with a lacing of varnish

10:08 Dec 7, 2010 

I appreciate your helps.
Thank you very much

06:37 Dec 7, 2010 

Hi Edward,

Thank you again for confirming my answer. I'm glad I could be of help and hope my answer has been useful enough.

05:41 Dec 7, 2010 

Hi Hossein,

I would agree that neither سنتی nor محلی is very good.

Your last sentence is very good and is probably as close as we can make it to the English.

Thanks for working through this one. It was a good exercise. I think everyone following it understands it inside and out.

18:25 Dec 6, 2010 

Hi Edward,

I don't think either سنتی or محلی would be appropriate here. If you think "prescriptive" here doesn't mean a doctor's prescription, then I'd suggest قهوه مورد نیاز as you said it means "necessary/required". So, I'd suggest:

قهوه مورد نیاز همان شیرین بیان بود به همراه کمی الکل

You made the meaning perfectly clear, but your suggested translation is a little unclear and unnatural. For example, با طعم الزامی شیرین بیان and الکل بافته درون make no sense. I assume you wanted to say قهوه الزاماً طعم شیرین بیان داشت and و حاوی کمی الکل بود. So, your suggestion could be better if put this way:

قهوه الزاماً طعم شیرین بیان داشت و حاوی اندکی الکل بود

17:18 Dec 6, 2010 

Hossein and Ehsan,

Your suggestions are much closer now. If you need to choose between سنتی and محلی I would go with سنتی

I don't know if my suggestion below is too strange for Persian, but I would like to see the translation somehow convey the "feel" of the English, which is very "tight" and with no "extra" vocabulary.

Here is another option, which I modified to include "laced with":

قهوه با طعم الزامی شیرین بیان بود و اندکی الکل بافته درون

In any case, I think the meaning of the sentence is clear for everyone now.

10:11 Dec 6, 2010 

Hi Edward,

Thank you again for sharing your native, authentic knowledge with us as always! Now I'm sure my guess was correct. So, I'd recommend the following translation:

قهوه همان شیرین بیانی بود که توصیه شده بود به همراه کمی الکل

07:50 Dec 6, 2010 

Thank you Mr. Edward for your precise answers.
can we translate prescriptive as "سنتی" or "محلی" here?
and the sentence as follow:
قهوه، نوعی شیرین بیان سنتی بود با چاشنی از الکل!

05:34 Dec 6, 2010 

I forgot to add that prescriptive here does not mean related to a doctor's prescription. Here it means "required/necessary"

05:20 Dec 6, 2010 

Varnish here is an old slang word for alcohol. It dates back at least to Prohibition (1920s) in the USA.

Licorice/liquorice is used as a flavoring in some coffees. The flavor is similar to anise. http://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/شیرین‌بیان

To keep the "feel" of the context sentence, I would translate it something like this:

قهوه با هم آن طعم ضروری/الرزامی شیرین بیان بود و آلوده با اندکی الکل

16:35 Dec 3, 2010 

There was a brief prelude in an underground canteen with fluorescent strip lighting and lino;The coffee was the prescriptive liquorice with a lacing of varnish. Surrounded by blue-eyed, tanned young men in open-necked shirts, slim-waisted girls with ...

16:27 Dec 3, 2010 

Can you provide us with more text and/or context?