Poll: The last translation I read/heard that impressed me as being excellent was in a(n) Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "The last translation I read/heard that impressed me as being excellent was in a(n)".
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| | | | DianeGM 
Local time: 07:55
Member (2006)
Dutch to English
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| other ... on a wall (graffiti) | Nov 4, 2009 |
It was a slogan written (badly) in ancient Greek - followed by someone else's rather astute translation into modern Greek. I smile whenever I pass it ...
[Edited at 2009-11-04 09:04 GMT]
| | | | Maria Amorim (X)
Sweden
Local time: 06:55
Swedish to Portuguese
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I would like to make reference to 2 books:
The Swedish translation of “The Kite Runner” from the writer Khaled Hossein. It was one of the best translations I have ever read. The translator: Johan Nilsson.
The Portuguese translation of “The Stories of John Cheever” from the fantastic American writer John Cheever. The original was first published in USA in the forties but it came out this year in Portugal. The translator: José de Lima.
I recommend... See more I would like to make reference to 2 books:
The Swedish translation of “The Kite Runner” from the writer Khaled Hossein. It was one of the best translations I have ever read. The translator: Johan Nilsson.
The Portuguese translation of “The Stories of John Cheever” from the fantastic American writer John Cheever. The original was first published in USA in the forties but it came out this year in Portugal. The translator: José de Lima.
I recommend it for the English-Portuguese translators (Sextante Editora – Portugal). ▲ Collapse
| | | | | negative impression | Nov 4, 2009 |
I do not remember the title, but I remember that once I read a book, and I also had the original in English, and I thought, well it seems I have read two different books!...
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Anke Formann
Germany
Local time: 06:55
English to German
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| Instructions manual for our new tumble dryer | Nov 4, 2009 |
The dryer (made in the UK) is not exactly the most luxurious, most expensive one in the world, which was why I was even more impressed by the quality of the manual translation.
The terms were well chosen, the text was fluent and easy to understand and most certainly translated by a German native speaker. I was really happy to see that there are manufacturers out there that go for a good (but most certainly more expensive) translation instead of a near-machine (but cheap) translation made ... See more The dryer (made in the UK) is not exactly the most luxurious, most expensive one in the world, which was why I was even more impressed by the quality of the manual translation.
The terms were well chosen, the text was fluent and easy to understand and most certainly translated by a German native speaker. I was really happy to see that there are manufacturers out there that go for a good (but most certainly more expensive) translation instead of a near-machine (but cheap) translation made by a non-native who has a brother who has a friend who once had a German penfriend ▲ Collapse
| | | | | I answered book | Nov 4, 2009 |
because I thought of the excellent Engish translation of La sombra del viento by Carlos Ruiz Zafón - translated by Lucia Graves.
Then I remembered that I recently picked up a tourist leaflet at Bergamo airport, the English was excellent. I found that the translator was a fellow-Prozean and duly sent her my congratulations!
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I bought a small booklet guide of the city of Buenos Aires and in some pages it had a brief description of the main touristic sites, in Spanish and English.
The English was very well written!! It really surprised me because I was expecting something really awful, given the cheap price of the guide.
What actually surprises me more, are the terrible translations circulating all around me. I read the back of a DVD last Sunday, OMG, and it had like 50 words...probably machine tran... See more I bought a small booklet guide of the city of Buenos Aires and in some pages it had a brief description of the main touristic sites, in Spanish and English.
The English was very well written!! It really surprised me because I was expecting something really awful, given the cheap price of the guide.
What actually surprises me more, are the terrible translations circulating all around me. I read the back of a DVD last Sunday, OMG, and it had like 50 words...probably machine translation... ▲ Collapse
| | | | Robert Forstag
United States
Local time: 00:55
Spanish to English
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| Five excellent Spanish translations of English books | Nov 4, 2009 |
1. & 2.
*Picasso: A Biogaphy*, [Parts I and II] by John Richardson (translated by a team of three translators)
3.
*1968* by Mark Kurlansky
4.
*Postwar* by Tony Judt
5.
*The Story of Art* by Ernest Gombrich
It seems like most of the excellent Spanish-language translations from English that I've read were produced by Spanish translators.
[Edited at 2009-11-04 17:27 GMT]
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Rebecca Garber
Local time: 00:55
Member (2005)
German to English
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| Directions for making Turkish coffee | Nov 4, 2009 |
The coffee is from Turkey, and the English directions are a marvel of clarity and fluency.
Certainly unlike "Chinese restaurant menu" translations.
| | | | John Cutler
Spain
Local time: 06:55
Spanish to English
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| Italian>English | Nov 4, 2009 |
I recently visited Pompey and while there bought a book entitled, "A day in Pompey".
It had been written in Italian and was translated into English. It read very naturally and I didn't get that "this sounds like a translation" impression when I read it.
Congratulations to the translator!
| | | | Maria Simmen
Germany
Local time: 06:55
English to German
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I just came home from the cinema, having watched "Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis" in German. It is just brilliant, absolutely hillarious. I would have never thought that a film about a French accent can be translated with such a stunning result.
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Published book translations are much more carefully vetted, especially if they are intended for a large audience.
For my doctoral dissertation I analyzed the discourse features of 32 chapter-length excerpts from published translations of famous Brazilian books, half fiction and half non-fiction. Most of them were awesome. Only a couple of duds.
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