а в остальном, прекрасная маркиза, всё хорошо

[furiosity]

I made a pact with myself a few weeks ago that I would re-read all the English books I loved when I was younger in the original -- I read most of them in Russian translation back in the day. I found myself unable to really talk about them with people, because all the character/place names are familiar to me the way they're spelled/pronounced in

Comments

[aliciajd]

I've had much the same experience, only without the language differences added to the mix. I'm 58 now and in the last 10 years, or so, have reread my way through many of my favorite works of literature from high school and university, The Complete Sherlock Holmes included. I don't know if I'm bringing more into the mix with my own life experiences or just getting much more out of things with 40 years or so to filter the stories' impact. Anyway, for the most part, everything seems so much more profound and I'm noticing so many things that I'd missed the first time round. Or perhaps I'd just noticed at the time and forgotten in the intervening years. For whatever the reason, it's been well worth the time revisiting my old friends.

[furiosity]

Oh, that's such a perfect way to put it -- revisiting old friends. It really does feel like that. :)

[moia]

I started reading Harry Potter series in Slovenian translation and they were cute and I liked them. But only the first three were translated at the time, so I picked up the fourth in English... and then went back to read all the others in English as well. There are issues I have with the translation, obviously, but I won't get into them here. :) It wasn't exactly a whole new book, but I do believe that detail is never the same in translation and great detail is what makes the book something more. I've been reading English authors in English ever since. :D
I was a bit obsessed with Agatha Christie when I was twelve and have been thinking of rereading those, but the thing is, even if I don't remeber right away what exactly happens in a mystery novel, I know I'll remember while reading the book, perhaps just before the end and I'll have essentially the ending spoiled and the surprise was the best thing of reading those books, so I haven't tried to do so yet.

[furiosity]

I've never been able to get through Harry Potter in anything but English -- it just all sounds really funny/weird.

Oooh, Agatha Christie. She's on my must-read list as well -- I LOVED her stories when I'd read them in Russian, but I'm sure I'll enjoy them even more in English, for the same reason I enjoyed Conan Doyle so much. :D

[moia]

I only realised how much the Slovenian translation really sucked when I read the translated fourth book after I'd already read it in original - that's when certain things really started to bug me.

If you do get around to reading Agatha Christie again, do share if it's great to reread them. :) I have a couple already at home, but have so far always picked something else instead when deciding what to read.

[minavox]

Oh yes. Harry Potter.
Didn't get what the hype was at the time, eventually picked one up and thought "wtf, this must be written by a six year old the way it reads!" Stiff, boring, silly. Turned out it was the German translation. Which is not only not good, but especially in PoA downright wrong. I reread them in English and was hooked - not that I think JKR is an especially good writer, but in English I can relate to the world she creates. (Of course it took me buying four of the abysmal German translations to finally dare make the lap to original language....)

Not as bad was Lord Peter Wimsey - Dorothy L. Sayers got a very good German translator. But still, it is just not the same. The other way round was when I read Cornelia Funke Tintenherz (Inkheart) lately. Not a good book, but originally in German and so the first fantasy that read right in German.

Now there is Tolkien waiting at my bookshelf...

[aasaylva]

Ha! Totally with you on the HP-translations into German. Not so much on behalf of Lord Peter Wimsey, though. In fact, this would have been my prime example for awful slaughtering by translation. I love his self-deprecating, ironic voice in the original whereas in German, he comes off as nothing but boring piffle. So I wondered, whether maybe there are several translations around. Which one is yours?

[minavox]

The one by Otto Bayer from the early 80ies. It's not brilliant, mind you, but likeable enough. Or maybe it's just the fond memory of one of my earliest litary crushes...
I'm slowly re-reading the original novels, that's so much better, of course.

[furiosity]

I've never really had problems with crappy translations from English before (I have with translations from Russian).

I can totally see HP being vastly unappealing in another language. I once picked up a Hungarian translation whilst browsing in a bookstore, back when I still lived in Budapest, and the place and character names were all.. distorted and funny sounding! Even if I hadn't been familiar with the English books, I still would have found them weird. I mean, Severus is translated to Perselus, Slytherin becomes Mardekár, and Hogwarts is, um, Roxfort. Opposite universe!

[dm_p]

This reminds me of something a professor told me once, that you need to read Don Quixote three times in your life, once as a child, once as a young adult, and once as an older person. Each time you read it you get a totally different story.

[ideoteca]

That must be in some sort of published academic work because my teacher said the same to me. And she was right :D

[furiosity]

I've heard that said as well, only not about Don Quixote (I forget which book it was). I was just saying to pir8fancier above, I found one of the Hemingway's stories from this book absurdly funny back when I was younger, but this time around, in the original, I discovered that it's actually really sad.

[askani]

I can't read any other languages, but I glanced at the Russian version of OotP that my friend has. She was telling me she finds it easier to read books like that in Russian than English. Unlike her textbooks that she reads in English.

I always like re-reading a book after I haven't read it in a while and can't remember all the details. That way it is fresh and you rediscover things you had forgotten and can squee over again.

[furiosity]

I've had friends tell me that they find reading books in Russian easier than trying them in English -- I used to, as well, but that seems to have passed.

That way it is fresh and you rediscover things you had forgotten and can squee over again.
Yes! That still happens to me even with HP. :D