/lit/ - Literature

That one, the one she gave you.

>reading translations
>2012

>>2345474
but I don't know French

Learn it. The Stranger doesn't have complex language.

>>2345477
French isn't that hard.

>>2345477
stop being ignant and learn it

Ignore everyone being assholes.

It's not poetic or overly descriptive, so most English translations are good. Not much is lost in this case.

Since everyone on here has gone to great lengths to give you any response except one that will answer your question, I will help you.


The two most common translations are by Stuart Gilbert and Matthew Ward. I've read them both, and I also have read the original untranslated French version to compare them against. My recommendation would be: read Ward's for a more literal translation, read Gilbert's for a more colloquial translation.
For example, in the first paragraph Ward translates "Cela ne veut rien dire" as "That doesn't mean anything," while Gilbert translates it as "Which leaves the matter doubtful." Also, Ward keeps "à quatre-vingts kilomètres" as "about eighty kilometers," while Gilbert converts it to "some fifty miles."
While I'd prefer the same distance units be used as in the original, overall I prefer Gilbert's translation. Sometimes Ward's translation is too literal, almost like pasting text into Google Translate, which produces some awkward sentences. Gilbert's comes off to me as more "literary" and capturing the spirit of Camus' French prose. French in general is highly colloquial and literal translations often give a different meaning than what was intended - I've learned this first-hand from doing some French-to-English translations and checking them with native French speakers.


tl;dr read Ward's for a more literal translation, read Gilbert's for a more colloquial translation.

and go fuck yourself /lit/ maybe you guys should actually discuss books instead of calling everyone who reads a book an idiot

>>2345544
thank you very much

>>2345477
>implying two thirds of English words aren't the same in French

>>2345544
>Also, Ward keeps "à quatre-vingts kilomètres" as "about eighty kilometers," while Gilbert converts it to "some fifty miles."
>using to the imperial system because dumb Americunts are too lazy to do the conversion
sure is pleb in here

I'll chime in in favor of Ward's translation.

The one in English

>>2345583
>can't read his own pie chart.

>>2345583
>doesn't know about the latin origin of French words

Don't read it. I was expecting something brilliant based on all the dick-riding that it gets on /lit/, and I ended up being pretty disappointed by the end. Perhaps it was the translation but it seemed so dead and poorly written, and the characters are all dumb cunts, especially the protagonist, who comes off as every shitty young adult today.