I am (as you know :D) very keen on people who are not British using Brit-picks in British fandoms. I'm very keen on all writers using alpha/beta-readers and/or editors. I always tried to find someone to check my writing over when I was writing in American fandoms. But checking/editing etc is nothing like translating. You still hold creative control, after all and are free to ignore suggestions. The word order and flow of language is still *yours*.
But while it is very flattering - wonderful in fact, and I'm so pleased for you - that someone likes your work enough to want to translate it, I can see why you might not be sure. Some things don't translate well. I mean look at just how many different English translations there are of the Bible, for one. And some translations put things very differently and end up with different meanings. (e.g. There's one verse in the Bible which some translations put as "through Jesus Christ, who is God over all, be praised forever and ever" and other put as "through Jesus Christ. God, who is over all, be praised forever and ever.")
And I recently read one fic, translated into English from the German. It was called "Ignorance"... but in the title and throughout the fic "ignorance" was used to mean "the state of being ignored or ignoring someone"... which, uh, it doesn't in English. So something rather important was lost in translation.
That said, I'm always grateful for access to good translations of things. :D
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2012-06-27 11:47 am (UTC)I am (as you know :D) very keen on people who are not British using Brit-picks in British fandoms. I'm very keen on all writers using alpha/beta-readers and/or editors. I always tried to find someone to check my writing over when I was writing in American fandoms. But checking/editing etc is nothing like translating. You still hold creative control, after all and are free to ignore suggestions. The word order and flow of language is still *yours*.
But while it is very flattering - wonderful in fact, and I'm so pleased for you - that someone likes your work enough to want to translate it, I can see why you might not be sure. Some things don't translate well. I mean look at just how many different English translations there are of the Bible, for one. And some translations put things very differently and end up with different meanings. (e.g. There's one verse in the Bible which some translations put as "through Jesus Christ, who is God over all, be praised forever and ever" and other put as "through Jesus Christ. God, who is over all, be praised forever and ever.")
And I recently read one fic, translated into English from the German. It was called "Ignorance"... but in the title and throughout the fic "ignorance" was used to mean "the state of being ignored or ignoring someone"... which, uh, it doesn't in English. So something rather important was lost in translation.
That said, I'm always grateful for access to good translations of things. :D