Un pez en la higuera: Una historia fabulosa de la traducción
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- Create Date：2022-08-20 18:17:35
- Update Date：2025-09-23
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- Author：David Bellos
- ISBN：8434435454
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Summary
Este libro no es tanto un manual de traducción como una amena guía cultural。 No trata de metodología ni de técnica， sino de los plátanos o las higueras que crecieron en el Evangelio de san Mateo según las distintas traducciones， o del pez de Babel， criatura maravillosa que sólo había que acercarse al oído para comprender al instante todas las lenguas del mundo。 Dicho de otro modo， esta obra nos descubre lo que la traducción es capaz de hacer por nosotros en todas las áreas en las que interviene， desde la literatura hasta la diplomacia， pasando por la filosofía， la subtitulación， las noticias o el turismo。
¿Cómo sabemos con certeza que hemos comprendido lo que dicen los demás， en nuestro idioma o en cualquier otro？ ¿Qué diferencia hay entre traducir unas palabras coloquiales y un libro como Madame Bovary？ ¿Qué es lo que sucede en realidad cuando los líderes mundiales hablan en la ONU？ Éstos son， entre muchos otros， los temas con los que el lector de esta obra se encuentra a medida que avanza en la lectura。 Un recorrido erudito y humorístico por el maravilloso país de las palabras， donde aparecen el cómico Chaplin y el filósofo J。 L。 Austin， Cristóbal Colón y san Jerónimo， pero también Franz Kafka， Georges Perec， Andreï Makine… Un libro extraordinario para todos los amantes de la lengua y también para aquellos a quienes les gusta que les cuenten historias。
¿Cómo sabemos con certeza que hemos comprendido lo que dicen los demás， en nuestro idioma o en cualquier otro？ ¿Qué diferencia hay entre traducir unas palabras coloquiales y un libro como Madame Bovary？ ¿Qué es lo que sucede en realidad cuando los líderes mundiales hablan en la ONU？ Éstos son， entre muchos otros， los temas con los que el lector de esta obra se encuentra a medida que avanza en la lectura。 Un recorrido erudito y humorístico por el maravilloso país de las palabras， donde aparecen el cómico Chaplin y el filósofo J。 L。 Austin， Cristóbal Colón y san Jerónimo， pero también Franz Kafka， Georges Perec， Andreï Makine… Un libro extraordinario para todos los amantes de la lengua y también para aquellos a quienes les gusta que les cuenten historias。
Reviews
Becky
，
Very interesting and accessible。 The focused chapters allowed me to spend time on my particular interests while I skimmed others。
Emma Deplores Goodreads Censorship
，
This book is a combination of interesting anecdotes， factoids and insights with a lot of pedantic nitpicking that put me in mind of someone complaining with their colleagues about how people misunderstand their work。 An interesting read if you’re especially interested in how translation works and the contexts in which it comes up， but also one I struggled with: I nearly abandoned it after 50 pages， but decided instead to skip ahead to those chapters which most interested me， and did wind up read This book is a combination of interesting anecdotes， factoids and insights with a lot of pedantic nitpicking that put me in mind of someone complaining with their colleagues about how people misunderstand their work。 An interesting read if you’re especially interested in how translation works and the contexts in which it comes up， but also one I struggled with: I nearly abandoned it after 50 pages， but decided instead to skip ahead to those chapters which most interested me， and did wind up reading it all。 Fortunately， although often pedantic in content it’s quite readable in style， made up of relatively short essays that allow for disconnected reading。Some interesting bits:-tHierarchies among languages not only determine what gets translated， but how it is translated。 There’s a reason we English speakers often praise something for “not reading like a translation，” and it’s because people speaking more powerful languages in general are uninterested in translated work and would prefer writing to sound like it originated in their own language。 Translations into lower-prestige languages， on the other hand， often deliberately preserve indications of translation， because the fact itself conveys prestige—and translators get public recognition in other countries that they don’t in the English-speaking world。 （Now I get to be embarrassed by my own unconscious privilege in having praised many translated works for not reading like one！） There’s a lot about this in the book; I disagree with the criticisms claiming Bellos doesn’t deal with political aspects of translation。-tTo get noticed globally， an author needs to get their work published in English—or， along the way， a “pivot language”: usually French or German， from which works are regularly translated into English。 I had previously wondered why so many of my world books challenge books come from other European languages， even if they originate a long way from Europe （Galsan Tschinag， a Mongolian shaman who writes his novels in German， is actually mentioned in the book）。 The answer is that just because two languages exist doesn’t mean they have “translation relations，” and authors aim for the language that will get them the widest exposure。-tOf the book translations published globally as of the first decade of the 21st century， 65% were from English into other languages， and 10% from other languages into English。 Only 25% did not involve English， and these are largely books being translated into （or between） French and German。-tIf the idea of a “pivot language” and the same text being translated and retranslated doesn’t sound like a great practice—well， it’s nonetheless done all the time。 Plans to translate Chinese classics into a large number of major languages involve translating them into English， and then from the English translation into everything else。 The same is done at the UN， where interpreters render Chinese into English， and other interpreters then translate the English into other languages。-tThe EU is so committed to language parity that it has 24 official languages， and written material needs to be published in all of them simultaneously: officially， nothing is a translation of anything else and everything is original。 This is not just a legal fiction， as lawyer-linguists work together to craft documents in all the languages， but creates interesting court cases comparing all the versions of a law to each other to determine the intended meaning when they diverge。 There have been some unintended consequences: brain drain from the countries speaking lesser-known languages， and very short court decisions in the interest of sparing staff time。-t“Literal” translations apparently aren’t really a thing （though we’re getting into the pedantry here）， but there are some interesting stories about the bounds being stretched unusually far。 Bible translation projects have taken enormous license， from translating “fig tree” as “banana tree” in tropical climates， to actually removing elements like fasting and throwing tree branches in someone’s path because you respect them—both of which say something very different in some other cultures。 There is of course enormous condescension in this: people aren’t getting the original meaning because someone else has decided they can’t handle it。 -tOther stretches have been arguably justified in reproducing the force of the original statement， even if turning it into something very different。 The Ottoman government’s translators routinely turned the correspondence of European monarchs and statements from their representatives into the very servile language their own rulers expected， even though the original speakers would never have said such a thing。 This seems to have been in part legitimate diplomacy， although also self-preservation on the translators’ part。 -tThere’s a long history of original works passing themselves off as translations （for greater prestige or appearance of antiquity， to evade censorship or retaliation， etc。）， as well as translations passing themselves off as originals。 Naturally， there is also a long history of works being substantially changed in translation to fit the mores of their own society or avoid political retaliation。-tTranslators have their own understanding of how a language should work， and translation can actually “regularize” a language， often leading to greater formality， as they avoid what they see as colloquialisms。 Along similar lines， when translating speech patterns， it’s easy to translate the highfalutin ones into their equivalent in the receiving language， but doing the same with lower-class or regional speech just sounds wrong to modern audiences， so it tends to just get translated into the “standard。” Texts are also written differently if the intention is to translate them: for instance， because movie subtitles can only be so long， there’s an incentive to keep dialogue brief。Obviously， plenty here that interested me， but that’s at most half the book。 The other half largely consists of essays making extremely pedantic points: that people shouldn’t say “translations can’t substitute for the original” because substitution is in fact the purpose of a translation， you wouldn’t need it if you could easily read the original; that people comparing translation to adapting a story from one medium to another are wrong; that people are wrong to say words are “names for things” because 。 。 。 I’m still not sure I follow this one， but the sticking point appears to be that words often have more than one meaning！ There’s a lot of time caught up in what seem like really obvious or nitpicky points that very few readers would care about。 Bellos also goes off after some weird hares （the argument that the purpose of language is social rather than communicative， because people could just communicate through gestures like animals do。 Travel in a country where you don’t know the language and you’ll soon find the limits of that）。Overall， there are definitely some informative and interesting bits here， along with a substantial share of tedium。 Picking and choosing which parts you read is definitely a good choice。 。。。more
Olivia-Jade Tribert
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This is such a brilliant book！ I would highly recommend to anyone new to translation studies。
Dinara Bekmagambetova
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Долгое время я работала в коллективах， где была единственным человеком， знающим английский。 Поэтому мне все время приходилось что-то переводить - статьи в зарубежной прессе， выдержки из интересных исследований， новости。 Теперь же мой основной язык работы - английский， но живу я по-прежнему в Казахстане， поэтому частенько приходится переводить с английского на русский и обратно， с русского на казахский и с английского на казахский。 При этом я никогда не задумывалась о том， что， собственно， такое Долгое время я работала в коллективах， где была единственным человеком， знающим английский。 Поэтому мне все время приходилось что-то переводить - статьи в зарубежной прессе， выдержки из интересных исследований， новости。 Теперь же мой основной язык работы - английский， но живу я по-прежнему в Казахстане， поэтому частенько приходится переводить с английского на русский и обратно， с русского на казахский и с английского на казахский。 При этом я никогда не задумывалась о том， что， собственно， такое перевод。 Поэтому интересно было почитать у Бэллоса о разных подходах к определению понятия "перевод" и того， каким он должен быть。 В зависимости от того， что понимается под переводом， выстраиваются и соответствующие ожидания。 Например， одни считают， что переведенный текст должен быть эквивалентен оригиналу， в то время как другие верят， что задача переводчика - находить соответствия （не эквиваленты） для составляющих оригинала。 Сложная задача， которая еще более осложняется наличием множества разных видов перевода， каждого со своими нюансами。 Переводчикам субтитров для фильмов и комиксов нужно уметь ужиматься в тесные рамки и сохранять при этом смысл， устным переводчикам - быстро соображать， что стоит переводить， а что - нет， особенно во время важных переговоров。 А синхронисты вообще должны "преодолевать естественное стремление не слушать， когда говоришь， и не говорить， когда слушаешь"。 Да и переводчикам художественных текстов нелегко приходится。 Книга помогает ненадолго влезть в шкуру переводчика и рассмотреть трудности и особенности， которые возникают при том или ином виде перевода， да и коммуникации в целом。 Чуть ли не в каждой главе я сохраняла интересные для себя куски - о придворных переводчиках （драгоманах） Османской империи， о первом в мире масштабном синхронном переводе （во время Нюрнбергского процесса）， об особенностях перевода Библии。 Люблю такие книги-трамплины， от которых можно оттолкнуться для дальнейшего изучения интересной для себя темы。 。。。more
Cactus9
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The first paragrah of each chapter was immediately engaging， but the rest invariably was dense and impenetrable and mind-numbingly repetetive。 The book as a whole has a kinda defensive and whiny tone to it， constantly talking abut ignorant things people say about translation and then making the rebuttal so unreadable that I couldn't tell you what the counter-arguments are。 It was so immensely disappointing to read as I love linguistics and have tried translating before， so a deeper discussion on The first paragrah of each chapter was immediately engaging， but the rest invariably was dense and impenetrable and mind-numbingly repetetive。 The book as a whole has a kinda defensive and whiny tone to it， constantly talking abut ignorant things people say about translation and then making the rebuttal so unreadable that I couldn't tell you what the counter-arguments are。 It was so immensely disappointing to read as I love linguistics and have tried translating before， so a deeper discussion on the questions that arise should have been great。 It wasn't， and was a slog to get through。 The only chapter that did not outstay its welcome was on translation in the UN， which is contrived in a way that the novel was able to work with rather than succumb to。 。。。more
Jeffrey Green
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If you are a translator， this is must read。 Bellos is an accomplished translator from French and a professor at Princeton （my alma mater）， a brilliant， witty writer， a straight thinker， and honest。 If you're not a translator， but interested in language （and you ought to be！）， you will also gain from reading this book。Bellos cuts through a lot of murky thinking and old saws about translation and also brings up matters that I， as a translator and even the author of a book on translation， hadn't ev If you are a translator， this is must read。 Bellos is an accomplished translator from French and a professor at Princeton （my alma mater）， a brilliant， witty writer， a straight thinker， and honest。 If you're not a translator， but interested in language （and you ought to be！）， you will also gain from reading this book。Bellos cuts through a lot of murky thinking and old saws about translation and also brings up matters that I， as a translator and even the author of a book on translation， hadn't ever thought of。 Among those topics is the situation in the European Community， where all documents are issued in every language of the more than twenty members and the matter of the spread of international news， received in one language on a wire service and then incorporated in other languages in stories， which aren't strictly translations， shedding light on the nature of translation。The final chapters speculate on the reasons for language diversity， and they're very smart。Bellos cites secondary sources abundantly， but his own writing is so acute that one doesn't actually need to look any farther。 。。。more
Balloon Bruce
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Just couldn't get into it。 Just couldn't get into it。 。。。more
Hessel
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Deels gelezen， deels geskimd， deels geskipt。 Zitten wel interessante stukjes tussen， maar de schrijver is duidelijk een professor; wetenschappers zijn er vaak beter in om dingen duidelijk uit te leggen dan boeiend en vermakelijk op te schrijven。
Est
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Witty and informative， a great book on what translation does。 Just not that much into translation。
James Askari
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In the most unaffected style， Bellos takes delight in dismantling a long list of received wisdoms about translation--that translations axiomatically fall short of originals; that they are inherently treacherous;that 'style is the man'， and is untranslatable; that poetry is what is lost in translation， and that translation cannot get at the 'ineffable'。 On the contrary: meaning is effable--anything that can be thought can be said in every language， and a good test of whether an utterance is meani In the most unaffected style， Bellos takes delight in dismantling a long list of received wisdoms about translation--that translations axiomatically fall short of originals; that they are inherently treacherous;that 'style is the man'， and is untranslatable; that poetry is what is lost in translation， and that translation cannot get at the 'ineffable'。 On the contrary: meaning is effable--anything that can be thought can be said in every language， and a good test of whether an utterance is meaningful or not is whether it can be translated。 Bellos is a shrewd， quiet deflator: he calls Derrida hard to understand， and suggests Gayatri Spivak may not know what he means; thinks Roman Jakobson's classification of translations wrong-headed， and finds the influence of Benjamin's 'The Task of the Translator' on translation studies unfortunate。 At the same time， his pithy， well-turned chapters are typically counter-intuitive， opposing our ideas of translations （usually based on literary translation） as a field of error with a fact-informed picture of translators' resourcefulness， describing dragomans at the Ottoman court， continental European voice artists， Japanese star translators， and the practicalities of simultaneous translation at the UN General Assembly and International Criminal Court。 Hess complimented the efficiency of the translation relays of the Nuremburg trials， which he predicted would shorten his life。 。。。more
aida
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3。85？ I just find that the author's approach is kind of limited to languages that use the roman alphabet， or western languages in general？ for asian （west， central， south， east， southeast） languages with different scripts， multiple even there's definitely more nuance and care in translating， as far as i've experienced。 and translating between non-english languages too。 but a good read nonetheless 3。85？ I just find that the author's approach is kind of limited to languages that use the roman alphabet， or western languages in general？ for asian （west， central， south， east， southeast） languages with different scripts， multiple even there's definitely more nuance and care in translating， as far as i've experienced。 and translating between non-english languages too。 but a good read nonetheless 。。。more
Galina
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Way too much philosophy。
saïd
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Iris Murdoch described the act of translation as similar to "opening one's mouth and hearing someone else's voice emerge。"I had complicated feelings with this one。 An issue I've had with David Bellos's writing in our previous encounters is that he often doesn't fully explore the ideas he posits， i。e。， he starts off strong， but then either tapers off or falls into an unrelated digression。 This was moderately amusing （and admittedly apt） when reading his work on Victor Hugo， but doesn't lend itsel Iris Murdoch described the act of translation as similar to "opening one's mouth and hearing someone else's voice emerge。"I had complicated feelings with this one。 An issue I've had with David Bellos's writing in our previous encounters is that he often doesn't fully explore the ideas he posits， i。e。， he starts off strong， but then either tapers off or falls into an unrelated digression。 This was moderately amusing （and admittedly apt） when reading his work on Victor Hugo， but doesn't lend itself well to a book on translation studies。 As Suzy Kassem said， "Never trust the translation or interpretation of something without first trusting its interpreter。"Bellos， himself a professional translator of French to English， occupies a very privileged position within the loose-knit community。 He does not delve into the political nature of translation， and in fact fails to discuss the implications of translation any further than the cool linguistic quirks that may pose problems for an individual translator。 Translating a text is political， and not translating a text is as well。 One pertinent example would be safety brochures that are only in British English and not native Indian languages; English was the sole language used for administrative purposes as well as in higher education until India's independence from Britain in 1947， at which point Indian legislators faced the challenge of choosing a language or languages for official communication as well as communication between different linguistic regions within the country， which has the world's fourth-highest number of distinct languages。 The current official languages of the United Nations are Arabic， （Mandarin） Chinese， English， French， Russian， and Spanish; official UN documents are made available in all of the above。 There are currently 193 member countries of the United Nations。 Do you see the problem？To translate a text the translator must first decide what it means and its intention， in order to ensure that the text is translated consistently and appropriately。 Any hint of non-literal phrasing complicates the situation tenfold。 As an example， take this line， from "The Lion King": Our teeth and ambitions are bared—be prepared！ This is a zeugma; bared can refer to the idiom "to bare one's teeth，" i。e。， to display an angry， violent， or threatening reaction to or against something or someone， as an animal would when threatened—it could also refer to the phrase， "to lay bare，" i。e。， to reveal or uncover private information or feelings。 The ambitions are laid bare， i。e。， revealed; the teeth are bared， i。e。， exposed: there is both a literal and metaphorical meaning。 How could you translate this？ What about into a language that doesn't have that same idiom？ Umberto Eco posed a similar example: how do you translate the idiom "I smell a rat" from English into Italian， when the latter doesn't have a similar rodentine euphemism for a traitorous person？There are multiple "correct" options， of course; in an instance which uses non-literal language， to translate indirectly—as would be necessary—would be to translate incorrectly; or， perhaps， incompletely。 There are other， simpler， examples: the French word for "stranger" and "foreigner" are the same （étranger）; English doesn't distinguish between visiting a place and visiting a person; Mandarin Chinese doesn't conjugate or pluralise; Russian doesn't have articles while other languages do; and so on。 Author and translator Michael Coulson described translation as a difficult and thankless task， noting that "in the end there are no degrees of success， only degrees of failure，" and I'm inclined to agree。 An exact translation is possible only within the context of mathematics and the like， i。e。， "two and two make four，" "deux et deux font quatre"; outside of this， everything is an approximation at best。 There is no such thing as a truly perfect， ideal， or "correct" translation。Other minor quibbles I had with Bellos's approach include his tendency towards overstatement and generalisation （i。e。， he says that English is the only lingua franca used for intercommunity communication within various Belgian linguistic groups， which is not true; he says "Chinese" in every context， instead of differentiating between the different Chinese languages—even specifying Mandarin or Cantonese would be an improvement） and his lack of attention to detail to second- and third-world countries， specifically South African countries and indigenous communities worldwide （he also glossed over Canada， which seems odd， particularly coming from a French-English translator！）。Nonsense can be made to make sense by supposing some alternative context for it。 At the start of his revolutionary work Syntactic Structures （1957）， Noam Chomsky cooked up a nonsense sentence in order to explain what he saw as the fundamental difference between a meaningful sentence and a grammatical one。 “Colorless green ideas sleep furiously” was proposed as a fully grammatical sentence that had no possible meaning at all。 [。。。] Within a few months， witty students devised ways of proving Chomsky wrong， and at Stanford they were soon running competitions for texts in which “Colorless green ideas sleep furiously” would be not just a grammatical sentence， but a meaningful expression as well。 Here’s one of the prize-winning entries:It can only be the thought of verdure to come， which prompts us in the autumn to buy these dormant white lumps of vegetable matter covered by a brown papery skin， and lovingly to plant them and care for them。 It is a marvel to me that under this cover they are labouring unseen at such a rate within to give us the sudden awesome beauty of spring flowering bulbs。 While winter reigns the earth reposes but these colourless green ideas sleep furiously。 A part I did enjoy was when Bellos discussed how machine translation works。 It's considered gauche in real-life translation to use a pivot language （i。e。， a lingua franca， such as translating from Igbo to Mongolian by translating Igbo to English to Mongolian）， but that's unfortunately how machine learning works: the neural network will search through established translated documents for a fragment of the given text （i。e。， "Two houses， both alike in dignity。。。"）; it would be more likely to find an example of English-Igbo translation as well as English-Mongolian， therefore an equivalent can be found for Igbo-Mongolian。 Popular fiction and legal documentation are common suspects; "two houses" could be drawn from a real estate deed， for example。 As anyone who's messed around with online machine translators is well aware， this method doesn't work perfectly， because machines are no substitute for human brains！ Machines don't understand context。 One humourous anecdote from my own experience was when one of my French students clearly used Google Translate on a homework assignment: the sentence was supposed to say， "I was wearing shorts" （the article of clothing）， but the machine translator grabbed the translation of "shorts" （as in， short films） instead。Overall I found this to be an interesting and fairly decent introduction into the field of translation studies， particularly for a non-specialist， although the lack of acknowledgement of the political nuance inherent in translation was a huge letdown。 I wouldn't go so far as to say that Bellos's background as a white Western （British native） man negatively influenced this book， but it certainly didn't help the apparent lack of self-awareness。 。。。more
Blanca
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Where to start？ This book is really complete。 It is complete in the sense that it could work as an academical reference book （it is also very well referenced）。 It was actually recommended to me by a teacher while I was doing my degree and therefore I recognise many of the technical terms written all over the book。 However I wouldn't recommend this read to anyone who has not got previos training or knowledge in Translation and/or Interpretation studies since the reading was quite hard to follow a Where to start？ This book is really complete。 It is complete in the sense that it could work as an academical reference book （it is also very well referenced）。 It was actually recommended to me by a teacher while I was doing my degree and therefore I recognise many of the technical terms written all over the book。 However I wouldn't recommend this read to anyone who has not got previos training or knowledge in Translation and/or Interpretation studies since the reading was quite hard to follow and at some points confusing: there's too much information and too precise， so without background knowledge on these topics the book will not be an easy read。 I also had to underline the sentences I found most interesting otherwise I would feel really lost。 I recommend watching Bellos' videos on Youtube before taking up this book。 。。。more
Diana Kolganov
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I'm starting my studies as a Translation student and this is the prime book I found that was recommended from this subject。David covers the various ways translation is touching us in every day life and tells the story of how this area is not one to die soon。Recommended！ I'm starting my studies as a Translation student and this is the prime book I found that was recommended from this subject。David covers the various ways translation is touching us in every day life and tells the story of how this area is not one to die soon。Recommended！ 。。。more
Eule Hecking
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words about words
Tyler
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Really， very good。Picked this up because I tried to learn Spanish this year and have been watching a lot of translated Japanese media （fully in the vtuber hole）， and I'm starting to see the cracks around the way we teach and experience different languages in English。 This was such a good choice， I absolutely adored it。 Bellos takes a complicated subject and breaks it down in manageable chapters and topics， with insight and understated but very effective humor。 I constantly had the "Oh my God， ye Really， very good。Picked this up because I tried to learn Spanish this year and have been watching a lot of translated Japanese media （fully in the vtuber hole）， and I'm starting to see the cracks around the way we teach and experience different languages in English。 This was such a good choice， I absolutely adored it。 Bellos takes a complicated subject and breaks it down in manageable chapters and topics， with insight and understated but very effective humor。 I constantly had the "Oh my God， yeah you're right！" thought as he explained how he thought about and how the field thinks about translation in a way I've never considered。 Really if you are interested in the process of translation at all， you should pick this up。5/5 stars， I loved it。 。。。more
Danika
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Fascinating to read about a field adjacent to my own and see so many similarities。 I don’t think the author had ever heard of any sort of sign language， which seems staggering， but since he knows little about it perhaps he just decided not to try bringing it up。
Swanny
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Verrryyy interesting。 Liked it a lot。 So much history I'd never considered。 I love how every chapter begins with an assumption one would feel safe making about translation， then ends with an utter take down explaining why said assumption is absolutely meaningless and worthless。 10/10 Verrryyy interesting。 Liked it a lot。 So much history I'd never considered。 I love how every chapter begins with an assumption one would feel safe making about translation， then ends with an utter take down explaining why said assumption is absolutely meaningless and worthless。 10/10 。。。more
Mad Hapa
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Dense but thorough。 Recommend if you're interested in the history of translation， how translation at the UN works， how poetry translation works and/or fun facts about languages。 Ex。 there's an aboriginal tribe in Australia that doesn't have words for left and right， they use cardinal directions （such as east and west） instead。 Dense but thorough。 Recommend if you're interested in the history of translation， how translation at the UN works， how poetry translation works and/or fun facts about languages。 Ex。 there's an aboriginal tribe in Australia that doesn't have words for left and right， they use cardinal directions （such as east and west） instead。 。。。more
Brittany Presley
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I really wanted to like this book。 I just couldn't bring myself to embrace it totally。 The author starts making certain points， then seems to lose his train of thought from one paragraph to the next。 Some points about words not having any meaning， while true， are followed up with arguments about the meaning of certain words。 Which had me confused as to the order of the point。 All in all I respect what was trying to be done。 I just think it wasn't completely flushed out or well organized。 Which i I really wanted to like this book。 I just couldn't bring myself to embrace it totally。 The author starts making certain points， then seems to lose his train of thought from one paragraph to the next。 Some points about words not having any meaning， while true， are followed up with arguments about the meaning of certain words。 Which had me confused as to the order of the point。 All in all I respect what was trying to be done。 I just think it wasn't completely flushed out or well organized。 Which is sad because there are some great bit buried and scattered throughout the book。 。。。more
Davidg
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An interesting and entertaining read on the difficulties and impossibilities of translating。 At times it becomes a philosophical or linguistic treatise on what is “language” or what does “translate” mean。 In the course of the book there are many interesting examples or facts。 However， I never got a clear idea of what Bellos was trying to do in the book， or what the point of it is。
Auf_Naxos
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Занимательное языкознание в деталях - в книге очень много частностей， так или иначе относящихся к истории и/или теории перевода。 Некоторые из них как минимум интересные， некоторые - наукообразный материал для специалистов。 Основная идея книги - перевести можно практически все （кроме социальной принадлежности говорящего）， важно в попытке произвести аналогичный оригинальному эффект высказывания найти правильное соответствие в целевом языке。
Jake McGuffie
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Probably the best non-fiction book I've ever read， and also probably won't be beaten for a long， long time。 Anyone interested in linguistics， language， history， trivia: you should kill for this book。 Probably the best non-fiction book I've ever read， and also probably won't be beaten for a long， long time。 Anyone interested in linguistics， language， history， trivia: you should kill for this book。 。。。more
Edward B。
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This would not be everyone's cup of tea， but I quite enjoyed it。It is a slightly meandering look at various aspects of translation - philosophical， historical， practical， cultural， 。。。 There's lots of good food for thought here。 This would not be everyone's cup of tea， but I quite enjoyed it。It is a slightly meandering look at various aspects of translation - philosophical， historical， practical， cultural， 。。。 There's lots of good food for thought here。 。。。more
Dasha
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I didn't expect it to be so good， honestly。 It is full of facts that I desperately tried to memorise （still trying）， and some concepts that the author covered were mind boggling for me。 He also did a good job in keeping the scope of his research as broad as possible - he has talked about the application of translation in almost all spheres of human interactions。 I highly recommend to， well， pretty much everyone。 I didn't expect it to be so good， honestly。 It is full of facts that I desperately tried to memorise （still trying）， and some concepts that the author covered were mind boggling for me。 He also did a good job in keeping the scope of his research as broad as possible - he has talked about the application of translation in almost all spheres of human interactions。 I highly recommend to， well， pretty much everyone。 。。。more
Michael
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Fantastic book about language in general， and translation specifically。 If anyone wanted to know how talks in the UN are （simultaneously） translated， there's a chapter for that。 Same with how many who start interpreter school actually come out and get jobs in the end， there's a chapter。 But more importantly， Bellos discusses the importance of translation for opening up our eyes to thought from others。 Loved it。 Fantastic book about language in general， and translation specifically。 If anyone wanted to know how talks in the UN are （simultaneously） translated， there's a chapter for that。 Same with how many who start interpreter school actually come out and get jobs in the end， there's a chapter。 But more importantly， Bellos discusses the importance of translation for opening up our eyes to thought from others。 Loved it。 。。。more
Ashley Lambert-Maberly
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I liked it， but it was an unusal experience。 Many books are straight lines: we deal with this， then we deal with that， etc。， but this book was like a spiral out from the center， and you continually felt like you were brushing against the same topics， over and over， only from a different viewpoint。 It's not a bad thing， it's like an impressionist painting rather than an Ingres， sometimes you're not sure what you're getting， which suits a book whose main thrust seems to be that Translation is not I liked it， but it was an unusal experience。 Many books are straight lines: we deal with this， then we deal with that， etc。， but this book was like a spiral out from the center， and you continually felt like you were brushing against the same topics， over and over， only from a different viewpoint。 It's not a bad thing， it's like an impressionist painting rather than an Ingres， sometimes you're not sure what you're getting， which suits a book whose main thrust seems to be that Translation is not what you think it is。 It was interesting at all points to read。 Never did I think "I'm bored， move to the next subject，" and the author speaks from his own knowledge （he's apparently a fairly successful translator， as far as translators go， which is apparently not far according to the author） and has truly unique points to make。I'm a fan。Can't give five stars because I save that rating for the ones that make me laugh， cry， move me in some way， that I love so much I'm sure I'll re-read， or are just evidently staggering achievements。 This is a really good， interesting book about translation， but until Goodread puts in a 4。5 option， it's a very good 4 star book for me。（Note: 5 stars = amazing， wonderful， 4 = very good book， 3 = decent read， 2 = disappointing， 1 = awful， just awful。 I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s）。 I feel a lot of readers automatically render any book they enjoy 5， but I grade on a curve！ 。。。more
Jessica Woofter
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3。75There was a lot of philosophical stuff in this book about what translation is and isn't， but what I loved was the anecdotal stuff about the differences between languages and how they're used and the interesting information on the logistics of translation at the UN and EU。 3。75There was a lot of philosophical stuff in this book about what translation is and isn't， but what I loved was the anecdotal stuff about the differences between languages and how they're used and the interesting information on the logistics of translation at the UN and EU。 。。。more
Brett
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