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I've seen the usage of English phrase for what it's worth many times.

However, I still don't know what the most precise translation of this phrase is in Russian.

Olga
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VisioN
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  • My three cents, I am pretty sure you will get your question closed at the English usage Q&A if you ask anything related to translating from Russian to English. I believe anything tagged "english-to-russian" should not be allowed here either. – Trident D'Gao Jun 13 '12 at 22:35
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    @bonomo: This is not really a translation question per se. I agree about removing the tag english-to-russian, but overall, I believe that the question is perfectly appropriate for RL&U. – Philip Seyfi Jun 13 '12 at 22:36
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    @VisioN my English is not perfect so I can't get you the answer. But if you explain this phrase in few sentences instead of few words you will get more correct answer. Until now you have 2.5 different answers :) – Putnik Jun 14 '12 at 06:39
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    The question is appropriate, according to the Definition phase questions. – Alenanno Jun 27 '12 at 12:52

5 Answers5

12

No direct translation exists. 'For what it's worth' usually means that whatever is to follow is going to be a subjective opinion, which translates well to

  • На мой взгляд (In my opinion),
  • Я думаю (I think),
  • Я считаю (I figure).

If you want to communicate that a piece of information is potentially unimportant for another reason, you could say something like 'Может, это неважно, но'.

kotekzot
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    Examples are mistranslated: “на мой взгляд” = “in my view” (“in my opinion” = “по моему мнению”), “я считаю” = “I figure” (literally: “to figure” = “to calculate”; “I think” = “я думаю”), “мне кажется” = “(it) seems to me (that)”. – theUg Jun 26 '12 at 07:53
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    @theUg if you take the expression literally, then they don't match perfectly, but if you consider their usage, they are spot on. +1 for alternative translations though, they could be useful. – kotekzot Jun 26 '12 at 08:02
  • There is no reason to fiddle with translation, when direct and literal one is available. Otherwise, it is confusing for everyone. – theUg Jun 26 '12 at 08:05
  • Another clarification as to why “я считаю” ≠ “I think”. “Cчитать” is closer in the figurative sense to the verb “to opine” (“I opine”) which is more assertive, whereas “I think” is more tentative (“I ponder that…” or “I am not sure, but I think that…”). – theUg Jun 26 '12 at 08:10
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    @theUg literal translations don't necessarily carry the intended meaning, "I ponder" is a great example of that. You can ponder something, but you can't say "I ponder" to express an opinion. – kotekzot Jun 26 '12 at 08:35
  • I said exactly that (“to ponder” is not a literal translation, by the way, ergo your argument is not cogent ;)). I just pointed that “I think” is a weak way of expressing an opinion. “I think” or “I reckon” are the ways to hedge your bets, not to assert a position. Although, come to think of it, the whole “я считаю” can be weak, so in this particular example I may well be wrong. Methinks. – theUg Jun 26 '12 at 15:48
  • @theUg I've chosen a poor example, but literal translations are still not the way to go, as this joke illustrates. – kotekzot Jun 27 '12 at 11:20
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FWIW is roughly synonymous with my two cents, which can in turn be translated as мои пять копеек

UPDATE: Note that мои пять копеек is highly colloquial and can only really be met online.

Philip Seyfi
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    Just my two cents: I've lived in Russia for 20 years, and I can't recall anyone using просто мои пять копеек in real life, except perhaps a couple of times in tech community where it is common to use loan translation of English phrases, or even no translation at all. – Dan Jun 13 '12 at 22:53
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    True, it's loan translation of the English phrase and never used in speech, but it's getting increasingly popular online, even outside of the tech community. The question asked about FWIW, which itself is only used online. – Philip Seyfi Jun 13 '12 at 23:09
  • That's a valid point, thanks for elaborating. – Dan Jun 13 '12 at 23:41
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    @PhilipSeyfi I beg to differ, it seems to be fairly popular http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_What_It's_Worth – kotekzot Jun 14 '12 at 00:54
  • @PhilipSeyfi I bet the guys from Buffalo Springfield in 1966 had no idea about online chatting ;) – VisioN Jun 14 '12 at 07:47
  • @VisioN & @kotekzot I bet they didn't use FWIW but for what it's worth in those days :P I've never seen FWIW in kind of a document, unlike NB, BCC, etc. – Philip Seyfi Jun 14 '12 at 11:06
  • Question posed about translating a phrase, not a particular abbreviation. I reckon asker did it for the sake of keeping the length of the title manageable. – theUg Jun 26 '12 at 15:52
  • -1: idioms don't translate directly. – Seva Alekseyev Jun 27 '12 at 20:17
  • @Seva Alekseyev: You're right, they don't. мои пять копеек has neither the number 2, nor the word 'cents' in it. It is a version adapted to the Russian currency system and pops up regularly on internet forums and chats. – Philip Seyfi Jun 27 '12 at 23:34
  • So it "Albanian language" (look it up). Does not make it proper Russian. – Seva Alekseyev Jun 28 '12 at 02:12
  • @SevaAlekseyev: I have never implied that мои пять копеек is proper literary Russian. Considering that we're looking for the best equivalent of FWIW, an acronym that itself is only used online, it should be clear enough that мои пять копеек or any equivalent thereof should not be used in speech or formal writing. – Philip Seyfi Jun 28 '12 at 08:28
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It depends on the context. If you just add some information which value you are not sure about, I would translate it as на всякий случай. If you express your opinion, you can add something like я не настаиваю, но or simply я думаю.

Malcolm
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2

Не знаю, на сколько это важно/полезно, но...

Может быть, это и не важно, но...

Anixx
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0

"За что купил, за то и продаю"?

user4747
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  • Это означает "передаю с чужих слов". А FWIW означает точку зрения с которой собеседник может не согласиться, а может и посчитать полезной. – Artemix Dec 09 '14 at 21:07
  • Странно - везде в Интернете (кроме этого сайта) нахожу именно такой перевод. – Paul Jul 15 '15 at 10:53