“The most conscientious editors of my novels are not those for whom English is their first language, but the foreign translators who bring their relentless eye to the tautological phrase or factual inaccuracy – of which there are far too many. My German translator is particularly infuriating.”
This beautiful article is three years old, but it’s timely now, since Le Carré died a few days ago.
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Нидерланды
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Thank you, philgoddard, for this heartfelt reminder of what a truly great writer John le Carré was, and the sheer beauty of the German language.
Is the spelling correct now? I can't feel my eyes anymore.
[Edited at 2020-12-17 14:16 GMT]
[Edited at 2020-12-17 14:21 GMT]
Великобритания
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Thank you, philgoddard, for this heartfelt reminder of what a truly great writer John le Carré was, and the sheer beauty of the German language.
I tried to read "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" (or whatever it's called) but after a few pages I found it horrible and flung it contemptuously across the room. John Le Carré is greatly overrated. However the television series of "Tinker, Tailor" is pretty good because it clears out all the tedious English public-school c*ap, and the turgid prose isn't there.
Thank you, philgoddard, for this heartfelt reminder of what a truly great writer John le Carré was, and the sheer beauty of the German language.
I particularly liked the paragraph: “No wonder then that the most conscientious editors of my novels are not those for whom English is their first language, but the foreign translators who bring their relentless eye to the tautological phrase or factual inaccuracy – of which there are far too many. My German translator is particularly infuriating.”
I bet the misspelling of Donaudampfschiffahrtsgesellschaftskapitän wouldn’t have got past his German translator, unlike the newspaper editor..
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I bet the misspelling of Donaudampfschiffahrtsgesellschaftskapitän wouldn’t have got past his German translator, unlike the newspaper editor..
As we can see in this thread, it can get past some translators too
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I bet the misspelling of Donaudampfschiffahrtsgesellschaftskapitän wouldn’t have got past his German translator, unlike the newspaper editor..
As we can see in this thread, it can get past some translators too
I should have checked it out, my German is a bit rusty. My apologies to all the German colleagues!
Нидерланды
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I tried to read "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" (or whatever it's called) but after a few pages I found it horrible and flung it contemptuously across the room. John Le Carré is greatly overrated. However the television series of "Tinker, Tailor" is pretty good because it clears out all the tedious English public-school c*ap, and the turgid prose isn't there.
I loved it, I don't mind turgid prose. Each to their own.
On the other hand, I've never been able to read Hemingway, Virginia Woolf and, recently, though I probably shouldn't mention her in the same breath, Elena Ferrante.
I've been trying to find where the BBC series is available but, apparently, you can find it only on iPlayer.
And then there's that odd literary convention where Johnny Foreigner speaks perfect English after the first couple of sentences, but always insists on adding Madame or Signor or sahib or whatever in his own language. In books in other lan... See more
And then there's that odd literary convention where Johnny Foreigner speaks perfect English after the first couple of sentences, but always insists on adding Madame or Signor or sahib or whatever in his own language. In books in other languages, do English people say things like "Bonjour, my good sir, comment ça va?"
Not to mention the countless other mistakes you always get in spy novels, such as where they go to extreme lengths to stow away across the border between Sweden and Norway - a completely open border that you've always been able to stroll across at will. Or where Stockholm is in the Netherlands, and Kiel in East Germany.
It does challenge your suspension of disbelief sometimes. ▲ Collapse
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I've been trying to find where the BBC series is available but, apparently, you can find it only on iPlayer.
It isn't on iPlayer either. But if you have a VPN set to United States, you can watch all episodes here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pq61jstTApk
Нидерланды
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It isn't on iPlayer either. But if you have a VPN set to United States, you can watch all episodes here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pq61jstTApk
Great tip, Tom, thank you!
Today my spelling is all over the place.
[Edited at 2020-12-17 14:22 GMT]
Великобритания
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Thank you, philgoddard, for this heartfelt reminder of what a truly great writer John le Carré was, and the sheer beauty of the German language.
No language is inherently beautiful or ugly. It all depends on who's speaking. Was Hitler's German beautiful?
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No language is inherently beautiful or ugly. It all depends on who's speaking. Was Hitler's German beautiful?
Tom, may I remind you of Godwin's Law? But since that ship has sailed, let me try and elaborate further, just a tiny bit, I promise.
Of course it's all relative. Hitler's German was despicable and ugly, as Mussolini's Italian, as Oswald Mosley's English, as Trump's whatever he speaks.
It's just that German is not associated with that presumed mellowness that makes Romance languages popular. Some people might think there's no beauty in it at all, but they're wrong.
This is objectively beautiful:
Kennst du das Land, wo die Zitronen blühn,
Im dunkeln Laub die Goldorangen glühn,
Ein sanfter Wind vom blauen Himmel weht,
Die Myrte still und hoch der Lorbeer steht,
Kennst du es wohl?
Dahin! Dahin
Möcht’ ich mit dir, o mein Geliebter, ziehn!
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One of the reasons why I never mastered German was because when my German teacher spoke to us in her Hochdeutsch, I was wafted into Wunderland just at the sound of it. So I never bothered trying to learn it properly; I just loved listening to it. Still do. But not every time.
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Guttural German, hurdy-gurdy in Scandinavia, all those African clicks, all that throaty Arabic, Chinese/Japanese toning, the shrill cries of tearful girlies outside a Ballymena boozer at chucking-out time on Friday night (eh, Tom?), and many others, well, they might not always be such a delight to the ear, but I sense more poetry in Kennst du das Land, wo die Zitronen blühn ...? than in Arbeit Macht Frei, n... See more
Guttural German, hurdy-gurdy in Scandinavia, all those African clicks, all that throaty Arabic, Chinese/Japanese toning, the shrill cries of tearful girlies outside a Ballymena boozer at chucking-out time on Friday night (eh, Tom?), and many others, well, they might not always be such a delight to the ear, but I sense more poetry in Kennst du das Land, wo die Zitronen blühn ...? than in Arbeit Macht Frei, no matter who's talking. The former has a kind of ring to it, whereas the latter has a kind of knell.
Not sure where I'm going with this. A bit disorientated and off-forum today, but thought I'd jump in blind.
[Edited at 2020-12-17 15:42 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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Was Hitler's German beautiful?
... because he was Austrian. And even Austrian German can sound lovely, if not charming:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQaq0eusLFY
(The subtitle function of YouTube is available, but obviously fails for Austrian German)
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Great video, Matthias. I didn't understand a single word, but it was still pleasant to listen to.
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