dhaupt wrote: You know that is an interesting thing you brought up and while thinking about it I realized that when I read translated novels it seems to be more of the case, maybe because of the translation not connecting the dots in my brain and maybe because of the mind set of the authors who are based somewhere else besides the US or the UK.
What do the rest of you think?
Fanasty_Lover wrote: I have also noticed that some of the translation is a little shaky as well. Sometimes I will have to read a paragraph or sentence a few times to get what it is trying to say, the way the authors word things are a little strange and took me some time to get used to. Making the book a little difficult to read at first, but once I got used to it, I have not been able to put the book down.
So far the book is great. Piet is one of my favorite characters, the intensity of his personality is amazingly written. His determination, creativeness, and intelligence are the main qualities of his character and also make him a joy to read about. The line that separate his double life is thin and you can tell Zofia herself has some doubts about who he is and as you read, you can tell he does too. It will be interesting to see how everything will play out as his lives slowly come closer to crossing.
Vermontcozy wrote: I think the Translator Kari Dickson did a great job..We must remember that English is spoken very well in Sweden..And The flow of the story for me was not hindered at all by any language translation difficulty..I read a lot of Asian Fiction,British Authors...and others whose first language is not English....Which I am sure many readers do as well...There is a directness in their writing,which might seem cold.Their words are chosen carefully.,and add so much to the story..
I have been wondering about the translation, too. Is there any reader here who has read this in the original Swedish? Or who knows Swedish well enough to recognize the impact translation is likely to have had, given the English that is used in the text we have?
A couple of places that I stopped to consider whether a translation or cultural or normal sentence construction issue may be at stake:
"Susann went back up the steps, grabbed the handle of the terrace door and was about to shut it when she stopped halfway, and shouted: 'I never wanted to see you here again.'"
It is hard for me to imagine portraying a young, recently trained professional, a doctor, with the verb "shouted" in this context of a grieving man, no matter what kind of a pest he had become at the nursing home and who perhaps needed to be jolted into self-realization.
Several have remarked about the technique of starting so many units of text with "He...", then forcing the reader to absorb considerable more text before recognizing who is the antecedent. My "sprachgefluhl" (very possibly misguided in this case) suggests the construction is similar in Swedish, but perhaps somehow different and easier on the reader.
In general, however, I feel as if I am encountering a good, perhaps excellent, translation.
Note: Changed subject line. Retain only if applicable!?
"Seize the moments of happiness, love and be loved! That is the only reality in the world, all else is folly. It is the one thing we are interested in here." -- Leo Tolstoy
