Thoughts on translated books?

[Henrywrites]

I have heard a couple of times that a book loses something in translation. There are books such as War and Peace that many readers said it lost it's taste when it was translated from Russian language. I think when books are translated in verses, it should be accurate, but I don't know about now. Do you agree that there are some words that are lost when most books are translated from one language to another?

 

[Megan]

Oh yes. Especially sometimes with different cultures, like in manga and stuff. Some are done well and others not so much.

 

[JennyorAlice]

I'm reading a book now that is translated into English from Japanese. I'm not sure if it looses anything in the translation because I don't know the Japanese language and I don't really know their culture well enough to answer that question.

However, this book that I'm reading it currently the 3rd book in the series and I enjoyed the first two books.

 

[Uncrowned Guard]

It is a good thing as it gets books out there, but varying from the original text can really hurt the story and theme. There do seem to be a lot of translated books that alter small details on purpose and ruin the book, but there is also the problem that languages and cultures are not always a 1:1 translation and Manga is a great example of how things sometimes have to be altered to work.

 

[Wessel]

I used to read scanlated manga that you can't buy in English in the USA. Like Guyver for example, there are no English copies after you get passed so many volumes. You have to go online and visit a website that's had it translated.

 

[Nomad]

Some of the best books I have ever read are translated books. I never read the original book, therefore, I cannot say if the translation did justice to the book or not. However, I believe fiction is well translated, whereas poetry loses meaning in translation.