Translations and covers in other countries (beware RotE spoilers)

[Farseer]

I've been having dramas getting on to the RH site lately but, given my question in this thread, was interested to come across this tonight, regarding translations in general: Robin Hobb

Obviously some who have read the translated versions, but not the English ones, still to manage find the RH books to be of a high story-telling standard if she is still sometimes winning awards overseas from her translated works (as seems to be evidenced in her post script)?

[Mervi]

Okay Farseer, since you asked.

I believe most of the RH translations are good or even excellent. And I have nothing against translating books or translations or translators in general, quite the contrary. I shudder to think all the stories that would have been missing from my childhood if they hadn't been available in Finnish. However, there are always exceptions to the rule, and I feel the Finnish RH translations are an exception. The Finnish translator actually did a panel discussion with Robin when she was visiting here, which I have to say was very brave of him because we in the audience didn't spare him from any embarrassing questions. And I'd actually want to assign the blame to the publisher instead, because hiring someone who has only ever translated anything as a hobby is NOT a good idea for a long series of huge and complex books like these. But of course they'd have to pay more for skilled translators who've actually studied the craft in universities... From what I've heard from how the professional translators work, the deadlines are often crazy too. Like "we decided to to publish this book here and have purchased the rights, can you have this translated by, let's say... last week?" So even the professionals often make mistakes simply because there's no extra time to double-check some things.

Anyway, here are some examples of the kind of errors in the Finnish translations of Robin's books that make me go nuts. AA is the only one I've read in Finnish from cover to cover, the others I've just browsed feeling horrified. (Only the Farseer and Tawny Man have appeared in Finnish. Fool's Fate even stayed in the top 10 fiction list of "what Finland reads" for a few months, but according to the publisher they have no plans to translate more. Topic for another rant. )

- A history of the Six Duchies is of necessity a history of its ruling family, the Farseers. A complete telling would reach back beyond the founding of the first Duchy, and if such names were remembered, would tell us of Outislanders raiding from the Sea, visiting as pirates a shore more temperate and gentler than the icy beaches of the Out Islands. But we do not know the names of these earliest forebears. translated back to English reads A history of the Six Duchies is mainly the same as its ruling family the Farseers. A complete telling would reach back beyond the founding of the first Duchy, and if only the names were still remembered, (stories about) raiders from the Out Islands would be told. How, in the days of old they ascended on a shore where winds are mild and gentle unlike the freezing breezes of their (own) Out Islands. But a long time ago have the names of those ancestors been forgotten. Now I know about ~artistic license and all, but there's no reason why you couldn't say things like "icy beaches" in Finnish, so why start comparing winds. There's also problems with the Finnish grammar in this, which I won't go into here. Considering this is how the first chapter of the first book starts... well, it doesn't bode well for the rest of the translation.

- Jinna's smile is described as "rueful". This was translated as cruel and crooked. Totally changes her personality.

- a bay stallion was translated as a "gelding stallion". Makes no sense, but can be explained with the Finnish word for gelding being very similar to the Finnish word for a bay horse.

- Changer (as in Fitz' name) was translated with the Finnish word for Redeemer which of course carries with it strong Christian connotations. The reason the translator gave for this choice was that he had already used the strict Finnish equivalent for "Changer" when translating some minor character's name.

- The Duchies have quite good Finnish names, except for Tilth which suddenly changes from "Mantu" to "Kontu" and back again like the translator can't device (or doesn't remember he's already translated it). What's worse, Kontu is the Finnish name for the Shire. Yes, THE Shire. The one with hobbits in it.

- there's a special term in Finnish for a horse and its rider that is used especially when the rider is on the horse (not sure there's one in English?). The translator keeps using it whenever the original text has "palfrey" in it, resulting in quite hilarious situations (the horse and the rider standing in a stall for example when Fitz walks through "empty" stables). Granted, there's not a one-word equivalent for a palfrey in Finnish, but you can express the same thing in, oh, two words.

- Chade's legandary "First, let me introduce to yourself" has been translated "let me introduce myself". (And since he then goes on to describe Fitz, it's a pure 100% WHAT moment.)

- The last sentence of Fool's Fate is

Spoiler

I'm happy.

- "Such a monstrous vanity on my part." "Monstrous? Immense!" is translated as "Such a monstrous vanity on my part." "Monstrous? Vanity?"

- He did not dismount but flung himself from his horse towards me, a launch aided by Nighteyes' sudden charge from the wood towards him. The horse snorted in alarm and crow-hopped. gets the following treatment in Finnish: He did not dismount but flung himself from his horse towards me, which made Nighteyes suddenly attack from the wood towards him. The horse snorted in alarm and danced in it's place. So instead of the Fool moving because the horse is moving because the wolf is moving we have all these random, unrelated happenings. WHY would Nighteyes attack the Fool anyway? And no horse that is spooked by A WOLF just dances in it's place instead of disappearing with the speed of light (or at least tries to move away from the perceived threat while still remaining somewhat controlled by the rider as the well-schooled Malta does here). My biggest worry (and why I don't recommend these translations if the reader has good enough skills in English) is that I wouldn't want anyone to believe THAT is how Robin writes.

YES I AM NITPICKING. Yes there are always minor errors in translations, even the best ones. Yes I can understand that it's easy to mix up words that sound or look similar, especially when you're in a hurry. But the amount of errors is staggering in these, as is the obvious "read once, didn't think about what I was reading" attitude (best example of this is the Chade quote above) as is the lack of understanding of basic English idioms. (For example translating "But come. I'd rather not talk of it" as a literal invitation to move yourself with/towards the speaker or translating "three doors down" (a corridor in a castle) as an advice to walk THROUGH three doors.)


[Image: 2zzoy34.jpg]

I have to say I'm deeply impressed by the way he translated Patience's name, though. (Mielenmaltti) I'd go as far as to claim it's even better (as a person's name) than the original, because it's not an everyday word and has all these wonderful nuances. My dictionary translates it back to English as "presence of mind" but it's more like an ability to control one's mind, especially regarding to not being hasty. A really literal translation could be "(one's) mind's (ability to be) restrained". And it's such a beautiful word too, it tastes good when you say it out loud. (The strict Finnish equivalent for patience would be "kärsivällisyys" which sounds just as skewered as it looks and is related to the word that means "to suffer".) So, it's not ALL bad.

['thul]

these beings have encountered something of the sort in incorrect translation...

some place in one series was "the wizards keep" which the translator translated as meaning "something in the wizards possession" rather than "the fortress of the wizards"... It was obvious the translator had not read that series...

[Nuytsia]

Re the OP ...... good lord is that the Grim Reaper????

Hehehe Mervi well at least the mistakes are funny...... interesting to read all those snippets. I hadn't even considered that the place names would need to be changed!

[joost]

New Dutch covers for the LST trilogy (they're going to be released somewhere in february I think):

Het magische schip (Ship of magic)
[Image: 9269_4e046d09ae156_9269.jpg]
Het dolende schip (The mad ship)
[Image: 9270_4e046d0c8b2f8_9270.jpg]
Het bestemde schip (Ship of destiny)
[Image: 9271_4e046d0f8a4b9_9271.jpg]

I ordered them for my mother, when I get them I'll make better scans for the wiki.

['thul]

Strange... that looks almost like the artist has read the books... something must be wrong.... Somewhere... Run for your lives!!!!

on more serious note, Those look quite nice, even if they are small images. Getting hold of larger ones were details can be seen would be very nice.

[fool-ish]

They look great! And agreed 'thul, someone has been paying attention! I may have to learn the lingo just so I have an excuse to purchase them...pfft! dream on, fool-ish.

[joost]

Found slightly bigger images, and an official release date: february 29 2012.

Book 1 is Vivacia, book 2 is Paragon, but who's the blonde ship on book 3?

['thul]

'thul would guess that it might be the transformed, draconic persona that vivicia turned into... Or did that one have some other hair color?

It could possibly also be one of the less known liveships like Ophelia

[joost]

'thul would guess that it might be the transformed, draconic persona that vivicia turned into... Or did that one have some other hair color?

It could possibly also be one of the less known liveships like Ophelia

If it's Vivacia then she didn't just change hair colour, but changed the railing too. It could be Vivacia of course and ship #1 a different one (did Ophelia already show up in book 1?)

I've always pictured Ophelia as a black-haired ship.

And I just want to say: I love Paragon in this drawing! He looks truly menacing and mad.