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submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) by daggermoon@lemmy.world to c/books@lemmy.ml

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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[-] emb@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago

I get what you mean. Some copy of a Kafka book I had (I think it was the Trial) had this foreword about the tough translation choices they had to make and how some things were just hard to convey with the same sense. It kinda blew my mind reading Dante's Inferno that they were able to translate poetry and have it make sense and still flow like a poem.

But as someone who enjoys language dabbling, I realize that I'll only learn a few in my life, and those to a pretty limited level. For works that aren't originally in that handful of languages, I don't feel much regret for reading the English. The options are that, or to not engage with the work at all. If something is valuable enough to want to read, then surely it's valuable enough to experience in some way, even if imperfect?

But then for the languages I do have some interest in learning, I do feel some tiny guilt reading translations. There's value to me in setting up some book as a goal and hoping to read it as written. Still, I think the re-read, the 2nd time in original language, has its own appeal.

this post was submitted on 17 Sep 2025
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