I just don't see the point in being so concerned about what translation you'll get. There's no way a translator will fully render the context of the original writing, so why even bother? If you want to understand the book fully, you must speak the original language, which is impossible to achieve if you want to be an all around erudite and reader.
>No food will ever be the perfect food so I might as well eat handfuls of horse shit
Translations can be their own unique work of art.
>>7499891
On the contrary, to be an "all around erudite and reader" you HAVE to know a few languages. You might not be able to read every great book ever made in its original language, but if you just read everything in English you're missing out on a good chunk of what literature can provide
it's a meme dumbass
What is 'The book'? Translations can stand isolated, as individual works of art; they can also be accurate representations of the original work, while of course not the exact same, they can still be a good mirror.
And one cannot understand the book fully, it is an impossibility as it is not set in stone what the true 'meaning' is. We have no opportunity to live in the times the work was published, nor can we discuss with the author on the subject of the book.
>>7500650
Borges and other great writers have made this point. Not sure why everyone on this board gets so butthurt about translations.
>>7500678
Precisely because people attempt to discuss points of the original book that aren't conveyed perfectly through translation. No one treats them as their own unique work, even if they should.
>>7500685
Tbh you can't truly experience the Iliad unless you have it sung to you by an old Ionic man
>reading translations at all
/lit/ sure has gotten pleb
Original authors meaning:
>I eat horse shit and take baths in drain water when I watch Star Trek
Translator 1
>I eat things and bathe in water when I watch television.
Translator 2
>I eat animal feces and bathe in the sewers of outer space visions.
Translator 3
>I eat shit. I bathe in poo water. I watch Star Trek.
Fuck language.
