Andrey Astakhov answers “Which translation is the most true to the...”

Oriana Van Vlaanderen asked this question about The Death of Ivan Ilych:

Which translation is the most true to the original text? The first sentence of the second chapter has been translated in different ways. 1) "Ivan Ilych's life had been most simple and most ordinary, and therefore most terrible." 2) "The past history of Ivan Ilyich's life had been straightforward, ordinary and dreadful in the extreme." My Dutch one leans towards the second. The 'therefore' seems significant though!

Andrey Astakhov I'm not a professional translator but a native speaker.
I think that the second translation is more accurate. There is no explicit "therefore" in the o…moreI'm not a professional translator but a native speaker.
I think that the second translation is more accurate. There is no explicit "therefore" in the original text.(less)

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