IV in Russian - Vocab word count

[Charles Albert]

I find the claim of 100,000 words somewhat incredible.....here is another
view...

http://zwischenzugs.wordpress.com/2011/03/06/shakespeare_unexceptional_vocabulary/

love,
cfa

On Wed, Jul 17, 2013 at 4:02 PM, Matthew Cissell <macissell at yahoo.es> wrote:

> For the words.
>
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8013859.stm
>
>   ------------------------------
>  *From:* Charles Albert <cfalbert at gmail.com>
> *To:* Max Nemtsov <max.nemtsov at gmail.com>
> *Cc:* pynchon-l <pynchon-l at waste.org>
> *Sent:* Tuesday, July 16, 2013 8:52 PM
> *Subject:* Re: IV in Russian
>
> Te salutamus!
>
> I recall from my brief fling with the yazik, that it has a very small root
> vocabulary. Assuming that current "word count" is a function of root
> vocabulary, I would think that translating the Popeian/Nabokovian version
> of English favored by Pynchon must raise the stakes for a translator by
> orders of magnitude.
>
> Further, I recall reading somewhere that James Joyce is believed to have
> possessed the largest "working vocabulary" in English in recorded history
> at 40,000 words. Let's discount that by 15% for Pynchon, putting him in the
> nabe of 34,800. Along comes Max Nemtsov, non-native English enthusiast. I'm
> guessing Max is possessed of a working vocabulary, in Russian, of around
> 30,000. Max whips out a translation of Bleeding Edge in a matter of months.
>
> Is Max G*d? And if so, must I avert my eyes when addressing you?
>
> love,
> cfa
>
> On Fri, Jul 12, 2013 at 9:09 AM, Max Nemtsov <max.nemtsov at gmail.com>wrote:
>
> Dear colleagues,
> this is just to inform everyone interested that IV will be published in
> Russian in late summer - early fall, in my humble translation.
> here's the link to the cover: http://spintongues.**
> livejournal.com/385558.html<http://spintongues.livejournal.com/385558.html>
>
> a-and the next step will be V. - the Russian publisher hired me to do the
> new translation, it's going to be the third one into Russian
> no rest for the wicked
> Mx
>
>
>
>
>
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