
What makes a translation great? - apollinaire
https://scroll.in/article/876969/what-makes-a-translation-great-ten-literary-translators-from-across-the-world-weigh-in
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Mediterraneo10
> What makes a translation great?

A publisher that gives you a lot of time to work! I have done some literary
translations out of certain European languages into my own, and there is not
much time to sculpt a really powerful translation when the publisher wants the
whole novel done in 3 months or so, and of course during this time I will be
juggling this job with other jobs, because literary translation by itself
doesn't pay the bills. Most other literary translators I know have the same
complaint. Words like "sweatshop" are used to describe the industry, and you
definitely feel that publishers, at least in my country, don’t believe that
the general public really cares about quality; the publishers just want to
crank out the content as fast as possible.

Often the classic translations across European languages – Joyce’s _Ulysses_ ,
or verse translations of Dante’s _Commedia_ , or Shakespeare, or the Greek
playwrights, etc. – were made over the course of a few years, and I envy
anyone who had a secure relationship with a publisher where they could take
their time on the translation but still know that it would be published in the
end and they would be fully paid for it.

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innocentoldguy
I don't do literary translations, but I have done plenty of technical
translations from Japanese to English. The biggest mistake I see novices make
is trying to do a literal, word-for-word translation. It never works because
the language structures and cultures are too different.

The key to a good translation, in my mind, is understanding the source
language and the content well enough that you can write a good target
translation that reads as though it was written in the target language to
start with. The point of translating something is to convey an idea, not a
list of vocabulary words and grammar structures.

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btrettel
Were you paid for the translations? I'm interested in learning more about
technical translations as part-time work.

I've translated some articles from Russian to English, though I don't know
Russian and instead relied on Google Translate combined with domain knowledge
for phrases translated incorrectly.

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stochastic_monk
I'm a little disheartened to see Pevear and Volokhonsky not mentioned. As an
amateur in the field of translation, perhaps my understanding is weak, but,
having read multiple translations of several Dostoevsky books, I've always
seen their work as head and shoulders above others'. I do find that each
translation comes with its own insights and I'm glad to have read multiple,
but I still think they deserve the recognition they've been receiving.

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gnat
Obligatory plug for Le Ton Beau de Marot, by Douglas Hofstadter. He explains
his accidental fascination with the translation of a simple short minor poem
from Renaissance French into English. He experimented with a few different
approaches to translating it (preserve the rhyme? the meter? the avuncular
tone? write it in Shakespearean-style English because it's old?) and then
began to challenge his friends and colleagues and students to make their own
translation. The act of translation is a beautifully subtle one, built on
decisions of what elements of construction, theme, presentation, meaning,
context to preserve, adapt, or abandon. It's also a personal tale of a
difficult time in Hofstadter's life. I found it moving and enlightening. Much
recommended!

Hofstadter talks with a lot of different translators, including the much-
beloved translator of Stanislaw Lem's works, Michael Kandel. Kandel's
rendition of the poem of Trurl's Electronic Bard is rightly famous. The ever-
astonishing Marcin Wichary (a native speaker of Polish) reproduces, and
discusses it, here: [https://medium.com/@mwichary/seduced-shaggy-samson-
snored-72...](https://medium.com/@mwichary/seduced-shaggy-samson-
snored-725b5a8086d9)

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tzs
9 of the 10 translators in the article are translators of other languages to
English. The remaining one translates Arabic to German.

I wonder if in general X to English is harder or easier than English to X?

