Sci-Fi, fantasy and speculative Indie Authors Review discussion

I'm an American w/out the resources to pay for translation. Which means...Translation? A different language? There is such a thing?

:S

If you read / write both Dutch and French as well as English (which being in the Netherlands seems likely), a translation is not quite a rewrite but more than simply translating word for word.

A book in Spanish isn't quite the same book in English, or French, or German, or Dutch, because of the subtle nuances that go into saying something in each language. Similarly a book originally written in English will be a bit different than its Mandarin version.

Basically put it's a middle ground process.

Personally, if I'd want my book in another language, I'd rewrite it. I'd stick to the story as much as I can but I wouldn't translate. A story risks loosing its soul during the process if you go sentence by sentence.

Literary translation is a complex art in itself. For one thing, if you're not aware of the idiomatic nature of certain phrases, a word-for-word translation of those phrases loses the original intent/meaning.

(Best example of this is the title of the New Wave French film "Les Quatre Cent Coups"; in French, this phrase best translates as "raising hell" or "sowing wild oats", which fails to be conveyed in the more literal "The 400 Blows")

As an absolute non-expert, I'd suggest Dutch and French might be different. From listening to Dutch-speakers speak English I have a feeling that near word-for-word translation would work. French, though, has very different idioms and attitude to informal speech. I'd expect French to be more of a rewrite.

I'm translating some of my work into English, and there is such a difference between English and Icelandic that it is not word for word process, but I like to translate rather than re-write them anyway. It will not be the same in English as it is in Icelandic, but close enough.

There are some things that just can't be translated, not completely. I've written micro fiction in both Icelandic and English, and some of those stories are just impossible to translate. They are so compact and they depend so much on the language they are written in that they can't be translated into the other language. So I'm not even going to waste the time trying to re-write those.

But if the story in bigger form, short story or a novel, is good, then it should work in both languages. In general one can lose certain things in translation, but also gain certain things as well.

And sometimes there are those funny quirks in transliteration from one language to another, like intending to say "I'd like to ask for a bowl of soup" in Spanish, getting the conjugations of one verb mixed with a similar verb, and actually saying "I'd like to fart a bowl of soup".

R.F.G. wrote: "And sometimes there are those funny quirks in transliteration from one language to another, like intending to say "I'd like to ask for a bowl of soup" in Spanish, getting the conjugations of one verb mixed with a similar verb, and actually saying "I'd like to fart a bowl of soup"."

I would like to see the face of the waiter taking that order. :-)

Or the French phrase je suis plein, which literally translates to I am full in English, but means I am pregnant in French. That too might confuse a waiter who merely asked if you want dessert.

Hákon wrote: "I would like to see the face of the waiter taking that order. :-) "

There was a certain amount of chuckling involved.

This is kind of why I believe working a book into another language is best seen as a middle ground process where the idiom and usage is appropriate for the language while keeping the spirit of the story intact.

Rob wrote: "I am looking at creating a Dutch and a French version for one of my short stories. I could go for a translation so everyone basically gets the same book, or I could actually do a rewrite and not co..."

So, assuming you're trilingual enough to do all that yourself, I would translate, knowing that a literary translation is, essentially, a rewrite anyway. But one which tries to create the same impression in the reader that the original did. If you hire a translator, this is what they would do.

If you imagine doing a rewrite that gives a different story, you're left wondering whether you should translate these new stories, so all your readers can have everything. Or, if your stories stay fairly similar, if and when your readers talk or compare versions, they may become frustrated and/or wonder about the reasons which caused you to deem those versions more 'suitable' for them. In my experience, people tend to become a bit paranoid about that kind of stuff.


(I'm an ex English to French translator btw)

I used to do Spanish / English / Spanish interpreting, until a judge couldn't figure out there is no direct comprehensible word-for-word translation between the two languages.