Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0017000, Fri, 5 Sep 2008 17:02:25 +0100

Subject
Re: THOUGHTS: re translation and numbers
Date
Body

On 04/09/2008 04:56, "jansymello" <jansy@AETERN.US> wrote:
>
> btw: Stan, your phrase-book in Portuguese was probably published in Portugal:
> it sounds very "old-world" to me, not ancient...
>
> JM: ³Colloquial Portuguese,² M E De Alvelos Naar, LONDON, Routledge & Kegan
> Paul Ltd, 1968. ³The reading practice is designed to give students an outline
> of the Portuguese and Brazilian personality, and an insight into our ideas of
> about English people.² (how many !!!!s should I add? -- skb)
>
> The truth, Jansy, is that all but the most factual, mundane, non-idiomatic
> texts defy what you call a ³perfect² translation* Think for a moment of the
> difficulties we have in interpreting a non-trivial English text using the
> self-same English language. This is a form of translation of the author¹s
> choice of English words/syntax into our choices of English words/syntax
> whereby we hope better to glean the author¹s intentions. There are
> sufficiently daunting linguistic, historical and cultural hurdles ahead to
> humble us long before we dare tackle the more ³extreme rendition² into
> different languages. But life goes on.
>
> skb
>
> * Luckily, God writes His Cosmic Laws in the universal language of Mathematics
> © Galileo. I offer lessons at 250 guineas per second.


Search archive with Google:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en

Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Visit "Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com

Manage subscription options: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/








Attachment