[ 3 / biz / cgl / ck / diy / fa / ic / jp / lit / sci / vr / vt ] [ index / top / reports ] [ become a patron ] [ status ]
2023-11: Warosu is now out of extended maintenance.

/lit/ - Literature


View post   

File: 30 KB, 680x568, eb3.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
12309709 No.12309709 [Reply] [Original]

>I don't read translations because the original prose gets lost through a translator

Is that a valid argument?

>> No.12309722

>>12309709
Kind of, but if you were to learn the language and translate the text yourself you would probably get the same or similar result anyway.

It's just the unfortunateness of not being a native speaker.

>> No.12309729

Lydia Davis uses American language in her translation of Swann's Way which is a little annoying.

>> No.12309763

>>12309709
Book was written in spanish: I read it in spanish.
Book was written in english: I read it in english.
Book was written in a romantic language: I read either a spanish or english translation.
Book was written in a non romantic language: I read an english translation.
I follow those rules.

>> No.12309770

Reading a translation is like watching a remake of a movie - it might be good or bad, but you're not experiencing the original in any case.

>> No.12309773

What if the original prose wasn't good?

>> No.12309799

it is if you're an autist

>> No.12309826

>>12309709
The majority of books don't rely so heavily on prose that reading a translation significantly detracts from the experience

>> No.12309836

literary fiction is more about consciousness than stories most of the time, and language is a really essential part of consciousness. it's hard to translate a thought, it's much easier to translate an idea or an event.
translating lord of the rings isn't that hard because you're just saying what's going on. translating the sound and the fury is hard because you're trying to mimick someone's thought process. prose is an inseparable part of more complex fiction.

>> No.12309849
File: 31 KB, 660x465, IMG_0461.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
12309849

>>12309709
It's alright if you're a native English speaker because everything is better in the English language.

>> No.12309853

>>12309709
No you dipshit.

>> No.12309897

>>12309763
Based

>> No.12309900

>>12309709
>>12309770
I see it more as a stage directors interpretation of a play, sometimes translations are worls of art on their own

>> No.12309901

>>12309709
In some cases more than others. Something of the experience will always be lost but I think it’s overstated by some as a general principle. As >>12309836 mentions, a book like Sound and Fury would lose so much in translation. But a lot of literary realism, like Eliot or Dickens would probably go over fine. It isn’t just genre fiction, but it depends on the style.

It depends on how much the author is trying to use the language to represent something versus using language to evoke an aesthetic experience in itself. With the latter the translation will lose more.

Thus at the far end, with poetry, you might as well not even bother.

>> No.12309904

>>12309709
i read books in languages i don't understand because to me reading isn't about enjoyment it's about the process of struggling against an avalanche of meaningless symbols.

>> No.12309908

>>12309709
Somewhat. The core concepts still remain at the cost of finesse and subtlety.

>> No.12309915
File: 294 KB, 1143x1536, Voynich_Manuscript_(32).jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
12309915

>>12309904
>pic related

>> No.12309917

>>12309709
this only applies to fiction which you shouldn't read anyway.

>> No.12309925

>>12309915
this is very beautiful anon