The >translations meme is probably my least favorite meme

>>9455782
Im proud to be racist

>>9455782
>discourage people from ACTUALLY READING BOOKS
no, it is to encourage learning new languages
>it's not a "sincere" meme
it is
>I will never ever discourage someone from reading a translation
not discouraging people just saying they are wasting their time

>>9455803
go to /int/ if you want to encourage people to learn languages

translations are superior to originals. always have been. read your borges faggot.

>>9455844
>translations are superior to originals
lol just because you can't read the original, brainlet. afk reading die Verwandlung in its original glory... try not to get mad.

The English language has existed for a thousand years, why do monolinguals feel the need to consume the literature of other tongues?

>>9455844
>translations are superior to originals
woho bait is too heavy

>>9455803
brainlet detected

>>9455855
Þæt wæs god meming!

Although >>9455844 was merely memeing, you should give Walter Benjamin's "The Task of the Translator" a read. He makes a good case that translation is its own art form and the product is actually more refined than any original work, maybe even more beautiful.

>>9455853
>>9455856

>>9456085
Yes, sorry. I really was just mostly memeing here >>9455803 and in a couple other threads.
Obviously I don't think translations are a wase of time.

>>9456085
Nice. Can anyone else suggest books on translation theory?

I've read all Borges and whatever Haroldo de Campos has written on the subject. Never gave Benjamin his chance because I'm not very much into marxism and critical theory, but I might.

Any other recs on the theme? Does Nabokov give a special perspective on the subject?

Translations are crucial, my experience with reading would be incredibly impoverished if I could only read works in the original languages. Also, we're in a golden age for literary translation right now- you can expect the average quality of a translation of a high-profile foreign language author to be at least very good.
Here are some essential standard texts that most of us Westerners read in translation: The Bible, Homer, Tolstoy/Dostoevski/Chekhov/Gogol, Flaubert, Proust, Cervantes, Borges.
For modern authors that I would be very sorry to miss on: Orhan Pamuk, Italo Calvino, Javier Marías, Murakami.

>>9456085
Thanks for that (>>9455853 here). I was twatting around too, we actually had to translate some Kafka passages in my translation class at uni, I found it fascinating and most of us failed miserably at it of course. Always preferred it when we were given articles from Die Zeit to translate!

I try to read as much as I can in the original language, I always have a translation nearby though and can definitely spot a good translated piece from a poor one.

This happens at least once a month on /lit/ and it's really one of the more bizarre memes, if it is one (or bait). I've lurked this board since it's creation and I can never tell if these posts are sincere or not. Someone posts 4 paragraphs or a wall of text about how offensive they find the >translation meme, how angry it makes them. It's really weird.

This will happen again in the not-so-distant future