/lit/ - Literature

Not close enough to fluency in any language I've studied. I do look for hte best translation before I make my purchase though.

bumpity bump

I've read one of two (simple) novels in Japanese, but it's time-consuming.

Usually, if I like a book, I'll try to read read several translations, if possible.

>>673040
I've never read a book that's not in English. I read a lot of Russian stuff.
Normally it's fine.

>>673252
Also, unless you're a VERY fluent speaker of that language you're probably not going to understand the connotations of some words anyway. Translaters have been speaking that language for years.

>>673040
Question #1: No, because #2
Question #2: Yes, pretty much.

I think reading a well translated book with footnotes about the words that are important in the original language is good enough.

When my class was reading Vergil's Aeneid, the Latin is way superior to any english translation I found. Also, I wish I knew Italian so I could read Dante in the original.

Learning German at the moment, I cannot wait to be able to read all the classics in their original tongue. But yeah, usually just read the translations. If everybody only read books in their original languages, most people would have to be fluent in like 6 languages :P

>>673363
I remember reading a little bit of Göthe back in German class, and it's really quite amazing how much of the poetic beauty is lost when translated.

That being said, obviously you have to settle for a translator's interpretation 9.5/10 of the times because, like you said, just being able to have access to a base amount of literary classics would require fluency in multiple languages.

>>673357

>Check it out guys, totally going to be subtle about the fact that I know Latin because that way nobody will call me out as a liar.

You probably know as much Latin as my cat's freshly-licked asshole.

>>673371
"Göthe"

DON'T!

>>673396

Why in the world would you lick your cat's asshole?

A good translator will carry through the original text pretty well. The original is always best, but that doesn't mean translations aren't an acceptable substitute if you're not fluent in the language. However, you'll notice if you read an author with more than one translator that some are better than others. (e.g. Murakami Haruki has at least three separate translators, and among them Jay Rubin is far less stiff than the other two.)

>>673396

herp derp I know who you are. King of the faggot of /lit/.

If your first language is Spanish, then you can only read this version of the Poe's tales

I am a huge faggot so I need my grorious Nipponese books translated.

>>673456
In French, Baudelaire translated most of Poe's novels and poems, and it's amazingly delicious to read.

>>673526
and tales*

This thread is now about recommended translations/translators.

For anything Russian, Pevear and Volokhonsky are the best, especially for Dostoesvky. Try to stay away from Constance Garnett but I'm told her translations of Chekhov are good.

There are many who understand Greek and Latin, yet are ignorant of their own Mother Tongue.

i accept that a translation is something different to the original, but often that something is still totally worth reading
and it'll share loads of common elements with the original, lots of the awesome stuff will still be the same

>>673694
william weaver for italian stuff is the fucking man

>>673694

правильно

I try to read them in the original language, but I only know three languages well enough to be able to read a book without constantly having to consciously translate in your head. And with the third one, I still tend to read translations into my own language, because I am lazy. But yeah, mostly translations, often into English if one in Dutch is not available.

>>673420

Is less stiff a good thing?

I've so far read Norwegian Wood and Sputnik Sweetheart by Murakami with Jay Rubin's translation.

Are the other translators any noteworthy?

>>673049

This, unless the price difference is significant($4+ extra).

It's like when a classical musician plays the music of a composer. It's an interpretation of it. Obviously it's not going to be exactly as it was in the composer's head, but it will hopefully capture the meaning and elucidate what's so good about the music, whilst adding his own personal touch.

>>673971
>only knows 3 languages
Fuck, man... I'm having a hard enough time learning just one (aside from my native). I'm guessing you weren't born in the UK or USA...

ITT: OP needs to read Walter Benjamin's Illuminations for a decent answer to this question. I think it's best to read both originals and translations of great books (when I'm fluent in both languages that is). To translate a book well you've got to be able to write as well as the book you're translating. Translations of the Qur'an are a prime example.

>>674009
I'm from the Netherlands. We have to learn foreign languages because almost no one speaks Dutch. (and with good reason of course, the country is tiny)

>>674026
Yeah thought it'd be somewhere like that.

I think now, in the UK, you don't learn any languages until you are 14, and even then, it will be a choice (amongst other subjects). Could be wrong though. I know you can definitely drop all languages when you are 14.

It's pretty depressing... but good for people like me who want to learn languages, since it is becoming a rarity here...

>>674051

Where I am from, we started learning French in final year of primary school, 11-10 years old, had to continue (with one lesson of German per week, pointless with so few lessons) this until 14 (4th year of secondary), when we could choose to continue French or German or drop them. I went with French as I had a good base in it from the previous years but had barely any German down.

Hope that clears it up. Might not be the same everywhere.

While we're talking translations, Fitzgerald's Rubiyat is a fucking disaster.

I wish I was born in some Euro country where the kids are forced to learn languages from an early age when the brain is still nice and malleable and responsive to languages. My Spanish is good after five years, but reading is a little tricky.

>>674026

Are Dutch and Danish at all similar?

I'd love to be able to read the Russian and French greats in their native language but it will never happen. Though similarly it must suck for people to have never read Tolkien, Faulkner ect in their own languages because you can never convey exactly the same meaning in translation. And that's before we even get on to Shakespeare. A life without Shakespeare? Fuck that.

>>674160
Well, I don't speak Danish. But I when I read it, I have the idea that I can almost understand. Some words I understand immediately and the grammar seems about the same. But when I hear it... I don't understand anything. They pronounce it completely different than I would guess.

>>674160
No, they're totally different. I speak Danish and German, so I can guess Dutch words, but I can't understand ANYTHING spoken.

As for me, I can only read and understand literature in English, Danish (LOL like there's any Danish literature), German and Italian. I know pretty decent Russian, but that's just conversational, like when I see some Tolstoy, I get like seven words a page. Russian is one of those languages that I would get more out of a translation (no matter how bad) than trying to puzzle through the original. Someday I hope I'll get my Russian up to snuff, but I have no hope any time soon :P

If I was fluent in the books original language, I would definitely read it that way; unfortunately at the moment I only speak/read english. As far as translations go I've noticed it it makes a significant difference; I always read about all the different translations before choosing one.

>>674171
>>674188

Have either of you heard Afrikaans spoken (how radically does it differ from Dutch?).

>>673371
There are translations/translators/publishers that exploit this fact ruthlessly. Makes me RAGE like nothing else in this world can.

>>673396
>>673413
>oh you tew, :3

>>673409
LOLOLOLOLOOL


Open question to the Dane and Dutchfags:

What national literature ought to be available outside your mothertongue? What's THE GOOD SHIT in you countries?

>>674204
I was actually in South-Africa a few weeks ago. I could understand Afrikaans pretty easily, though it wasn't as similar to Dutch as I had expected. Also lots of English words seemingly random thrown in. Baie amazing.

Why do ppl keep grouping the Dutch and Danish together?

>>674215
they seem to be related, I guess that's why.

I hate to read translations. Even if it's a good one, there will always be great deal of different between the best translated version and the original. That's the main reason why I insist on learning other languages. So far, I can read well in Portuguese, English, French and Spanish.

>>674221
Yeah but why not the Danish and the Swedish, or Dutch and German? Or just all Europeans? <_<

>>674228

I think it's more "Aha, two baffling quasi-Germanish languages."

>>674228
It happens with Dutch and German too. They're even more alike than Danish and Dutch.
Danish and Swedish... I dunno man. I speak neither.
And I personally tend to sort of regard all slavic languages as one, though they are probably as far apart as Dutch and Danish. Shit's just easier that way, takes up less brainspace.

>>674228
I think it's just because Danish and Dutch's names look similar. When you see the language, they look totally different (Danish looks like Norwegian and Dutch looks like a cross between English and German) and when you hear them they sound different (Danish sounds like gurgling Dutch sounds like growling lol)

Danefag here, and Søren Kirkegaard is probably our most well known author. I haven't read any of his stuff in translation though

>>674285
There's also the obvious HC Andersen

It's sad some of the other great danish authors never made it outside of the country in translation.

>>674306
Oh, duh, of course! I forgot about him! But yeah, I don't think much gets to English, there's quite a good export of Danish literature to Iceland and Germany and the Benelux countries, but that's about as far as you'll get.

>>674247
I speak English, Dutch, French and German and when traveling north I've noticed you can probably at least figure out basics like newspaper headlines in most of the Scandinavian countries. Then you hit Finland and it all goes to shit XD

>>674285

I recently bought a copy of Either/Or translated by Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong, I'm just hoping that they haven't screwed it up completely since he was meant an excellent writer.

>>674400
Haha yeah :D