SERENDIPITY

Latvian translation: Laimīgs gadījums

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)

English term or phrase:	SERENDIPITY
Latvian translation:	Laimīgs gadījums

09:47 Feb 5, 2004

English to Latvian translations [Non-PRO]
/ SIGNAGE

English term or phrase: SERENDIPITY

TRANSLATE THE ENGLISH WORD SERENDIPITY INTO A SInGLE OR DOUBLE CHARCTER IE. CHINESE, JAPANESE, MADARIN, ANY LANGUAGE. SERENDIPITY IS A WORD TO DESCRIBED A FORTUNATE ACCIDENT OR AN ACCIDENT IN WHICH A GOOD THING EVENTUATES.

Lance

Laimīgs gadījums

Explanation:
Oxford dictionary says: The faculty of making happy and unexpected discoveries by accident
But I won't argue with you.
As far as I understand you are looking for a translation of movie...
It's quite hard to say in Latvian.
It could be just
"Laimīgs gadījums"
but there is an exactsaying for fortunate accident, unexpected luck.
It is "Cūkas laime" - it is perfect, but in case of back translation it means "Pig's luck"

Selected response from:

Inga Baranova
Local time: 10:45

Grading comment

4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

3 +2

Laimīgs gadījums

Inga Baranova

necerēta veiksme

Vents Villers

Talants uz atkl'ajumiem

LIGA LINSSEN

Discussion entries: 3

Answers

2 hrs confidence:

peer agreement (net): +2

serendipity

Laimīgs gadījums

Inga Baranova
Local time: 10:45
Native speaker of:

Latvian,

Russian
PRO pts in pair: 179

1 day 7 hrs confidence:

necerēta veiksme

Explanation:
Serendipity
Serendipity is finding something unexpected and useful while searching for something else entirely. For instance, the discovery of the antibacterial properties of penicillin by Alexander Fleming is said to have been a serendipitious discovery.
The word was coined by Horace Walpole in the 18th century, from the Persian fairy tale The Three Princes of Serendip (Serendip is an old name for the island now known as Sri Lanka )
It is used as a sociological method in Anselm L. Strauss and Barney G. Glaserss Grounded Theory, building on ideas by sociologist Robert K. Merton , who in Social Theory and Social Structure (1949) claimed that serendipity was an Indian concept.
Serendipity is also the name of a club in New York City where Andy Warhol used to frequent.
Serendipity is the name of a romantic movie starring Kate Beckinsale and John Cusack.

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Note added at 2004-02-06 17:50:25 (GMT)
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http://livingheritage.org/three_princes.htm
http://livingheritage.org/three_princes-2.htm
...
This discovery indeed is almost of that kind which I call serendipity, a very expressive word, which as I have nothing better to tell you, I shall endeavour to explain to you: you will understand it better by the derivation than by the definition. I once read a silly fairy tale called The Three Princes of Serendip: as their highnesses travelled, they were always making discoveries, by accident and sagacity, of things which they were not in quest of: for instance, one of them discovered that a mule blind of the right eye had travelled the same road lately, because the grass was eaten only on the left side, where it was worse than on the right now do you understand serendipity? One of the most remarkable instances of this accidental sagacity (for you must observe that no discovery of a thing you are looking for comes under this description) was of my Lord Shaftsbury, who happening to dine at Lord Chancellor Clarendons, found out the marriage of the Duke of York and Mrs Hyde, by the respect with which her mother treated her at table.

On reading Walpoles description of the process of serendipity - They were always making discoveries, by accident and sagacity, of things they were not in quest of it becomes evident that the example cited is not suited to the coiners definition. The ineptness of this example, and the further one that Walpole cites with reference to Lord Shaftsbury, fail to illustrate the grand concept of serendipity.
...

Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serendipity

Vents Villers
Local time: 10:45
Native speaker of:

Latvian
PRO pts in pair: 211

60 days confidence:

serendipity Talants uz atkl'ajumiem

Explanation:
that means that somebody has a talant to discover new things.

LIGA LINSSEN
Local time: 09:45
Native speaker of:

Latvian
PRO pts in pair: 6

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SERENDIPITY

Latvian translation: Laimīgs gadījums

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