Children's Books discussion

I got into an interesting discussion on "How to Train Your Dragon" which lead me to Abigail's review:

Review

Here is something related to this discussion that I read in the back of a volume of manga that I am reading. I thought it was very interesting to see the thought and effort that the translation team had put into their work.

"Hotohori is the man in Hong-Nan with perhaps the best education and the worst social life. Never really having any friends his age, he’s had to grow up among tutors, and that background has to come through in English as well as it does in the Japanese book. So the translation staff went out of their way to figure out how Hotohori would speak if he were trying to impress the only people he saw on a daily basis, and that means using words that impress professors. Thus, you get Hotohori’s affected speech and his use of the “royal we” when he acts as emperor. But you’ll notice that those affectations and his use of “we” breaks down when he’s alone with Miaka -- the real Hotohori forces itself out into the open.

The “voice” of the text sections of [the book within the story:] The Universe of the Four Gods was tricky. How do you get across the feel of an ancient romantic epic without making it sound like corny Shakespeare imitations? At one point, someone in the translation team thought of using the style of Jane Austen! It’s familiar, understandable, and we don’t have to use those pesky thees and thous! So the team started a reading marathon of Jane Austen works, until Austen’s speaking style was second nature."

I thought it was pretty interesting that a group of translators would go to so much effort to give an "authentic" feel to the English version of what many people consider a comic book. Especially the part about reading Austen, because the text sections are a very small part of the story.

It was just such a funny coincidence that I read this right after we got into a discussion of translation issues.

Since we are in Japan, our libraries carries MANY picture books which are originally Japanese but have been translated into English. Sometimes I find the flow to be just odd.... Like the translator stuck too close to the original Japanese, and it just doesn't sound good in English.

So I guess I prefer it when the translations sound smooth, but maybe aren't exactly the same as the original.

Texts can't really be translated word for word, since grammar hinders this, (I've seen some bad German-to-English texts, for example). But, it is nice to learn about different cultures through translated works. You hope the translator makes an effort to be true to the spirit of the original, and not alter it totally to the tastes of the target reader. :)

Great link, Abigail! We had been talking about Scandinavian books on another group a while back, and here were two on the page this link pointed to.

Thanks, Abigail. That was very interesting, and so cute!

Very interesting. Thanks!

It always pays to do some research into the culture or you could say something insulting or translate it into gobledy gook.

When translating it's not just language barriers but also culture, for example here are two common sayings in my part of Scotland (Norse-Pictish culture) and their equivalents in Lowland Scotland (Anglo-Saxon-Norman culture) - Note I do not know if either of these translate properly into Scottish Gaelic.

"there are many ways to kill a dog with butter." = "there's more than one way to skin a cat"

"the male monster loves the female monster" = "each to his own kind"

So what would your equivalent sayings be to indicate

a) There are many ways to accomplish a thing.

b) It's best to seek companionship in your own class/species.

Elspeth wrote: "It always pays to do some research into the culture or you could say something insulting or translate it into gobledy gook.

When translating it's not just language barriers but also culture, for e..."

Oh yes, translating idiomatic expressions verbatim can be unintentionally hilarious but sometimes also inadvertently insulting.

Here are some German doozies:

Mit dir ist nicht gut Kirschen essen (You are hard to get along with.) but if on translates it literally, it would go like this With you is not good cherry eating (yup, makes no sense)

Er hat nicht alle Tassen im Shrank (He is a few cards short of a full deck) but translated literally it would mean He does not have all his cups in the closet

Der Peter ist wieder total blau (Peter is once again totally drunk) but literally translated it means that Peter is totally blue (but indeed, when I was very young I took language pretty literally and I therefore assumed that one turned blue if one was drunk).

Elspeth wrote: So what would your equivalent sayings be to indicate

a) There are many ways to accomplish a thing.

b) It's best to seek companionship in your own class/species

..."

For me, I am familiar with your Lowland Scots versions.

Manybooks wrote: "Er hat nicht alle Tassen im Shrank (He is a few cards short of a full deck) but translated literally it would mean He does not have all his cups in the closet ..."

This is similar to the English saying: "He (or she) is one can short of a six pack."

Beverly wrote: "Manybooks wrote: "Er hat nicht alle Tassen im Shrank (He is a few cards short of a full deck) but translated literally it would mean He does not have all his cups in the closet ..."

This is simila..."

I like that one :-)

Manybooks wrote:"Er hat nicht alle Tassen im Shrank (He is a few cards short of a full deck) but translated literally it would mean He does not have all his cups in the closet"

Hann hever en skylling smu av fatgud.

If you were to translate litteraly from the Norn it would be "He has one skylark too small of butter and train oil."

A skylark was the local name for a ha'penny and most locals not being in possession of a lot of money would often pay their taxes in kind. To give a man his butter and train oil was to pay your taxes. With that in mind the saying should be read as "he's a ha'penny short of a full shilling."

TBH not many folk up here remember the historical above. They know what the saying means but firmly believe that they are talking about skylarks and butter!

Then again how many people saying "cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey" realise that a brass monkey is the triangle of brass you stack cannon balls on top of to stop them rolling around in heavy seas.

I've heard otherwise on the brass monkey... ah, yes: https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/exp...

Cheryl wrote: "I've heard otherwise on the brass monkey... ah, yes: https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/exp..."

Interesting.... I shall have to remember that next time I visit Hartlepool Naval Museum. Their tour guide told me a fib!

Beverly wrote: "Elspeth wrote: So what would your equivalent sayings be to indicate

a) There are many ways to accomplish a thing.

b) It's best to seek companionship in your own class/species
..."

Hm. Well, we have 'more than one way to skin a cat' for the first, but I haven't heard that in a coon's age...

The second is reflected imprecisely in 'birds of a feather flock together' but in America, where more of us are proud of carving our own destiny, I don't think there are many of us that say "best to" flock, and the saying simply refers to the tendency ppl have to do so.