Jun 23 17:10
4 days ago
22 viewers *
Russian term

мыслить тебе

Russian to English Art/Literary Poetry & Literature science fiction
Translating a science fiction story and the phrase мыслить тебе comes up here. I think it is about her conveying or transmitting a thought to him.

But the way the sentence is written does not make sense to me.

Here's the context:

"Я не буду продолжать этот спор, мыслить тебе о месте страданий. Не думаю, что смогу изменить твою точку зрения."

I have it translated as follows:

"I will not continue this argument, ______________. I don't think I can change your point of view."

Discussion

Sarah McDowell (asker) Jun 24:
Note from author I asked the author about the expression мыслить тебе. I asked after I posted this Kudoz question here, so I think the reply from him makes a difference.

Here's what he said:
"Мыслить тебе" в данном случае означает "передавать с помощью мыслеобщения" , только кратко. Я уже писал, что во вселенной истории существует способ общения, при котором с помощью соединения нервных систем передаются, обычно с достаточно высокой точностью, мысли и чувства. "Мыслить" здесь в контексте такого общения аналогично "говорить" в нашем привычном вербальном языке.
Denis Fesik Jun 24:
A very tiring read It reads like constructed language of the sort you can find in a cult-like environment where everyone is brainwashed into the same system. Plus, it's badly written (at least by my standards). So, the translation is supposed to offer a similar reading experience with a verbal apparatus specifically designed to depart from everyday language (without having to be badly written, that is). I hope the pay is good enough to compensate for the suffering involved

Proposed translations

+1
24 mins

in the end, it's up to you to think about

Tricky syntax
инфинитив + личное местоимение в косвенном падеже means that the action described by the verb is to be implemented by the addressee.
The most common example is "решать тебе", translated as "it's up to you to decide"

Мыслить тебе = тебе самому мыслить = тебе самому нужно / придется мыслить.
So the meaning is "Я не буду продолжать этот спор, потому что в конечном итоге именно ты будешь "мыслить" (maybe in the sense of выбирать) о месте страданий"

Note from asker:
Thank you Vladimir for your answer! I know about the syntax with things like решать тебе, but I was not sure here if that's what it meant. David, regarding the "place of suffering" the author has e-mailed me an explanation. It turns out that he is not referring to an actual physical place at all. This is what he said: "месте страданий" - имелось в виду то, какое место занимают страдания в общей картине существования.
Peer comment(s):

agree David Knowles : Yes, this is tricky. I'm worrying about "место страданий". What does "the place of suffering" mean?
1 hr
Thank you, David! hard to say without more context
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+1
18 hrs

think to you

В контексте читателю будет понятно, что под think to you подразумевается "говорить тебе при помощи телепатической передачи мыслей".
Peer comment(s):

agree JJ Shaw : or in a similar vein "send a thought to you".
2 hrs
Спасибо!
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1 day 7 hrs

youthink

In the same spirit as the original.
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