LL-L "Language use" 2009.07.06 (03) [EN]

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L O W L A N D S - L - 06 July 2009 - Volume 03
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From: Hellinckx Luc <luc.hellinckx at gmail.com>
Subject: LL-L "Language politics"

Beste Lowlanders,

Just read this article in the NY Times, written by Daniel Hamermesh, a
labour economist from the University of Texas.

Title: How the Market Influences What Language You Read In. Quite disturbing
really, but realistic nonetheless...here goes:

My Dutch friends tell me that they read foreign (non-Dutch) novels that are
translated into English rather than into Dutch.
Their English is very good, but their Dutch is clearly better. So, I ask,
why read in English?
Their answer is simple: take a book originally in Swedish, like Stieg
Larsson’s wonderful Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. If somebody translates it
into Dutch, the relatively small number of Dutch-speakers means that the
market for the translation will be much smaller — and the royalties and
profits smaller too — than the market for an English translation.
These smaller returns attract translators who are not as good as those
attracted into translating a book into English; the supply curve of
translators is upward-sloping.
My friends say they would rather read a good translation into a language
they know well, but not perfectly, than a mediocre translation into their
native language.

The author is of Jewish descent and holds teaching positions in both
Rotterdam and Maastricht; I guess he knows fairly well what he's talking
about. Don't want to take a position in this polemic, but fact is that the
58 comments he received so far were all well worth reading.

http://tinyurl.com/moq2so

Question: If Dutch is your native language, would you rather read a mediocre
translation in Dutch than a good one in English?

Detail: Stieg Larsson's book "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" is titled
"Mannen die vrouwen haten" in Dutch, "Men who hate women", and something
similar in Swedish. The English (or American?) publisher was apparently
taken aback by the original title.

Kind greetings,

Luc Hellinckx, Halle

•

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