[Vocabulary] Imagine - John Lennon

[captain1]

Hello, I have a problem in understanding something in English. When I have a sentence how do I know what is the correct translation if I have 4/5 translation that are different.

For example:
From Imagine/John Lennon:
Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...

Let's take the word peace: how can I know what is the proper translation?

Peace has 2 translations:
1. Freedom from disturbance; quiet and tranquility.
2. Freedom from or the cessation of war or violence.

Because of the sentence: Nothing to kill or die for
I chose the translation to peace the translation number 2- Freedom from or the cessation of war or violence.
But I saw a translation of this song and the translation of peace is number 1 - Freedom from disturbance; quiet and tranquility.


How can I deal with words with multiple meanings/multiple translations.

Thanks.

 

[bhaisahab]

In that case I'd unerstand it as "freedom from war and violence".

 

[captain1]

Thank you so much, Do you have an advice what to do when you have some translations?

As you see, if you have two translation you may fail in understanding.

Thanks.

 

[Raymott]

Many words in most languages have more than one connotation. You use the context.

 

[captain1]

And when you don't have a context? for example 3 words which create a sentence.

 

[Raymott]

You ask someone else.

 

[Johnyxxx]

And when you don't have a context? just a sentence? What do you do?

Sometimes you find a sentence or a lyrics that were written on purpose to be ambiguous so you can interpret them in more than one way. In such a case you can do nothing but enjoy them or try to get in touch with the author and ask what he or she really meant by them.

 

[captain1]

You ask someone else.

Who is the someone else? the writer of the text? what do you mean?

 

[Raymott]

Who is the someone else? the writer of the text? what do you mean?

If you see a three word text without any context, then you have several options.
- ignore it.
- ask the person sitting next to you. (They may not know either)
- ask a teacher, your parents, your children
- ask someone smarter than you
- ask someone who's good at guessing three-word unfathomable sentences.
- do some research
- put it aside for a few days and come back to it.
- ask yourself how much it really matters, given that, if it was really important, there'd be some context.
- I'm sure there are other options.

 

[Matthew Wai]

And when you don't have a context? for example 3 words which create a sentence.

Simply take the literal meaning.

 

[Raymott]

Simply take the literal meaning.

That doesn't help when a word has two literal meanings, (which the OP believes is the case for "peace".)

 

[Peedeebee]

I think song lyrics may often be like that game when you do Lateral Thinking from one word to the next. After a few goes the meaning may be far from the original word. It's rather like the synonym game on this forum.
As Raymott says- go with the flow.
If we didn't have more than one connotation for a word many of our jokes and puns would not be possible.
"Living life in peace" - I think it means both at once.

 

[emsr2d2]

Googling "John Lennon" and reading various facts about him could have helped you. He was "anti-war" and "pro-peace". He even staged a "bed-in", during which he and Yoko Ono stayed in bed together for two weeks as a protest against the Vietnam War.

That information might have helped you decide which meaning of "peace" was more likely. However, as the others have said, both definitions work and the word could have been chosen because of its ambiguity.

 

[Matthew Wai]

That doesn't help when a word has two literal meanings, (which the OP believes is the case for "peace".)

I think either one is OK as there is no context according to the OP's post#5.

 

[MikeNewYork]

There is context in the rest of the song.

 

[Matthew Wai]

I think the OP's post#5, where '3 words which create a sentence' was mentioned, doesn't refer to the song.

 

[Tdol]

And when you don't have a context? for example 3 words which create a sentence.

Those three words would normally come within a wider context in natural language use. Unless someone is talking to themselves, the three words would be a response or a stimulus. With sentences created in isolation as examples for language learning, I would generally go for the most obvious interpretation, which is what we tend to do. You could also try imagining some context. For instance, with this song, when he's imagining huge things such as a world without religion, is peace really meant to be about peace and quiet rather than an end to the violence and wars that have plagued humanity? Is this about not cutting the grass with lawnmowers on a Sunday or about not butchering your neighbour? The answer is usually fairly clear. When we are ambiguous, go for the more obvious meaning. When we really need to be clear, we can always do it.

 

[captain1]

Hello, thank for your excellent answers. Now I have a better understanding.
I want to use a line from your answer Tdol for learning something. This line: is peace really meant to be about peace and quiet rather than an end to the violence and wars that have plagued humanity?

Why the article "the" is using here - to the violence and wars? why not to use "to violence and wars"(without the)?
Because violence and wars are not good anyway, so not specific wars are bad but all of them. If we don't want to specific but say that every war is bad why not to use "a or an articles" Thanks.

 

[bhaisahab]

It could be written without the article "the". I prefer it with the article.
It could not be written with "a" or "an". It would make no sense unless you were to completely rewrite it in the singular and without the word "violence".

 

[captain1]

1. How do you translate it when you don't have "the"? there is a mention to say that all the wars are bad? or you translate it as specific wars?(for example: Cold War, the holocaust).
2. In the same meaning: "The Jews left the Untied States" - do you see a specification? -specific Jews- or you translate it as all the Jews in the United States?

I am writing this post because I read that "the" is used for writing a specific noun and not generally.