Hooray for Translators!

3-minute read
books
still from Shogun showing Anna Sawai translating for Cosmo Jarvis

In a book club I am in, we were recently talking about reading a book in its original language versus reading a translation. One member, whose native language is Portuguese, said she preferred reading English works in English because so many Portuguese translations are bad. That makes sense if your English is already good enough. But should you learn— or even just improve— your English just to read Charles Dickens in the original? And how many languages can you learn?

I love reading and that includes things originally written in languages I cannot read. For that, I am dependent on translators. Translating from one language into another is really difficult and I am grateful to everyone who tries.

Some people say translation is not possible and you should learn the original language. "Can you recommend a good translation of Plato? There isn't one; learn Ancient Greek."

In a recent post on Mastodon, Mark Dominus talks about spending ten years learning to read Spanish and then ten years reading the complete works of José María de Pereda and then ten more years understanding the Spanish revolution of 19 September 1868. That's a reasonable strategy when you're immortal.

I am not immortal, so I am going to continue to enjoy works from other languages through translation. Here are some wonderful translations I've read recently:

  • Greek Lessons (희랍어 시간), written in Korean by Han Kang in 2011, translated into English by Deborah Smith and Emily Yae Won in 2023. They talk about having to read Ancient Greek texts in the original!

  • Tender Is the Flesh (Cadáver Exquisito), written in Spanish by Agustina Bazterrica in 2017, translated into English by Sarah Moses in 2020. This book is disturbing as fuck! Now that I've read it, it lives rent-free in my brain and haunts me whenever it wants to.

  • The Vegetarian (채식주의자), written in Korean by Han Kang in 2007, translated into English by Deborah Smith in 2015. I read Greek Lessons first, but this is probably her most famous, so I went back and read it too.

  • Three-Body (三体), written in Chinese by Liu Cixin in 2006, 2008, and 2010, translated into English by Ken Liu and Joel Martinsen in 2014, 2015, and 2016. This redefines epic.

  • Kristin Lavransdatter, written in Norwegian by Sigrid Undset in 1920, 1921, and 1922, translated into English by Tiina Nunnally in 1997, 1999, and 2000. This was written 100 years ago, but it takes place 700 years ago.

  • The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (ねじまき鳥クロニクル), written in Japanese by Haruki Murakami in 1994 and 1995, translated into English by Jay Rubin in 1997. This was truly unique.

  • Independent People (Sjálfstætt fólk), written in Icelandic by Halldór Laxness in 1934 and 1935, translated into English by J. A. Thompson in 1946.

Thank you, Deborah, Emily, Sarah, Ken, Joel, Tiina, Jay, J. A., and everyone who translates. It's really hard work and we appreciate it!