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shesagift's review against another edition
4.0
Fascinating look at the many aspects of language, translation, and everything that goes along with it. Not a full picture by any means, but a good jumping off point for someone like me without linguistics experience. Bellos provides a solid and easy-to-read look at aspects of translation I had never even considered before, and has piqued my interest in some aspects more than others. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in languages, cultural communication, and globalization/modernity; it's a fascinating lens to see the world through.
oschrock's review against another edition
5.0
This book is a very in-depth and technical discussion of what language is and it contrasts a variety of translation philosophies. Honestly, I was hoping for more of an overview of practical translation for living cross-culturally, but this book is focused much more toward professional translators.
Here are a few of my favorite quotes (emphases mine):
"...all utterances have innumerably many acceptable translations." @location 118
"To expand our minds and to become more fully civilized members of the human race, we should learn as many different languages as we can." @location 2446
"A translation can’t be right or wrong in the manner of a school quiz or a bank statement. A translation is more like a portrait in oils. The artist may add a pearl earring, give an extra flush to the cheek, or miss out the gray hairs in the sideburns—and still give us a good likeness. It’s hard to say just what it is that allows viewers to agree that a portrait captures the important things—the overall shape as well as that special look in the eye. The mysterious abilities we have for recognizing good matches in the visual sphere lie near to what it takes to judge that a translation is good." @location 4627
"If meaning and force are kept the same and if in a limited set of other respects a translation is seen to be like its source, then we have a match." @location 4682
I appreciated the Bellos' approximation of what translation actually is: "Arduously head-scratching, intellectually agile wordsmiths may simultaneously preserve the reference, self-reference, and truth value of an utterance when fate smiles on them and allows them to come up with a multidimensional matching expression in their own language." @location 4057
Here are a few of my favorite quotes (emphases mine):
"...all utterances have innumerably many acceptable translations." @location 118
"To expand our minds and to become more fully civilized members of the human race, we should learn as many different languages as we can." @location 2446
"A translation can’t be right or wrong in the manner of a school quiz or a bank statement. A translation is more like a portrait in oils. The artist may add a pearl earring, give an extra flush to the cheek, or miss out the gray hairs in the sideburns—and still give us a good likeness. It’s hard to say just what it is that allows viewers to agree that a portrait captures the important things—the overall shape as well as that special look in the eye. The mysterious abilities we have for recognizing good matches in the visual sphere lie near to what it takes to judge that a translation is good." @location 4627
"If meaning and force are kept the same and if in a limited set of other respects a translation is seen to be like its source, then we have a match." @location 4682
I appreciated the Bellos' approximation of what translation actually is: "Arduously head-scratching, intellectually agile wordsmiths may simultaneously preserve the reference, self-reference, and truth value of an utterance when fate smiles on them and allows them to come up with a multidimensional matching expression in their own language." @location 4057
nicole_schmid's review against another edition
informative
fast-paced
3.0
[read in the German translation by Silvia Morawetz]
I found this book to be quite interesting. The short chapters made it easy to read and each contained at least some interesting information. However, as I am quite familiar with the topic of this book, I did not feel like I learned a lot. Admittedly, I was not the target group. It was still interesting, however.
I found this book to be quite interesting. The short chapters made it easy to read and each contained at least some interesting information. However, as I am quite familiar with the topic of this book, I did not feel like I learned a lot. Admittedly, I was not the target group. It was still interesting, however.
jpowerj's review against another edition
3.0
Meh... it's basically a guy ranting about translation, throwing out a bunch of sweeping generalizations, hyperbolic statements, and literary references without much justification/explanation. For example, tons of "one could never capture [X] in a translation!" and heaping praise on like Flaubert and Chekhov and stuff. Also there's a weird thing where he talks about translating "UP" vs. translating "DOWN" and as far as I can tell this is just arbitrarily constructing a hierarchy where western languages (English, French) are "UP" and non-western languages (Swahili) are "DOWN"... lol?
thewritebooks's review against another edition
funny
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
What a fascinating book!
I found this an engaging balance between a scholar's view on such a broad topic and also an amusing introduction to big ideas for those who have never encountered them. As a linguistics student, there was a lot in here I had some knowledge or understanding of, but I found that Bellos was able to introduce a lot of theoretical/philosophical elements that had my underlining sentences going "Oh hang on I'd never considered it like that!"
There were many subjects in this that I've circled with the intention of going back and looking at in more detail - such as the first use of simultaneous translation being at the Nuremburg trials, and how translators kept having to stop because they were crying at what they heard - imagine that kind of psychological impact while doing your job, which is already considered one of the most challenging things your brain can do! Just so interesting!
If you've seen my other reviews from the last few months you'll notice that I've covered a lot of books about books/reading/libraries (I'll never get enough) and now that term is about to start again I'm seeing if i can shift some of that focus towards Non-fiction like this one, to make it benefit my uni course (alongside my romance books ofc)!
I found this an engaging balance between a scholar's view on such a broad topic and also an amusing introduction to big ideas for those who have never encountered them. As a linguistics student, there was a lot in here I had some knowledge or understanding of, but I found that Bellos was able to introduce a lot of theoretical/philosophical elements that had my underlining sentences going "Oh hang on I'd never considered it like that!"
There were many subjects in this that I've circled with the intention of going back and looking at in more detail - such as the first use of simultaneous translation being at the Nuremburg trials, and how translators kept having to stop because they were crying at what they heard - imagine that kind of psychological impact while doing your job, which is already considered one of the most challenging things your brain can do! Just so interesting!
If you've seen my other reviews from the last few months you'll notice that I've covered a lot of books about books/reading/libraries (I'll never get enough) and now that term is about to start again I'm seeing if i can shift some of that focus towards Non-fiction like this one, to make it benefit my uni course (alongside my romance books ofc)!
diegocanread's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
3.0
The author tends to go on and on in some chapter but others are incredibly interesting! It is strange how not a single sign language is mentioned considering he goes on about gesture and speech in the epilogue. I know not every language can't be mentioned but that was disappointing. The chapters on interpreting and literary translations were fascinating and those are the chapters I would recommend most.
amelia555's review against another edition
4.0
I think this book is interesting and brings some good points about what translation is, how people judge it, and its overall importance in our life. It's astonishing for me to think how significantly less fun my life would be without translated works, and how much more knowldege I acquired thanks to them. The job of a translator is a very important and resposnible one, and I've forever greatful and in owe of people who do it, and who take it seriously.
All of that said, I can't help but judge it sometimes) Just recently I watched an English-language movie in a cinema; it was dubbed to my native language. The movie was a partially a comedy, but its humour is more conversational, quiter. You have to be careful and creative when translating such jokes. I have to admit, when I compared the translation to the original (that I watched later on a streaming service), I thought many jokes were butchered. So, yeah, all the respect to the translators, but sometimes I critique their work from my high horse) I have no right, but can't help it! Many of us do, I suppose. How hard it must be to have this job with so many armchair experts giving you pieces of advice)
All of that said, I can't help but judge it sometimes) Just recently I watched an English-language movie in a cinema; it was dubbed to my native language. The movie was a partially a comedy, but its humour is more conversational, quiter. You have to be careful and creative when translating such jokes. I have to admit, when I compared the translation to the original (that I watched later on a streaming service), I thought many jokes were butchered. So, yeah, all the respect to the translators, but sometimes I critique their work from my high horse) I have no right, but can't help it! Many of us do, I suppose. How hard it must be to have this job with so many armchair experts giving you pieces of advice)
iteechesinglish's review against another edition
informative
3.0
Parts of this were really good. I liked a lot of the insights about how translation works. The most interesting bits were the ones where Bellos discusses how the European Union works and the skills required to be an interpreter. He kind of lost me in the end talking about what translation is or isn't, and I definitely felt that the author had a chip on his shoulder and was overly defensive about his profession. Overall it was a good read if you're interested in the topic, but a little slow in places.