Translation Practice 2.0

Tweet My mini translation challenge continues this week with another post from Seth's Blog. I ran into some issues with this one, and ended up putting my work on Lang-8 to be checked by a native speaker. My biggest issue was whether to add a subject to the sentence or not, or when to add "mistake," since Chinese is a pro-drop language.

I wrote the post in simplified Chinese, since most Lang-8 users are from Mainland China.

Here is my original work, as you can see there are parts that were unclear to me:

两种错误
Two kinds of mistakes

一种错误是过分的防守现状, 投资太多的时间与力量放在保持目前的状况。
There is the mistake of overdoing the defense of the status quo, the error of investing too much time and energy in keep things as they are.

 
另外一种产生于创造（这里需要主题吗？）未来，就是小小的研究变坏了。
And then there is the mistake made while inventing the future, the error of small experiments gone bad.

第二种错误很少害我们受伤，但我们还是依旧的持续做第一种。（需要加错误吗？）
We are almost never hurt by the second kind of mistake and yet we persist in making the first kind, again and again.

Here is the Lang-8 user corrected version:

两种错误

一种错误是过分的防守现状，错误地投资太多的时间与力量来维持目前地状况。

另外一种错误在创造未来的时候产生了，即使再小的实验也会因为一个错误而失败。

第二种错误很少让我们受伤，但我们还是依旧续犯第一种错误。

Truth be told, I don't know how well the corrections capture the original meaning, I'll need to discuss with a native speaker. The confusion, for me, comes from the 即使再...也 portion of the third section. I understand that 即使...也 and 再...也 can both be used as a sort of concession of a truth or outcome, for example: 

• 即使你去了也沒用 (Nothing would have changed even if you had gone)
• 你到了北京，時間再緊也要去看老師 (When you arrive in Beijing, however tight your schedule is, you must go to visit your teacher.

But, can they both be used together? Furthermore, is that what Seth is saying with the line "the error of small experiments gone bad? I don't think so.

I'll have to give this one some more thought, but I would encourage anyone who has an opinion to comment below. I look forward to uncovering the mystery, and of course, learning a great deal in the process! Stay tuned for the next episode of this mini challenge sometime next week!

The original blog post from Seth can be found here.