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/lit/ - Literature

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16056629 No.16056629 [Reply] [Original]

>i don't read for the plot
>i read translations
how do you conciliate these mutually exclusive statements

>> No.16057572

>>16056629
I read for the prose of the translator.
I couldn't care less about what was written by the original author.

>> No.16057576

>>16057572
>I couldn't care less about what was written by the original author.
Then just stop reading. Might as well just read Wikipedia summaries.

>> No.16057594

>>16057576
>Might as well just read Wikipedia summaries.
If the summaries are written in better prose than the book then I will.

>> No.16057788

>>16057576
I don't read for the plot or prose in a vacuum but for the prose as determined by plot. The prose may be different but the plot which determines it remains across the act of translation. Also I fucked your mom last night, the night before, and the night before the night before last.

>> No.16057795

>>16057576
>>16056629
How many languages do you speak you gatekeeping dipshit? Do you restrict yourself to only the languages that you know?

>> No.16057808

>>16056629
I read for ideas and sensations.

>> No.16057812

>>16057795
he's got a point, though.
Obviously, one can't simply learn 10 languages, but to properly appreciate the writing of a certain author, you need to read it in the original.
It is less the case with a novel, but in the case of poetry, reading a translation is taking away 90% of the experience.

>> No.16058271

>>16057795
I've read books in 5 languages, and I'm learning a sixth now. And I would probably read outside of the languages I know if the language doesn't have many literary benefits (for example, no point in learning Danish just to read Kierkegaard). But I do think people should strive to learn as many "literary" languages as possible, that is, language that reap tons of literary benefits, for example, French, Italian, Greek, among others.

>> No.16058348

>>16058271
can you speak those 5 languages or just read them? genuinely curious, I'm "finishing" learning my 3rd one, but I'm going all the way through to fluency

>> No.16058377

>>16058348
Well, I focus much more on literacy than speaking, so I would say I could speak 3/5 of them well (one of which is my native language of course lol) and the other two not so much, though I can read them well. It wouldn't take me long to develop my speaking in those two languages, I just almost never use them (Italian and French) and I really hate online language exchange stuff

>> No.16058420

>>16058377
>I really hate online language exchange stuff
can't blame you.