For readers who speak multiple languages, but not the original language of the work in question, how do you go about picking the best translation?
For example, I’d like to pick up Virgil’s Aeneid, but my Latin is not good enough to allow me to sight read it. I can choose between any of the Italian, French or English translations, but I’m not sure which one to pick?
I thought that in this case the Italian one might be the best as it would be “closer” to the original Latin? But how much value should I put on the authorial input/style of the translators themelves?
I usually pick English translations, but I’m now wondering whether I’ve been missing out on some great translations.
I typically prefer the original language. If the original language is something I cannot read then I usually pick the translation in my native language (if available) or the language that is closest to the original language (a Swedish translation of a book written in Icelandic for example).
Depends on the original language. For example, Spanish and French translate better to Portuguese than to English. German translates better to English.
I speak Slovenian and English (a little Italian too, but not enough to easily read most books in). I usually look at the original language first - if the book was originally written in a Slavic language, i will read it in Slovenian, because the sentence structure and other grammatical things stay similar, and I find the book reading experience is better. Other than that, sometimes a book will only have one translation to Slovenian, dated to the mid 20th century, and I find those to be lacking sometimes, so I prefer to read a more updated/modern English translation. Besides that, usually just what language I feel like reading in. :) But if I were you I’d read it in Italian for sure.
Usually the one most readily available is the one in my native language, often the only one that’s easy to find. It’s not really a matter of “which to pick”.
I read in French if the book was originally written in French. I deliberately seek out great French books to read.
For any other language, I read an English (my native language) translation.
I can speak and read some other languages (Spanish, Italian, Portuguese , German) at a pretty basic level but not well enough to read novels without investing a lot of extra time.
When a famous book has multiple English translations that are equally available, I might research to choose which one most people think is the best one, but that’s rare. I usually just read whatever English translation I can get at the library.
If I can’t find an English version of something originally written in, say, German, Spanish, Italian or Japanese, I read it in French. I did that with a Stephan Zweig book.
If I know the original language in which the book is written, my first choice would be that edition. I’m just not a fan of translations when I already speak the language anyway. The only books I read in my native language are the ones written by Swedish authors.
I choose the language which is closest to the original. Slavic original, Slavic translation. Germanic to English, everything else to English or my native language.
I always read in English becauss translated books domt hit the same (i speak dutch, english and serbian)
I speak English and Russian. When I decided to read Three Body Problem (Chinese origin) my logic was that I would be reading a translation either way. So better read a translation into my native language. Cut a corner so to speak.
It later turned out that the book was translated into Russian from English translation, lol.
Mostly pick English, it is a big language with bigger budget for translation than Swedish. I have read some really bad Swedish translations, so I am wary.
Also, dated Swedish language sounds a lot more dated to me than dated English. So that is another win for many classic works unless there is a recent translation available.
My local library only has a good variety of German books. So… I often stick to German.
(Broke AF)
A few years ago I would’ve gone for english in most cases but nowadays I take every chance I get to get away from the language of Hollywood movies.
It depends. Availability, (my) fluency, quality, age (of both the translation and the original) are all factors. All these being equal I would choose the language closest to the original. For example, a Korean novel translated into Chinese or English, I would probably choose Chinese, as the two languages/cultures have some overlap, and are easier to translate between, especially when it comes to cultural concepts/idioms etc.
For the most part I choose English, though as it’s my native language, and is usually easier to find.
If I can read the original, it is always my first choice. If not, I always search for a translation to my mother tongue. If it doesn’t have one, I go for English that I have an easier time reading, as it is my second language.
I’ve picked up a book in Hindi and Sanskrit before, and it was incredibly difficult. It would’ve been significantly easier had it been in the transliteration format, but having to read the different alphabet was just awful. So I definitely prefer to read in English.
as an Italian i try to read the books in English (if its the original language), just because the translation sometimes changes/ butcher some things and make some plot holes. but at the end its just a matter of availability, if i can find it in English i read it in English if not in Italian