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Found in Translation

 


I have started reading War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. Yes, it is as big and daunting as they say it is. The version I am reading is over 1200 pages. I have read other 1200 page books before. Several in the Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin are in that class, but there are a lot more words per page in this book than there are in a book in the Game of Thrones series. That being said, I find it very readable. That is probably thanks to the translators, who in this case were: Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky. I appreciate translators because, well, I don’t speak Russian. When you are reading Russian literature in English, the translator(s) are just as important as the original work. Words and phrases don’t translate directly from one language to another. There are subtle differences of meaning. A given word in one language may have a direct counterpart in another language, but the different cultures may imbue each with slightly different colors of feeling. Also, in different circumstances a word might convey a slightly different idea. A good translator knows that sometimes you have to use a completely different word or phrase to convey the same feeling that the original was conveying. Nowadays there are apps and websites that can translate for you. But just translating words does not necessarily translate meaning. For that (so far) you need humans. There are plenty of pitfalls to avoid in translating. Once, a phrase in a General Motors advertisement that read "Body by Fisher" when translated into Flemish became "Corpse by Fisher". 

I remember when Alexander Solzhenitsyn Wrote The Gulag Archipelago, a book that got him kicked out of the Soviet Union. My sister (who studied Russian in school) said that she was anxious to read the book but was not going to read the first translation because it would have been rushed to get it to an English-speaking audience as soon as possible. That made sense, but that thought would never have occurred to me, that you would be better off waiting for the second translation.

Translators are critically important and vastly unheralded. Consider that every good book that makes a name for itself needs to be translated. If it is a popular book, it will be translated into dozens of languages. The Bible has been translated to over 500 languages. The most translated fiction book of all time is . . . . can you guess?  . . . Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi which has been translated to over 260 languages. That is a lot of work for translators, with more books coming out all the time in need of translation. All of us who read have probably read a translation at one point or another. Yet, translators (outside of their own field) never make a name for themselves. You would be hard pressed to name the top five translators. In fact, you would be hard pressed to name one.

In War and Peace, the translators had to do double duty. There are many passages that are written in French, and other passages written in German or Italian. The Russian is all translated directly into English, but the French and other languages are written out in their native text, and then below in the footnotes they are translated into English. Maybe that is why there are two translators for this edition. But whether there were two translators or fifty, translating War and Peace had to be a monumental task, and I am here to tell you that I appreciate the work of Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky. Those two are rock stars in my book.

 

(My science fiction novel Star Liner, is now available in paperback or as an e-book through Amazon and other online sources. Sorry, it is only available in English so far).

Star Liner

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