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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
by 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 agoThat'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 agoOh, 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.