/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.15204129]

Why do people on /lit/ learn new languages just to read books in their original translation? Why not just read a decent translation?

[Anonymous No.15204138]

I have no idea. If you haven't already learned or are learning the language, or even want to, to learn a language, living or dead, to read a book, is ridiculously stupid.

[Anonymous No.15204145]

>>15204129
>op pic is the retarded frog
>>original translation
Yep, checks out.

[Anonymous No.15204149]

>>15204129
They don't really do it

[Anonymous No.15204151]

I'm learning Japanese to masturbate to loli h-manga that have no translation

[Anonymous No.15204169]

As if anyone has done it. It's just the retarded ramblings of autistic fucks who think translations somehow kill the true meaning of the prose.

[Anonymous No.15204177]

>>15204145
he means the translation from the author's mind to the page

[Anonymous No.15204193]

Imagine trying to read shakespeare in spanish: I'll tell you write now, the spanish language is not built for pentameter

[Anonymous No.15204204]

>>15204177
Ah, yes, indeed.

[Anonymous No.15204207]

>>15204169
>meaning of the prose
It's not about meaning dumbass, it's about aesthetic

[Anonymous No.15204224]

>>15204204
would you mind translating that image into your mind and then again into words for me, so that I may translate your words into my mind, and then maybe again into my words

[Anonymous No.15204237]

>>15204193
>write now
Weird request, but ok.

[Anonymous No.15204239]

>>15204169
I'm autistic, but I don't believe it's possible to ever fully capture the correct meaning of a text (that is to say, to have a proper conception of it as it was meant by its writer) regardless of whether or not one is reading it in its original language.
I learn languages because I like learning different words.
I wouldn't say it's anything more than a Pokemon collecting-type game.

[Anonymous No.15204250]

>>15204169
But it can obscure meaning
Example: greek has two words for enemy, public and private
The famous bible quote "Love thy enemy" is a mistranslation from the original greek. The original statement was love thy private enemy, meaning stop being a bitch to your neighbors. This mistranslation makes christianity much more pasifistic than it actually is.

[Anonymous No.15204281]

>>15204250
Why is the scholarly consensus that private enemy means neighbor? How is that idea any different than "Love thy enemy"?

[Anonymous No.15204295]

>>15204129
Sometimes there is no translation

[Anonymous No.15204304]

>>15204250
that somewhat weakens the effect doesnt it

[Anonymous No.15204340]

>>15204295
At that point why not write and publish a translation yourself?

[Anonymous No.15204970]

>>15204237
kek

[Anonymous No.15204992]

>>15204151
Based

[Anonymous No.15205015]

>>15204193
Shakespeare in Portuguese is terrible, I don't get how anyone can read it

[Anonymous No.15205022]

>>15204340
You need to learn the language yourself first

[Anonymous No.15205054]

>>15205015
Is it so? Even the Barbara Eleodora translations? It was my last hope. Also, is just me or Elizabethan English is hard as fuck?

[Anonymous No.15205090]

>>15205022
Idiot, the assumption was you knew the language. Can you not follow a string?
>why learn a language to read a book?
>Sometimes there is no translation so you must learn the language to read the book
>If that's the case why not translate it yourself?
Then you come in acting like a huge faggot saying "Well actually you need to learn the language first." How black are you because your IQ and critical thinking is dreadful?

[Anonymous No.15205322]

>>15205090
Lmao triggered
Go back to twitter

[Anonymous No.15205429]

>>15205322

[Anonymous No.15205470]

>>15205054
It's hard only when you are not used to it. Get a critical edition (something like Arden or Cambridge) and carefully go through with it. The more of Shakespeare and his contemporaries you read, the better you'll get a grasp on how they create with Language and you won't be needing notes as much.
Also, Shakespeare is an author that began to be read slowly and also to be reread. Don't power through a play just because it is short. Absorb the imagery the wordplay, the rhythm, the details. Write about what you perceive on the text and keep that. Read the text a few months later and see how every time you are able to pick on new things in his brilliant use of language. There is not author that brings more joy in studying than Shakespeare. Reading him is an honour.

And, yes, Barbara's translations are also bad. Don't be lazy. If you can be on /lit, your English is sufficient to read Shakespeare. It might take a bit of work at the beginning, but it will definitely pay off to read him in the original English. I hope you enjoy.

[Anonymous No.15205507]

>>15204129
1. Because most things have not been translated.
2. Because there are numerous words, phrases, and references that cannot be captured, or are only poorly captured, in translation.
3. Because the style, tone, and affect of a piece cannot be captured in translation.
4. Because mistranslation exists and is in fact very common.
t. Someone who works with non-English materials frequently.

[Anonymous No.15205538]

>>15204340
Not him, but have you ever attempted to translate even a single paragraph of text from another language into English?

[Anonymous No.15205732]

>>15205538
Yes, because I actually know another language instead of pretending I know one.

[Anonymous No.15205765]

>>15205732
Okay, then you should know how much time and effort translation requires and why it's not exactly feasible or even desirable for anyone other than a specialist to try to get a complete translation published.

[Anonymous No.15207189]

Faggots.

[Anonymous No.15207382]

>>15204193
>>15205015
This. Same exact thing with Homer.

[Anonymous No.15207779]

>>15204250
Latin was the newspeak of classical antiquity.