7 ms·
Two of the greatest opening lines to books: “Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendia was to remember that distant day when hi
by spodek 9y ago
Two of the greatest opening lines to books:
“Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendia was to remember that distant day when his father took him to discover ice.” – One Hundred Years of Solitude
“It was inevitable. The scent of bitter almonds always reminded Dr. Juvenal Urbino of the fate of unrequited love.” – Love in the Time of Cholera
Each is almost a story in itself, a pleasure to read, and an even greater pleasure to unpack and understand.
- forinti 9y agoIt's worth it to learn Spanish just to read his books.
- icebraining 9y agoDo you think it loses a lot in translation? I've only read El coronel no tiene quien le escriba (in Spanish), but it didn't seem very hard to translate, since the language used was not complex or flowery.
- forinti 9y agoYou can certainly enjoy the stories, but I think interesting books add something to they way a particular language is used. That's what I like about Saramago and Rushdie, for instance. These are the types of authors I like to read out loud.
- icebraining 9y agoNo doubt, some authors certainly use the language to its fullest, rendering their works essentially untranslatable. But I was referring specifically to García Marquez's works, since my recollection is that the language used was mostly plain (which I don't mean as a criticism!).
- osense 9y agoI have been wondering about this — how much more enjoyable is it to read a book in it's original language, as opposed to just reading someone's translation? Or is it just the thought that you're able to read the original, as author intended — possibly after spending time to learn a language just to be able to do this — that makes it count?
- watwut 9y agoHow well you speak that other language? Unless you speak really well, it is likely you get more from translation.
- cptaj 9y agoDepends very much on the writing style. Some authors don't use a lot of fancy, poetic language. For instance, reading a translation of the Da Vinci Code, Hunger Games or Harry Potter, you're probably not missing out on anything. Reading translation of pretty much all poetry, you're missing out on everything. There's a whole spectrum there in between.
- baby 9y agoThis, I can't imagine reading Bukowski in another language as I can't imagine reading a translation of Les Liaisons Dangereuses.
- jakobloekke 9y agoActually, the Danish translation of The Davinci Code is a great example of a translation that just flips the words into the new language, resulting in some very strange sentences that sound unmistakenly American. A lot of translated business literature (and most Netflix subtitles) are the same way. Harry Potter, on the other hand, is beautifully recreated in Danish and thus mimics the effortless reading experience of the original.
- kej 9y agoTangential, but there was actually some interesting work put into the Harry Potter translations. Puns like Diagon Alley need to be turned into something meaningful in the target language, and they have to be careful not to change any of the clues dropped in early books so that they'll still work later on.
- ingenieros 9y agoGarcía Márquez himself read One Hundred Years of Solitude in the Harper & Row edition and pronounced it better than his Spanish original: https://news.dartmouth.edu/news/2014/04/alumnus-was-gabriel-garc%C3%ADa-m%C3%A1rquezs-renowned-translator https://news.dartmouth.edu/news/2014/04/alumnus-was-gabriel-...
- Toast_25 9y agoF*ck, all those years down the drain!
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- Yhippa 9y agoSeriously? Or is this hyperbole? I'd consider it if so.
- khazhou 9y agoHyperbole level: MAXIMUM You could also read all the great authors in your native language in that time, or “suffer” the translations.
- foldr 9y agoYou have to have a pretty advanced level of Spanish to get through one of his novels, though. There is a lot of relatively obscure vocab.
- HeyLaughingBoy 9y agoAnd two of my favorite books :-)
- armandososa 9y agoThose are good. My favorite one is from "Chronicles of a death foretold: On the day they were going to kill him, Santiago Nasar got up at five-thirty in the morning to wait for the boat the bishop was coming on. It's way better in Spanish tho.
- tome 9y agoWas hoping to find a kindred spirit in this thread who thinks García Márquez's books are utter pap.