Denne roman begynder med en begravelse, en trist og deprimerende begivenhed, som samtidig bliver startskud til et medrivende krimiplot. Læg for øvrigt lige mærke til forskellene på den danske og den engelske oversættelse. Hvorfor måtte vi ikke få blomsterbuketten med? Eller har den engelske oversætter selv tilføjet den?”Præsten snøftede og degnen – eller hvad man nu skulle kalde ham – kæmpede med sin paraply. Han forsøgte forgæves at få den til at dække både den sorte præstekjole og sig selv. Men bygerne kom farende fra alle mulig retninger, så den korrekte vinkel skiftede fra det ene sekund til det andet. Bærerne satte hælene i det bløde ler og begyndte at sænke kisten ned i hullet. Den ene af dem var ved at miste balancen, men fik sig rettet op i sidste øjeblik. Degnen stod og fumlede med skovlen. Regnen blev voldsommere.”
An appetizer:
A depressing burial, but also the beginning of an engaging crime plot.
“The clergyman snuffled, and his accomplice – or whatever you should call him – struggled with the umbrella. Tried to make it cover both the man in black and himself, but the gusts were capricious and the correct angle shifted from second to second. The bearers dug their heels into the soaking wet soil and started to lower the coffin. Her bouquet on the lid already looked a mess. Like a dollop of vegetables that had boiled for too long. One of the bearers slipped but managed to regain his balance. The clergyman blew his nose and started to read the liturgy. His accomplice fumbled with the spade. The rain grew even worse.”
Interestingly, the two sentences in red have been left out in the Danish translation (or added by the English translator) – why ever?
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7 kommentarer:
How odd that the sentences are in only the English. They are quite descriptive.
From a perspective of a translator I have to say that it seems extremely unusual that any part of the book would be omitted or added. Professionally speaking it should not have been done. You can adjust the meaning of phrases or sentences so the audience will understand and indentify but you shouldn't add or omit whole sentences, it's not for us to decide what is important and what isn't. If the author put it there, it was meant to be there.
Beth, I had to read both version twice to make sure I hadn´t misread it. Even though I own the Danish version, I almost feel I should buy a Swedish one also to check if the Danish is generally unreliable.
Lilly, I hadn´t realized you were a translator. It is also contrary to everything I have read about the principles of good translation. I imagine the Danish translator was in a hurry. As far as I know, translators of fiction are paid per page (and not exactly extravagantly) which may explain some errors.
That's fascinating! One of my potential career goals is literature translator. I often wonder if I'll ever find myself trying to add things... but only if it makes it make more sense. Hmmmm. I'm reading 100 Years of Solitude in its original Spanish this summer, so that's something I'll have to keep an eye out for. Very interesting :D
That's quite a picture painted by the two sentences in red ... a shame they were left out of the Danish translation!
Do you read all your books in two languages? I thought you read in whatever language the book was written, but posted in both English and Danish.
Either way, it's quite an undertaking (no pun intended with "undertaking" and the setting of this appetizer!)
Sounds an excellent start Dorte. I presume you'll tell us the title & author soon, or do we have to salivate a bit longer? I like these titbits you drop to us.
Lu, it really is fascinating. And usually I would never notice. How often does one read anything in two languages right after another. I really think the Danish translater has just been sloppy.
Dawn, I don´t - I have hardly time to read them in one language right now :) But when I quote from a book, I always try to find a version in the other language via Amazon. You can usually read the first few pages there. Really useful for someone like me.
Kerrie, I just have to translate my Danish review and then I will post it. So later today ..
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