Translations...or... my Dad could TOTALLY beat up your Dad.

Translations

Translations are a funny thing, and to a native English speaker with only the most basic of Spanish skills, a necessary one.

A quick search of the world wide web shows that scholars often have strong opinions about this translation or that. I've read a bit about them, and I've come to a conclusion for mysef:

The best translation is the one that makes the text most accessible.

With all of the nitpicking about this word, or that phrase, I really don't find it all that relevant to a general survey of the great books. If I were trying to become an expert on The Iliad I would read the linked Robert Fagles version, the Alexander Pope versions (which I read for my previous entry), Samuel Butler, along with any other edition I could find.

That, however is not my goal. I want to wrap my brain around as much of these texts as possible without getting bogged down in any single text for too long. Okay, sometimes I want to wrap the texts around my head and scream, but we won't tell anyone that.

I read the Alexander Pope version of The Iliad, and honestly I wish I head read a different one. Pope's language is exquisitely quotable, and annoyingly affected.

For my reading of The Odyssey I will be using the Samuel Butler version. I will not for a moment claim the Samuel Butler's translation is better. Nor will I say that it is inferior. I found that the choice to abstain from forcing the ancient Greek verse into a modern English verse makes for more accessible reading.

When I read, The Illustrated Egyptian Book of the Dead, I found myself with a bit of a problem.

Dr. Saleem's rendition of the text is very readable. Without any true "expert" knowledge, I was able to attack the book without any obstacles of language.

Wait, that's not a problem, that's great, right?

Well, yes. the downside was that I do have some surface knowledge of Ancient Egyptian History, and I don't for a second accept his attempt to force their polytheism into a more "sophisticated" monotheism.

So, I was left with a very accessible translation, that rubbed my history knowledge the wrong way. What to do?

I read it, and took from it what I felt most fit with the Ancient Egypt I understand.

My point with all of this?

Find the translation that gets you into the depths of the text as quickly as possible. When I'm struggling with a great work, the last thing I want holding me up is translated grammar or word choice. Will it be 100% accurate? Nope, translations never are. And that's not the point.

I'm not here to look at these texts only at the surface. I want to get down in there and muck about a bit.


In my next entry, we'll see what sort of mucking I accomplished with The Illustrated Egyptian Book of the Dead