Mar 21, 2017 16:52
7 yrs ago
Russian term

шатнулась дверь

Russian to English Art/Literary Poetry & Literature
The door swung backwards and forwards?

The door was hanging off its hinges?

As you can see, I'm having a bit of trouble with the verb шатнуться.

Any suggestions gratefully received!

Thanks :)

Discussion

Denis Shepelev Mar 22, 2017:
По-моему, ничего странного здесь нет. Или аллегория того, что дверь шатается как пьяная, или, скорее всего, у пьяного лирического героя дверь пивной, да и остальные двери шатаются в глазах.
Так что, подберите глагол, соответствующий пьяному пошатыванию в английском языке, и думаю, будет в самый раз.
Nicky Brown (asker) Mar 21, 2017:
The text immediately before and after is:
Тогда он подымается и за ее спиной подчеркнуто уверенными пьяными шагами, выходит из пивной.
Шатнулась дверь пивной.
Шатнулось стремительно еще несколько дверей...
SirReaL Mar 21, 2017:
This needs more immediate context.

Proposed translations

+1
1 hr
Selected

He staggered through the door

He staggered (drunkenly) through the door.
We are dealing with a piece of 'poetry' here, aren't we? So who cares what the original Russian 'verbiage' says, right, Misha? ;-) For me personally, the phrase in question sounds pretty weird and makes very little sense and the only explanation that I can think of is that the author himself must have been in the pub at the time guzzling beer :-)
Peer comment(s):

agree The Misha : "... and a few other doors reverberated down the line." The original here is ridiculous indeed. "Shatnulas'" isn't even a legitimate verbal form, and what verb would it be anyway - shatatsya? More like it should be kachatsya or kachnutsya.
30 mins
Thanks, man :-) "...Припоминается покойный Завзятов, плотный, краснощекий, выпивавший залпом бутылку шампанского и разбивавший лбом зеркала.." А.П. Чехов
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thank you! This is the one I went for..."
5 mins

the door swung open

That's what it seems like to me, though it's not exactly a standard rendering.
Something went wrong...
34 mins

The door shook

шататься is about oscillation, vibration...
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7 hrs

the door moved

I asked an English native speaker, and his response was that it would be the best way to say it without sounding weird.
Example sentence:

I saw the door move when the cat tried to sneak through.

Peer comment(s):

neutral The Misha : Judging by your ironclad level of confidence, you may have asked the man upstairs himself.Yet, your translation misses ALL the possible undertones here and may be incorrect outright since there is nothing here so far about seeing.
13 hrs
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1 day 3 hrs

the door wobbled drunkenly

The shack door wobbled drunkenly on its single working hinge, and shuffled inwards, creating a small heap of dirt where it stopped.

https://robknipe.com/my-writing/a-game-of-two-halves-the-tor...
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