English to Latin??

[mick123]

Hey, just wondering if anyone is any good at english to latin translations? I'm trying to figure out which one of these, if either, is correct and whether or not punctuation is used. The sentence i'm trying to translate is;

Life is short, live so that you may live...

1. Vita brevis, vive ut vivas
or
2. Vita est brevis, ago ut vos may ago

If anyone is able to help me out it would much appreciated!
thanks

[BobK]

Originally Posted by mick123

Hey, just wondering if anyone is any good at english to latin translations? I'm trying to figure out which one of these, if either, is correct and whether or not punctuation is used. The sentence i'm trying to translate is;

Life is short, live so that you may live...

1. Vita brevis, vive ut vivas
or
2. Vita est brevis, ago ut vos may ago

If anyone is able to help me out it would much appreciated!
thanks

2 is seriously wrong in almost every possible respect ; I doubt if the person who wrote it had any understanding of any language but English.

1 looks OK to me. Modern editions of Latin texts often use commas in that way, but I suspect (my Classical Latin is 'best before May 1968') writers of the time wouldn't have used them.

b

[mick123]

Ah great thanks alot! Yeah i thought the second one was probably a little bit off, the may in it kind of tipped it over the edge though! thanks for the help

[Soup]

Originally Posted by mick123

Ah great thanks alot! Yeah i thought the second one was probably a little bit off, the may in it kind of tipped it over the edge though! thanks for the help

Did you find your translations here Latin Quotations, Latin Phrases, Latin Maxims and Latin Sayings? If so, then no comma require. You need a period.

Vita brevis. Vive ut vivas.
Life is short. Live so that you may live / Live life to the fullest.

See quotes by Horace here http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Latin_proverbs

[beascarpetta]

Originally Posted by Soup

Vita brevis. Vive ut vivas. Life is short. Live so that you may live / Live life to the fullest.

it's grammatically correct , but definitely neither Horace nor common usage.

If it has to be Horace,why not go for

carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero

or you could use

Vita, si scias uti, longa est (Seneca)

if you need any more suggestions , just let me know.