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An interesting example, one of the best-known book openings in French literature ("Aujourd'hui, maman est morte."), and the difficulties translating the sentenc
by isolli 8y ago
An interesting example, one of the best-known book openings in French literature ("Aujourd'hui, maman est morte."), and the difficulties translating the sentence in English:
https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/lost-in-translation-what-the-first-line-of-the-stranger-should-be https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/lost-in-translat...
- ahartmetz 8y agoInteresting article, and I believe I have a better translation: "Today, my mom died." It sounds better than just "mom" and seems to express the right level of closeness. OTOH I think it's often appropriate to keep "mamma" in Italian movies and texts because it carries a huge amount of connotations, which "maman" doesn't.
- dingaling 8y agoBut then you have to translate for the majority of English-speaking countries that don't use 'mom'...
- labster 8y ago"Mum"'s the word.
- taneq 8y agoOr if you use "mother" it changes the tone to be more preppy.
- yesenadam 8y ago"Mom" is US English only I think.
- jprissi 8y ago> Interesting article, and I believe I have a better translation: "Today, my mom died." Well it's not an accurate translation, 'my' create a distance between the narrator and the mother that you don't have in the original sentence. You traduction is much more objective than what the author wrote.