Friday, September 18, 2009

My 1st submission to Guardian Notes & Queries


Are there any examples of books being improved in translation?



The Asterix books - for example, the dog is Idéfix in French (meaning obsession) but Dogmatix in English, adding the canine pun to the idea of single-mindedness; the druid is Panoramix in the original (meaning panoramic) but Getafix in the translation, providing a more relevant name through druggy wordplay.

4 comments:

Douglas Miller said...

kama sutra

ArkAngel said...

As translated by whom? or just translated into reality? ;-)

Douglas Miller said...

Exactly!

I see you go by the name Roberts.

ArkAngel said...

Roberts?