Karin mentioned the feeling that occasionally "something is
missing" in translation. Well, sometimes that has literally
been the case.
Consider the opening of Jim Thompson's THE GETAWAY:
Carter "Doc" McCoy had left a morning call for six o'clock,
and he was reaching for the telephone the moment the night
clerk rang. He had always awakened easily and pleasantly; a
man with not a regret for the past, and completely confident
and self-assured as he faced each new day. Twelve years of
prison routine had merely molded his natural tendencies into
habit.
"Why, I slept fine, Charlie," he said, in his amiably sincere
voice. "Don't suppose I should ask you the same question, eh?
Ha-ha! Got my breakfast on the way, have you? Fine, attaboy,
You're a gentleman and a scholar, Charlie."
Now, look at the Swedish translation (RYMMARNA, 1977):
Carter "Doc" McCoy hade beg䲴 v䣫ning till klockan sex, och han
str䣫te sig efter telefonen i samma ö§¯®blick som den ringde. Han
hade alltid lä´´ fö² ¡tt vakna och så§ varje dag an med tillfö²³©kt.
Tolv 岳 f䮧elserutin hade bara gjort det till en vana.
"Jo, jag har sovit gott, Charlie," svarade han med sin
godmodigt allvarliga rö³´® "Man det har fö²³´å³ inte du, va? Var
hygglig och skicka upp min frukost. Vackert, du ä² en riktig
gentleman, Charlie."
Notice that this appears to be shorter than the original.
This is indeed the case. A retranslation back to English
yields something like:
Carter "Doc" McCoy had left a morning call for six o'clock,
and he was reaching for the telephone the moment it rang. He
had always awakened easily and faced each new day
self-assuredly. Twelve years of prison routine had merely
turned it into habit.
"Why, I slept fine, Charlie," he said, in his amiably sincere
voice.
"Don't suppose you have, eh? Got my breakfast on the way,
have you? Fine, you're a real gentleman, Charlie."
And it goes on like this, cutting corners. I suppose the
novel was shortened to make way for the pornographic appendix
that appeared in this book line at the time.
Anders
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