Glossary entry

Russian term or phrase:

лейтмотив

English translation:

the thing he has been dreaming of

Added to glossary by translato
Nov 14, 2011 07:46
12 yrs ago
1 viewer *
Russian term

лейтмотив

Russian to English Other Other
И бывший дирижер понимает: лейтмотив всех его снов за последние тридцать лет – наяву. Сейчас или никогда.

the ex-conductor understands: the keynote of all his dreams for the last thirty years is in reality. Now or never.

Proposed translations

22 hrs
Selected

the thing he has been dreaming of

This is about making a dream come true.

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Note added at 23 hrs (2011-11-15 07:01:35 GMT)
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I see now that the text you are translating is just someone retelling a movie plot, so you needn't get too fancy. Words like leitmotif and even keynote will be too lofty for this context. (Don't get me wrong, I liked the movie.)

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Note added at 1 day6 hrs (2011-11-15 14:35:34 GMT) Post-grading
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Thank you! P.S. Your "conductor" was correct, of course. (If "director", then "musical director".)

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Note added at 2 days10 hrs (2011-11-16 18:28:19 GMT) Post-grading
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An afterthought: "obsession" might also be used here, if you wanted to keep it concise. Then you would have to make sure to keep it free of the possible negative connotations that this word can have, though.
Example sentence:

And the former director realizes that the thing he has been dreaming of for the past thirty years is within his grasp. It's now or never.

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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thank you very much!!!"
+1
9 mins

guiding theme, leitmotif

не имея большого контекста
Peer comment(s):

agree Laura Friend : Yes, we should know the context, but without it, I'm willing to guess the conductor's dreams ARE music-related. Leitmotif would be very cool in any case, since he IS a conductor. Besides, leitmotif is an artistic word; the other two are more mundane.
16 hrs
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+3
4 mins

keynote

keynote (general context)

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Note added at 11 mins (2011-11-14 07:58:46 GMT)
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Despite the word "conductor", I would rather use "keynote" instead of "leit-motif", as the dreams could be not just music-related. What is the conductor's situation?
Peer comment(s):

agree cyhul
1 hr
agree splotnik
4 hrs
agree MariyaN (X)
9 hrs
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18 hrs

recurring theme

как вариант
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