Quote:
Originally Posted by Geralt
They do this nonsense (and it is nonsense) in my language as well => from English. Idiotic.
<snip>
|
I actually like the suggestion of just transcribing names phonetically, but I think it wouldn't work for all names and all languages.
In Dutch, it works perfectly with names such as Brandybuck -> Brandebok, because the original name actually sounds like a Dutch name pronounced in English. If my last name had been "Brandebok", an Englishman would actually pronounce it as "Brandybuck".
Many "real" names in LotR can be just pronounced as if they are Dutch, such as "Elrond", "Gandalf", "Sam", and they wouldn't sound strange. The same is true for many, if not most Shannara names.
It doesn't work nearly as well with a name such as Strider. It would be written as "Straider", but it would still sound English-like, even when pronounced with Dutch intonation. "Ranger" would also be impossible to transcribe ("Reindzjer") without making it sound exceedingly foolish. The word "Reindzjer" doesn't mean anything.
I think that this is the reason why some names are translated, and others are not. Still, I think that "Ranger" (as in, a profession, a woodsman/tracker) should have been translated to the Dutch equivalent of "Woudloper".
Translating it to "Doler" feels wrong, because the Dutch word "Doler" denotes someone who drifts from place to place, because they have nothing else left, and without having a purpose. Aragorn is a drifter, but not because he has nothing left in the world and not because he doesn't have a purpose. Far from it, actually.
Translating some names just makes them look stupid to me, like translating "Whisper", "Rumor", or "Walker" into Dutch, literally. No animal or man would be called "Fluister", "Gerucht" or "Loper" in Dutch. Once we had a dog called "Shadow". No-one would ever think about giving a dog the Dutch equivalent "Schaduw" as a name.