Original or translation?

do you prefer original texts, though it might not be your mother language or do you think translations are ok?

i, as a german-fag think german translations are very considerable for there are very good translators that try to fit the translations to the original as much as they can and hold it understandable as well - but of course it cannot be translated one to one and so i just started reading the OC and i must say though it's not easy it isn't too difficult either and for me i won't read any translations anymore.

btw first books i read in original language (and not in the school) were some of terry pratchett and now im reading lord of the rings.

I don't know, a lot of translations I read (because I'm a fag that doesn't know more than one language) just seem to lack something. Like their too sterile and contain none of the original writing's creativity or something.

i love translations, especially translations of pushkin's poetry it all rules

I don't feel good about translations.

>>1
Fellow Germanfag reportin'.
Back when I started reading English books, LOTR was actually one of - if not the - first I read. I have since graduated to reading everything in it's original language - provided I understand it, obviously.
In my opinion many of the connotations, ability to convey emotion and general eloquence are often lost during translation. Sterile is quite fitting, I think, as said by >>2.
 
Also there frequently isn't a fitting translation for idioms, as colored by cultural background as they are, and they have to be paraphrased, which for me seriously detracts from the experience.

It's especially bad with translated movies losing all of the actors' accents.. the translated product is mostly really disgusting, particularly if the original used those accents in any meaningful way to convey extra information. But I digress...

Anyway, keep reading in English, it's worth it. Something a little more challenging next, maybe. Miéville, perhaps - when I read Perdido Street Station a couple of years ago, it knocked my estimation of my grasp of the English language down a few notches, which I can't say wasn't beneficial in the long run.

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6>>

I'm from Sweden, and I consider translations to be awful.

Mainly because our language in itself is awful, but that's like, my opinion and stuff, man.

In most cases It all depends which version you read first. I've read lord of the rings first in translated version and I still prefer it over original. On the other hand I've read George RR Marting first in original and now I don't like translation.

Only problem is with bad translations.

I've read a few books in both their original language and my mother tongue, and I find that it's easy to tell whether the translator liked and understood the book in question. As I am interested in languages and semantics, I have preferred a few books translated, but I always try and start by reading a book in it's original language, as long as I can speak it. Now if only I could speak every language in the world...

Sometimes I think it's hard to tell a good translation of a bad book vs. a bad translation of a good book. To avoid that, read a book in its original language.

Then again I don't think I can learn French for Voltaire, German for Kafka, and Latin for the Iliad.

Maybe later, but not right now.