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[Leatra]

Hey guys. I got some translation homework from the school. I spent 10 minutes trying to figure out how to properly translate the sentence I underlined below. I'm not going to ask you guys to translate it to a language you probably don't know, so if someone could just tell me what it is or simplify the sentence somehow, that would be great.

"It was raining. The rain dripped from the palm trees. Water stood in pools on the gravel paths. The sea broke in a long line in the rain and slipped back down the beach to come up and break again in a long line in the rain. The motor cars were gone from the square by the war monument."

When I translate, I know what the author is telling but sometimes I have difficulty with trying to fit the words into the mold of my language. But this time, I have no fucking idea. Maybe it's about sea waves, exposing a part of the beach and then covering it up all again, but "sea broke in a long line" makes no sense for me.

[nenjin]

"Sea broke in a long line" refers to the wave finally breaking, and it's saying it did so in a long line across the beach. (As the line of a single wave can stretch for a long, long ways.)

Example:

TBH though, that's a terribly constructed sentence to begin with.

[pisskop]

Its confuzzling.

'The sea broke' would imply  the waves were not uniform, as if the the beach was uneven or made of differing material.

'In a long line' means the above is happening on a larger scale.  For somebody to see this they would have to have a wider view, like from an elevated beach-house or a bird's eye view.

'Slipped back down' simply means the waves receded back into the water.  Slipped is a visual cue, however, and seems to imply they were slippery or hard to grasp/understand/see/see clearly in every transition.  It must be dark, or is in my mind.

'To come up and break again' means its repeats.  waves break on the beach.  When they rise up and funnel, like in the surf movies (but usually on a smaller scale).  break is the official term.

'In a long line in the rain'.  Why the redundency?  I suppose it may not be a native English work, or it is an oral work, which feature repeating themes/phrases.  Again it suggests a larger-scale event.

EDIT: Essentially the ocean broke on the beach in large even waves in the dark of the rain in a rythmytic way.

[Mictlantecuhtli]

The sea broke in a long line in the rain and slipped back down the beach to come up and break again in a long line in the rain.

Easier? I can see how the redundancy of a sentence constructed like this would throw you off. He/she's talking about waves washing up on the beach specifically here, but it's put in such an awful syntax that I can barely make heads or tails of it.

I suppose it may not be a native English work, or it is an oral work, which feature repeating themes/phrases.

[Leatra]

I think I get it now, despite the weirdness of the sentence. Thanks guys. I thought my English simply sucked or something.

I translated it like this: "The sea waves broke in a long line and slipped down to the beach only to come up and break again". I have to do a translation not a rewrite but it sounds extremely silly and weird if I translate it as it is.

BTW, you can read this short story from here. I don't know why anyone would want to read this though. Our teacher gave us this when we told her that we thought it was too difficult for us to translate poems at our first year in the university. I wonder what kind of a translation she will write for this sentence herself.

[martinuzz]

I can understand the difficulty you have with said sentence. Whoever wrote it, is using a form called 'totum pro parte', which is Latin, meaning 'the whole for the part'.
In this case, while 'breaking' is referring to waves (the part), the author writes 'the sea' (the whole).

The reverse is also a known form, called 'pars pro toto', which as you might have guessed means 'a part for the whole'
For example, saying 'all hands on deck', before a ship departs, uses 'hands' (the part), while meaning people (the whole), as well as 'deck' (the part) for ship (the whole)

[Heron TSG]

How I would write this quote for maximum clarity:

The sea broke in a long line in the rain and slipped back down the beach to come up and break again in a long line in the rain.

"The waves broke and fell repeatedly against the shore during the rain."

Of course, clarity isn't always the intent, but for translation you generally want clear meanings, not ill-translated clever wordplay.

[martinuzz]

I translated it like this: "The sea waves broke in a long line and slipped down to the beach only to come up and break again".

Not fully right. "The sea waves broke in a long line, and slipped back down the beach, only to come up and break again".

In your sentence, the direction is wrong. If a wave slips back down the beach, it is actually moving back to the sea. If a wave slips down to the beach, it heads further inland.

[Leatra]

I translated it like this: "The sea waves broke in a long line and slipped down to the beach only to come up and break again".

Not fully right. "The sea waves broke in a long line, and slipped back down the beach, only to come up and break again".

In your sentence, the direction is wrong. If a wave slips back down the beach, it is actually moving back to the sea. If a wave slips down to the beach, it heads further inland.

Oh, right. I mistranslated my translation. That's just a typo.

Anyway, I took it to the class like that and my teacher really liked it. There was a lot of debate about it but when I explained my translation, she silenced everyone. Then she told everyone to write it down and I couldn't help but make this () expression.

Thanks a lot again everyone