Re: Language superiority, improvement, etc.

Bryan Maloney wrote:

> > words can be translated roughly, like schadenfreude (sp?) =3D "malici=
ous
> > pleasure", but it's not quite that.
>
> "The joy taken in the suffering of another"--yes, it's long, but it is =
a
> translation, and it captures the essence of the word.  I am astonished =
to
> discover that there are people who still believe that "translation"
> consists of word-for-word conversion.  There is nothing inherenetly
> immoral in the circumlocution.
Indeed -- the best translations are the ones (usually) which avoid the
foreign syntax and turns of phrase unnecessary for meaning from the trans=
lated
language, because when these are avoided, they sound most like English (w=
hich
is the point, after all).  This is one of the reasons why the King James =
Bible
is not the best translation, although it's beautiful in a poetic sense.


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Tom Wier <artabanos@...>
ICQ#: 4315704   AIM: Deuterotom
Website: <http://www.angelfire.com/tx/eclectorium/>
"Cogito ergo sum, sed credo ergo ero."

"Schlie=DFt den heil'gen Zirkel dichter,
  Schw=F6rt bei diesem goldnen Wein,
Dem Gel=FCbde treu zu sein,
  Schw=F6rt es bei dem Sternenrichter!"
   - _Ode an die Freude_, J. F. von Schiller
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