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In which language did you read the books?


The Pimp

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This is obviously for people who aren't native english speakers.

(I'm not sure if this is the right place to post it.)

Anyway, did you read the books in translation or did you try to read them in english? Do you know if they did a good translation in your mother tongue?

I'm italian and I heard the italian translation was pretty bad (e.g. the stag that killed the direwolf in the first chapter of AGOT became an unicorn, Sansa's hair changed color from brown to auburn to black, the Lannister banner in one chapter was suddenly azure, etc), so I tried to read them in english and I really enjoyed the reading!

Only wanted to know about your experience and the translation in other languages.

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I read the books on Russian but there are a lot of mistakes of translators. For example, they have changed names of heroes and castles. And it was reason why I became to read the books on english (at the secont time).


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  • 4 weeks later...
I watched the series in Russian with my sister after I watched it in original, and I have to admit, the translation is brilliant. Although they do change the names, but there's a reason for it. Up until recently all foreign names were being changed and sounded more Latin (for example, Charles was Karl, etc.) That's why, to sound more natural for the Russian ear and fit to the Medieval era, they were changed.

So, now I'm reading the novels in English and it's extremely HARD. I study some new words from it (there may be 10 or more new words in a page). But the good thing is, I memorize them pretty well, because I associate them with the characters and events:)

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I watched the series first in English and when I wanted to read the books, I hesitated for long because I did not feel capable to read in English but I knew that all the names would be changed. Then I heard that the French translation was pretty terrible, were it for names or Martin's style which becomes uselessly medieval and vain. As for the names, for example they translated Sunspear by "Lancehélion" which comes from "lance" meaning "spear" and "hélios" which is the ancient Greek word for "sun". Which makes the word four syllables instead of two when they could totally have translated it "Sollance" but instead they tried to act smart and Greek and translated it terribly.



So I read in English and surprisingly did pretty well!


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I watched the series first in English and when I wanted to read the books, I hesitated for long because I did not feel capable to read in English but I knew that all the names would be changed. Then I heard that the French translation was pretty terrible, were it for names or Martin's style which becomes uselessly medieval and vain. As for the names, for example they translated Sunspear by "Lancehélion" which comes from "lance" meaning "spear" and "hélios" which is the ancient Greek word for "sun". Which makes the word four syllables instead of two when they could totally have translated it "Sollance" but instead they tried to act smart and Greek and translated it terribly.

So I read in English and surprisingly did pretty well!

In Russian they translated Gilly as Lilly because it's a flower name (and gillyflower doesn't really sound like a name in Russian). I personally don't like such amendments.

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Yup the French translation was awful. The style is ponderous to the extent where it becomes hard to understand what is actually happening, where it would have needed short sentences, direct translations for certain names (like Tormund is called the Tall-Talker which is translated in Haut-Disert which is a word that hasn't been around for long centuries, which is not the case for "talker") and overall more fluidity to be closer to the books.



I heard they wanted to re-do it though. Then I'll be glad to finally read it in my own language.


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I read the first four books in French, and then ADWD in English. And it was hard to keep up with name changes. But the French ASoIaF website had a great list of French/English equivalents. It helped.



I won't be as vocal about the "bad" French translation. It has some flaws, but I like it.


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In Russian they translated Gilly as Lilly because it's a flower name (and gillyflower doesn't really sound like a name in Russian). I personally don't like such amendments.

In the spanish version, which I'm reading (Translation by Cristina Macía, Adela Ibáñez, Natalia Cervera y Alejo Cuervo), Gilly is translated "Elí", from "Alelí".

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In my mother language (Czech). Because it is nice language and a translation is nice too. But i am going to read A Song of Ice and Fire or another book in English. The series i watch, of course, in original dabing. Our dabing is terrible :D.


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T'as vu ça où ? Ils ont annoncé la manière dont ils vont le retraduire au niveau des noms et du style ?

Je cite Wikipédia "La traduction française est effectuée par Jean Sola pour les quatre premiers volumes originaux, et par Patrick Marcel à partir de A Dance with Dragons. La traduction de Jean Sola a fait l'objet d'une polémique en raison de son style archaïsant assez éloigné de celui, plus simple, de Martin et de la conservation de certains noms propres en anglais tandis que d'autres ont été traduits33. Patrick Marcel déclare s'être écarté de la traduction de Jean Sola, avec « un style plus direct, moins médiévalisant » plus proche de celui de Martin qui selon lui « écrit dans un style moderne pour que ses personnages et les situations soient compréhensibles par le public ». La série télévisée a elle-même sa logique propre de traduction"

Je me souvenais mal, ils ont juste changé pour ADWD, il a gardé les noms de la première traduction, mais le style est beaucoup plus agréable.

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