Is there anyone one /lit/ who has read a work in the original language and a translation?
When i read translations, i get the sense that the style is an 'academic' style.
How close to translations come to the original style of the work? Do they capture it pretty well, or do they render it in a style that is overly academic and alien to the original style?
>>8112814
>How close to translations come to the original style of the work?
This is almost a meaningless question because the answer is dependent on so much: the original author, the original language, the translator, and the translator's language. You'd be better off asking about specific pairs of languages (e.g. French to English), if not specific authors.
In my experience though, I wouldn't consider any translations I've read to be "overly academic" in the slightest.
>>8112868
But aren't most translators from a more academic background? as opposed to writers, which can be from every type of background.
>>8112814
Ive read some of the Aeneid in latin and the whole thing in English. Generally the english translators try to reflect the original connotations, but it isnt always possible. The best versions will include annotations to inform you of such details as well as cultural significancies that dont come across initially.
Of course the Aeneid is a special case being poetry; the original flow is pretty much entorely lost in English, so reading it in Latin adds a much greater appreciation. I imagine the impact would be less for prose.
>>8112947
I mean, translators are from an academic background that involves specializing in the art of translation. They are well-equipped with an understanding not only of the natures (strengths and weaknesses, to put it reductively) of both languages, but also of the author whom they're translating, having studied that author enough to know the context of and intention behind the work, etc.
I trust that translator to be more "objective" in the act of translating the work, and not merely adapting it into their own "subjective" style. No matter their background, a good translator will have educated themselves enough to be able to capture the spirit of the original.
Does that answer your question?
>>8112976
>I imagine the impact would be less for prose.
This is also an important point. I believe with novels, generally, the original/translated divide is lessened, in terms of the overall project and effect of the work.
I read Don Quixote in the original Spanish while I was studying in university. That shit was hard but rewarding, Cervantes was really clever with his wordplay and OT actually made me laugh a few times.
I would occasionally cheat and read this online bilingual version, but I'd get mad at the English translation for fucking up the original meaning.
