I would think reading a book in the language as written would be similar to
wanting to read the book, rather than see the movie.

There is a special connection sometimes one feels with an author.

But what do I know.  I have so much trouble learning the least little bit of
any other language.  I really think its a form of learning disability.  Same
for my father.  He grew up in Canada and as an adult didn't speak or
understand any French at all.  Said taking it in school was miserable for
him.

Jo

I agree. A translation, especially of creative writing, is an
interpretation of the work. The translator is, in a sense, writing
the book all over again, in the new language. Not by creating the
plot or the characters, but certainly by choosing the words in the
prose. That's up to the translator, and it's a very subjective thing.
It's an expression of the translator as much as of the original
writer, in some ways.

Although I would imagine that in different disciplines, there are
standard ways to translate some things. I've been working with
translations of the user manuals I write into various languages.
I don't know any of the languages well enough to know how good the
translations are. We have to have reviewers check over the translations
to make sure they're both technically and grammatically accurate.

As for the flow of the writing, ie, how natural it sounds, my guess
is that this doesn't get corrected. Most of our reviewers are not
writers, and they have a lot of other responsibilities, so if
something's grammatically correct, they'll let it go, I'm sure.
It takes a lot of time to fix that, and that's something I know
first-hand. As some of you might remember, I've had to review
translations of some manuals from Japanese into English, and even
when there's no actual *error*, the language just sounds so bizarre,
and not like anything a normal English speaker would ever say. Since
writing *is* my primary responsibility, I felt that I couldn't
allow the manuals to be shipped in that condition, so I spent a
lot of time rewriting large amounts of text that were correct but
just sounded ridiculous.

But even in less precise types of writing than technical manuals,
I would imagine there are some agreed-upon ways for certain types
of passages or phrases or even particular words to be translated.
Maybe the people who are actually translators can speak to this?

Joyce

The reason I don't read much in Finnish is that I'm just not that
interested in the books published here. I think maybe I was born in the
wrong country. ;)

I don't read many translations, either, except some Latin American
writers (Mario Vargas Llhosa, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Isabel Allende),
because I don't speak Spanish.

Although I do like a certain translation of The Kalevala where a giant (I
think; it's been a while) is referred to as "Rocky Horror, son of dread." In
the notes the translator said "The name of a popular rock musical came in
handy."

Blessed be,
Baha
Kyllikki rocks!