Comments on: Hard question of the weekend http://aldenswan.com/2008/05/hard-question-of-the-weekend/ free speech, critical thinking, and really good coffee Fri, 03 Feb 2012 10:05:56 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Quixote http://aldenswan.com/2008/05/hard-question-of-the-weekend/comment-page-1/#comment-797 Quixote Sun, 25 May 2008 22:55:37 +0000 http://www.aldenswan.com/?p=400#comment-797 Ah, but the problem with translation, especially of poetry, is that you no longer have the original. This would be absolutely true for a poem, like Jabberwocky, that has no "meaning" beyond the grammatical cues inherent in the language in which it was originally written. Jabberwocky simply cannot be translated; it can only be imitated. Ah, but the problem with translation, especially of poetry, is that you no longer have the original. This would be absolutely true for a poem, like Jabberwocky, that has no “meaning” beyond the grammatical cues inherent in the language in which it was originally written. Jabberwocky simply cannot be translated; it can only be imitated.

]]> By: me http://aldenswan.com/2008/05/hard-question-of-the-weekend/comment-page-1/#comment-796 me Sun, 25 May 2008 03:36:12 +0000 http://www.aldenswan.com/?p=400#comment-796 Wouldn't you know, someone posted a link on Gilson's site to a place with a number of <a href=http://www76.pair.com/keithlim/jabberwocky/translations/index.html rel="nofollow">translations</a>. Weird. Not that I can actually read any other languages, but of the ones I looked at, a <a href=http://www76.pair.com/keithlim/jabberwocky/translations/swedish4.html rel="nofollow">Swedish</a> translation at least sounds entertaining: <blockquote>Vid grilltock när de smiga gropp de snuck och spack på visotass. Helt jämrig då var skrangelmopp och grösen mommande bölsvass.</blockquote> Wouldn’t you know, someone posted a link on Gilson’s site to a place with a number of translations. Weird. Not that I can actually read any other languages, but of the ones I looked at, a Swedish translation at least sounds entertaining:

Vid grilltock när de smiga gropp
de snuck och spack på visotass.
Helt jämrig då var skrangelmopp
och grösen mommande bölsvass.

]]> By: Quixote http://aldenswan.com/2008/05/hard-question-of-the-weekend/comment-page-1/#comment-798 Quixote Sun, 25 May 2008 01:02:42 +0000 http://www.aldenswan.com/?p=400#comment-798 Jabberwocky depends heavily upon English word endings and order. I vote that I would not "translate" well into romance languages, though I would love to see someone give it a shot in Latin. After all, when it comes right down to it, sola lingua bona est lingua mortua. Jabberwocky depends heavily upon English word endings and order. I vote that I would not “translate” well into romance languages, though I would love to see someone give it a shot in Latin. After all, when it comes right down to it, sola lingua bona est lingua mortua.

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