Topic: The Little Prince or ''Le Petit Prince''?

Tagged: Essence, Saint-Exupery, The Little Prince, Translations

This topic has 3 voices, contains 10 replies, and was last updated by Camilla 79 days ago.

Viewing 11 posts - 1 through 11 (of 11 total)

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February 22, 2012 at 2:24 pm #5309
Cindy Wingate	I came across a review of this book, and was shocked (honestly!) to learn that the one I read, an English translation – by Katherine Woods – “is literal, clumsy, twee and riddled with errors” …… “She conveys the meaning but misses the essence.” (from: http://www.awakeman.co.uk/Sense/Books/labouroflove.htm) ******************************************** Quoting from his site: In the opening chapter, after describing how he became a pilot, Saint-Exupéry writes about how lonely his life has been… ‘…jusqu’à une panne dans le désert du Sahara, il y a six ans…’ literally… ‘…just to a break-down in the desert of Sahara, there is six years…’ which Katherine Woods renders… ‘..until I had an accident with my plane in the Desert of Sahara, six years ago…’ Notice that Saint-Ex makes no reference to ‘accident’ or ‘plane’ and that ‘panne’ means ‘breakdown’. Furthermore, have you ever heard a native English speaker refer to the ‘Desert of Sahara’? ***************************************************** I am thinking I shall buy a copy, by this Alan Wakeman, to see if I agree. Surely this book particularly deserved ultimate care in translation, it is quite shocking if the spirit is lost?
February 25, 2012 at 1:41 pm #5401
jennifer from Belgium	Hmnn…do you not believe you understood the book?
February 25, 2012 at 4:09 pm #5427
Cindy Wingate	Hi Jennifer, no, I believe essence could have been lost in translation. For me, I want to ‘hear’ the words the way the author intended. I understand he was constantly re-writing and ‘perfecting’ his draft. A rudimentary, stilted translation seems an affront, if that is what it was. May be worse (who knows?) than never having read it at all! I am looking forward to comparing both translations. Then, I will have a better idea, I hope
February 26, 2012 at 12:28 am #5456
jennifer from Belgium	Oh yes cindy. I asked because I speak a bit of French and the translation seemed just. I’d like to know what you find different in the two versions eventually as I could learn a bit about French essence. There is so much in general lost when translating…it’s a miracle that we can even communicate and get messages across to each other…..even in our own native tongues! Perhaps we aren’t meant to…ever think of that?
February 27, 2012 at 11:06 am #5603
Camilla	I agree, Cindy, the quality of the translation is tremendously important – it can carry the fluency, the magic, the poetry of the author across the barrier of language, or it can effectively kill all of those things. For example – Richard, I don´t know if you knew this? – the German translation of Richard´s “Running from Safety” is rather inadequate, as opposed to his other books, where his thoughts can flow as freely into the reader´s mind as in the original language. When one is constantly stumbling over and being annoyed by evident errors (no, “holy cow” does not mean “a sacred bovine”, it´s just an expression, for chrissake! What kind of translator doesn´t know that?!), it´s hard to get into the flow of a book… I guess the author has to trust his publisher on finding a competent translator. Jennifer, I agree and I often wonder if it really is the words that makes us understand each other…didn´t we start a discussion about that once? Words vs. thoughts behind the words? I´m not sure which thread that was…
February 27, 2012 at 2:41 pm #5626
jennifer from Belgium	yes i thi,nk we did forever ago….we can pick it up somewhere here eventually…don’t want to put too much strain on you now Camilla—-get caught up first….
February 28, 2012 at 12:57 am #5659
Camilla	I found it – starting a new topic on “communication”.
February 28, 2012 at 1:04 am #5661
jennifer from Belgium	you are very perseverant Camilla…….
February 28, 2012 at 2:22 am #5675
Camilla	Most people call it pig-headed They might not be entirely wrong… This reply was modified 79 days ago by Camilla.
February 28, 2012 at 2:25 am #5679
jennifer from Belgium	it is one of your greatest gifts that works for you…..does it not? This reply was modified 79 days ago by jennifer from Belgium.
February 28, 2012 at 11:04 am #5730
Camilla	Yes, you are absolutely right! This reply was modified 79 days ago by Camilla.