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Article about translator Natasha Wimmer
Thread poster: Amy Duncan (X)
Amy Duncan (X)
Amy Duncan (X)  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 04:58
Portuguese to English
+ ...
Jan 18, 2009

Natasha Wimmer's acclaimed translation of Roberto Bolaño's '2666' is giving foreign works new prominence.

www.csmonitor.com/2009/0116/p13s01-algn.html
 
irina savescu
irina savescu  Identity Verified
Romania
Local time: 10:58
English to Romanian
Invisibility Jan 19, 2009

I love this:
"If a translator doesn't understand what's going on in the original language, it tends to show up in the target language. If you're not totally in control, you start erring on the side of safe. [Your best achievement it to] disappear, and that's been Natasha's triumph."

Thank you for the link. Good article!
 
Terry Gilman
Terry Gilman  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 09:58
Member (2003)
German to English
+ ...
Triumph Jan 19, 2009

That's it, thank you for posting the link. (Besides being an Bonano fan, I appreciate the intelligence of the article.)

[Edited at 2009-01-19 04:48 GMT]
 
Aniello Scognamiglio (X)
Aniello Scognamiglio (X)  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 09:58
English to German
+ ...
Congratulations to Natasha Wimmer! Jan 19, 2009


More notable still is the commercial popularity of "2666," an unusually complex and occasionally obtuse novel. According to the Economist, the book's first printing vanished from shelves within days, forcing the publisher to rush a second order.


"First printing"? How many books were sold? 5.000 or 500.000 or 2.000.000?
"Second order"? Again: how many books? This is key information! It is missing.
Additionally, is it really a translator's task to disappear?

Best,
Aniello
 
irina savescu
irina savescu  Identity Verified
Romania
Local time: 10:58
English to Romanian
literary translation Jan 19, 2009

Aniello Scognamiglio wrote:

Additionally, is it really a translator's task to disappear?



Someone (british) once told me that for children it's best that they are seen and not heard while for interpreters its best that they are heard and not seen.

I read a lot of literature both in the original language and in translation and I've many times had the feeling that I was reading a completely different book in translation than what I had read in its original language. This is strictly a matter of personal taste but I get the feeling that I've been cheated upon if I don't get the same style in the other language.

I expect a lot of originality when I go to the theatre. I think I've seen about 12 Hamlets and I was surprised each time how different each production was while sticking to the same text. Yet for a literary translation I want it to have the same rythm and the same puns as the original, as impossible as it may be sometimes.

This was actually the reader in me speaking. The translator in me is still wondering how she would have handled that novel.
 


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Article about translator Natasha Wimmer







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