37 ms·

The Anabasis by Xenophon can be read in the original, with translations on alternating pages, as in the Loeb series. There are also interlinear translations ava

by Todd 8y ago

The Anabasis by Xenophon can be read in the original, with translations on alternating pages, as in the Loeb series. There are also interlinear translations available, such as this one: https://archive.org/details/anabasisofxenoph00xenoiala/page/viii https://archive.org/details/anabasisofxenoph00xenoiala/page/...

Koshkin 8y ago
The translation in the Loeb book is just delicious. While reading the original, I couldn't keep myself from reading the English text as well - it's too good. (Makes me think that studying foreign/ancient languages in order to read is not actually important in the least and might be better left to professional translators.)
- jamiek88 8y ago
  That’s fine until you come across an untranslated text or a poor translation. Worse, a misleading translation. Often you have to have an understanding of the language to know how well it’s translated. It’s a bit circular. But when you read such a tremendous translation effort it does indeed raise those thoughts.
- leetcrew 8y ago
  > Makes me think that studying foreign/ancient languages in order to read is not actually important in the least and might be better left to professional translators. it really depends on your goals. if you are just reading for pleasure, it can be lovely to just read a good translation as written. if you are approaching the text more seriously, you need to be aware that the translation of many key words can be quite controversial in these texts. to make matters worse, there are instances where the only copies of the text have been damaged and scholars have inferred letters or entire words. these reconstructions can also be controversial. you don't necessarily have to become a fluent reader to get the most out of a particular text, but I would at least recommend reading the translation side-by-side with the greek, preferably with a good commentary to consult. sometimes the arguments in the commentary can be as interesting as the text itself!
  - dorchadas 8y ago
    Commentaries are definitely interesting to read, even by themselves. I'll often read commentaries on Biblical books by themselves. It's interesting to have a copy of the Greek/Hebrew, even if you don't know it, because they often make so many interesting arguments about why the words are the way they are, then offer their general commentary.
leetcrew 8y ago
the perseus site is also great. [0] you can easily read the greek and english side-by-side, and every greek word is a hyperlink to a page with the definition and inflection of the word and links to its entries in various lexicons. [0] http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Xen.%20Anab http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Xen.%20Anab.

by Todd 8y ago

Koshkin 8y ago

The translation in the Loeb book is just delicious. While reading the original, I couldn't keep myself from reading the English text as well - it's too good. (Makes me think that studying foreign/ancient languages in order to read is not actually important in the least and might be better left to professional translators.)

jamiek88 8y ago
That’s fine until you come across an untranslated text or a poor translation. Worse, a misleading translation. Often you have to have an understanding of the language to know how well it’s translated. It’s a bit circular. But when you read such a tremendous translation effort it does indeed raise those thoughts.
leetcrew 8y ago
> Makes me think that studying foreign/ancient languages in order to read is not actually important in the least and might be better left to professional translators. it really depends on your goals. if you are just reading for pleasure, it can be lovely to just read a good translation as written. if you are approaching the text more seriously, you need to be aware that the translation of many key words can be quite controversial in these texts. to make matters worse, there are instances where the only copies of the text have been damaged and scholars have inferred letters or entire words. these reconstructions can also be controversial. you don't necessarily have to become a fluent reader to get the most out of a particular text, but I would at least recommend reading the translation side-by-side with the greek, preferably with a good commentary to consult. sometimes the arguments in the commentary can be as interesting as the text itself!
- dorchadas 8y ago
  Commentaries are definitely interesting to read, even by themselves. I'll often read commentaries on Biblical books by themselves. It's interesting to have a copy of the Greek/Hebrew, even if you don't know it, because they often make so many interesting arguments about why the words are the way they are, then offer their general commentary.

leetcrew 8y ago

the perseus site is also great. [0] you can easily read the greek and english side-by-side, and every greek word is a hyperlink to a page with the definition and inflection of the word and links to its entries in various lexicons. [0] http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Xen.%20Anab http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Xen.%20Anab.