# Translations



## Kyle R (Feb 13, 2012)

I've been reading some translated books (Albert Camus' _The Stranger_, Haruki Murakami's _Kafka on the Shore_), and I notice the prose reads a bit clunky and stilted at times. I feel there is some "prose magic" lost in translation, where certain words are squeezed into their closest resembling kin, like mashing custard pie into a blender and calling it "egg nog" (Mmm.. sounds delicious, but nowhere near the intent of the baker).

I also have a Japanese friend who speaks English but expressionisms and stylistic prose confuse her. That, combined with the books, got me to thinking..

I see popular books being "translated into eight languages" and such, and I'm wondering, how well do those translations hold up?

Are foreign (and domestic) languages altering our literature? Is the quality of writing suffering from bits of writing "falling through the translation gaps?"

Have you considered how your writing would translate in another language?


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## Rustgold (Feb 13, 2012)

Different languages have different sentence constructions, different stresses in words etc.
Simple example

"John told Mary that she was a goody two shoes."

In English, we know who said what to whom based on the order of words.  Many other languages require stresses to determine this.  For the most popular (read : money earning) books, publishers will spend the money to get somebody who'll know both languages properly; but few books are financially worth such attention.
Saying that, I feel that modernism poses a greater risk to writing quality.

In answer to your final question.  I only know one language, so other languages aren't my business to consider.


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## Bloggsworth (Feb 13, 2012)

Simple - It depends on who is doing the translating. If it is someone who speaks the language and whose business is translation, that's what you will get, a translation. If, on the other hand, you have an author of some standing who is truly bilingual, say Nabakov, you will get the same novel. This is most obvious in poetry, as the lyricism of a good novel is assisted by the plot. An interesting excercise is to take a poem in a language you don't speak and translate it using Google's translation, BUT ONLY DO IT PHRASE BY PHRASE, or clever GOOGLE will find the most popular translation and offer it to you - Say *Retrato *by* Antonio Machado *and see what you get, then edit it and see where that takes you - Then, and only then, Google an English translation by a well-known poet and compare the 3 results, it will give you some idea of the difficulties involved in idiomatic translation and trying to maintain the spirit of the original.

We were workshopping this poem, so I did this and also had a Spanish speaking friend, who was married to a Spanish woman, do a translation under the strict instruction not to interpret its meaning in any way - All were agreed that his was the best translation of all we had read, but as he offered alternative phrasings for certain lines, clearly it is impossible for the translator to avoid "a view" of the meaning. He speaks both of the main Spanish "languages" as well as travelling in Cuba and South America, so his grasp of idiom is  rather better than Google's...


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## BabaYaga (Feb 13, 2012)

From what I've heard from translators, a good translation is as much a work of art as the original novel. They give awards for it and everything.


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## Olly Buckle (Feb 13, 2012)

> a good translation is as much a work of art as the original novel.


This!!  

In the early sixties I worked for a while in Mallorca, when we picked up tourists from the airport they were handed out a leaflet about cultured pearls, some one had obviously decided to save a few bob by translating with a dictionary word for word, it was hilarious, and largely incomprehensible in places. That is with a Romance language from the European language group where grammar is almost identical, try it with something as different as Japanese and the use of punning words to give poems like haiku various complementary meanings makes it just about impossible to translate.

I first came across translations with 'The Hundred Million Francs', a kids book about a bank robbery, 'The plague' was always my favourite Camus novel, the stranger was a bit too bleak.


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## Tiamat (Feb 14, 2012)

I suppose, like someone said, that it depends on the translator.  I've read the Harry Potter series translated into Norwegian, and the translation was amazing--even to the point of making the names have a similar "feel" to them as the English ones.  So, if I ever happen to write something that my publisher wants to release in other languages, I plan on being rather particular on my translator.


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## The Backward OX (Feb 14, 2012)

KyleColorado said:


> Have you considered how your writing would translate in another language?



Never mind other languages. I have to consider how my English is perceived by _native English_ speakers. It’s amazing, the different ways one’s words can be taken.


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## Baron (Feb 14, 2012)

A German translation of Robert Burns's Address to a Haggis turned the line "Great chieftain o' the puddin' race" into "Mighty Fuhrer of the sausage people".


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## ppsage (Feb 14, 2012)

Baron said:


> A German translation of Robert Burns's Address to a Haggis turned the line "Great chieftain o' the puddin' race" into "Mighty Fuhrer of the sausage people".



Actually, an English translation of the German translation must have turned it into that, as the quote seems to be once again in the former language.


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## Baron (Feb 14, 2012)

ppsage said:


> Actually, an English translation of the German translation must have turned it into that, as the quote seems to be once again in the former language.



[video=youtube;EzWpGxLkWNM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzWpGxLkWNM[/video]


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## ppsage (Feb 14, 2012)

What language was that?


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## bethworthy (May 11, 2020)

Translating a book or any business document needs a specific industry writing skills. Apart from writing skills, language skills should be good enough. Language and context is the main concern for the translators. I have seen many  mistranslations in different business slogans which were enough to ruin the brand name. Like, when Mercedes was expanding, one of the markets it wanted to conquer with its vehicles was China. However, in Chinese, the company’s name was translated as “Bensi”, which means “Rush to Die”. Now, you will agree that this is not really a company you would want to buy a car from.
On realizing this, the company rebranded the name to Benchi, which means “running quickly as if flying”. This is what you would expect from a car manufacturer.

Source: Hilarious and Lost In Translation: 6 Brand Slogans as Examples


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## ArrowInTheBowOfTheLord (May 11, 2020)

My favorite "lost in translation" example is the English subtitles on a Chinese bootlegged version of Revenge of the Sith. The movie had been translated into Chinese, and then back into English (for some reason, without referencing the original) for the subtitles. Some internet folks found this, and made a dub of the poorly translated subtitles (playing it totally straight, amazingly). The result is Backstroke of the West. (Backstroke = Revenge, West = Sith?) Some of the wonderful mistranslations:

Jedi Knight = Hopeless Situation Warrior / Hero's Ground
Jedi Council = Presbyterian Church
Strong with the Force = Strong and Big
General Grievous = Space General
Separatists = Abruption Doctrine
The Force = Original Dint / Wish Power


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## Olly Buckle (May 13, 2020)

Do you buy your coal de sack, or a la cart?


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## Olly Buckle (May 14, 2020)

C'est l' Anglaise avec son sang froid habituel.

Here comes the Englishman with his usual bloody cold.


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