Ytukyg

My hometown has a saying or motto on their sign which reads, "Where life is worth living" and I'm trying to complete a Russian exercise for a language course in which I give a tour of my hometown in Russian.

My best idea of how to say this is, "Тут Стоит Жить"

However, I was wondering if anyone more skilled in the language knows the most natural way to say this?

To use this phrase in a sentence, you would say, "This town is a place where life is worth living".

It's meant to sound positive and catchy. In reality, it is sometimes used ironically when things go poorly in the town, but in general, it is a positive thing to say.

Imperfective жить does not really work as a transitive verb in Russian, so I don't really think you can make the literal translation work the same way the original English sentence does.

You can try replacing it with another pun or a word play or something:

• Здесь не проживают, здесь живут




• И жизнь хороша, и жить хорошо




• Тут жизнь, в которой стоит жить

, or similar

То место, где стоит жить

However to my ear the word место used generically doesn't have in Russian particularly pleasant undertones (wonder if i'm alone). Mayhap it's due to such stable collocations as отхожее место, мокрое место, заднее место, места не столь отдалённые

So the most obvious replacement is the generic noun for the locality

Городок/Посёлок, где стоит жить

Nothing fancy here, a straightforward translation which captures the meaning of the original without unnecessary embellishments.

I've avoided the word деревня (village) since in the reality of Russian life it's not associated with modern small communities, rather with far flung, derelict and backwards places

The reason for the word life in the English phrase is that in the construction used it's required as an object of the noun living. There's no such requirement in Russian for this particular case, so it can be dispensed with.

it is sometimes used ironically when things go poorly in the town

To sound ironic it must be construed like this

Where life is worth leaving

You could go with a more literal translation:

• Жизнь стоит того, чтобы жить.

Same thing used in a sentence:

• Вебстер - это место, где жизнь стоит того, чтобы жить.

Note that in Russian only the first letter of a heading / motto is capitalized, just like in a normal sentence (unless you go for all caps like in the sign). The is no such thing as "title case" in official Russian orthography.

"This town is a place where life is worth living."

• "Этот город - место, где жизнь стоит быть прожитой." - the most correct option, I guess, but not literal translation.




• "Этот город - место, где жизнь стоит того, чтобы жить." - Sergey's translation is also correct, but it's a little bit crooked because of literal translation. (my opinion)

I'll add a variant.

Деревня, достойная того, чтобы жить в ней.

Actually, I like the author's version. It's not word-to-word, but it sounds good.

I would humbly suggest "Где жизнь того стоит".

The main focus is on "life" followed by an assertion that the quality of it is high enough. Obviously "the quality of life" here is very subjective.