Translation question

[Sabena_690]

Hi all,

Can somebody give me a good translation of the following sentence please? (it's for my signature at airliners.net):

"De enige les die we uit de geschiedenis kunnen trekken is dat uit de geschiedenis geen lessen getrokken worden".

I once heard this quote, and I find it one of the best ones I ever heard. Airliners.net has a new feature where everybody can add a signature, and I find this one quite nice...

Regards
Frederic

[Andries]

my guess would be :

The only thing you can learn from history is that man has not learnt from it.


Greetz,

CanonFreak

[Established02]

Hello Sabena 690,

That's an interesting quote indeed (as well as a challenging translation exercise).

The main lesson which we can learn from history is that from history no lessons are actually being taken.

Regards,

Established02

[Vonsmalhausen]

Hello Sabena 690,

That's an interesting quote indeed (as well as a challenging translation exercise).

The main lesson which we can learn from history is that from history no lessons are actually being taken.

Regards,

Established02

this is a verry good translation, just for one detail ;
main = belangrijkste
only = enige

so it should be : The ONLY lesson

this is only my opinion, i'm no professor

[OOODF]

"De enige les die we uit de geschiedenis kunnen trekken is dat uit de geschiedenis geen lessen getrokken worden".

One could write:

"The only thing history teaches us, is that we don't learn from history".

or

"The one lesson we might draw from history is that we never draw lessons from it".

or

"The only lesson we've learned from history is that, from history, lessons are never drawned".

or

"From history, one can draw the lesson that lessons are never drawn from history".

[SN30952]

Hi all,
"De enige les die we uit de geschiedenis kunnen trekken is dat uit de geschiedenis geen lessen getrokken worden".
Regards
Frederic

Here is my attempt, Frederic:
"People do not learn from history, that's the only lesson from history"
cq:
"People do not learn from the past, that's the only lesson from the past"

"If there is one lesson from the past, people do not learn from it"

[Sabena_690]

Thanks a lot guys!!

I'm taking the one of Established02, but also the others were nice translations!

Regards
Frederic

[Sabena_690]

Damned! Had to remove the signature because only 80 characters are allowed...

I hope this will be increased, otherwise I have to find a new one...

Frederic

[YACHTIE]

Hello Sabena_690,
Why not use CanonFreak's suggestion, "The only thing you can learn from history is that man has not learnt from it." it is only 76 char. and frankly IMHO a better translation as well. And FWIW, I believe that this is more like the way this fact is actually being stated in the English language.
You may want to consider changing "has not learnt from it" to: " will not learn from it"
Just my 2 cents worth.... 8)

[sn26567]

Even shorter: The only lesson from history is that nobody learns from it.

[Sabena_690]

Thanks for the alternatives guys!

Unfortunately the closest translation towards the real English expression is the one of Established02 I think...

The others are good too, but do not exactly express the content of the quote...

I asked Johan for more characters, will see what his reaction is...

Thanks
Frederic