Lost in Translation? (by Christina)

 

In the reading group we have read and discussed several books by foreign authors in the last months.

During the talks we often wondered how much influence the translator has to the general feel and tone of the novel.

It was especially interesting with Daniel Kehlmann's "Measuring the World", which I read in the original German version. I especially loved the very subtle humour and the use of some old-fashioned words, phrasing and speech with which Kehlmann very successfully created the feel of 18th century Germany, and at the same time pointed an ironic finger at some of the academic snobbery of the time. A lot of this was definitely lost in the English translation, but on closer inspection and with a more in-depth look at the detail some still was to be found.

Does that mean you have to read a translation more carefully than an "original"?

Being German I myself just have the rule, that if possible, I'll read anything written in German in German; anything written in English in English. With anything else, I don't mind in which language I read it. But for example I read several books by Haruki Murakami in German and was absolutely enchanted by them, but then someone recommended "Norwegian Wood" to me, I started reading and really didn't like it at all. I gave up after 50 pages. The language didn't have that light flow, his trademark humour didn't ring true. It just wasn't the same reading experience. On a whim I checked the name of the translator, and this one was a different person to the one who had translated all the previous ones I'd read. Then I gave "Norwegian Wood" a go in English and: the magic was back.

A German newspaper once did an experiment, where they had a German short story translated into Japanese, then from Japanese into French, the French into English and via an Italian stop-over it went back into German. The original story and the end result barely had any resemblance after going through this literary version of Chinese Whispers.

Mind you, the books we are reading have just undergone one such transformation, so they are still very close to their mother version.

But what are we supposed to do if a successful book from another part of the world arrives on our shores in translation?

I personally think, that we should give it a chance, but maybe overlook some stylistic issues (if there are any), because after all most translations do the original justice, and take real care to recreate the same style and flair.

Go on, travel to some other cultures and countries via a book!

 

What about:

The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

Strangers by Taichi Yamada

The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

2666 by Roberto Bolano

Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann

The Chalk Circle Man by Fred Vargas

A Florentine Death by Michele Giuttari

Or give a foreign classic a go:

Dumas, Tolstoy or E. T. A. Hoffmann