Robert answers “Which translation is the best (readable)...”

A Goodreads user asked this question about Confessions:

Which translation is the best (readable) translation of confessions?

Robert I started reading Cohen's translation (Penguin Classics) without much research, and am enjoying it. A quick comparison of a few passages in this and t…moreI started reading Cohen's translation (Penguin Classics) without much research, and am enjoying it. A quick comparison of a few passages in this and the anonymous 1890 translation, checked against the French, indicates that some lines seem to be more accurately translated in the former, and sometimes the reverse. Cohen is overall much more readable for my taste, with word-choices conveying the sense of the original more clearly in modern English compared to the older translation—here's an example:

J’ai fait le premier pas et le plus pénible dans le labyrinthe obscur et fangeux de mes confessions.
Now I have made the first and most painful step in the dark and miry maze of my confessions. (Cohen)
I have made the first, most difficult step, in the obscure and painful maze of my Confessions. (anon, 1890)

I don't have access to other, more recent translations in their entirety, but this is the same line in Scholar's translation (Oxford World Classics):

I have taken the first step, and most painful, into the dark and miry labyrinth of my confessions.

Which actually seems the best of all of them in this example. I get the sense that Cohen and Scholar are both quite good and readable.(less)

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