You asked for it (14)
Nov. 20th, 2006 05:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gerbie"your thoughts on being bi- (or multi-) lingual, whether you think that the language in which you read a book makes a difference in your appreciation of it. Perhaps you could include some thoughts on translation" (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
decemberthirty)
Just to start of with a disclaimer: I never call myself multi lingual. Not even bi-lingual. But yes I have travelled a lot and I worked in several countries so I can cope in a few languages. And because I am an avid reader, I read books in different languages.
And it certainly does make a difference in which language you read the book. Every culture has its own peculiarities. This also means that some things are impossible to translate. The famous example is always that Eskimo’s have dozens of different words for snow. I have seen Monty Python dubbed into German and I can assure, it does come close to torture.
The same goes for books. Gabriel Garcia Marquez loses in translation, because his Spanish is coloured through his background. Hesse is best read in German. Roddy Doyle is very Irish, as much as Iain Banks is Scottish. How can you translate the accents and dialects they put in their English books? I’ll tell you: It is not possible.
So therefore I try to read a book in its original language whenever I can. This is no problem in Dutch and English. Hardly a problem in German. Not a big problem in Spanish. Reading in French and Italian is a problem though, even if I have done so in the past. Sometimes a translation just is the only solution. I love reading Russian authors, especially Tolstoj and Dostojevski. Unfortunately not every translation does justice to their masterworks.
I have even read books in languages I do not speak. Just because I am an addict. Because of the freak value. I collect Asterix and Garfield in as many languages and dialects as possible. I try children’s books in languages related to one I speak. So my list of languages read will also include Frysian, Portuguese and Latin.
I do not believe in Esperanto. Language is part of one’s culture. The world is so much richer for the diversity of cultures. I really hope a lot of people will do efforts to make sure small languages do survive. Welsh, Irish, Scandinavian languages, Basque, Frysian, Rheto roman. All of them are close to being extinct, unless people dedicate a lot of effort in preserving them. Please do.
I wouldn’t want to live in a world where everyone speaks a bad version of English.
(You asked for it, a series I started to give anyone the opportunity to tell me what to write. You want to tell me as well: leave a comment or mail me (E-mail in user info). This was part 14, no request waiting at the moment. Looking forward to future requests.)
decemberthirty)Just to start of with a disclaimer: I never call myself multi lingual. Not even bi-lingual. But yes I have travelled a lot and I worked in several countries so I can cope in a few languages. And because I am an avid reader, I read books in different languages.
And it certainly does make a difference in which language you read the book. Every culture has its own peculiarities. This also means that some things are impossible to translate. The famous example is always that Eskimo’s have dozens of different words for snow. I have seen Monty Python dubbed into German and I can assure, it does come close to torture.
The same goes for books. Gabriel Garcia Marquez loses in translation, because his Spanish is coloured through his background. Hesse is best read in German. Roddy Doyle is very Irish, as much as Iain Banks is Scottish. How can you translate the accents and dialects they put in their English books? I’ll tell you: It is not possible.
So therefore I try to read a book in its original language whenever I can. This is no problem in Dutch and English. Hardly a problem in German. Not a big problem in Spanish. Reading in French and Italian is a problem though, even if I have done so in the past. Sometimes a translation just is the only solution. I love reading Russian authors, especially Tolstoj and Dostojevski. Unfortunately not every translation does justice to their masterworks.
I have even read books in languages I do not speak. Just because I am an addict. Because of the freak value. I collect Asterix and Garfield in as many languages and dialects as possible. I try children’s books in languages related to one I speak. So my list of languages read will also include Frysian, Portuguese and Latin.
I do not believe in Esperanto. Language is part of one’s culture. The world is so much richer for the diversity of cultures. I really hope a lot of people will do efforts to make sure small languages do survive. Welsh, Irish, Scandinavian languages, Basque, Frysian, Rheto roman. All of them are close to being extinct, unless people dedicate a lot of effort in preserving them. Please do.
I wouldn’t want to live in a world where everyone speaks a bad version of English.
(You asked for it, a series I started to give anyone the opportunity to tell me what to write. You want to tell me as well: leave a comment or mail me (E-mail in user info). This was part 14, no request waiting at the moment. Looking forward to future requests.)
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Esperanto
Date: 2006-11-21 09:08 am (UTC)"Esperanto's purpose is not to replace any other language, but to supplement them: Esperanto would be used as a neutral language when speaking with someone who doesn't know one's own language. The use of Esperanto would also protect minority languages, which would have a better chance of survival than in a world dominated by a few powerful languages."
See the "Prague Manifesto":
http://uea.org/info/angle/an_manifesto_prago.html
More info:
http://www.esperanto.net
Re: Esperanto
Date: 2006-11-21 06:50 pm (UTC)My point is that people have a bond with their language. They like their dialect (at least I do and I know many with me), because it is part of their identity.
Part of the person I am is the fact that I speak my own dialect, but also appreciate (and understand some) other languages and dialects. Esperanto is not part of a culture. It would be the language should we create a world from scratch today. Unfortunately the world has existed for millions of years. Languages a bit shorter, but they are part of our history, our cultural heritage.