Brent: my loss: did not read Conrad. I referred to translated books I read both in the original and in a (good!) translation, some of the original was always lost. I can refer to my mother tongue (non-Indo-European) where shades of meaning can be expressed by a 'buildup' of words, not experienced in my (so far 77 year) study of English. I came to the US 1965 then to live here in 1870, have some linguistic gift. When the English idiom did not occur, I used a Latin equivalent (Anglicised) and people understood it. Once I was almost arrested in commi E-Germany for not having a local ID - because "NO foreigner speaks so proper German". My (US?)-English is not so good, my vocabulary is moderate - although the dictionary is huge. Many words. Hungarian lit uses words that require entire sentences to a proper translation into other tongues. French included. (My French is fading). Yet I would love to read something by Conrad (in French) what he also published in English. I keep away from multilinguistic writing on my own, I NEVER feel satisfied. (As an auditive I think in the language I use).
JohnM t 5:14 PM, meekerdb <[email protected]> wrote: > On 1/10/2013 1:36 PM, John Mikes wrote: > > Stathis: > you MUST know better....I suppose. > You wrote in the Lem-story about the first straight Polish to English > translation: * * > *allowing English-speaking readers to finally experience the book as its > author intended.* > You may be bilingual (at least?) so my experience may not surprise you > (having almost 2 mother-tongues and lived in the (English?) US for more > than 4 decades) that > *NO TRANSLATION* > gives 'back' the author's original thoughts and phrases. > I read books translated and the originals, in languages I master as 'my > own' and saw the benevolent mistakes galore. > I had an old friend in Hungary, a linguistic professor, who learned > Russian on his death-bed because he wanted to read Tolstoy in original. (He > taught T earlier for decades). > I agree: French is a good transltional interface to change meanings, but > English is by no means a medium for a good straight translation > (transfiguration?) (especially from POLISH). > > > I find that interesting since my favorite writer and an acknowledged > master of english prose, Joesph Conrad, was Polish. He lived in France as > a youngster and also spoke French. He said that he choose to write in > English because it was more expressive, allowed more metaphors, than French > - and if he wrote in Polish nobody would read him. > > Brent > > > Yours - Suffering from multilinguistic horrors > John M > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Everything List" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list?hl=en. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list?hl=en.
