Translations

A note on translation, from a review of Anthony Briggs’ translation of War and Peace: “Secondly, this idea that a translation should be happily smooth. I agree with Milan Kundera: ‘Partisans of ‘flowing’ translation often object to my translators: ‘That’s not the way to say it in German (in English, in Spanish, etc.)!’ I reply: ‘It’s not the way to say it in Czech either!””

(Via Guardian Unlimited.)

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