EDNOTE. Some days
ago Lyuba Tarvi offered a statistical analysis of the four posted ADA samples.
Below DN comments.
I
would add that one of the difficulties of statistical analysis of literary works
is that it often (more or less accurately) measures features that
constitute (in the case at hand) only some of the features that make a good
translation. To put it an another way, IQ tests tend to measure whatever they
measure but it is far from clear that they provide a global
quantification of that mysterious thing called Intelligence. Dr. Tarvi's
analysis is presumably an accurate measure of some features of the translations
but not all--as I am sure she would be the first to admit.
--------------------------------
FROM: DMITRI
NABOKOV
"Both the Ilin &
Skyarenko versions are pretty good. ... With all due respect, the mathematical
analysis proposed by Lyuba Tarvi is not my idea of comparison. This is
borne out by the fact that Kirichenko's choices of individual words may coincide
with mine, while her sentences and paragraphs are sometimes an
incomprehensible jumble, which is not reflected in the "Token Equivalence
Method," even if it does approximate a correct assessment of the four
translations limited to its specific criteria."