RE: new southamerican fish

Ana, I find your comments interesting. I translate for my family and
community on occasion for various purposes such as county board meetings,
land grant issues, legal documents, technical documents, plays, books,
shows, conversations, etc. But concerning the translation of feelings etc,
much is assumed. It all depends on what you think is the translators
purpose or job. I would suspect that Holden has mannerisms, reactions, and
behaviors that are quite often alien to many South Americans today (compared
to 1950's US east coast culture). If the translator were to bridge the
cultural gap in their translation would it remain Holden? Could it even be
called a translation instead of a re-telling? I enjoy reading stories from
alien cultures but if the translator has sterilized the story by trying to
do too much, the joy is often killed. I often read Japanese literature and,
at first, it is often quite alien and confusing. The 'oddity' of the
stories compel me to learn more about the Japanese and this allows me to
more fully understand the stories. The whole process is quite enjoyable.
If Holden is made too Spanish or Argentinean then he isn't the Holden Jerry
was writing about and much of the 'otherness' would be lost and that would
be a shame.

By the way Kim, there is a new Wallace and Gromit due out called "The Curse
of the Were-Rabbit". And HEY, where the heck is Diego?

Scottie, are all my commas acceptable?

Daniel

Diego, are you still there?
I'm a translator so your post on english-spanish translation has interested
me. I started reading CITR from a Spanish (from Spain) translation, I
couldn't get into the book since the translation was not very good so I left
it and started reading it in English. I prefer to read original versions,
not translations. Translating is a very difficult task, it involves
translating messages, ideas, feelings more than mere words. To produce in
the reader of the translation almost the same that the original text has
produced. More often than not this is not achieved by simply translating
words...
Cheers,
ana
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Received on Thu Dec 4 12:12:53 2003