Grant me the power of altering how others perceive me.

[Darklander]

I am wondering if I am accurate in my translation of the following sentence?
I am mainly unsure on which cases to use in the portion in bold.
Grant me the power of altering how others perceive me.
Da mihi potestatem mutandi quam alios sentiat mihi.

 

[Callaina]

I think quomodo ("=in what matter") would work better here. You also need to make the verb plural, with its subject in nominative, not accusative (it looks like you've tried to do a cross between an indirect question and acc-inf), and the direct object ("me") in accusative.

But personally I would do it a bit differently: Da mihi potestatem mutandi quomodo aliis videar. ("Grant me the power of altering how I appear to others.")

 

[Darklander]

I have another question very similar to my last one that I feel it can be discussed within this thread.
What would be the best way to translate the following?
where I appear to be to others.

 

[Callaina]

Hmmm. This is a bit tricky. At first I thought to do it like: Da mihi potestatem mutandi ubi esse aliis videar.

But that, strictly logically, means: "in what location I perform the action of appearing, to others, to exist". Not quite the same thing! (Though perhaps this reading is so very unlikely that one can disregard it. Pacifica, what do you think?)

Or, maybe: Da mihi potestatem mutandi ubi alii me sentiant. ("=where others perceive/sense me.")

 

[Pacifica]

But that, strictly logically, means: "in what location I perform the action of appearing, to others, to exist". Not quite the same thing! (Though perhaps this reading is so very unlikely that one can disregard it. Pacifica, what do you think?)

That's an unlikely interpretation indeed.

However, I'm not sure about using mutare with a clause like that.

 

[Darklander]

What Latin translation of to alter would you suggest Pacifica?
Also would it work better if I reworded it like this?
Where others perceive me to be or is that pretty much the same as Callaina's Da mihi potestatem mutandi ubi alii me sentiant. translation?

 

[Pacifica]

Ubi alii me sentiant strikes me as a weird phrasing. Adding esse to it might improve things a bit, but the phrasing with videar seems better.

But, honestly, I'm not sure how best to translate "altering" here.

 

[Darklander]

If I added esse to it would I translate it like this?
Da mihi potestatem mutandi ubi alii me sentiant esse.

 

[Pacifica]

Grant me the power of altering how others perceive me.
Grant me the power of altering where I appear to be to others.

It might be better to go for less literal translations. Maybe something along the lines of:

Da mihi potestatem ut qualiscumque voluero talis aliis videar: "Give me the power to seem to others however I want to."

Da mihi potestatem ut ubicumque voluero ibi esse aliis videar: "Give me the power to seem to others to be wherever I want."

 

[Darklander]

So I am clear you are suggesting Da mihi potestatem ut qualiscumque videri voluero talis aliis videar: literally: "Give me the power that, however I want to appear like, I may appear thus to others." as opposed to Da mihi potestatem mutandi quomodo aliis videar.

 

[Pacifica]

Yes, unless someone comes up with an example proving it's ok to use mutare with a clause.

 

[Callaina]

Grant me the power of altering how others perceive me.
Grant me the power of altering where I appear to be to others.

It might be better to go for less literal translations. Maybe something along the lines of:

Da mihi potestatem ut qualiscumque voluero talis aliis videar: "Give me the power to seem to others however I want to."

Da mihi potestatem ut ubicumque voluero ibi esse aliis videar: "Give me the power to seem to others to be wherever I want."

Yes, these seem to work well.

 

[Darklander]

Thanks for all your help