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Awful translations from aSoIaF


Sigella

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23 minutes ago, Therae said:

But when you hear "Reuzenwolf", does it not make you think "prehistoric" (despite the use of the prefix in modern species that happen to be really big)? That's what I meant.

Although in the specific case of the direwolves, I guess "giant" is still an accurate descriptive, even if it doesn't suggest it belongs to older era.

What about "aurochs"? I believe they are extinct as well. How does that get translated?

It would give me some confusion and I don't think I would realize at first it was a different species. But that the translator skipped the option and changed it directly to "scare" is at least worse. I have no idea how translators do their job but with some words I get the idea that they didn't even read the book before they started translating it since a lot of names just don't fit or are completelty unnecessary. Tully to Tulling, Bolton to Bolten... both versions aren't known Dutch names and both don't give a problem in Dutch so why change them?

Aurochs translates to Oeros, "ancient ox". That would be more understandable since we don't use "Oer" in another way that much, and the species is more well known.

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1 hour ago, Deepbollywood Motte said:

It would give me some confusion and I don't think I would realize at first it was a different species. But that the translator skipped the option and changed it directly to "scare" is at least worse. I have no idea how translators do their job but with some words I get the idea that they didn't even read the book before they started translating it since a lot of names just don't fit or are completelty unnecessary. Tully to Tulling, Bolton to Bolten... both versions aren't known Dutch names and both don't give a problem in Dutch so why change them?

Aurochs translates to Oeros, "ancient ox". That would be more understandable since we don't use "Oer" in another way that much, and the species is more well known.

At least scarewolf makes for a fun conversation here. :) Thanks for the great clarification!

P.S. Your username is fantastic.

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5 hours ago, Nowy Tends said:

The french translation was the object of a severe controversy here. Most of the family name and all the cities, places, villages, etc. are translated; in some cases it works but in many cases it's childish and a bit ridiculous, like "Potaunoir" for Kettleblack, "Petitbois" for Smallwood, "Corbois" for Hornwood, "Mervault" for Seaworth, "Fort Griseaux" for Greywater Watch, "Casterfoyer" :wacko: for Stokeworth, etc.

As for the dire wolves, the translator chose to make them "Loup Garou" which is french for "werewolf" — the worst possible translation.

That's awful. I speak a tad bit of French but not enough to be able to read any of GRRM's books in it(I've only being learning it for 3 years) but it seems like I'm not missing out. 

I don't get why they translated the family names. Aren't you supposed to leave things like names in their original form, not translate them.

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41 minutes ago, Therae said:

At least scarewolf makes for a fun conversation here. :) Thanks for the great clarification!

P.S. Your username is fantastic.

Most interestining for me is to make some people realize not everyone is English in the world. although we try to hide it on the internet. Threads like this emphasize that. And more on-topic in a meta-level, literature should be read it it's original written language if possible. 

Thanks! had to google yours and I don't really like cockroaches of any kind, has nothing to do with you though ;)

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In the german Version they translated most of the places and some of the Families. 

Worst example: Casterlyrock became Casterlystein. While a rock sounds like a huge giant thing, a stone does not at all. So Casterlystone sounds rather unimpressive. 

In never understood how they came up with "Königsmund" for Kingslanding, which is just Kings-mouth. Maybe because its at the mouth of the blackwater, but never made sense to me.

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2 minutes ago, Deepbollywood Motte said:

Most interestining for me is to make some people realize not everyone is English in the world. although we try to hide it on the internet. Threads like this emphasize that. And more on-topic in a meta-level, literature should be read it it's original written language if possible. 

Thanks! had to google yours and I don't really like cockroaches of any kind, has nothing to do with you though ;)

Cockroaches?! I'm not a fan of those either, although I expect this means there must be one called Therae. Yikes. Totally unintentional coincidence, in that case. It's actually meant to be the Anglicized, Latinized genitive of Thera--it's short for Catastrophe Therae, which was my derby name (a play on catastrophe theory + the eruption of the Santorini volcano, because roller derby + classics major); I did not want to use "Cat" as my handle in this milieu. ;)

Totally on board with your whole first paragraph. One of the best things about learning different languages is the realization that there is exponentially more to it than just matching words--which is why this is a fascinating thread.

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9 minutes ago, Clegane'sPup said:

Interesting thread and comments. Never considered the "translated into."  Self centered American merely thought people were reading the same words on the page as I was.

Well the version of an American hippie emulating an archaic form of English is definitly the best way to read the books, because he ment it that way. Translating GRRM's style of writing makes it probably very hard in every possible language. 

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12 minutes ago, Therae said:

Cockroaches?! I'm not a fan of those either, although I expect this means there must be one called Therae. Yikes. Totally unintentional coincidence, in that case. It's actually meant to be the Anglicized, Latinized genitive of Thera--it's short for Catastrophe Therae, which was my derby name (a play on catastrophe theory + the eruption of the Santorini volcano, because roller derby + classics major); I did not want to use "Cat" as my handle in this milieu. ;)

Totally on board with your whole first paragraph. One of the best things about learning different languages is the realization that there is exponentially more to it than just matching words--which is why this is a fascinating thread.

Well that's definitely a better story, the first google search gave me something about sand cockroaches... 

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GRRM amuses himself and his readership with assorted word games -- @Seams is the Maester of that topic. Are there any translations that try to capture some sense of the layering of language in the original?

 

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48 minutes ago, Deepbollywood Motte said:

Well the version of an American hippie emulating an archaic form of English is definitly the best way to read the books, because he ment it that way. Translating GRRM's style of writing makes it probably very hard in every possible language. 

I was being serious. I had not thought about how an American English book is translated into different languages. I only know one language, American English.

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Just now, Clegane'sPup said:

I was being serious. I had not thought about how an American English book is translated into different languages. I only know one language, American English.

While typing it I also thought it would come off a bit sarcastic but I'm actually serious, George's way is the best way. 

There are a some popular Dutch books translated in other languages and I couldn't imagine reading some of those books in English so I think I can imagine the situation. 

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1 hour ago, Robb Snow said:

In the german Version they translated most of the places and some of the Families. 

Worst example: Casterlyrock became Casterlystein. While a rock sounds like a huge giant thing, a stone does not at all. So Casterlystone sounds rather unimpressive. 

In never understood how they came up with "Königsmund" for Kingslanding, which is just Kings-mouth. Maybe because its at the mouth of the blackwater, but never made sense to me.

This is probably right -- I can't remember for sure, but was it mentioned before TWOIAF that King's Landing was literally named because it was the place where Aegon landed? If that bit of information wasn't somewhere early in AGOT, I could see Koenigsmund almost making more sense as a name for a capital at the mouth of a river.

However, given that it is named for the actual event, how would you translate it? Koenigslandeplatz? -landefeld? (Asking for real, as a very rusty (and never very good) German-as-a-second-language speaker.) Do those both sound too much like airfields?

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8 minutes ago, Therae said:

This is probably right -- I can't remember for sure, but was it mentioned before TWOIAF that King's Landing was literally named because it was the place where Aegon landed? If that bit of information wasn't somewhere early in AGOT, I could see Koenigsmund almost making more sense as a name for a capital at the mouth of a river.

However, given that it is named for the actual event, how would you translate it? Koenigslandeplatz? -landefeld? (Asking for real, as a very rusty (and never very good) German-as-a-second-language speaker.) Do those both sound too much like airfields?

*Landung wouldn't have been wrong... I guess, as a german-as-a-second-language speaker.

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48 minutes ago, Deepbollywood Motte said:

There are a some popular Dutch books translated in other languages

What fascinates me is until this very day, until this topic came up, I had not considered how American English is translated into another language. British English is different than American English.----- let's say ASOIAF was authored by a French, Italian, German, Egyptian, Iraqi or Vietnamese ----- when translated I doubt that I would comprehend the nuance.

People who can read, speak and comprehend the various nuances of multiple languages get a :thumbsup: from me. Man, I really didn't know how ignorant I am.

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32 minutes ago, Clegane'sPup said:

when translated I doubt that I would comprehend the nuance.

That's excaly the problem of reading a translated version of the books. But off course we couldn't expect for everyone to read a story in it's original language, it's impossible. Thinking of an Vietnamese version is also weird for me, English, Dutch, German and Swedish all have an common history and language, translating it into something completely uncommon language would be even harder. 

But I'm glad you (start to) realize some of us had to google some words while reading the books in English like for me the exact meaning of "genial" (is he a genius was my first thought, wasn't far off but it was in the nuance) or dainty (lady Leonette Fosssoway). That the dictionary gave 7 different descriptions just gave me to freedom to choose my own option adjusted to my idea.

If i'm not mistaken @Lord Varys (I'm still on mobile so don't know how to link him) is involved in the German translations. Maybe he could enlighten us on the struggles of translators. If i am mistaken, carry on!

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Here are some ridiculous translation errors from my country (all of them are corrected in the recent editions).

Jaime Lannister's "The things I do for love." became "I love doing this."

"He started asking questions." became "That's a good question."

silver stags became actual stags

A Storm of Swords was reversed into Swords of Storm

Dornishmen became men from 'Dornish'

Also, FFC translator forgot that the word 'fool' has two meanings: 1. idiot 2. court jester so when Brienne and Podrick traveled around looking for a fool (Dontos Hollard), it looks like she is looking for anyone who has a low IQ.

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5 minutes ago, shameeka said:

Jaime Lannister's "The things I do for love." became "I love doing this."

Those are all impressive, but the Jaime one...wow. No one is ever going to believe in any kind of redemption arc for that guy.

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I don't read the German translation, but I have heard some bits from friends that are absolutely perplexing:

The Eyrie got turned into "Die Hohenehr" (literally The High Honour) when it there's a perfectly good word for an eyrie: Adlerhorst

Highgarden meanwhile became Rosengarten (the standard German word for a rose garden) when it should be Hochgarten I have no idea whether Margaery is "Die Rose des Rosengarten" (The Rose of the Rose Garden in German...) 

And the best/worst name is King' s Landing which became...Koenigsmund (King's Mouth)
Apparently in the German version of Aegon's conquest the first thing he did on landfall was to take a bite out of the scenery... the worst part is that even here there's a more obvious and better translation: Koenigslaende, which comes somewhat close to the original meaning and is similar enough in appreance and sound.

Oh, and I think Dire Wolves are "Schattenwoelfe" (Shadow Wolves) which meh...I don't really care either way.

The Dreadfort, meanwhile is, I think, Schauderburg (Dread Castle) which is alright I guess, but what's not alright is that Casterly Rock was "half-translated" as "Casterlystein" like, how stupid can you make it? First of all, if you wanted to translate it like that it should be "Casterlyfels" because it's about the giant rock the castle is carved into, not the many small stones the castle is built out of.  And second, it sounds really cringy to have an English-sounding name combined with a German one.
I'm a firm believer that personal and place names shouldn't be translated at all. Everybody above the age of 15 should be able to understand simple English terms like "Rock". The only one I can think of right now that would be problematic is "Eyrie" and, well, god forbid you make your readers look up a single name and might learn something in the process :rolleyes:

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