollárt adott neki.
Ez tehát nem olyan csekélység, hogy szégyenkeznem kelljen miatta!... Tessék, jóember...

-I’ve got it! One day, my uncle –giving orders by the grace of God- rewarded one of the loyal followers and gave him 2,000 dollars. For this reason, it’s not such a slight amount that I should feel ashamed of that! Here, good man

----------------------------------


...Előhúzta a tárcáját, és átadott kétezer dollárt, azután vállon veregette a pincért, és otthagyta.
Nem hitte, hogy ébren van, vagy ha igen, akkor a fiú őrült, és a hatalmas, ronda ember az ápolója.
Két... ezer... dollár! Ezen az eseten érdemes gondolkozni! De hiába tartotta ilyesmire érdemesnek az esetet, mert rajtaütésszerűen elaludt.

He draw his wallet and handed over 2,000 dollars; after that he patted the waiter on the shoulders and left him. He didn’t think that he was awake, or if he had, then the young man would be the lunatic and the huge, ugly man his nurse. Two. Thousand. Dollars! In this case, it’s worth thinking! But he considered such things worthy in vain, because he suddenly fell asleep.

Somewhat better-sounding translation (although you clearly got it):

Jimmy couldn’t believe he was awake, but if he was, then (clearly) the boy is crazy, and the enormous ugly man was his nurse.

----------------------------------

I'll post the next instalment soon, hopefully over this weekend.

[gsandi]

Chris, let's keep it short this time:

MÁSODIK FEJEZET

1

José pincér aludt. Aludt, miközben egy pillanatra megállt a levessel, aludt, amíg a szakács tálcára tette a húst, és aludt, amikor egy svéd magántanár ölébe kitálalta.

egy pillanatra - just for a moment
magántanár - "private teacher" (I doubt that any such could afford a 1st-class steamer ticket in those days, but maybe...)
ölébe kitálalta - he poured it into his lap

Az ordításra felriadt.

Hutchins, a fűtő is aludt. Aludt, amíg a szén begurult a kazánba, aludt, miközben felemelte a lapátot, és aludt, midőn leejtette a főgépész lábára.

midőn - somewhat old-fashioned for mikor 'when'

Az ordításra felriadt.
Az első tiszt közölte a kapitánnyal, hogy José, a pincér állandó aluszékonysága súlyosbodott.

aluszékonysága - 3rd pers. sing. possessive of aluszékonyság 'proneness for sleepiness'

A gépész közölte a kapitánnyal, hogy Hutchins, az amerikai fűtő már csak percekre ébred fel, ha éppen ver valakit.

Néhány matróz összesúgott. Furcsa tünet harapódzik el a hajón. Már ketten megkapták.

összesúgott - 'whispered together'

A szállásmester közölte Fülig Jimmyvel, hogy baj lesz, mert ha a gyengélkedőket megfigyelik, kiderül, hogy egyik sincs itt, csak Fülig Jimmy szolgál a hajón mint átváltozóművész.

átváltozóművész - 'master (or artist) of disguise'

Fülig Jimmy megint csak azt mondta, hogy nem ő a hibás, hanem az utasok. Túlságosan eleven mindenki a hajón. Azonnal megnyugodnának a kedélyek, ha más is álmos lenne. Azt ígérte a szállásmesternek, hogy majd megkísérli egyensúlyba hozni a dolgot. Másnapra azután gondoskodott róla hogy az utasok élénk hangulata csökkenjen.

megnyugodnának a kedélyek - Idiomatic. 3rd person pl. optative of megnyugodni 'to calm down' + pl. of kedély 'spirit, mood', meaning: the mood (of the passengers) would calm down.

És ezt nem kellett volna tennie!

Pontban fél négykor délután (ázsiai időszámítás szerint) a hosszúsági és szélességi fokok bizonyos számadatainak megfelelő helyen, teljes szélcsendben folytatta útját a Honolulu-Star, tizennyolc tengeri csomó sebességgel, a Malakka-szoros felé. A sétafedélzeten egy szalonzenekar muzsikált, és az egyik utas azt mesélte két hölgyismerősének, hogy a hajón valami nincs rendben. Állítólag egy álomkór-gyanús eset fordult elő, de titkolják az utasok előtt.

hosszúsági és szélességi fokok - 'longitudes and latitudes'
csomó - knot (i.e. 1 nautical mile / hr.)

Négy óra 10 perckor (ázsiai időszámítás szerint!) a hajóorvos a kapitány intézkedésére magához rendelte a szállásmester útján José Pombiót, a pincért, és Wilson Hutchinst, a fűtőt. Egyszerre!

Négy óra 12 perckor (időszámítás fenti világrész szerint) a szállásmester a kabinjába ment, és gyermekkorából visszaidézett imádságokat mormolt. Bizonyos volt benne, hogy törlik a nyilvántartott tengerészek névsorából.

visszaidézett - 'quoted (or rather, recited)'

Négy óra húsz perckor José, a pincér megjelent az orvos előtt, aki éppen egy könyvben lapozgatott izgatottan.

Az álomkór különleges megjelenési formái, amikor szórványos megbetegedések alapján lép fel, és kísérő tünetei elmosódnak.

álomkór - 'sleeping sickness'
elmosódnak - 'are washed together' (i.e. are confused)

[chris-gr]

I'm on it! I want to nail one passage, so help me god!

PS. Of course, we all know I will make the same stupid mistakes again!