Serbo-Croatian, Bosnian : na priliku

[harakiri]

— Eto se i to svrši. Suđeno je pa neka bude i to. Samo znaš, kako je, na priliku, iksan je, što no se kaže božji stvor, pa ne bi valjalo da ga, na priliku, zverinje jede i psi razvlače.

It's not difficult to translate this sentence, but how should we feel with the phrase "na priliku"? Here 2 times repeating it. When translating this in English or Japanese, it's easy for us to omit it simply. Does it sound more like "Let me see..." "Well..."?

 

[Lazar_Bgd]

Honestly, I have no idea what this should mean in this particular case. It seems to be an obsolete filler that you can just disregard.

 

[harakiri]

Hvala. It's maybe to make a breath. I felt so.

 

[Anemona61]

According to the dictionary (Matica Srpska), "na priliku" means "u obliku", "poput čega". It makes no sense here.

 

[LookSharp]

Definitely a filler word. I'm sure that the author here is imitating peasant speech - Serbian of Eastern Bosnia. Someone familiar with the dialect thereabouts would perhaps recognise it. A translator would have to find a way of making it sound provincial in his translation, which can be hard work.
As a filler, I can see it rendered in English by like (conversational but not quite rural), or see (as used to be heard in the American South).

 

[harakiri]

Actually it's interesting indeed. Andric enjoys playing words. For example, in "Travnička hronika" he picked up the word "nam". Of course, on purpose he used this word in Turkish once. When I tried reading it in his native tongue, I could not get it at all. Hopefully in Wiktionary, next to Serbo-Croatian, we see Turkish. ;-) As for the poor translation of this novel in Japanese, it's translated in some ugly way. When one reads that translation, he can never realize what Andric is. Natives should also feel odd. Nam? Nam... Hmmm... 南無... Not only Turkish, but even Hungarian words are used. Such a guy can pay attention to each character. "You know", "You see", "Yeah", etc. When I spoke in Serbian, I had often said "Ovaj". No meaning, but it made me feel somehow satisfied as if I spoke fluently. XD Hvala!

 

[LookSharp]

A good tip about Andrić's use of Turkish loanwords is that he himself wasn't an expert. Where he gives his sources they're often reference manuals and dictionaries of useful words (so there are some misuses and misspellings). So the words are never of cardinal importance; in translating it's only important to recognise them as Turkish straight away. I know for sure that the use of Turkish terms in his prose is a bit of a challenge for modern-day young Croatian and Serbian readers as well.

YES, to learn to use pause-words and such is a great boost it lets you convey the impression that you speak a language very well even if you don't (I know from experience)

 

[harakiri]

Yes... I get the idea to check the Turkish translation of "Na Drini cuprija"... When I go to Istanbul again, I will do that. When? Hope that it's coming soon. XD

There're several techniques to hide the poverty of talking skills. When I was in Serbia, I enjoyed being a good listener in front of super talkative girls. My duty was nodding, and paying bills in the cafe. XD It was a kinda language lesson. But only nodding looks silly. I asked my Serbian friend in Vienna to translate what I wrote, and I got stocks to joke. It's possible to use several times. Hvala!