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Kalki's Ponniyin Selvan Part-1 to Part-5 Set (English) (Historical Novel) by Rendered In English By Varalotti Rengasamy
2128 pages, Paperback
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 16, 2024
1. I COMPLETELY DISAGREE with all the comments/reviews that are saying that this is a "wonderful" or "good" or "great" translation. At BEST this translation IS some equivalent of a "B+" HIGH SCHOOL student and not of an academic or a profession interpreter.
2. This translation reads and sounds like some equivalent of a GOOGLE TRANSLATE, with the exception that some sentences are not even grammatically correct! For example, The most common error is the use of article "the". It is awful to see this happen continuously (at least several times in the first book).
3. The translator's sentence structure is awkward and unusual, leaving a feeling like the translator (VR) does not read a whole lot. The expressions correspond to modern language of some main stream internet media and not those of 1950s.
Mr. R. if you are using some software assistance to translate you might as well use "Grammarly" to help you make grammatical corrections and improve the legibility of your translation. However, you may also want to state that this is not a genuine translation.
4. Mr. Rengasamy adds commentaries that do not belong in the book. For example, Mr. R. very thoroughly explains the meaning of the word 'gazebo' with a quote and a reference to a Wikipedia article. WHAT IS THAT?! Gazebo is a very common English word that 99% of High School students would know.
Yet in other locations Mr. R. is using less common, collegiate level, vocabulary without the supporting definitions (e.g. the word vicillation).
This leads me to question Mr. R's knowledge of the English language.
Maybe the intended audience is for persons who are in the process of learning English?
5. In general, the translation seems to contain a lot of additions by Mr. R that are not supposed to be there. It is extremely disturbing. Mr. R does not seem to be very knowledgeable about many basic aspects of Hinduism, and yet, continuously tries to explain terms and history that does not belong in the book. While it is entertaining to witness the level of ignorance, it is out of place and those personal remarks do not belong in the story!
6. Finally, the good thing is that it is very difficult to completely ruin a good piece of literature, even with Mr. R. effort.
Kalki's epic and style are amazing, and some of that light does shine through the dense forest of the translators ignorance, and even that little bit of light is sufficient for a patient reader.
P.S. The original book by KALKI is amazing and inspiring to learn the language and the culture. HOWEVER, This translation is definitely NOT WORTH THE MONEY and feels like Mr. R. and Co. are simply trying to cheat people.
2. This translation reads and sounds like some equivalent of a GOOGLE TRANSLATE, with the exception that some sentences are not even grammatically correct! For example, The most common error is the use of article "the". It is awful to see this happen continuously (at least several times in the first book).
3. The translator's sentence structure is awkward and unusual, leaving a feeling like the translator (VR) does not read a whole lot. The expressions correspond to modern language of some main stream internet media and not those of 1950s.
Mr. R. if you are using some software assistance to translate you might as well use "Grammarly" to help you make grammatical corrections and improve the legibility of your translation. However, you may also want to state that this is not a genuine translation.
4. Mr. Rengasamy adds commentaries that do not belong in the book. For example, Mr. R. very thoroughly explains the meaning of the word 'gazebo' with a quote and a reference to a Wikipedia article. WHAT IS THAT?! Gazebo is a very common English word that 99% of High School students would know.
Yet in other locations Mr. R. is using less common, collegiate level, vocabulary without the supporting definitions (e.g. the word vicillation).
This leads me to question Mr. R's knowledge of the English language.
Maybe the intended audience is for persons who are in the process of learning English?
5. In general, the translation seems to contain a lot of additions by Mr. R that are not supposed to be there. It is extremely disturbing. Mr. R does not seem to be very knowledgeable about many basic aspects of Hinduism, and yet, continuously tries to explain terms and history that does not belong in the book. While it is entertaining to witness the level of ignorance, it is out of place and those personal remarks do not belong in the story!
6. Finally, the good thing is that it is very difficult to completely ruin a good piece of literature, even with Mr. R. effort.
Kalki's epic and style are amazing, and some of that light does shine through the dense forest of the translators ignorance, and even that little bit of light is sufficient for a patient reader.
P.S. The original book by KALKI is amazing and inspiring to learn the language and the culture. HOWEVER, This translation is definitely NOT WORTH THE MONEY and feels like Mr. R. and Co. are simply trying to cheat people.
March 13, 2024
Excellent translation and the book is an art by itself. The journey of Vandhiyadevan will stay with you forever, so will the people he meets and the challenges he faces.
A must read. I finished it in 3 days. The whole set of 5 books.
A must read. I finished it in 3 days. The whole set of 5 books.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews