>context is inherently lost in even the best professional translation
>learning every major language on earth is not a reasonable task to undergo
how to cope with this feel
>>7681187
Learn the languages of your favorite authors.
>>7681187
That is literally like three languages. I ain't got time for that shit
Discover authors who write in your native language? Don't live your life with the tastes of an undergraduate?
>>7681194
>limiting your taste to native-language work
>comparing someone else to an undergrad
>tfw dream of being able to speak/read english, spanish, french, italian, german, and russian
>tfw dream of being able to read latin and ancient greek
>tfw struggling to achieve reading proficiency in even three modern languages, let alone an ancient one
Fuck. I just want to pick up books in foreign languages and read them. And talk to cute girls I overhear speaking French or Italian.
>>7681201
>pretentious reader of foreign language works
>thinks he is getting anything out of reading the work of translators (i.e. those who couldn't cut it as writers themselves)
>>7681225
who said that anon was reading translations? seems like he implied originals
>>7681187
Only petty puns, jokes and functions of the limitations of culture are lost in translation. The broader meanings and themes of humanity are kept intact. Some of my favorite books are translated works by foreign authors.
>>7681302
>this is what monolingual plebs unironically believe
>>7681187
All you need to know is Russian, French and Japanese. If you don't already speak the languages, date women who do.
context is never inherently lost only transformed if that. shitpost elsewhere
>>7681767
>implying non-plebs shitpost like you
>>7681780
>Japanese
You mean Chinese.
Really, Latin and Greek should be good, but they're so fucking awful as languages (and so fucking useless outside of /lit/) that it's not worth it unless you're *super* into classical lit.
>>7681187
By not being a borderline-retarded, meme-addled 12 year-old.
haha
>>7681187
Recently I had to write on Robinson Crusoe. I read in English but cited from Hebrew translation and ts amazing how so much of the economic and calculated tone got lost in translation.
English, Spanish and French covers most important stuff. Russian, latin, german. Mandarin if you're a businessman (and I assume most here are not).
>>7681780
You just missed out on the South American boom and all of German 19th century scholarship
>>7681187
>cant read the original
>complain that the context is lost
?
Yes but it is still a translated work
