hi everybody
do you like to read a literary material ( novel , story , poem)
in original language ( if you know)
or translation in your own language
i used to love stories of O'henry (in Turkish )
then i learnt english
i couldn't find the same taste in English
there is an older topic about this subject but
unfortunatelly i did't see it before
http://www.frihost.com/forums/vt-31619.html
Last edited by palavra on Mon Nov 20, 2006 1:48 pm; edited 2 times in total I prefer reading in English, it’s my second language but I think there are just so many more English writers. By default English literature’s going to be better.
Well ofcourse the original language if you know that and the transaltion if you don't . It just depends on you but if i were to know both the languages then i would have preferred the original one.
I just have to agree with the other ones. If I know the original language it's best to read the original, of course. But I f I don't it does not matter whether it's transelated into English or Norwegian (my mother thounge).
All books that i read are english, as thats my first language and the only language i speak fluently.
So i would have to read a translated book if the oringinal version was in a different language.
But if i could i would definately read the original, as that is the writers exact words, rather than something that has been changed my a translater.
| palavra wrote: |
hi everybody
do you like to read a literary material ( novel , story , poem)
in original language ( if you know)
or translation in your own language
i used to love stories of O'henry (in Turkish )
then i learnt english
i couldn't find the same taste in English |
It's very strange and you are the first person I've ever heard to say so. I guess anyone fluent in the language of the original text would prefer to read it in the original form.
I guess your English was not good enough to grasp the text as it is. The translations (if they are done carefully) maximize to the best extent the "taste" of the text so to speak, and if your English is not good enough to go beyond that, it's conceivable that you'll like the translated version since you have a much greater command over your native language; but otherwise I guess without any doubt, no translation can retain the literary aspect of any text (except scientific text - which I guess isn't being referred to here).I prefer the original language in general. That does not mean that I avoid translations or that translations are written badly. In some occasions books in my own language have a greater impact. Also they remind me of my childhood when I read my books only in my language.
I wish I could understand everything in original.. but i can only speak Turkish well, English is hard for now for books. Especially for the books about literature. 
this post only for turkish people
| tuncay wrote: |
[It's very strange and you are the first person I've ever heard to say so. I guess anyone fluent in the language of the original text would prefer to read it in the original form.
|
"Ben buraya Sezari ovmeye degil, gommeye geldim"
"I come to bury Ceasar,... not to praise him"
says Marc Anthony in Shakespeare's play Julius Ceaser.
which one is a better expression
i think the turkish translation is better than the original text. you are right
in here translation is better than the original
but
it is not like that everytime
I recently "gave up" on Swedish books (not entirely true) in favour of English books as I think books are at their best in their original language, and I haven't found that many swedish authors that write fantasy. There are a select few, but once you're done with them......you know..
I also like to read in English as it helps to build my vocabulary. 
i posted a similar topic a few times ago... i try to avoid as far as i can translations.. i think that a translated book is not written by the author but by the translator. i'm not underestimating the translators works', is just that the translator is not the writer of the story, he doesn't have the idea on his mind... and, most probably, the original story was meant to be in that language, and due to translation limitations it has lost some of its quality.. that's why i love above all spanish authors, or latin american (like garcia marquez, cortazar, carpentier) because its the language i handle the best
I don't know in other languages, but the translations to spanish are really lame. Especially because just like english, it ain't the same reading Spain's spanish than Argentina's spanish... And it's very funny to read all spaniard expressions, but the thng is that sometimes it just annoys you!!
Besides, it usually loses a lot of pun on words done by the writer and you can tell there's a phrase missing 
I only speak english and because of that I really, really appreciate the value of translations. Without them, I'd be stuck with only english literature and sometimes there is some really, really great foreign (to me) writing. Poems are a prime example here, as well as some novels.
It's funny to (try to) read a book in the original after reading the translation. It almost feels like the original is an imitation of the translation because that's the book you're used to and grew up with.
There's nothing worse than a boring translation of a boring book.
