Maintaining the style of the author is one mark of a good translation. There will always be limitations to this as literary style is very nuanced. I would expect a scholarly work to still sound scholarly in translation and similarly with a work that is more informal.
This brings me to the translation of Confessions by Augustine that I am currently reading. Given Augustine's education and his original profession as a rhetorician, I assume that his Latin would definitely fit in the scholarly category. In reading this version, there have been two times when I have come across a word that did not sound like it belonged in Augustine's writings. The second was the term "willy-nilly." Much of the text flows beautifully as he seamlessly integrates quotes from the Bible into his thoughts on his life and then I come to a clunker like "willy-nilly." I cannot imagine Augustine using slang like that if he were alive today and writing in English. I suppose I could try to dust off my Latin education and see what could be substituted there, but it is much easier to just complain about it.
Comments
What was the first term?
I agree with your point about translation, though I support certain exceptions. I much prefer to have Martin Luther's strong language softened, for example.
Posted by: Shannon on Monday, July 25, 2005
check out Merriam-Webster's entry on willy-nilly.
will i nill i. will ye nill ye. don't they sound so much more beautiful than willy-nilly?
Posted by: jaime on Tuesday, July 26, 2005
I've read that the book of James was written with excellent Greek. I assume that means some other books had... er, less-than-excellent Greek. I've yet to see an English translation that reflects this. I'd like to see who/whom misused a few times... :)
Posted by: Jeremy Stein on Tuesday, July 26, 2005
A new translation just came out that tries to maintain the style of the various authors. It was done by a single translator with a Classical Greek background. She does appear to have a theological ax to grind so caveat emptor.
Posted by: CJ Costello on Tuesday, July 26, 2005
I did a little digging in the original Latin of Augustine's Confessions. Here is the sentence of interest: "inde retribuet eis, ut, qui se ab ea manifestari nolunt, et eos nolentes manifestet et eis ipsa non sit manifesta."
My translation of this would be "Then she will repay them, for those who are unwilling to be exposed by her, she will expose them against their will, but she will not reveal herself." Truth is being personified as an obstinate woman who is going to expose people regardless of what they want. "Willy-nilly" has come to mean doing something without considering the consequences which does not fit this sentence. It is an interesting case of a change in language usage affecting the understanding of a translation.
The translation I am reading has this as "Truth will therefore take its revenge: when people refuse to be shown up by it, truth will show them up willy-nilly and yet elude them."
Posted by: CJ Costello on Saturday, July 30, 2005
I came across my third word or phrase that does not seem to fit: hurly-burly. I don't remember what the first one was.
Posted by: CJ Costello on Wednesday, August 3, 2005