Translation

[firecat]

I see I share a bit of brain with Neil Gaiman, who writes in his blog (in response to a question about the French translation of American Gods:

(I used to collect translations of Rilke's Duino Elegies, trying to triangulate something that would have the same effect as the German. Some would have the grace of the original poems, some the feel of the language, some the form. No one translation ever had everything, or ever could have.)

This is on my mind tonight because I saw Spirited Away tonight on DVD, and I am pissed at the English subtitles. I know only a few words of japanese, and even with only those words, I could tell they were mangling it. Besides, the English subtitles follow the English-language track, and they added dialogue where there was just lovely speechlessness in the original. [grumble mumble]

Comments

[eeyorerin]

Have you read Hofsteader's Le Ton Beau de Marot? It's a lovely meditation on just those things, along with artificial intelligence and recovering from grief (yes, all of those).

[firecat]

Wow, that sounds great. Do you think it will make me feel stupid like Goedel, Escher, Bach did? (That was a long time ago I tried to read it, and I'm planning to try again. But that was the reason I stopped reading it.)

[eeyorerin]

I found it a lot less math-heavy than Goedel, Escher, Bach, which also made me feel stupid, and so I kept skipping ahead to the story-bits.

This one has much more story, and much more poetry, and is much more about language-geeking, and love. I enjoyed it much more.