Comments | helle_d: (без темы)

helle_d

(Untitled)

Jan 22, 2012 22:22

I have Internet in my room! Life is good, though already my productivity has slid riiiight down. Currently translation a scene from the film La Haine, which is fun - How many times do I get to translate dialogue like this into idiomatic English ( Read more... )

yay work

Leave a comment

Back to all threads

littlered2 January 23 2012, 19:06:19 UTC

Translating idiomatic French sounds deeply hard if you can't do the right sort of idiomatic English (god knows I can't). But still, no more Proust! 200 words is much too long for a sentence. If you can't express your thoughts concisely, Marcel, maybe you need to adapt them.

helle_d January 23 2012, 19:26:51 UTC

Ah, but it's a ~stylistic choice~ because Marcel is special and needs eight thick volumes to express his thoughts concisely. (To be fair, I do have a total love/hate thing with Proust. But when I am translating him, it is entirely hate.)

This is (half of) one of the sentences I did:

At the time when I would go downstairs to find out the evening’s menu, the dinner was already underway, and Françoise, commanding the forces of nature that had become her allies, as in the fantasies where giants are taken on as cooks, would stoke the fire, put the potatoes on to steam, and put the culinary masterpieces back on the heat to cook to perfection - prepared earlier in artisanal receptacles which would go from great basins, cooking pots, cauldrons and fish-kettles; into game terrines, pastry dishes and small jars of cream, via a full collection of pots and pans of all shapes and sizes.

littlered2 January 23 2012, 19:45:25 UTC

Nobody needs that many clauses! I like convoluted sentences myself, but there is a limit.

helle_d January 23 2012, 21:02:18 UTC

And that was only half the original sentence!

littlered2 January 23 2012, 21:35:07 UTC

THE PREPARATION OF HIS EVENING MEAL CANNOT BE THAT IMPORTANT. Bloody Proust.

helle_d January 23 2012, 22:29:35 UTC

It isn't the evening meal that's important - it's the asparagus in the next sentence. I don't quite know why. (Published translation, since this was the point where I utterly lost the will to live.) I don't think that there's any possible way I can mock this ( ... )

littlered2 January 23 2012, 22:31:50 UTC

Wait. Is he saying eating asparagus makes him fart? If not, what in god's name is he talking about?

helle_d January 23 2012, 22:33:23 UTC

I DON'T KNOOOOW.

littlered2 January 23 2012, 22:34:23 UTC

Oh, Wikipedia says he's talking about it making his urine smell. "Asparagus "...transforms my chamber-pot into a flask of perfume." Marcel Proust (1871-1922)" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asparagus Why does your tutor think this is useful, again?

helle_d January 23 2012, 22:38:11 UTC

Riiiight. It's for the translation course I'm doing this term ... I think the course tutors figured they'd start us off with Proust since nothing else will seem as bad after that. It's the proverbial book for making prospective translators break down and weep, or else get into real-life flamewars with every scholar they know. (And is therefore perfect for Oxford tutors to introduce a course with!)

littlered2 January 23 2012, 22:46:55 UTC

I hope it's all pleasantly downhill (effort-wise) from here! Best of luck in any flamewars.

helle_d January 23 2012, 22:53:25 UTC

Oh, I couldn't compete with seasoned academics. Guys are vicious.

This has just inspired my to find this on Youtube. Bloody Proust, indeed.

littlered2 January 23 2012, 23:00:57 UTC

Hee. I don't think I need to bother reading Proust now.

Also, since your Vorkosigan fic recs the other day I have been plunged into a desperate yearning for ALL THE BOOKS NOW, AT ONCE. I love them so much!

helle_d January 23 2012, 23:44:37 UTC

Muhahaha - I mean, I would also like ALL THE BOOKS NOW AT ONCE! I don't know if you've seen, but there is a new cover design for Barrayar which I want like burning - its only flaw, as far as I can see, being that it isn't actually published.

Re: littlered2 January 24 2012, 10:06:01 UTC

Oh, that is a gorgeous cover - the illustrator actually knows what it's about! Amazing. My only complains: Cordelia looks a bit like Angelina Jolie. She should not look like that; she looks far more awesome. And Drou appears to be wearing essentially the same outfit as Cordelia; as a non-Vor, should she be? But yes, gorgeous.

(Have you read all of the books? I have not, and am torn between wanting to read them all and not wanting to run out of new things.)

helle_d January 26 2012, 12:16:14 UTC

You should read them all! The ones I like best are all in the second half of the series - Brothers in Arms, Mirror Dance, Memory, Komarr and A Civil Campaign, and of those, I'd be hard pressed to pick a favourite. (Except that Memory and ACC totally are, because they are awesome and - well, you'll see when you get there. (And then there is The Curse of Chalion! And its sequels!)
Plus, if you get through them by November, there will be a new book released, centreing on Ivan, Captain Vorpatril's AllianceI am, however, saving LMB's other fantasy/romance series for a rainy day, or a long train journey. Like you, I don't want it all to be over ( ... )

Back to all threads