O'Brien & NewSpeak?

Hey, is it just me, or does anybody else find this NewSpeak difficult to "translate" in to normal sentences.

I mean, some of the time, you can kinda figure out what some of the words mean (i.e. doubleplus = very, very, _______). But most of the time, I found extreme difficulty making out what the sentences in Newspeak meant (except when Orwell gave their meanings).

I found this especially true when O'brien spoke, "'Items one comma five comma seven approved fullwise stop suggestion contained item six doubleplus ridiculous verging crimethink cancel stop unproceed constructionwise antegetting plusfull estimates machinery overheads stop end message.' (Part 2#; Chapter 8#).

I rather enjoyed "translating" newspeak- kind of like a crossword puzzle with cryptic clues! I'm sure you've worked out the O'Brien sentence you quoted by now, ;) but in my version:
Items One, five and seven approved. The uggestion contained in item six is VERY VERY ridiculous, verging on the brink of thoughtcrime. Cancel that item.Don't proceed further in construction before getting Very full details of machinery overhead costs."
One thing that hasn't changed is the system of including the punctuation mrks while giving dictation!
Any other interpretations?

I thought that part of the symbolism of newspeak was the doubleplus ungood translation. It just sounds like meaningless babble. That why "duckspeak" was used to describe both babble and party propoganda. They were both just babble. Or am I getting out of newspeak and into duckspeak?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sindhu

I rather enjoyed "translating" newspeak- kind of like a crossword puzzle with cryptic clues! I'm sure you've worked out the O'Brien sentence you quoted by now, ;) but in my version:
Items One, five and seven approved. The uggestion contained in item six is VERY VERY ridiculous, verging on the brink of thoughtcrime. Cancel that item.Don't proceed further in construction before getting Very full details of machinery overhead costs."
One thing that hasn't changed is the system of including the punctuation mrks while giving dictation!
Any other interpretations?

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Thanks for the translation.

Don`t you think that newspeak is a bit like some istitutions were called in the Soviet Union? I mean, maybe it`s because of translation - I read the Estonian translation of "1984". For example the names of ministries in 1984 were shortened in newspeak and the Communist Party was also Kompartei (in estonian) or Comparty for short. 1984 is the criticism of the soviet union but I`m not so sure about this little thing I noticed, it really might be because of translation.

You are right, I agree. The shortening of words exist also in the English versionm (ie. Miniluv, Minitrue, Miniplenty, Minipax). I know two more words from the Soviet/Maoist vocabulary: Comintern. Politburo.

i have the translated version :(..so many terms are translated (pitty me :( ), though the meaning is still interesting..

Consider yourself pitied Sub.

I liked reading newspeak, it seems to consist of alot of doublenegatives though, but that's the problem when there a few words.

Well the whole point of newspeak was so that the vocabulary was limited and anti party revolutionary ideas could not be passed on.

Damn, I didn't know there was a languagey thing in 1984! (I could never make it very far through the Heston movie. Cause it has, you know, Heston.) Whoo! I MUST read this book!! It is decided. It's my next one.

Oh Em, where have u been :) (joking)...lots of great books that i havent read also..

Tsk Tsk. ;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by IWilKikU

I thought that part of the symbolism of newspeak was the doubleplus ungood translation. It just sounds like meaningless babble. That why "duckspeak" was used to describe both babble and party propoganda. They were both just babble. Or am I getting out of newspeak and into duckspeak?

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Duckspeak was both an accusation and a compliment. Kind of like "Modern Art" :lol:

hi i'm atunisian girl (2nd year english studant) i read this book and i'm enjoying it ,i'll explain to you some rules of the new speak:
it's the official language of Oceania and has been devised to meet ideological needs of Ingsoc oe english socialism.the purpose of the new speak is not only to provide a medium of expression for the world-view and mental habits proper to devotees of Ingsoc,but to make all other methods of thoughts impossible and to make books which were written before the era of party unreadable.
this is done by the invention of new words ,but chiefly by eliminating undesirable words by stripping such words as remained of unorthodox meaning whatever.
it's devided in 3groups:
1) A-VOCABULARY:which consists of words needed in business and every day life.
2) B-VOCABULARY:consists of words which have been deliberately constructed for political purposes (they are also called compound words).example:-goodthink as a noun means very roughly orthodoxy. as verb:to think in good manner...many of the B-WORDS are euphemisms(mean opposit to what they appear to mean)example:Joycamp(forced labour camp);Minipax(ministry of peace in charge of the army).
3) C-VOCABULARY:consists of technical and scientific terms...

Newspeak words are hard to "transulate" in my opinion. It makes you think harder to what the words are meant to mean when u see a word that doesnt look normal or a word that would be used today. For an example DoubleThink a word that is used in the novel as a Newspeak word that would not be put the same way as of today. I think it is focused for the most part to limit the thinking and education levels . Reading the words now though is just the fun challenge of transating them and knowing what they mean. :p