Which Translators do you Trust?

RIP, there’s a funny bit in her why translation matters book where she’s complaining about how little most reviewers care about translators & points out the tell that (if they mention it at all) they’ll just write “ably translated by”

Yup, most journalistic reviews lazily sign-off the quality of translation without knowing both source and target language, instead of trying to evaluate the music of the prose (whether translated or not).

Surely they know the target language?

something quasi ironic about retreading the prose of A La Recherche du Temps Perdu. Looking at all the angles covered in the retelling etc?

I just love the book, and I think it rewards the attention. If you take a couple years to read it, then enough time will have passed since the first volume that you can pretty much start again right away. The translations give you more to explore.

Surely they know the target language?

― Tsar Bombadil (James Morrison), Sunday, 10 September 2023 bookmarkflaglink

Maybe 🤣