While I was in the city to get some last-minute Christmas stuff, I decided to venture into one of the larger book stores in the city's center. (Hm. If you come from London or other big cities, you might call it a village, but still...)
It was busy, but that was not the problem. The problem was that I actually didn't like (the) books. The fantasy section had quite a lot of books in it, so I flipped through a few of them and read some paragraphs.
- They were *huge*. Most were paperbacks, but as large as a big hardcover. (Are those the Trade Paperbacks? I don't know the term for them.) After reading on a Kindle for almost two years now, I've actually... uh... forgotten how large 1.000+ page book can be, especially if it's a hardcover-sized one.
- I flipped through a few of them, but on opening I always thought: "Put it back! You'll crinkle it! The spine will break!" I was actually afraid to open the books more than a little bit, as they started resisting after being opened about 30 degrees or so, especially the larger paperbacks.
- The prices! Oh MY GAWD, TEH PRAISEZ! Those "big paperbacks" could cost up to €25, and even €30 for the biggest ones (with regard to size and author name). Hardcovers would go up to €35. It makes an ebook at €9.99 look very attractive...
- And the worst of all: The translation. I've read some paragraphs, and while the Dutch language was fine in itself, it... just... doesn't... jive. Not for reading Fantasy. It just doesn't. Period. Reading Fantasy in Dutch feels all wrong. Even the "darker" fantasy by George R.R. Martin and Stephen King reads like some sort of badly written stuff that's supposed to be scary for children. If you read Dutch:
"De donkere figuur benaderde de wachter van achteren, en sneed hem zijn keel door voordat hij wist wat er gebeurde. Een seconde later was de moordenaar weer in de schaduwen verdwenen."
The English translation would be something like this:
"The dark figure moved up behind the guard, and slit his throat before he knew what was happening. A second later, the assassin had slipped back into the shadows again."
These sentences are exactly the same, but the Dutch one just feels all wonky. First, it seems to miss all the tension the English one has (at least, for me). Second, "moordenaar" (killer) is not the right word. In Dutch, a "moordenaar" is just someone who kills others; but an assassin is someone who is hired to kill, and who's "job" it is to kill others. Maybe "huurmoordenaar" (hired killer / hitman) could have been used, but that would have been wrong also. Assassin is the correct word, but as far as I know, there is no Dutch counterpart.
It's hard to express what I'm missing Dutch as compared to English, but I missed it in each paragraph I read (in several different books).
Meh. Mini-rant... I now officially don't like large paper books, and I hate Dutch translations even more than I did already
