So I've been reading the Divine Comedy, Ciardi's translation, and I've been finding it tedious and hard to read (I'm already at the Paradiso nonetheless). It seems so unpoetic. Then I decided to just glance at the original and since I know Spanish I actually understood quite a lot of the first canto. Then I realized the Ciardi translation is shit and it's so much funner to read in the original language (lots of meaning is sacrificed to make it "seem" like Dante's) and it's hyper poetic and beautiful. Translations suck. I'm very much considering actually learning Italian for this.
That said, I never thought the ideas behind the Commedia were boring, just the delivery which is all the fault of the translation.
Next time you think some non-English writer is boring and tedious, just think it might be the translation and maybe the writer is fucking fantastic.
Learn other languages, anons. Set yourselves free from unimaginative translators.
Jonathan Ross
I'm in love with it reading the Mandelbaum translation.
Quit being a fucking pussy and learn how to pick translations
Anthony Nguyen
Perhaps the translation may be better, but even Mandelbaum would agree that his translation pales in comparison to the original Italian. I'm just saying for me the original seems so much more poetic and easy to read than my translation. Maybe Mandelbaum is better than Ciardi, but both are inferior to Dante.
Grayson King
To be fair though, just looking at the first stanza, Mandelbaum does render it much better than Ciardi. But still, the translation doesn't render the original Italian without sacrifice.
Isaiah Reyes
How is Longfellow? I'm about to read his translation.
Joseph Collins
retard
Angel Sullivan
Nonetheless, none will be as good as the original, how hard is that to accept?
Hunter Morales
Inferno < Paradise Lost < The Tragedy of Man
Liam Sanders
I believe you haha
Alexander Nelson
>translations of poetry are not as good as the original
wow pack it up guys this dude figured it out for us, lmao
Have you never been to lit before? What the fuck. Disdaining translations, often to the point of hyperbole, is like the board's single most prominent trope.
