Nov 15, 2025
Sometimes you think English makes sense and sometimes you realize "he wouldn't dream of it" and "he would think nothing of it" are literally the exact same sentence but have the exact opposite meanings.
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Sometimes you think English makes sense and sometimes you realize "he wouldn't dream of it" and "he would think nothing of it" are literally the exact same sentence but have the exact opposite meanings.
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I was reading Marguerite Yourcenar's Le coup de grâce last night, both in French and in English because I enjoy pondering the choices made by translatorsâand the English translation was so bad. At one point the word "solitude" in the French original became "privacy" in English, in a sentence where the difference in meaning did matter, I think. At another point, the very simple word "les oublis" became "remembrance betrayed" which I feel gives extra precision in the translation which wasn't present in the original...?
There's also a passage in French in which the narrator wishes a woman would have had children, "who would have inherited her courage and her eyes", but decides that's a pointless regret because these decisions on how to populate the future are not ours to make ("ne nous appartiennent pas")âthe English translation turns it into "Absurd, for who wants to people (...) the future?" That's different...!! And later on the narrator says that "all these misunderstandings" make him want to "steer clear of any conviction that isn't entirely personal". The English translation says "such misapprehensions were to cure me (...) of holding ready-made convictions." I'm sorry but, in this context you're saying a different thing. Again.
By this point I went looking for the name of the translator, in order to carry it in my soul in a pocket of indignationâand I found: "translated from the French by Grace Frick in collaboration with the author"! Grace Frick! Marguerite Yourcenar's life partner!
That was such a plot twist. Your wife? Your own wife wrote this inaccurate translation, with your blessing...? Well, I now have two theories: 1. After publishing this book, Yourcenar regretted some minor writing choices and asked Frick to modify some words and phrasings in her translation so they were closer to what she wanted to express. As a perfectionist who feels many regrets immediately after submitting a completed work I sympathise with this, but also that's cheating. You can't give English readers a text that's closer to what you wanted your book to be while French readers are left to wallow in the mud of your less precise first draft. I'm affronted by this possibility. 2. Grace Frick's translation was imperfect, and Yourcenar said nothing because she loved her and her imperfect linguistic choices. I also sympathise. I hope that's what happened actuallyâit feels less plausible than 1. but it makes me feel more at peace with this whole affair. I felt all my indignation melt away as soon as I decided to embrace this explanation.
For native English speakers, what was the first language you started to learn? (You dont have to be fluent in it)
Spanish
Russian
German
Latin
Hebrew
other (put in tags please)
Italian
Yiddish
Welsh
Tagalog
when reading, do you prefer the Spanish a Hispanic character is speaking to be:
not included, just written in English and noted that it's in Spanish
the actual Spanish conversation included with an italicized English translation
*assume this is not a Google translate, but an actual Spanish speaking writer situation if that influences your decision because I will not be accepting nuance
istg those âthis transcends languageâ jokes and the reason they understand it is precisely because of cognates will be my villain origin story
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favorite word?
love this ask OMG
in english it's either the word 'crisp' or 'reluctant', they feel very satisfying to say. in ASL the sign for 'birthday' in [insert my regional dialect here] is my fav!
the rest of the world more or less: weâll call this type of trousers jeans, denims, or a variant thereof
danish & spanish: :)
the rest of the world: whâ
danish & spanish: ~*COWBOY PANTS*~
We really need to go back to insults that sound like âthe light of knowledge hasnât graced your little grey cellsâ (funny and overblown) instead of âyou have something developmentally wrong with youâ (ableism)