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Comment by DenisM | Hacker News Reader

I paint every day

Beautiful. In Russian we have a proverb "Дорогу осилит идущий" that roughly translates as "he who walks the path will make it to the destination". It sounds much better in Russian, and I was struggling to translate this into English for a while now, retaining the simplicity and elegance. This might just do it.

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How about "He who travels gets there."

Sadly, not the same. A more literal translation is "the road will be overcome by the walker". There is a sense of a struggle in it, but also a sense of an achievement in the end. And the walker is he who walks rather than stand still, that is he who exerts effort towards the goal.

You suggestion does not deliver the same emotional load for me.

The phrase itself is a grossly inaccurate translation of a biblical verse into Russian, and using the original is not much help either.

If you can't reproduce the equivalent emotional load in English, it's probably because this particular phrase is not part of the culture. You can simulate it, much like Tolkien might, by choosing words that are more likely to resonate with an English speaker. For example, the word "walker" is not going to cut it, and "pedestrian" would be worse. Your explantation is helpful.

So you could try variations like "The traveler will beat the path." Or wait for the Russian module of WordLens :-).

I personally prefer the more literal translation. I think it keeps the sense of a struggle and achievement as you described.

But is it good English? I'm not a native speaker, but it does sound somewhat unnatural.

I agree that it does sound unnatural but I still would say it conveys the meaning better. The more correct version you wrote seems to loose the idea of struggle (to me at least).

It also occurred to me just now that original phrase presents the road from two different points of view: it is an obstacle, as its length separates you from your goal, but it is also the means to reach your goal. Does this make sense?

It seems awkward to me, probably because I have been taught to despise the passive voice in writing. I prefer 'The walker overcomes the road' which feels more better :)

How about, "Walk and you'll come"?

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