Loosed in Translation discussion

Hi all, I have a question that I would like to discuss. Although my mother tongue is Spanish I used to think the correct thing to do was to read any English book in its original form. I assumed especially when it came to classics that this was fundamental, since the author must have carefully chosen the language to make the book what it is. This lead me to read 19th century books like Pride and Prejudice and Frankenstein in English, struggling at points to understand what was going on.

My believes have now been shaken after reading García Márquez's autobiography Vivir Para Contarla, in which he talks about some of the works that influence him the most, having a special mention James Joyce and William Faulker.
It turns out a translation can be good enough to take a place among someone's favourites. However, if you are already fluent in the original language, what is the best thing to do?

I now think about how some of my american and german friends have tried to read Cien Años de Soledad in Spanish but could not finish it, surprising me since the book changed my understanding of literature and I knew my friends could speak very good spanish. I suggested that they read it in english and they liked it.

I am now looking forward to reading Ulysses by JJ and Light in August by Faulkner but not sure in which language.

My doubt is whether to sacrifice understanding or respect to the original text. After all reading in English could also help me with the language to the point where I no longer need to ask myself these kind of questions.

Anyway if someone knows one of the books' writing being challenging for a not native speaker or has any opinion on this topic I would be glad to hear it. Thanks.

Hi Pablo,

My answer to this question is to ask another: which book (the "original" as you call it, or the translation) is the better written?

It's interesting to note that most people believe the former is better worked - which may often be the case as translators often (and wrongly, in my view) work to tight deadlines and the author's did not; but there is no reason to imagine that a translator necessarily has NOT "carefully chosen the language to make the book what it is". Why do you and others have this view?

Perhaps it's time to reconsider this idea - and I'm referring to translators as much as to readers, here.

(And I believe García Márquez commented once that Gregory Rabassa's translations of his work into English read better than his own Spanish-language "originals".)

Hi Jon,

it seems to me then that I will settle for reading James Joyce in Spanish. You see the fear when reading a classic translated is that you feel like you are buying a lottery ticket, for translations themselves are much less celebrated than books. But anyway I'll give it a try, who knows if I'll find something that, without me knowing, reads better than the original.

You're welcome, Pablo.

All this is a matter of opinion, of course - and to give you another example: I've just bought the Standard edition of Freud after comparing the translation with the new one and finding the former is written in a better style. The differences are in the order of the sentence construction (the same as in the Proust translations) and items of vocabulary, but as the meaning is clear in both I again chose the beauty in the reading.

So I offer no answers to these questions, just more questions that might be useful to ask oneself.