How are literary devices and writing style captured in translated work? E.g. The Odyssey.

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How are literary devices and writing style captured in translated work? E.g. The Odyssey.

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Anonymous 0 Comments

That’s a complicated and sometimes controversial process.

Some things like rhymes and puns simply can’t always be translated effectively and are lost. The English joke about how Seven ate Nine can’t work in Spanish, you’ll just have to note that it’s a joke.

Things like tone and connotations are left to the translator. In cases where the original author is long gone this can be tricky because the original intent may be lost to time.

That’s why you see so many different translations of old works. Exactly what the authors of the Eddas or the Old Testament or the Illiad meant with some word choices is still debatable.