Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-10-23

We never 60 into . bookstore where
foreign authors are faf sale IN their
original languages without feeling a
sense OF regret that We are unable ~
read any one ot them fiuentiy enough
to enjoy them,
Some Americans have the mistaken
idea that Il IL patriotic 10 bo able IN
speak and read Engilah only. That IL
fooliShneSS
Knowledge never hurt any one.
A whole new world Of books would
be opened To the booklover II he could
read French, for instance.
This column has always held the
thesis that q good translation Is great
deal better than none at ALL and that
the best of the worlds literature may
become part OF every readers mental
and spiritual equipment through the
medium Of sympathetic translations.
This does not mitigate against The
plain fact. however. that a great novel
such as Zolas "L'ASsommoir, for in
stance, must necessarily be better in
the original.
Every great book whether fiction or
| otherwise, has spirit OF It's own. This
spirit is a sort of mental flavor, as II
were, a flavor which the mind sayors
and which sets II apart from every
| other book in the world.
No other novel OF Zola's, for instance
is quite like the "Assommoir." Those
who have liked it well enough to read
| 1t in several tranSlations know well
what can be done with book by leav-
| ing out a bit here. pruning the Ian
| guage there.
There Is one translation of this book
which so deletes the latter half of u
| that the swift descent of the principal
characters is much too swift, leaving
something artificial about the whole
which the author never intended and
never wrote.
Another is SO complete, indeed. that
certain words in it will needlessly of
| fend an Anglo-Saxon. The story would
be just as good story, just as COM
polling, with these frank epithets left
out.
! Another translation, in the interest
! of condensation something which
should never be undertaken in the
case of a masterpiece, has so slashed
that a completely lopsided version is
the result.
The account Of the great banquet
scene is so pruned that those familiar
with the true version feel indignant
that any one should so dare to tamper
with q masterpiece. ..
Surely the original French version
would prove more Satisfactory imam any
one or all of the ranSlations-pro-
vided one could read 1t as native
reads
Stumbling around over words. in
ability to swiftly comprehend idioms,
and the like. renders the average read
| ing" of a foreign tongue by a nom
native q rather painful process, one
utterly lacking in interest or Joy.
~ -
Therefore we would advise any
| Young man or woman, now in second
| airy schools, or eTen in college, who
is taking foreign language, TO study
it for all they are worth. or to give
1t up entirely.
1t has been said that the average
| American is not gifted in the study Of
| languages. He. as a member Of a ma
| ton. has not been under the daily ne
| cessity of understanding natives Of
other nations using different tongues.
Hence there has grown up in this
| country a sort Of stubborness in learn
| ing foreign languages. a mulishness
which is in part a provincial disdain
for the unknown and in part a real
mental clumsiness in the acquisition of
such material.
There can be no doubt of the latter
| inability. Every one who has attended
| secondary school or college or both
| has had personal acquaintance with
| scores of cases. Many adults in the