25.2 - Andy P's task: Hats off to Translators

[Kristina Simon]

25.2 - Andy P's task: Hats off to Translators
You must read TWO books, one answering the criteria for Book 1 and the other fulfilling the criteria for Book 2. No books with the genres 'children's' or 'kid's' on their main page may be used for this task.

Book 1: A Nod to the Romans
Read a book originally written in one of the Romance languages (originally derived from Latin) that has been translated into English. For the purposes of this task, the Romance languages will be defined as French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, or Romanian. If you wish to read the book in one of these languages feel free, but you must provide a link to the English version of the book when you post.

Book 2: And to the Greeks
Read a book originally written in one of the following languages, which like Greek, use a different alphabet than the one common to English. The book must have been translated into English.
The languages are: Greek, Hebrew, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai, or Russian. Again feel free to read the book in it's original language, but provide a link to the English version when you post.

[Andy]

Reserved for FAQ
PLEASE ADD ITALIAN TO THE LIST OF ROMANCE LANGUAGES. I don't know where my mind was when I was typing up this task. It was on my original list

[Andy]

Reserved

[Kristina Simon]

This thread is now open!

[♞ Pat]

No Italian???

[Dee]

yay and yikes!

[Pamela]

Holy Bible: Keystone Large Print New Testament with Psalms-KJV Would this count for option #2? According to this site the New Testament for the King James version was translated from Greek. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Jam...

[Tara]

For Book 2, can I get confirmation if The Collected Tales of Nikolai Gogol would work? I'm unclear on the rules of the SRC if this type of work would be acceptable for this level of a task. Thank you in advance.

[Morgan]

Dee wrote: "yay and yikes!"

Ditto! I keep finding ones that were originally in German. lol. Like 4 in a row that I clicked on to check. But if we ever have a German translation task--I AM PREPARED.

[♞ Pat]

I think I'm set. Have a French title and a Russian title.

If you could double check these for me, that'd be awesome.

The Plague by Albert Camus

The Twelve Chairs by Ilya Ilf

This one was tough!

[Morgan]

The Little Girl Who Was Too Fond of Matches (French)

Battle Royale (Japanese)

I think I covered my bases. Could you verify no childrens, etc? Just since both involve children I could see it happening. *paranoia*

Thanks!

[Melissa]

Dudes, I have the Penguin Classics edition of Pessoa's The Book of Disquiet lurking around the house. It was published in the original Portuguese after his death. (And according to the Wikipedia page it sells quite well in the German translation!)

So that's good for Option 1. I think I'll use Ludmilla Petrushevskaya's There Once Lived a Girl Who Seduced Her Sister's Husband, and He Hanged Himself: Love Stories (originally written in Russian) for Option 2.

At least as a start. They are both pretty dark.

[Fiona (Titch)]

If anyone is stuck, I have just found this for Option 1 - https://www.goodreads.com/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&search%5Bquery%5D=Books+translated+from+French%2C+Spanish%2C+Portuguese+or+Romanian+to+English&search_type=books&search%5Bfield%5D=on

And these for Option 2 - https://www.goodreads.com/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&search%5Bquery%5D=Books+translated+from+Greek%2C+Hebrew%2C+Chinese%2C+Japanese%2C+Korean%2C+Thai+or+Russian+to+English&search_type=books&search%5Bfield%5D=on

[Robin (Saturndoo)]

Dee wrote: "yay and yikes!"

LOL Yikes is right!!!!

[Aleksandra]

would Fire in the Blood by Irene Nemirovsky be ok for 1st option? got only 137 pages ?

[Trish]

What did Italian do to offend you, if it isn't included in the list of Latin-derived languages? :-)

Is this okay for Option 2?

[Cait S]

Could I have this verified for Book 1- Spanish? It doesn't list it explicitly on the Goodreads page so I found the wikipedia article on it as well that says the original language is Spanish.

by Roberto Bolaño

wiki article

[Ms.soule]

I'm thirding the Italian question. Ouch!

[Marscha]

Is it okay if I read the dutch translation instead of the english one?

[Sue]

Count me as another one surprised the Italian wasn't on the list.

[Amy]

How about:

Option 1: (French)

Option 2: (Russian)

[Kim]

Please confirm my choices.

Option 1: The Prisoner of Heaven (Spanish)

Option 2: A Writer at War: Vasily Grossman with the Red Army (Russian)

Thank you.

[Andy]

Pat wrote: "No Italian???"


Sorry, I will add that. Obviously I was not paying close attention to my list

[Andy]

Pamela wrote: "Holy Bible: Keystone Large Print New Testament with Psalms-KJV Would this count for option #2? According to this site the New Testament for the King James version was translated from..."

Yes, but the old testament was not, so I'd rather you chose something else if at all possible

[Andy]

Tara Jo wrote: "For Book 2, can I get confirmation if The Collected Tales of Nikolai Gogol would work? I'm unclear on the rules of the SRC if this type of work would be acceptable for this level of ..."

It appears to be collected stories i.e. anthology which has over 400 pages so that is fine.

[Andy]

Aleksandra wrote: "would Fire in the Blood by Irene Nemirovsky be ok for 1st option? got only 137 pages ?"

According to SRC rules it is fine as long as it is over 100 pages which it is.

[Andy]

Morgan wrote: "Dee wrote: "yay and yikes!"

Ditto! I keep finding ones that were originally in German. lol. Like 4 in a row that I clicked on to check. But if we ever have a German translation task--I AM PREPARED."


Sorry about omitting Italian, of course anything originally written in that language is fine and I have added it to the notes. When we finalize the tasks I will make that correction in the text of the task as well. My sincere apologies to all. Thanks for catching my error.

[Andy]

Trish wrote: "What did Italian do to offend you, if it isn't included in the list of Latin-derived languages? :-)

Is this okay for Option 2? [bookcover:Code of the Samurai: A Modern Translation of the Bushido S..."
Again sorry about omitting Italian, my mistake and your other choice is fine.

[Andy]

Pat wrote: "I think I'm set. Have a French title and a Russian title.

If you could double check these for me, that'd be awesome.

The Plague by [author:Albert Cam..."

Both are fine

[Andy]

Cait wrote: "Could I have this verified for Book 1- Spanish? It doesn't list it explicitly on the Goodreads page so I found the wikipedia article on it as well that says the original language is Spanish.

[book..."

Should be fine. It is Latin American literature and the only other language used is Portuguese in Brazil but that is on the list as well.

[Andy]

Marscha wrote: "Is it okay if I read the dutch translation instead of the english one?"

That is fine, just include a link to the English translation for those of us who don't speak Dutch

[Andy]

Mrs.soule wrote: "I'm thirding the Italian question. Ouch!"

Sorry about the omission. As you can see I have made the correction to include Italian.

[Andy]

Amy wrote: "How about:

Option 1: (French)

Option 2: (Russian)"
Those are both fine

[Andy]

Kim wrote: "Please confirm my choices.

Option 1: The Prisoner of Heaven (Spanish)

Option 2: A Writer at War: Vasily Grossman with the Red Army (Russian)

Thank you."


Both are fine.

[Bea]

Glad you added Italian; however, I already found a Spanish option on my shelf - The Law of Love.

I will note that this book is an alternative now that Italian has been added - The Periodic Table - since it is also on my shelf.

[Andy]

Morgan wrote: "The Little Girl Who Was Too Fond of Matches (French)

Battle Royale (Japanese)

I think I covered my bases. Could you verify no childrens, etc? Just since both involve c..."

Morgan wrote: "The Little Girl Who Was Too Fond of Matches (French)

Battle Royale (Japanese)

I think I covered my bases. Could you verify no childrens, etc? Just since both involve c..."

They are both fine. I don't do the genre confirmations. You have to do that in the genre conformation thread, but this book was written in 2001 so there will not be as much change in the list as there would be with a book written more recently.

[Andy]

Melissa wrote: "Dudes, I have the Penguin Classics edition of Pessoa's The Book of Disquiet lurking around the house. It was published in the original Portuguese after his death. (And according to t..."

Both of these books are good. I hope I took a little of the pressure off by correcting the omission of Italian.

[Andy]

Bea wrote: "Glad you added Italian; however, I already found a Spanish option on my shelf - The Law of Love.

I will note that this book is an alternative now that Italian has been added - [book:T..."

Levy's book is fine too.

[Andy]

Marscha wrote: "Is it okay if I read the dutch translation instead of the english one?"

The book needs to have been written originally in a romance language Italian, French, Portuguese, Spanish or Romanian) for book one and Greek, Hebrew, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai, or Russian. for book two and must have been translated into English. If you wish to read a book that meets either criteria in Dutch that is fine but it must have been written originally in one of the languages on the list and have been translated into English. Does this answer your question?

[Dee]

Andy - you can verify genres as well

[Kristina Simon]

Italian has been added into the task description, too. ;-)

[Marscha]

Andy wrote: "Marscha wrote: "Is it okay if I read the dutch translation instead of the english one?"

The book needs to have been written originally in a romance language Italian, French, Portuguese, Spanish or..."

It does! Thanks Andy

[Trish]

Andy wrote: "Sorry about omitting Italian, of course anything originally written in that language is fine and I have added it to the notes. When we finalize the tasks I will make that correction in the text of the task as well. My sincere apologies to all. Thanks for catching my error. "

Cheers Andy!

[Nicola]

Seeing as you have Roman and Greek derived languages couldn't you also include Latin? Just a thought.

[Andy]

Nicola wrote: "Seeing as you have Roman and Greek derived languages couldn't you also include Latin? Just a thought."

Actually the languages in the list for book two are not derived from Greek they just use alphabets that are different from the one we use in English. As for adding languages, if I keep changing the task it will get too complicated. I was trying to use languages in current use. I understand that there is ancient Greek and modern Greek and I haven't specified one or the other but again I'd rather keep the task as simple as possible to make the moderators job easier as well as my own.
Hope this answers your question, Nicola.

[♞ Pat]

Andy wrote: "Pat wrote: "No Italian???"


Sorry, I will add that. Obviously I was not paying close attention to my list"

THANK you. That's going to help immensely, I think. :-) I'd rather read Italian than French - but it's a personal preference since I've actually been to Italy and can easier visualize the settings.

[Andy]

Pat wrote: "Andy wrote: "Pat wrote: "No Italian???"


Sorry, I will add that. Obviously I was not paying close attention to my list"

THANK you. That's going to help immensely, I think. :-) I'd rather read ..."

The ironic part of all of this to me is that the book I was planning to use was originally written in Italian.

[♞ Pat]

LOL. Oh gosh, Andy. That's funny! I hate when I do stuff like that.

[KSMary]

For book 2 (to the Greeks) - could I use either The Essential Tales of Chekhov or The Four Major Plays: The Seagull / Uncle Vanya / Three Sisters / Cherry Orchard - all originally published in Russian?

[Andy]

Either one is fine. You pick the one you like best
Cheers,
Andy