Since I don't know your name, I can't tell you whether that's true or not *g* But the German version of Smith (Schmidt) is very common as well. My last name's not the most innovative surname either. But hey! who cares? At least my nickname's easy to remember... :-)



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Never put a sock in a toaster!
E. Izzard

Barbie - I think it's PJ Harvey you were thinking of two days ago.

violentViolet (hello!) - you're right about translations, at least where wordplay and/or experimental writing is concerned. I tried reading English translations of Eugene Ionesco's plays once - they were abominable! Faced with book after book of absurdist wordplay, the translator apparently just threw his hands in the air and dictionaried it word-for-word. A fine argument in favour of translations "in the spirit of the original" rather than literal translations. The exception to the poor translation rule that I can think of is Georges Perec's "La disparition" - a book containing no letter "e"! - that was translated (as "A void") by Gilbert Adair. It can be done, when the translator him/herself is a talented writer, and not afraid to mess about with the text for the sake of making it look good.



-----------------------------------------------
"Whisky-wa-wa," I breathed - she was dressed as Biffo the Bear.

Adair's translation of Perec is mentioned (with great admiration) in Le Ton Beau de Marot. I know, I do keep talking about this book rather a lot, but anyone who is at all interested in the subtleties of translation ought to read it. Douglas Hofstadter is himself a very talented translator who has done English versions of poetry from French, German, Italian and (more recently) Russian - he actually learned Russian in order to translate Eugene Onegin, and I'm going to be buying a copy of it myself soon.

Actually, that's just his hobby. In real life he's a cognitive scientist who does a lot of work on artificial intelligence. Admiring his brain power is one thing, but where on earth does he find the time?



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That which does not kill us makes us stranger.
(Llewelyn the dragon, Ozy and Millie)

Sarah

PJ Harvey - that's just the lady! Ta

Translation is a tricky thing anyway, I like it, but only if I understand what I'm supposed to translate in the first place...
I've read good books with even better translations, so that is possible, too. But I think I'll buy TEA when it's out in German, just for the hell of it. And of course to lend it to loads of people who I know won't buy it if I tell them to... *ggg* I keep telling my boyfriend about it, but his English is (although really good for someone nearly anglophobic) not up to it, I'm afraid. Once the German version is out, he's done for!!


Anyone seen any of my Eyries yet? Homework "study the fforum" was given out yesterday! *searches for Eyries* Bitte meldet euch!



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Never put a sock in a toaster!
E. Izzard

Good heavens, Barbie. Language!!!








What does it mean?

What, the italicised bit? That means "Please speak up". Nothing insulting, anyway!! :-)



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Never put a sock in a toaster!
E. Izzard

Je devrais espérer qu'il n'insulte pas!



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Those who forget the pasta are doomed to reheat it.

Oh, that's boring. There's me thinking I was about to learn some lovely new swear words. I only know schizer and Swinehund, and I'm not even sure if I've spelt them right

Écorce comme le chien que vous êtes!

It's not that insulting, it's more funny...

(use Babelfish if you must, Kaz)



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Those who forget the pasta are doomed to reheat it.

Non, au contraire - c'est tres poli de fait! :-)



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Never put a sock in a toaster!
E. Izzard

I don't even know how to use Babefish. Wahhh! Mummy! They're talking in a foreign language an' they won't tell me what they're saying!

Vous êtes aussi repulsive comme singe dans un negligee!

I have 4 Monkey Islands to draw from!



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Those who forget the pasta are doomed to reheat it.

I think he said I'm a repulsive Aussie and I've burnt my nightdress.

Close, but no cigar (though that would explain the fire.)



Jesus saves; Buddha does incremental backup.

Hi Fforum - welcome to myself!

Since Barbie has requested that I post something by Sunday, I better do as she says (never disappoint your students by not coopreating in their projects).
Yes - I am one of those people who stand in front of a class and try to get students talking about books ... TEA in this case. I am looking forward to Barbie taking over next week (at least for a couple of minutes) to introduce her collegues to 'Living Hybridity - Jasper Fforde's Universe' (that's what she wants to call her paper ... see this is what becomes of funny books in academia! Maybe Barbie is smarter than she claims to be?).

By the way - Bavaria would be the ideal choice as a substitute for Wales as a socialist republic, I think. Bavaria is very conservative (for those who didn't know that - Bavarians are also known as the Texans of Germany) yet it was indeed the first socialist republic in Germany (in 1919). Bavarians are also odd in the eyes of all other Germans. I must know since I am from Lederhosen-contry.
What about a Socialist Republic of Canada? (Of Quebec?)
What would the Japanese pick? (Obviously not Korea ... not funny).
A Socialist Republic of (East) Germany (nothing is more absurd and hilarious than reality)?
But a 'germanized' TEA would read very strange indeed. 30 pages of index is no solution either (never explain a joke) ...
Maybe the Eyries have an idea (when they show up) and post it (they have all read the book and are all Germans).

Actually Teacher I think Barbie meant last Sunday, but never mind! Better late than never! Welcome aboard - and Hoorah! for Bavaria; I have some very fond memories of touring there with a rock band a few years ago. We ended up staying at a country inn which happened to have a knees-up happening that night, complete with a lederhosen-clad Oompah band. Our assorted group of hippies returned from their gig to be met by a party in full swing and were made completely welcome, even being dragged up on stage to join in as soon as it had been established that they were fellow musicians (as well as expert beer swillers!). So in that respect at least Bavaria's a lot different to the Southern states of America - no rednecks!

Hey teacher,

I think that "never explain a joke" is actually the right rule, but in this particular context there should be an excemption . You, your students (well, I suppose) and I are have a certain knowledge of English literature as we all are or have been students of English. Therefore we didn't have that many problems with understanding the literary allusions. The target group of a translated edition probably won't have so much (if at all) background knowledge and so this part of the fun of the book is lost.

For example I haven't ever heard of a guy named William Wordsworth before I went to university and I really liked the bit when Granny Next entered "I wandered lonely as a cloud." And I would have had no idea what to make of his question about the French Revolution. So I think an annoted edition (or maybe just a translation of the "Guide for Non-Brits on this homepage?) would be better than the mere translation of the novel. [Or am I completely wrong and must blame the poor NRW educational system, that I haven't heard about Wordsworth, Bronte, etc. even in my LK?)
But I think a Germanized version would be too far away from the original.

Anyway, it is really a great idea to teach a seminar like this. I'd really love to read more recent novels in seminars. Meanwhile I talked two of my teachers into reading TEA, maybe I'm lucky and one of them gives it a try someday, in case they like it.


@Ptolemy: I wouldn't be too sure about the no-Rednecks thing judging from just one positive experience. (And no, I'm not just talking bad about a people I don't belong to, I have Bavarian relatives)



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Colourless green ideas sleep furiously.

(N. Chomsky 1957)

Hello teacher!!! Glad to see you made it *g*

By the way, I did mean next Sunday, that's ok - I started the thread a week ahead so it could develop in advance. wouldn't want my Eyries to be confronted with one hello message full stop.

Germanising definitely isn't an option. I also think that no one who's not at all interested in England or Literature (even marginally) would pick this book in German. But hey, there's enough people out there who are interested, and isn't it the most rewarding thing to hear "you were right in the first place, this is a brilliant book" from someone you've been nagging for months?! :-)



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Never put a sock in a toaster!
E. Izzard

oh threads here develop quite quickly
:-)

Like cancers.

Heya Teach'. Someone get an apple....