Anyone else here just completely put off by translations and translated works?

Anyone else here just completely put off by translations and translated works?

The older I get and the more I advance in my literature studies, the less I can stand translated works. Let me try to phrase this right. I'm not saying translation is useless, I'm not saying it shouldn't exist, I'm not saying people who read translated works are plebs or any of that shit (trying to have a serious discussion). I care a lot about the formal qualities of literature (structure, metre, syntax), and I mostly read poetry and novels. I have come to accept the fact that some things are just out of reach. Because I am fluent in several different languages and have a decent grasp on some others, I have often compared translations with the originals. It's not that all translations are bad at all, it's just that they're essentially entirely different products in the end. Of course, this doesn't happen to the same extent with entirely plot-based novels with mediocre style, but for the sort of literature I'm interested in, it's pretty noticeable. Fortunately for me, I have good enough reading comprehension in the 5 languages I care about the most. Still butthurt I'll never be able to read Russian lit, and Japanese lit to a lesser extent.

Tl;dr I find reading works from cultures entirely foreign to yours originally written in a language you know nothing about is not good enough for me and I would much rather entirely focus on stuff I can understand better at the expense of a narrow, in a sense, knowledge of literature.

What's your stance on this issue, Veeky Forums?

Pic unrelated.

>Because I am fluent in several different languages
>I have good enough reading comprehension in the 5 languages

We get it. You speak multiple languages.

Translations are shit and they should be avoided at all costs.

They are for the monolingual American masses, not for intelligent people who actually care for literature.

Humblebrag.

>thread about languages and translation
>mentioning you're not monolingual since it's the basis for this opinion

HURR BRAGGING MUCH?

Never change, Veeky Forums. It's my own fault for coming back here after years and expecting actual discussion.

This is really not it either, at all.

There's no stance to be had, there's a few rare cases but they are out there, where the translation adds a whole new element to the novel in the first place or even improves it.

You know 5 languages don't ask me what's what.

All you have to do is be careful, works have been translated into english for hundreds of years now, if someones too lazy/doesn't care about the translator of a specific book then they can just buy the latest penguin or whatever is at the book store.

Most people don't have a choice with translations.

>there's a few rare cases but they are out there, where the translation adds a whole new element to the novel in the first place or even improves it.

This is my point, though. If that's the case, then it's not a good translation if you think about the authority of the writer. If it adds something or it improves it, it's a different end product entirely. Translator as author. I don't want that.

For poetry I agree. For some novels, maybe; but, to a lesser extent.

That is a beautiful rare pepe

Then you just need to find more literal translators, like Lattimore is reputed to be for Homer.