The Art of Translation on NPR November 24, 2008
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Fun stuff, Translation Sites.trackback
NPR published an interesting article/podcast on Saturday about the art of literary translation. Thanks to JLibbey of pandltranslations, who just started following me on Twitter and brought this to her/his followers’ attention. I liked it so much I posted it to my Facebook account for my friends to read and learn a little bit about what I do and the hurdles we face as translators. After all, a good translation needs to be true to the original and able to stand on its own for a new audience, and that is why there can be different translations of various books published. The example NPR uses is Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables, among others. The thing NPR stresses is how translation is not literal and how much is truly involved in translating texts, which I think is a good message for its readers/listeners to hear.
Musings from an overworked translator 
I am “her”. I always look forward to reading your blog – thank you for sharing your thoughts and insights.
Hi Janine, Thanks for clarifying! Should I edit the post or leave it as it is?
No need to edit it as far as I’m concerned. Happy Thanksgiving!