Translation

[meggie1001]

how would i translate this into latin?

"my life enlightened by your knowledge"

[Quizmonster]

Scientia tua vitam meam docuit.
Word by word, that translates as...Knowledge your life my has enlightened. (Latin word-order is not the same as English!)

[robbo82]

I would translate it as something like "meus vita, illustro per tua scientia" which seems a slightly more direct translation.

[EverClean]

Sounds like this is for a tattoo?

[Quizmonster]

Robbo, I'm most certainly not claiming that my answer is utterly correct and not capable of improvement...however...
a) 'vita' is a feminine singular noun and must be qualified by a feminine singular adjective form. 'Meus' is a masculine singular adjective form, so 'meus vita' is a non-starter.
b) the preposition, 'per' takes the accusative case of the words it is associated with, so you would have to write, 'per tuam scientiam'.
c) the statement given, 'My life (is/has been) enlightened by your knowledge' is passive, so - as a motto - I thought it might be better in the active form. That is, 'Your knowledge has enlightened my life."
d) Word-order is important in Latin and quite different from word-order in English. In other words, translations to and fro are very rarely indeed 'direct'!
My advice to you, Meggie, is to take these and any other translations you might be offered to a Latin teacher at your local secondary school or even to an older Catholic priest. They will be able either to correct what you've been offered or simply tell you an altogether better way of translating your message. Good luck.

[Quizmonster]

Oh, re theabove, the phrases would actually have to be 'vita mea' and 'per scientiam tuam' and not 'mea vita' and 'per tuam scientiam'...ie another couple of word-order issues!

[robbo82]

Sorry, QM, I'm a bit rusty, has been a few years now since I did my A-Level Latin. I still prefer the passive voice though.

[Quizmonster]

Don't worry about it, Robbo. It's fifty-one years - almost to the very day - since I last sat in a classroom translating Latin myself!

[meggie1001]

Wow. Well thanks for everyone's advice. Yep it is for a tattoo. I'm not catholic, so i dont talk to priests ever.. but that is a very good idea.