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 #2 (permalink) Thu Jul 17, 2008 16:31 pm Good Translations |
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| I've read her translations of Cervantes' Don Quixote and Garcia-Marquez's Memories of My Melancholy Whores, and they were both truly amazing. |
Have you read each of those in the Spanish? |
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Molly
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| #3 (permalink) Thu Jul 17, 2008 16:56 pm Good Translations |
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No, my Spanish is nowhere near good enough. If you want to judge a translation, you can only do that based on the literary feel of the translation. Or by comparing two translations of the same book.
I once attended a seminar on literary translations into German. It was quite amazing to see the likes of Moby Dick or The Brothers Karamazov take on different shapes.[/i]
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 Ralf
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| #4 (permalink) Thu Jul 17, 2008 17:19 pm Good Translations |
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| Quote: |
If you want to judge a translation, you can only do that based on the literary feel of the translation. Or by comparing two translations of the same book.
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I would have thought one could also do it by comparing the original-language version with the translation.
| Quote: |
| I once attended a seminar on literary translations into German. It was quite amazing to see the likes of Moby Dick or The Brothers Karamazov take on different shapes |
I have Russian friend who feels that the English versions of Dostoyevski's works come nowhere near the originals. Can't say if he's right though. |
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Molly
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| #5 (permalink) Thu Jul 17, 2008 17:21 pm Good Translations |
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| Molly wrote: |
| Have you read each of those in the Spanish? |
| Ralf wrote: |
| No, my Spanish is nowhere near good enough. If you want to judge a translation, you can only do that based on the literary feel of the translation. |
| Molly wrote: |
| I would have thought you could also do it by comparing the original-language version with the translation. |
?
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Ralf
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| #6 (permalink) Thu Jul 17, 2008 17:22 pm Good Translations |
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| Ralf wrote: |
| Molly wrote: |
| I would have thought you could also do it by comparing the original-language version with the translation. |
? |
Sorry...
I would have thought one could also do it by comparing the original-language version with the translation. |
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Molly
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Ralf
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| #8 (permalink) Thu Jul 17, 2008 19:15 pm Good Translations |
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| I did read The Little Prince in French and in English. It's when I realized we had no word that was quite as good as doucement. But because that novel is an allegory disquised as a childen's story, it wasn't very complex. |
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Barb_D
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| #9 (permalink) Thu Jul 17, 2008 20:08 pm Good Translations |
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| Ralf wrote: |
| No worries. Have you read them in Spanish? |
Ojalá. |
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Molly
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Ralf
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| #11 (permalink) Thu Jul 17, 2008 20:40 pm Good Translations |
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| Ralf wrote: |
| Ojalá y te diviertas y relajes mucho. |
Still, I'm not sure how one can claim that something is a good translation if he doesn't know the original language well. |
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Molly
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| #12 (permalink) Thu Jul 17, 2008 21:06 pm Good Translations |
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I know that the German translations of some modern day English novels I've read have often left me cold. But I assume that is at least partially because English is my native language.
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Yankee
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| #13 (permalink) Thu Jul 17, 2008 21:36 pm Good Translations |
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| Yankee wrote: |
I know that the German translations of some modern day English novels I've read have often left me cold. But I assume that is at least partially because English is my native language.
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I've noticed that when having a look at my girlfriend's Stephen King. There are often desperate attempts of peculiar colloquialisms in popular culture. Mind you, it was 'Christine' she was reading. Great book, but loads of 1970s dialogues. I'd say it also depends on the publishing house that issues the translation. It seems that Stephen King was first published (in Germany) by a publishing house catering for the needs of the masses.
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| Discussing semantic prosody/ies | according to work or appearance |
