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On translating "Madame Bovary" | ||
 Language Learning Forum : Books, Literature & Reading |  | |
| espejismo Diglot Senior Member Russian Federation Joined 5053 days ago 498 posts - 905 votes  Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: Spanish, Greek, Azerbaijani | Message 1 of 7 09 February 2011 at 11:40am | IP Logged | |||||
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This article reviews the latest translation of Flaubert's masterpiece, comparing it with previous attempts to "English" it. It might be of interest to anyone who ever wondered what a good translation should be like, and what are the limitations that result in something that always falls short of the original.
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v32/n22/julian-barnes/writers-writer-an d-writers-writers-writer [Linking doesn't work for new members...] Edited by espejismo on 09 February 2011 at 11:43am 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5336 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 3 of 7 14 February 2011 at 2:14pm | IP Logged | |||||
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This just goes to prove that one man's meat is another man's poison. I am happy for you that you love the book, personally I have tried to read it several times and have never reached beyond page 50.
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| ChristopherB Triglot Senior Member New Zealand Joined 6318 days ago 851 posts - 1074 votes 2 sounds Speaks: English*, German, French | Message 4 of 7 05 March 2011 at 10:32am | IP Logged | |||||
Have you tried the audiobook? I remember someone mentioning they had the same problem with Proust, but listened to in French as an audio book, it's like music! 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| tornus Diglot GroupieRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5145 days ago 82 posts - 113 votes Speaks: French*, English Studies: Spanish, Swedish, Danish | Message 5 of 7 05 March 2011 at 2:54pm | IP Logged | |||||
funny, i did the same, i never managed to read this book in the original language eventhough french is my native language Edited by tornus on 05 March 2011 at 2:56pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Squalido Triglot Newbie Venezuela Joined 4963 days ago 7 posts - 11 votes Speaks: Spanish*, French, English Studies: Italian | Message 6 of 7 27 April 2011 at 6:05am | IP Logged | |||||
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I read that the importance of Flaubert was his compulsive use of imperfect past. That made his style incredibly descriptive. In Madame Bovary he still didn't completely develop this style, so I wonder how difficult must be to translate to English his later works like "Sentimental Education". I know that the imperfect past does not exist in English, but perhaps it is possibly to accomplish in a translation an equivalent of the continuous description and even of the rhythm.
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| Mork the Fiddle Senior Member United States Joined 3971 days ago 86 posts - 159 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Norwegian, Latin, Ancient Greek | Message 7 of 7 24 May 2015 at 3:15am | IP Logged | |||||
Hearing the same thing about listening to Proust, I tried it, and it's true. A narrator with a good voice turns the written novel into quite a pleasant experience (though I don't know about the "music" part). And because I myself have never got past page 10 of Madame Bovary, I will give listening to it a try. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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