translating style
Edith Grossman, the Spanish translator, a feature in Bookforum:
"Grossman submitted a twenty-page sample translation of Love in the Time of Cholera to Knopf and was chosen. 'I knew this Colombian writer was eccentric when he wrote me saying that he doesn’t use adverbs ending with -mente in Spanish and would like to avoid adverbs ending in -ly in English.' She remembers thinking, what do you say in English except slowly? 'Well, I came up with all types of things, like without haste."
1 comment:
It'd be an interesting pursuit I think and may lead to a more varied use of the language...it reminds me of a tale that Tobias Jones recants in his book "The Dark Heart of Italy" (fundementally about italian politics and the media) about the difference between english and italian approach to the use of language in the context of trival things such as letters to the council.
He goes on to explain how the italian letters were these volumious, gushing masterpieces of unrequired salutations and flattery whilst having just received a letter from my electricity provider, I can tell you the very opposite is the case in the UK.
Still a big fan of your site, it's an inspiration for our fledgling offering!
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