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/lit/ - Literature

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22097237 No.22097237 [Reply] [Original]

General tips on translating a book?

>> No.22097260

Go to college.

>> No.22098060

>>22097237
Interested in this too.

>> No.22098128

>>22098060
Seriously, how is there not a general guide to translating?

>> No.22098236

This might be one of the cases where the word's etymology helps us. In latin, "traducere" means to guide someone, by hand, from one place to another. Hence, we can can approach translation from one of two ways: if what you're trying to guide is the text, your job is to take it to another language's domain. If what you mean to guide is the reader, your job is to take him to a linguistic medium that's not his own and somehow accommodate him in it.
Now in practical terms, let's say you come across an expression, a figure of speech, a saying - that has no translation (or makes no sense) in the language you're translating to. What do you do? If you're guiding the text, you write it as is and add a footnote trying to explain its meaning. If you're guiding the reader, you come up with some thing that most approaches it in the reader's language.
This is a gross oversimplification, but I think I got the point across. It's not my trade anymore, but I've worked as a translator for a few years. If you have any specific questions, I'm here.

>> No.22099552

>>22098236
>If you have any specific questions, I'm here.
How much background knowledge of texts outside the one getting translated (such as other works by the same author or influential texts of that country's literary tradition) did you usually need?

>> No.22099603

Its helpful to understand both the language of the original text and the language in which it is to be translated.

>> No.22100767

Bump

>> No.22100774

>>22097237
use chatgpt

>> No.22100810
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22100810

Do not translate word for word. Translate sentences.

If you're translating fiction, or non-fiction where the author clearly has a voice (writers like Chesterton or so on), have a lot of respect for the flow and structure of the sentences. You can feel freer to change the sentences if you're translating non-fiction.

Do not be afraid to consult Google Translate, dictionaries, and other translations for help.

Always identify key words and sentences and translate them with special care, preferably noting the way you translated them and why you chose to translate them that way so that you might remember in the future. "Malheur", a french word that is used by Simone Weil, is a word that exists only in the french language, with no morphological equivalent in english, so that you have to translate it as "affliction/pain/suffering" or a synonym. It is very important in her work and so you have to be very careful when you translate it. The same applies, of course, to any other writer and any other work.

It is more important to understand the language to which you are translating the text than to understand the original language. If you're translating French to English, for instance, it is more important to be able to write coherent and clear sentences in english than it is to write coherent and clear sentences in french, since you'll only need to understand what is written in French, but you will need to reproduce it in English in a way that's close to the original. It's easier to fuck up a translation by not understanding the final language than it is by not understanding the original language.

The readers will not reward you in any way for doing a superb translation and will be contented with a mediocre one. NEVER strive for perfection in translation, you will only lose your time and be a victim of ingratitude. Always do a good enough job, the best job you can do without taking too much time or making too much effort.

Read about some of the perspectives in translation, because even if people can't even agree on what a translation is supposed to be (and much less on what a good translation is supposed to be), they will sometimes share interesting perspectives, such as that translation is more a form of writing than an unique activity (this idea helped me a lot).

For starters I'd recommend picrel, it's practically a textbook but it will help you a lot.

>> No.22100948

>>22097237
Don't localize.

>> No.22101014

>>22099552
1 - 2

>> No.22101269

>>22101014
What?