Alexander Demyanov May 27, 2007:

Thanks for not adding this to the Glossary.

Сергей Лузан (asker) May 27, 2007:

2 all took "'a man is not what he is but rather what he comes across as"
Thanks to everybody for the efforts, specia thanks to Jim Tucker forhis interesting comments & corrections to Olga Cartlidge for the verb.

Сергей Лузан (asker) May 23, 2007:

2 all Quite a hard nut to crack, Jim! Thank you & Henry for your opinions as well as Alexander. Still thinking ...

Jim Tucker (X) May 23, 2007:

Would need to be "...what he comes across as"(but this doesn't sound like BE to me) or "...how he comes across" if you want this verb (not sure it's best) - in any case "...what he comes across" by itself is senseless.

Сергей Лузан (asker) May 23, 2007:

2 all Now I have
'a man is not what he is but rather what he comes across' vs. '"a man is not what he is but rather what he is perceived to be"'
More inclined to the former than the latter.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=ru&q="what he is perceived t...

Сергей Лузан (asker) May 23, 2007:

2 all 'a man is not what he is but rather what he he comes across' (Olga's suggestion seems quite plausible to me)
3. Make a particular impression, as in He comes across as a very sincere person or Her meaning doesn't really come across; she'll have to revise the speech. [Colloquial; first half of 1900s]
http://www.answers.com/come across&r=67
разг. показаться; произвести какое-л. впечатление
http://www.multitran.ru/c/m.exe?l1=1&s=come across&�����=�����
http://www.google.com/search?hl=ru&q="what he comes across"&...

Сергей Лузан (asker) May 23, 2007:

2 all a man is not what he is (from the viewpoint of formal details) but rather what he *looks like in his activities perceived by others* - that's a rough idea of the sentence. I just need a snappy rendition of **.

Сергей Лузан (asker) May 23, 2007:

2: Jim Thanks for constantly, Jim, but 'guffaws', not 'cackles' was pronounced & implied.

Alexander Demyanov May 23, 2007:

"Anactive"? Did you mean "an active"? If so, what does it have to do with anything?

Сергей Лузан (asker) May 23, 2007:

2 all almost no doubt about 'not what he is but rather...' That's the problem :)

Alexander Demyanov May 23, 2007:

In any case there is no way for "how he represents himself" to be the correct meaning. That means "КАК он себя подает".

Alexander Demyanov May 23, 2007:

Now, if you know for sure, that the speaker is not misushing either "является" or "что он из себя представляет", then the correct _meaning_ is "not what he is but rather what he is", and that would be really confusing.

Jim Tucker (X) May 23, 2007:

(... "drinks beer with us and cackles constantly - look at her now, running by the gate - that's Lenka")

some details to revise, perhaps, but there's lots of non-E in that sentence - I would call particular attention to the incorr. use of "permanently"

Alexander Demyanov May 23, 2007:

"guffaws permanently?" "runs around gateways"? Please! I'm sorry, Sergej, but this is not English.

Сергей Лузан (asker) May 23, 2007:

2 all No problem with context in fact if it might help what I strongly doubt:
Ну пошли, пивка дернем и по домам пойдем. Well, come on, let’s have a beer and go home.
А Ленка? And Lenka?
Какая она тебе Ленка! Где ты Ленку видел? Она, ну максимум, - Леночка What ‘Lenka’ is she to you? Where have you seen ‘Lenka’? She is
А мне пофиг!
Ведет себя она не как Леночка: пиво с нами пьет, ржет постоянно, по подворотням, вот, бегает… - Ленка. And to me – nothing doing! She doesn’t behave like Lenochka: drinks bear with us, guffaws permanently, now runs around gateways … she’s Lenka.
Ну тут ты, прав: человек это не то, чем он является, а то, что он из себя представляет, правильно?… So here you’re right namely: a man is not that what he is, but that what he represents himself, isn’t that right?

Сергей Лузан (asker) May 23, 2007:

2 all Well, it's an isolated phrase, i'm interested in:
человек это не то, чем он является, а *то, что он из себя представляет*
cf. Станислав Ежи Лец: "В действительности всё иначе, чем на самом деле" :) Here's no misusage from the speaker - I indicated the style.

Alexander Demyanov May 22, 2007:

You may want to give more context. Unless your speaker is misusing the phrase, your version is not correct. "что он из себя представляет", when used correctly, doesn't mean "как он себя представляет", and therefore can't mean "how he presents himself".

Сергей Лузан (asker) May 22, 2007:

2 all 'a man is not what he is but *rather* how he presents himself'
To tell the truth, I'd like the rendering of the whole sentence.

Jim Tucker (X) May 22, 2007:

"that" is just not an option here; don't confuse this with "that which"

Сергей Лузан (asker) May 22, 2007:

2 Jim 'that' is optional IMO, but you might be right
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&as_qdr=all&q= "a man ...
Thanks for your remark

Jim Tucker (X) May 22, 2007:

"a man is not what he is" (I'll write it here since it was not part of your question) - no "that"