Quote:
Originally Posted by Sparrow
English only readers (like me  ) can only read their works in translation - I'm never clear how much my enjoyment is due to the quality of the source, or the quality of the translation.
It's hard to provide an objective assessment if you can't read in the original language; but the English translations of 'War and Peace' and 'Three Musketeers' I've read are both worthy of inclusion in a Best Novels list. |
I think you do miss a lot by reading in translation. You get the "story", yes, but you inevitably miss out on all the nuances that the author is putting in via the original language.
For example, I'm not a Christian, but I do very much enjoy reading the Bible, simply as a great work of literature. I am fortunate in that, because I've studied the classics for many years, I'm able to read the New Testament in the original Greek rather than having to rely on an English translation. The Greek has all sorts of "plays on words" and puns which are completely untranslatable into English, and which you don't even realise are there when you read an English translation. There are also many cases where a Greek word has a number of meanings, and the translator has chosen one of them, whereas the text takes on a very different meaning if you interpret the word with one of its other meanings.
Reading in translation is a very "second-rate" experience.