3 ms·

Of course it would be great to read books in their native language, but is it better to get a reasonable translation of a book, or no translation at all? That i

Of course it would be great to read books in their native language, but is it better to get a reasonable translation of a book, or no translation at all? That is the question. If you take some authors with multiple translations over many decades, e.g. Proust or Hugo, you can see that the early translations are actually very rough, and only recently are we seeing very high quality. The main problem is that language translation is forever imperfect. If you look at Proust's French, there is no direct translation into English for the way it is written because no English person writes in that manner, so the translator has to make a lot of hard decisions to make the book enjoyable. My French isn't strong enough to read native Proust (god, I wish it was), but then you have things like Hugo which is 1800s French and I'm sure even modern French kids have some trouble reading it. If you do read a translated book, PLEASE find the best translation before you purchase. I'll give you an example... This Les Mis book has the same illustration on the front (public domain) as the musical poster, so it looks official: https://www.amazon.com/Miserables-Signet-Classics-Victor-Hugo/dp/045141943X/ref=sr_1_3 https://www.amazon.com/Miserables-Signet-Classics-Victor-Hug... But it is a miserable 100 year old translation spruced up a bit. You will probably hate the book and hate your life if you try to read it. It boasts that it is unabridged because that seems like a thing you would want, but... This new translation by Penguin is like night and day: https://www.amazon.com/Miserables-Penguin-Classics-Deluxe/dp/0143107569/ref=sr_1_2 https://www.amazon.com/Miserables-Penguin-Classics-Deluxe/dp... It is somewhat "abridged" because the translator took the bold step of tearing out 50 pages of the book - that are basically just the author going on a rant and has nothing to do with the story - and translated them and stuffed them in the appendix. This was a smart move, and went above their job title to produce a much more readable work. tl;dr: read more great foreign books; always check you are getting the best translation before you start

Baeocystin 5y ago
My view on translations is that if literary luminaries such as Gabriel García Márquez and Vladimir Nabokov both think that the English versions of their work fully stand up to the test (which they are both on record as stating), then that is good enough for me. I am not monolingual. I know what it feels like to read in different languages, and here's the thing: The words? The grammar? Easy. You can learn enough to stumble through a newspaper in a matter of months. The culture behind the language? That is what takes decades to acquire, and if you don't have it, I 100% guarantee you will get a more accurate reading of the author's intent in a well-translated work than you ever would lurching your way though the native text.
- thombat 5y ago
  Slightly related: Tove Jansson (author of the Moomin books) related that the process of working with her English translator on an early book had been revelatory, in exploring what she was actually meaning to say to the extent that she reckoned that by the end the translation was an improvement on the Swedish original.
  - abecedarius 5y ago
    That's interesting: I checked out one of the early Moomin books in French translation once (the first chapter or so in the bookstore), and it was strikingly blander than the English version. It was like they were phoning it in. (My French is a second language, but still, I checked the English side by side and it didn't seem to be just me.)
  - Baeocystin 5y ago
    Oh, I loved the Moomin books as a child! I read them in English, and the language use was a delight; I didn't even realize they were a translated work until I got older. How fun to learn that a quality translator worked closely with the author to keep the magic alive in a different form.
- kingcharles 5y ago
  > The culture behind the language? That is what takes decades to acquire, and if you don't have it, I 100% guarantee you will get a more accurate reading of the author's intent in a well-translated work than you ever would lurching your way though the native text. This is definitely true, especially the further a culture is from your own. Japanese culture especially has all sorts of features that will whooosh! over the heads of most people reading those books in translation. It's not that you won't enjoy a book in translation, it's just that you're never getting 100% of what a native will get it from it. We have to just accept that. We don't have enough hours in our lives (right now) to study a language to native level and live in that culture to native level simply to enjoy a book.
shanhaiguan 5y ago
Tangentially. As someone who has only read the old Signet version of Les Mis, I find it interesting that you think it isn't as good. When I read it, I was very impressed with Hugo's prose (or at least, filtered through the translated lens). It was not like reading anything I had ever previously read. Sounds like I need to check out the new one then too :)
- kingcharles 5y ago
  Please do. Les Mis was the first book my wife sent me in jail. I read the Penguin version and then one of the guys in my cellblock showed me the Signet one and said he was struggling with it. I read a bunch of it and was highly disappointed.

Baeocystin 5y ago

My view on translations is that if literary luminaries such as Gabriel García Márquez and Vladimir Nabokov both think that the English versions of their work fully stand up to the test (which they are both on record as stating), then that is good enough for me. I am not monolingual. I know what it feels like to read in different languages, and here's the thing: The words? The grammar? Easy. You can learn enough to stumble through a newspaper in a matter of months. The culture behind the language? That is what takes decades to acquire, and if you don't have it, I 100% guarantee you will get a more accurate reading of the author's intent in a well-translated work than you ever would lurching your way though the native text.

thombat 5y ago
Slightly related: Tove Jansson (author of the Moomin books) related that the process of working with her English translator on an early book had been revelatory, in exploring what she was actually meaning to say to the extent that she reckoned that by the end the translation was an improvement on the Swedish original.
- abecedarius 5y ago
  That's interesting: I checked out one of the early Moomin books in French translation once (the first chapter or so in the bookstore), and it was strikingly blander than the English version. It was like they were phoning it in. (My French is a second language, but still, I checked the English side by side and it didn't seem to be just me.)
- Baeocystin 5y ago
  Oh, I loved the Moomin books as a child! I read them in English, and the language use was a delight; I didn't even realize they were a translated work until I got older. How fun to learn that a quality translator worked closely with the author to keep the magic alive in a different form.
kingcharles 5y ago
> The culture behind the language? That is what takes decades to acquire, and if you don't have it, I 100% guarantee you will get a more accurate reading of the author's intent in a well-translated work than you ever would lurching your way though the native text. This is definitely true, especially the further a culture is from your own. Japanese culture especially has all sorts of features that will whooosh! over the heads of most people reading those books in translation. It's not that you won't enjoy a book in translation, it's just that you're never getting 100% of what a native will get it from it. We have to just accept that. We don't have enough hours in our lives (right now) to study a language to native level and live in that culture to native level simply to enjoy a book.

shanhaiguan 5y ago

Tangentially. As someone who has only read the old Signet version of Les Mis, I find it interesting that you think it isn't as good. When I read it, I was very impressed with Hugo's prose (or at least, filtered through the translated lens). It was not like reading anything I had ever previously read. Sounds like I need to check out the new one then too :)

kingcharles 5y ago
Please do. Les Mis was the first book my wife sent me in jail. I read the Penguin version and then one of the guys in my cellblock showed me the Signet one and said he was struggling with it. I read a bunch of it and was highly disappointed.