Post by account_disabled on Dec 26, 2023 4:10:48 GMT
I have already spoken once about the repetitions used by a translator in a novel, in that case it was the detective novel Randolph, a very diplomatic dog . I then had to write a new article about another “ bad translation ”, a really messy period translated from the novel A Wild Season . I am forced to write a third article - there's no two without three, in fact - on other translations literally done with your feet. At last year's Più libri liberi fair, I bought a book by Jack London, but only this year did I start reading it. The title, non-existent in the original, is The Call of the Night .
Obviously we wanted to paraphrase the well-known The Call of the Wild . The introduction talks about two of London's stories , Before Adam and The Scarlet Plague . The fact is that they are actually two novels , not two short stories. And the title of this little collection of novels has nothing to do with those stories. The bad translation begins right from the first Special Data words of the novel: Pictures! Pictures! Pictures! Translated with Visions! Images! Figures! If Jack London didn't use synonyms, why did the translator have to? Further on, in the same chapter, the sentence: I collided with people, fell down; and all the time I was screaming with terror is translated as Urtai someone, I fell and I was trying to scream .
Let's analyze the verb forms: urtai is remote past I fell it passed next mind you, it's imperfect. Three different times in the same period and referring to the same situation. A little further on and I, too, is translated as and I, too. And again, the sentence: the snakes that struck at me as I dodged and leaped away in chattering flight; is translated as ... the snakes that attack you and you run away screaming . And the sentence: the wild dogs that hunted me across the open spaces to the timber is that they are actually two novels , not two short stories. And the title of this little collection of novels has nothing to do with those stories. The bad translation begins right from the first words of the novel.
Obviously we wanted to paraphrase the well-known The Call of the Wild . The introduction talks about two of London's stories , Before Adam and The Scarlet Plague . The fact is that they are actually two novels , not two short stories. And the title of this little collection of novels has nothing to do with those stories. The bad translation begins right from the first Special Data words of the novel: Pictures! Pictures! Pictures! Translated with Visions! Images! Figures! If Jack London didn't use synonyms, why did the translator have to? Further on, in the same chapter, the sentence: I collided with people, fell down; and all the time I was screaming with terror is translated as Urtai someone, I fell and I was trying to scream .
Let's analyze the verb forms: urtai is remote past I fell it passed next mind you, it's imperfect. Three different times in the same period and referring to the same situation. A little further on and I, too, is translated as and I, too. And again, the sentence: the snakes that struck at me as I dodged and leaped away in chattering flight; is translated as ... the snakes that attack you and you run away screaming . And the sentence: the wild dogs that hunted me across the open spaces to the timber is that they are actually two novels , not two short stories. And the title of this little collection of novels has nothing to do with those stories. The bad translation begins right from the first words of the novel.