Translation - art & business » Lighter side of trans/interp »
Off topic: Something for your to-read list
Thread poster: Kay Denney
Kay Denney
Kay Denney  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 00:08
French to English
Mar 6

This looks like a great romp of a read:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/mar/02/the-extinction-of-irena-rey-by-jennifer-croft-review-eight-translators-lost-in-a-forest

"Reading a translator translating a translator is a brain-twister like no other, and it can’t fail to c... See more
This looks like a great romp of a read:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/mar/02/the-extinction-of-irena-rey-by-jennifer-croft-review-eight-translators-lost-in-a-forest

"Reading a translator translating a translator is a brain-twister like no other, and it can’t fail to change the way you think about language. It feels like a privilege, too, to appreciate the passages that seem to have been written specifically to amuse her colleagues. Notably English’s version of a work by a Polish poet deemed untranslatable, which runs: “The world persists, but insecurely! / The rustling trees grow ultratreely!” You can picture translators gleefully texting it to each other with laughing-face emojis. It’s a glimpse into a profession that serves as a fascinating metaphor for our parasitic, multilingual, creatively prolific world."

As if translators would text using emojis!

(And I will admit to making up the word "birdly" in a recent translation, because "bird-like" just wouldn't work)

[Edited at 2024-03-06 13:17 GMT] ▲ Collapse


P.L.F. Persio
Christopher Schröder
ibz
Becca Resnik
Philip Lees
 
Christopher Schröder
Christopher Schröder
United Kingdom
Member (2011)
Swedish to English
+ ...
Translatorly pursuits Mar 6

Kay Denney wrote:
(And I will admit to making up the word "birdly" in a recent translation, because "bird-like" just wouldn't work)


A magnificent word. I wish I had occasion to use it in my own oeuvre.

Maybe we should be bolder.

I can't be the only one (translator/linguist/writer/human) who routinely makes words up and misuses language in real life without being misunderstood.

P.L.F. Persio
Becca Resnik
Philip Lees
 


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Something for your to-read list






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