I am telling you welcome

[Mher85]

Hi, friends. This is an excerpt from the president's speech to the participants of the Pan-Armenian Games.
Do you think present continuous is a suitable tense to use here?
As an aside, do I have problems concerning the punctuation of the "welcome to the homeland..." part?

"I cordially welcome all the participants and guests of the 6th Summer Pan-Armenian Games. On behalf of all of us, I am telling our diaspora sisters and brothers welcome to the homeland, welcome to mother Armenia."

 

[Thomas Tompion]

I don't see why not, Mher.

One bids people welcome, so this person must be telling people "Welcome etc."

 

[Language Hound]

The present continuous here sounds quite strange to me. It sounds to me like the president has been going around saying "Welcome to the homeland; welcome to mother Armenia" and will continue to do so, perhaps for the duration of the games.

I think--but I could be mistaken--that he means to extend this greeting as part of his welcome speech.
For that reason, I would either say:
I say to...
I would like to say to...

I would use "say" instead of "tell."

 

[DonnyB]

Yes, I think the present continuous sounds odd there, particularly when following the simple present in "I cordially welcome".

You could do it as "I bid our diaspora sisters and brothers welcome to the homeland..." but I like LH's suggestion of "I would like to say to ...".

 

[Mher85]

The present continuous here sounds quite strange to me. It sounds to me like the president has been going around saying "Welcome to the homeland; welcome to mother Armenia" and will continue to do so, perhaps for the duration of the games.

I think--but I could be mistaken--that he means to extend this greeting as part of his welcome speech.
For that reason, I would either say:
I say to...
I would like to say to...

I would use "say" instead of "tell."

Actually, 'I would like to...' was in my mind when I opened this thread. I, too, don't like 'I am telling you...'
Also 'bid' is new to me in that sense. Thank you, friends.

 

[perpend]

Building on TT's "to bid" above:

On behalf of all of us, I bid our diaspora sisters and brothers welcome ...

EDIT: Cross-posted with Mher.

 

[Copyright]

You can also drop the bidding and get right to it:

"On behalf of all of us, I welcome our diaspora sisters and brothers to the homeland, to mother Armenia."

 

[Mher85]

You can also drop the bidding and get right to it:

"On behalf of all of us, I welcome our diaspora sisters and brothers to the homeland, to mother Armenia."

Dear Copyright, this is a president's speech and I do not have carte blanche to change anything I want.

 

[Thomas Tompion]

Dear Copyright, this is a president's speech and I do not have carte blanche to change anything I want.

I'm worried that if you don't change it, Mher, it will sound as though the President has a corn cob stuck right up his arse.

 

[Giorgio Spizzi]

Ha, ha!!
GS

 

[Mher85]

I'm worried that if you don't change it, Mher, it will sound as though the President has a corn cob stuck right up his arse.

It is his problem, not mine. Anyway, he is not going to read his speech in English.

 

[Copyright]

Anyway, he is not going to read his speech in English.

Then what is this English version for?

 

[Mher85]

Then what is this English version for?

The English version will appear in the website president.am.

 

[Copyright]

The English version will appear in the website president.am.

So it is important. One of the kindest, most professional, things you can do for your president – if his staff will allow it – is to give him a sound command of the English language on his website.

You say that it's his problem, not yours, but you're involved. If someone comes along who has his ear, and suggests that he has not been well served by his writer, I wouldn't want to be that writer. At least you might like to document the fact that you tried. Most back-translations allow for modification in the target language as long as the meaning is maintained.

My apologies for off-topic, unasked-for advice, but the members of the forum do their best to give you idiomatic English ... which can make both you and your president sound better. Something to think about, and I promise not to trouble you about it in the future.

 

[Mher85]

So it is important. One of the kindest, most professional, things you can do for your president – if his staff will allow it – is to give him a sound command of the English language on his website.

You say that it's his problem, not yours, but you're involved. If someone comes along who has his ear, and suggests that he has not been well served by his writer, I wouldn't want to be that writer. At least you might like to document the fact that you tried. Most back-translations allow for modification in the target language as long as the meaning is maintained.

My apologies for off-topic, unasked-for advice, but the members of the forum do their best to give you idiomatic English ... which can make both you and your president sound better. Something to think about, and I promise not to trouble you about it in the future.

You are definitely right, dear Copyright. Translating as better as possible is actually what I always try to achieve. Otherwise, what I am doing here? I do appreciate all your efforts and attention. Every thread I open in this forum is of real importance to me, and I do not like to waste my and other people's precious time.
My answer "It is his problem..." was a joke in response to TT's joke. That is all.
As a translator, I always strive to be loyal to the original text, but at the same time avoid artificial translation. This is the dilemma I face every time, because often it is very hard to define the border between loyalty to the source language and professional translation.

 

[Copyright]

I understand the problem. My suggested solution to clients who give me back-translations is that I keep their meaning but make them sound like native English speakers, since that's their target audience. That's what we've tried to do here and in your other threads. Of course only you can know what is ultimately acceptable.

Good luck.

 

[Mher85]

I understand the problem. My suggested solution to clients who give me back-translations is that I keep their meaning but make them sound like native English speakers, since that's their target audience. That's what we've tried to do here and in your other threads. Of course only you can know what is ultimately acceptable.

Good luck.

What do you mean by 'back-translations'?

 

[Copyright]

Translations of text by non-native English speakers that I am given to turn into idiomatic English. I'm not a translator myself.

 

[velisarius]

In this case a back translation would be a translation of Mehr's work back into Armenian, for purposes of comparison. (That's "back translation" as I understand it.)