User:Timeastor

Hello, it is I. ;–) E-mail me if you have anything to say.

For further information about me you may visit my English Wikipedia user page (userpage, user's page, user-page, hm-m-m ...)))))))

On Translation[edit]

The art of translation is the art of compromise. It can be likened to walking a fine line between the two:

Keeping true to the spirit and letter of the original work
Keeping the target text natural-sounding and at home with the language you translated it for.

While we must always keep up the spirit of the translated work, we can never fully keep its wording. Indeed, often our excessive determination to keep the target-language phrasing and wording "as close as possible" to the original would issue in clumsy word constructions, unnatural phrasing, and in effect the feel of the original work would slip from us. Thus, paradoxically, our good intention to be precise would lead us to misrepresentation.

However, we must not be reckless and treat the original wording carelessly, of course! :-)) That would be the other extremity. We must keep the original wording where we reasonably may. (The funniest thing in that regard is when you take up a translation of a highly punned work, abounding in word-play. There you say good-bye to the exact wording of the original))))))

Summarizing, I shall say: Always keep your translation true to the spirit of the original work, and at necessary points let go of its precise wording. Thus you will keep the translation both natural-sounding and closest to the feel of the original. ;-)