A query on translation

[Cyrus]

Otto wrote:

[...]

>A translation is absolutely & definitely a different text, and meanwhile I
>prefer the original because it is nearly impossible to "get" a (fictional)
>text really adequate into another language. I'm aware now that I miss a lot
>in the cases of French (Camus, Genet, Perec, Houellebecq), Russian
>(Bulgakow, Pelevin, Strugatzki) or Spanish (Garcia Marquez) written novels.
>

It seems to me your main concern in a translation is accuracy. In that 
respect, you are of course right: translation is a lost cause. And this 
is much too evident in poetry. But in a novel there usually are ways to 
get over the different ways languages work. The result can be stunning, 
as in the Greek translations of Eco, Marquez and Calvino. Or it could be 
a catastrophe, as in the cases of Vineland and Lolita.

>From my reading of GR which I've read several times in English and only once
>in German I believe that the original touches me deeper because I have to
>think more about what is really being said. There are always things that get
>lost. Until you check it yourself you can never be sure how "close" the
>translation is following the original. A bad translation is an offence.
>Sometimes it's useful to check the translation if things are unclear in the
>original or to look up which solution the translator has chosen when I'm not
>sure what is meant by the author. I don't translate in my mind when reading
>a foreign text.
>
>Maybe a translation is a more "shallow" reading, definitely (as you say)
>less "intellectual" and more "direct," but I don't believe that it's
>necessarily more "intuitive" and "intrinsic." You may get the words easier,
>but what about the meaning? Isn't it the intrinsic level of a text that
>relies on the word choose the most that suffers the most from a translation?
>I think this happens a lot when language itself is the hidden topic of the
>narration and the translator is unaware of this.
>

I don't translate in my mind neither, but "thinking more about what is 
being really said" seems to me a hindrance, as if what is being said 
reaches me through a detour. Many times I feel my native language fares 
better in conveying meaning (even hidden between the lines) or in 
rendering an atmosphere to me. Of course that would also depend on 
whether the translation is successful. And one of the main reasons for 
the success of a translation seems to be the ability of the translator 
to write in his own language. I don't know. Am I making any sense?

Cyrus