• Welcome to BookAndReader!

    We LOVE books and hope you'll join us in sharing your favorites and experiences along with your love of reading with our community. Registering for our site is free and easy, just CLICK HERE!

    Already a member and forgot your password? Click here.

Currently Reading

Status
Not open for further replies.
I am so glad that Seamus Heaney did the Beowulf translation. The Raffel that was all there was when I was in school was a prose translation that did not capture the power or poetry of the original. Heaney includes the occasional "Irish-ism" but is true to the spirit and poetry of the original. It also includes the old English on facing pages, which is useless in the US edition as old English is not included in the curriculum. (Whew! Middle English was bad enough!)
 
Hope that cleared it up for you, Phil.
Click to expand...

Yes, it did .... absolutely ... what were you talking about again?? :p You know Martin, im not the only person who argues with you ;) :D

Phil
 
Originally posted by Martin
In fact, it makes so little sense that I don't understand it one bit!!
Click to expand...


I'll try to put it in a simpler way.

There was once an English-speaking film on Polish television. In the film, there was a sentence, for instance (because I don't remember the original one): "On the edge of a forest stood a hamlet.", which means: "On the edge of a forest stood a cottage." In Polish translation of the film, it was said: "On the edge of a forest stood Hamlet, Prince of Denmark." They thoughtlessly changed a building into a person.
 
Originally posted by Martin
However, you have to keep in mind that translating is a very difficult trade. You have to know (really know) what the author of the original is talking about; if there are underlying messages, you have to know them;
Click to expand...

I couldn't agree more.;)

To my mind, it's better if a translator doesn't translate each sentence literally, even omits some words, but keeps the original tone, style and meaning unchanged.
 
Phil_t originally posted:
You know Martin, im not the only person who argues with you
Click to expand...
Well, you used to be the only one arguing with me. Apparently more have joined your side :(

Idun originally posted:
There was once an English-speaking film on Polish television. In the film, there was a sentence, for instance (because I don't remember the original one): "On the edge of a forest stood a hamlet.", which means: "On the edge of a forest stood a cottage." In Polish translation of the film, it was said: "On the edge of a forest stood Hamlet, Prince of Denmark." They thoughtlessly changed a building into a person.
Click to expand...
Ah! That, indeed, makes no sense at all. I do understand, this time, though.

Idun also posted:
To my mind, it's better if a translator doesn't translate each sentence literally, even omits some words, but keeps the original tone, style and meaning unchanged.
Click to expand...
Exactly. But some people do want a translation to be as literal as possible, and the entire difficulty is finding the middle ground.

Cheers, Martin :D
 
I've recently finished:
James Herbert - 48
Eddy Brimson - God save the team, fighting for survival at Euro 2000.
Stephen King - From a Buick 8
Jane Green - Spellbound.
Just away to start the second of my Christmas books - Carol Smith - Home From Home.
 
Originally posted by Martin
Whoops!

Sorry 'bout that!

Anyway, glad I could clear it up for you, Halo!

Cheers, Martin :D
Click to expand...

LOL! Oi, don't drag me into your arguments (er... I mean "discussions")! :D
 
I am currently reading Pop Goes The Weasel. Its an great book as also all the Alex Cross series.Its an action-thriller book.
But first you must have to read the books in the following in order to understand the story:
Along came the spider
Kiss the girl
Jack and Jill
Cat and Mouse
 
Just read ‘Le Grand Meaulnes’ by Alain-Fournier (translated version)
– a poignant story of romantic, obsessive adolescent love based on the author’s own short life (he died in WW1 aged 27yrs). Wish the book had been longer . . .

Currently reading ‘Eats, Shoots & Leaves’ by Lynne Truss
– a humorous look at punctuation. Promising so far . . .

Considering reading ‘Sun Also Rises’ by Ernest Hemingway
– should I or shouldn’t I?

Third Man Girl
 
I think the Sun also Rises is my favorite Hemingway. But you should be in good spirits and health before reading it as, like all Hemingway, things tend to go really poorly for the characters.
 
Hemingway? I loved "Farewell to Arms", but found "For Whom the Bell Tolls" rather heavy going.

As for me, I'm currently reading both "Mortal Causes" - one of the Rebus books - and "Felix Holt, The Radical" by George Eliot. The latter is of interest to someone like me who has an interest in nineteenth century British politics. It's not easy reading though. Some of the paragraphs are rather long, and sometimes it is so difficult to grasp that it could be written a different language. This is particularly the case when relaying the thoughts of one character who is a dissenting minister (of the religious rather than government variety).
 
Park City - Ann Beattie short story collection.

All of the stories are very short, generally one scene at a pivotal time in their life, generally while a relationship is going down the tubes. Incredibly well written - like a well done screenplay, everything is implied rather than stated.
 
I just finished Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, and it was a very good book. I've always liked fiesty women! Well written, and you gotta love the first person view.

Just started to read A Tale of Two Cities by Dickens himself. Only on the 2nd chapter though, so it's hard to say. I am angry that the cover of the book has a guillotine on it though...now I know that someone dies. Stupid publishers.
 
Originally posted by opinion8ed2
I am angry that the cover of the book has a guillotine on it though...now I know that someone dies. Stupid publishers.
Click to expand...

It's Dickens...of course someone will die :D

Mxx
 
"Great Expectations" isn't one of my Dickens favourites - "Two Cities" is, I hope you like it.

When "Tale of Two Cities" featured in the Top 100 of the BBC's recent poll of the British people's favourite books, it was illustrated on the tv by scenes from a black and white film about the French Revolution, complete with guillotines and a soundtrack from a recent pop hit called something like "Where's Your Head At?" I groaned!
 
...complete with guillotines and a soundtrack from a recent pop hit called something like "Where's Your Head At?" I groaned!
Click to expand...

haha that is too funny. :rolleyes:

I've read further in two cities, and I am so confused. Please say it gets clearer. heh.
 
I normally don't approve of Cliff's Notes, but for ToTC, there's a nice chart in it, showing how everyone is related.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top