# Translations



## escorial (Aug 7, 2016)

I'm reading,"The Outsider," by Albert Camus and it dawned on me that i'm reading a translation of his words..at the moment i find the work sublime but there are translations out there of merit and some with poor reviews..how does one know which is the closest to his words....?


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## escorial (Aug 7, 2016)

been doing some looking around and my copy is a 2012 translation and i can find at least three others..other than learn french..which i won't..i will have to read and compare...but i'm finding this a bit unsettling and it's taking so much away from my experience right now...


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## ppsage (Aug 7, 2016)

Being as how you already found it sublime, I'm a bit at a loss to see the problem. It's fiction, ie art, so open to inspired reaction more so than intellectual interpretation, which I suppose Camus intended, in any language. There's some good Youtube stuff by Eco, talking about working with translations for his novels. Philosophically, Camus is my goto guy for the existential/absurdist divide, and generally I partake of his non-fiction more than his fiction, which I find overly pedantic and spare. There's very little question, in his philosophical essays, of author intention in translation. _Exile and the Kingdom_ is my favorite fiction work of his.


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## escorial (Aug 8, 2016)

i finished the outsider in a sitting or two and today i bought The Plague....both 2012 reprints by different translators....PP i get what your saying about his philisophical works and i do look forward to them but regards his fiction i just wondered how can you be sure that the translation is close to the original text...i don't think i have ever read a book before that has been translated....what i will do is find another copy of The Outsider and compare and maybe everything will be fine or maybe there might be a few variations in parts of the text that i will ponder over....but there is a genral rule of thought that some translations are far better than others..cheers man i will check out the vids by Eco...thanks


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## Bard_Daniel (Aug 9, 2016)

I've read Camus in French and I think the translations are fairly well done. I read The Plague (La Peste). Just my two cents!

Glad you're enjoying him! I really like his stuff. Great thinker and creative talent.


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## escorial (Aug 10, 2016)

danielstj said:


> I've read Camus in French and I think the translations are fairly well done. I read The Plague (La Peste). Just my two cents!
> 
> Glad you're enjoying him! I really like his stuff. Great thinker and creative talent.



the word fairly is exactly the word I was dreading.....I have no choice other than to learn French to avoid this......my question Howling Wolf is how close is the translation to his written word..?


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## qwertyman (Aug 10, 2016)

There is a difference between translation and interpretation.  Do you want accurate word substitution or do you want the translator's interlectual interpretation of the meaning?

 I recently re-read The Outsider, having lost/lent my old copy (translator Joseph Laredo) and what surprised me most was the jacket blurb by J.G.Ballard..._'The story of a beach murder, one

 of the century's classic novels.  Blood and sand.'

_There's an interpretation for you!


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## Bard_Daniel (Aug 10, 2016)

escorial said:


> the word fairly is exactly the word I was dreading.....I have no choice other than to learn French to avoid this......my question Howling Wolf is how close is the translation to his written word..?



Oh I see. Hmm. Yeah, that's a really hard question. I don't think you can ever quite word per word get a translation done-- as far as I've come across. Most translations try to get the essence of the sentences and paragraphs to form a coherent whole. I found it was really close to the original though. 

I hope this helps!


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## escorial (Aug 10, 2016)

qwertyman said:


> There is a difference between translation and interpretation.  Do you want accurate word substitution or do you want the translator's interlectual interpretation of the meaning?
> 
> I recently re-read The Outsider, having lost/lent my old copy (translator Joseph Laredo) and what surprised me most was the jacket blurb by J.G.Ballard..._'The story of a beach murder, one of the century's classic
> 
> ...



that's poor man.....


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## escorial (Aug 10, 2016)

danielstj said:


> Oh I see. Hmm. Yeah, that's a really hard question. I don't think you can ever quite word per word get a translation done-- as far as I've come across. Most translations try to get the essence of the sentences and paragraphs to form a coherent whole. I found it was really close to the original though.
> 
> I hope this helps!



that's far better.....close is the best I can hope for......youtube..learn French for the next lesson...

[video=youtube_share;Jet29TQv2uA]https://youtu.be/Jet29TQv2uA[/video]


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