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Does anyone else feel weird about reading translations? (lemmy.world)

submitted 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) by daggermoon@lemmy.world to c/books@lemmy.ml

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The only language I know with any fluency is English. I want to read The Trial by Franz Kafka. The Trial was written in German and if I read an English translation I feel I am not really reading Kafka. Am i the only one who feels this way? Does it even matter?

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[–] Cobrachicken@lemmy.world 0 points 7 months ago

When I was a young I read Pyramids by Terry Pratchett in German. Months later I found out that the bookstore also had the English original, bought that and was totally surprised how much better the book is. No translations anymore since then.

I'm not very good at Turkish, Spanish, French, but when on holidays abroad I try to read the local newspapers. Much more immersive that way.