- Apr 2016
-
translatingtheclassics.courseblogs.amherst.edu translatingtheclassics.courseblogs.amherst.edu
-
I must have grown up.
This last line though! So powerful
And sad
-
make portraits
This may need some revision
-
I could come to become
I would try cut out a few words here
-
it
he?
-
exist
exists
-
,
This is very French grammar––it's hard to know what to do with it in English
-
a
change to I ? (i)
-
semi confidence
This might be too modern
-
“That is not a thing. It flies. It’s a plane, my plane.” I felt proud to tell him that it flew. He then yelled, “What? You have fallen from the sky?” “Yes,” I told him modestly. “How curious!”
I like your dialogue a lot. It sounds very natural
-
Its
It's
-
my interlocutor
I like this because I like imagining that narrator is wise beyond his years :)
-
this
This (capitalize)
-
impressive
Interesting word choice. Is it so in French/Spanish?
-
Since I had never drawn a lamb before I made for him one of the only two drawing I was able to complete, that of the closed boa.
I love this part! So cute :)
-
was
were
-
tiredness
Maybe change to exhaustion depending on the word in French
-
Lets
Let's
-
closed boas and opened boas.
This relates back to my earlier comment about "opened" and "closed." I think your other translation is good
-
has
have
-
reparation
Repair?
-
sex
Six
-
they could
They would or could?
-
seemed
Change to "seems"?
-
I have loved with many adults
Is the word "with" used in the original?
-
I have flown all over the world the geography has actually helped me a lot
Is there a word, phrase, or punctuation between the world and the geography?
-
whether they be opened or close
Maybe revise. Is the sentence this almost abstract in French/Spanish?
-
had a need
Is the verb tense in the past?
-
beast
This reminds me of the Metamorphosis and the debate around the word "vermin." "Beast" leaves room for questioning. Is it more specific in the original French?
-
jungle and
French does not put a comma between independent clauses, but you might want to add them back in for English grammar rules
-
virgin jungle
I'm curious to look at the French. Virgin jungle sounds a bit awkward
-
-
translatingtheclassics.courseblogs.amherst.edu translatingtheclassics.courseblogs.amherst.edu
-
ninita
Add "ñ"
-
que big brazos you have!”
Interesting construction for this classic line. What was your thought process in deciding how to translate these sentences?
-
hear
I read this in Spanish at first thinking it was a Spanish verb lol
-
su
Maybe change to "sus"
-
come
Interesting ambiguity between the English and Spanish commands
-
Putt he
Put the
-
pero believing que su abue was resfriada y un poco hoarse, respondió:
I really like this sentence––it sounds so natural
-
husky voz
Nice
-
: tas tas:
Interesting way to note the sound
-
llego
Add "ó"
-
pos
I like the use of "pos" in the story. Is this distinctive to a certain dialect of Spanish?
-
La good abue
This was a bit confusing upon first reading. I read it at first with "good" as the verb, in a construction with a direct object and a verb like "Lo digo..." (Lo good). It took a bit of work to realize what it meant
-
to
This "to" may be a bit awkward, maybe keep the Spanish-equivalent preposition
-
ninita
Add ñ ?
-
Red Caperucita
Here you say "Red Caperucita," but before you say "La Red Caperucita"
-
wolf/
Intentional "/" ?
-
ganas de devour her
This is so funny lolol
Also, did not mean to highlight here
-
había a
"había a" sounds a bit awkward because of the a sound at the end of the first word. I would consider changing to "there was a" or "there was una"
-
Red
I like how you keep "red" in English
-
-
translatingtheclassics.courseblogs.amherst.edu translatingtheclassics.courseblogs.amherst.edu
-
Qu’importait que Raymond fût mon copain autant que Céleste qui valait mieux que lui ?
The use of "valait" here is interesting. What could it mean? It roughly translates to "What did it matter that Raymond was my friend just as much as Céleste who was worth more than him?" Using "worth" here sounds so peculiar. What would be a better way to say this in English?
-
ne valait un cheveu de femme
To keep this strange French expression or to try and translate into English? The literal equivalent is "was not worth more than a woman's hair."
-
je m’ouvrais pour la première fois à la tendre indifférence du monde
This is a sentence that has been translated differently across all the English translations of L'Étranger. Some have translated monde as "world," others as "universe." The idea of "opening oneself" is kind of awkward in English, and I'm not sure if I should keep or change this more direct translation. It's also in the imperfect tense, which complicates the past tense that I'll want to use in English.
-
- Mar 2016
-
lms.ats.amherst.edu lms.ats.amherst.edu
-
Overall I think that Rob and Nico's translation is full of excellent decisions. For example, Nico and Rob decided to translate semajantes as fellows. The word semajante could have been translated as equals, but it would have clearly been odd to translate the word semejantes as equals because it would have created a kind of difference between Raskolnikov and his friends or the people that surrounded him that just does not appear in the Spanish text.Good decisions like this one appear multiple times in the text, but my favorite one is how they translated "En su ánimo acababa de producirse una especie de revolución" into "He had just undergone a kind of revolution in his spirits; he felt the need to see other human beings". There is a lot good decisions in this sentence but how they dealt with the word "animo" is my favorite. Animo is a complicated term to translate into English because in my opinion it does not really have an equal in English. Yes la REA probably lists espirito as a synonym and therefore by Aristotle law of equality i.e., if A equals B and B equal C it must be A equals C. Hence, spirit is the direct translation of animo because spirit is clearly the direct translation of espiritu, right? No! The problem with the claim is that contrary to A, B and C words are not uniformly logical operators, words by themselves are meaningless. So espiritu is only equal to animo in certain contexts, for example, observe what happens when we change the word animo for espiritu in the original sentence we have "En su espiritu acababa de producirse una especie de revolución" clearly it just does not work. However, the translation Rob and Nico did that use the word spirit does work, and that is why this is an example I like so much because a word that does not have a direct translation into English and its synonym in Spanish does not do it justice in Spanish ends up doing it justice in English and that just cool. Regarding negatives or possible improvements well, I only manage to find one small suggestion I think the word sala would have been better translated as the main room then translating it as bar.
-