Feb 13, 2000 12:15
24 yrs ago
2 viewers *
Russian term
Natasha Moore
Khozhdenie po grablyam
Russian to English
Art/Literary
From the 1999 movie "Mama" It's used in a description of how the characters live their lives. The whole sentence is "Otsyuda i ikh zhizn' - khozhdenie no grablyam, i motivatsiya nostupkov - na urobne instinktov i uslovnyk refleksov.
Proposed translations
(English)
Proposed translations
20 hrs
Selected
not learning lessons from the mistakes that are repeated over and over again
It explains their life style - not learning lessons from the mistakes that are repeated over and over again, and their instincts and conditioned reflexes are the only sources of the motivation of their actions.
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15 mins
stepping on rake
So, this phrase is used to say that through all teir life they kept on finding troubles. More wildly used the phrase "stanovitsja na grabli" i.e. you step on the rake and get a bum on your forehead with its steak.
18 mins
Tatiana Neroni (X)
Tatiana Neroni (X)
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148
povtoreniye svoikh oshibok
There is a saying in Russian "dvazhdy nastupitj na odni i te zhe grabli" meaning "repeat your bad mistakes over again".
In you case it's not "nastupitj" -it's already "khoditj po grabliam" - meaning repeating your worst mistakes has already become a way of life.
In you case it's not "nastupitj" -it's already "khoditj po grabliam" - meaning repeating your worst mistakes has already become a way of life.
32 mins
Anzhela Reno
Moldova
Moldova
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an ordeal of idiots
Prezabavnoe sliyanie nazvaniya znamenitoy trilogii A. Tolstogo "Hozhdeniye po mukam" i russkogo slovosochetaniya "nastupat' na grabli (literally, to step on the rake - only to get hit on one's forehead)".
58 mins
to behave carelessly, or in a way stupid
Khozhdenie po grablyam
"Grabli" - rake, but the phrase sounds a bit strange, since the literary meaning is "walking on rake" - which, actually, got no sense. There is slightly different phrase in Russian: "to tread upon rake" - meaning "to behave carelessly, or in a way stupid". The idea is that if you clumsily tread upon a rake (when it is on the ground and you do not see it), the long handle of rake will surely kick you on your forehead. But you are presumed to do it once in your life and be careful later on, having learned from this bitter experience. And if you keep treading upon rake - i.e., if you acquire a strange habit of "walking on rake", well…
"Grabli" - rake, but the phrase sounds a bit strange, since the literary meaning is "walking on rake" - which, actually, got no sense. There is slightly different phrase in Russian: "to tread upon rake" - meaning "to behave carelessly, or in a way stupid". The idea is that if you clumsily tread upon a rake (when it is on the ground and you do not see it), the long handle of rake will surely kick you on your forehead. But you are presumed to do it once in your life and be careful later on, having learned from this bitter experience. And if you keep treading upon rake - i.e., if you acquire a strange habit of "walking on rake", well…
1 hr
Vladimir Ivanov
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playing with fire
That's the closest expression native speakers can get when the meaning of a source exprssion is explained to them.
4 hrs
Benjamin Franchi (X)
Benjamin Franchi (X)
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33
tragic fumbling
I would render the whole sentence approximately as follows:
Their lives consisted of tragic fumbling, with every new blunder triggered by conditioned reflex or misguided instinct.
Their lives consisted of tragic fumbling, with every new blunder triggered by conditioned reflex or misguided instinct.
5 hrs
learning from your own mistakes
I think there is a connection between "khozhdeniye po grablyam" and instincts and reflexes mentioned further in the sentence. I agree that the meaning derives from the Russian phrase "nastupat' na odni i te zhe grabli".
Learning from your own mistakes would be a general translation, however, to get a close one, you should probably find a similar idiom in English. "Trial and error", may be?
Learning from your own mistakes would be a general translation, however, to get a close one, you should probably find a similar idiom in English. "Trial and error", may be?
13 hrs
Radian Yazynin
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98
putting one's foot in it
A fact of incorrigible stupidity
16 hrs
Alexander Kudriavtsev
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21
repeating own mistakes
It is a well-known Russian idiom generally meaning repeating own mistakes, usually stupid ones. Rough English idiomatic equivalent may e to put one's foot in it.
22 hrs
"Stepping on rakes"-signifies inability to learn from past mistakes & tendency to repeating them.
I would translate the passage as follows:
"That is why their life amounts to a constant repetition of old mistakes, and their behavioral motivation reduced to the level of instincts and conditional reflexes. "
GK
"That is why their life amounts to a constant repetition of old mistakes, and their behavioral motivation reduced to the level of instincts and conditional reflexes. "
GK
23 hrs
Roman Pishchalov
Specialist Translation & Interpretation
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making the same mistakes over and over again
Apparently, the phrase refers to the Russian idiom "stepping on the rake". One accidentally stepping on the rake teeth up may get hit by the grip. The same step made once again demonstrates one's absolute disability to learn from one's own mistakes. "Walking on the rakes" (khozhdenie po grabliam) seems to mean "making the same mistakes over and over again".
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