The Treason of Isengard

[Mith]

Hi everyone, I'm new. I come from Italy (Sicily precisally) and I'm translating this Tolkien's book. I wanted to ask you if you've ever red it before. If it's so, can you say me what do you think about it?

 

[Barliman Butterbur]

Hi everyone, I'm new. I come from Italy (Sicily precisally) and I'm translating this Tolkien's book. I wanted to ask you if you've ever red it before. If it's so, can you say me what do you think about it?

Buon giorno, amico! Well, that just about used up all my conversational Italian. But we'll all try to help you as much as possible!

Barley

 

[Walter]

Ciao e benvenuto, Mith! Dove abiti in Sicilia?

An interesting and impressive task you have set yourself, but why this book - if I may ask? I mean the history of the Lotr consists of 4 books, vol 6-9 of HoMe so why this particular volume?

Saluti

 

[Lhunithiliel]

Hi everyone, I'm new. I come from Italy (Sicily precisally) and I'm translating this Tolkien's book. I wanted to ask you if you've ever red it before. If it's so, can you say me what do you think about it?

This is wonderful, Mith!
I wonder, however, why you have decided to undertake this translation.
I did some translations of 'Smith of Wooten Major' and parts from 'Roverandom', but only for my own pleasure!
You?

Saluti!

 

[Mith]

Well, I didn't choose it. But a my forum-friend gave me it to translate because the other eleven volumes of this series were already "assigned" (otherwise this is a never-translated series from Tolkien's books).
But I didn't think it was so.... so.... boring. I've translated the first part of three (about 240 pages...) but I cannot do it anymore.

P.S.: I live in Favara, near Agrigento, the city of the greek temples...

 

[Ithrynluin]

Hiya Mith. Translating can be quite an exhausting job (ask Lhun and me ), all the more so if you have to tackle something outside of your field of expertise or something that is of little interest to you. So I'm wondering whether you are a Tolkien reader/fan or was the Treason of Isengard a random book given to you to translate? Some parts of the HoME, particularly volumes VI-IX, can be very difficult to plod through, mostly because there are so many different chapter versions to examine which can be understandably tedious to some, or even most, readers.

However, you've completed quite a lot of the translation so far. I took a quick glance at my own copy of the book (HarperCollins paperback) which has exactly 504 pages (Index included and that shouldn't take long to translate), so by this reckoning you've completed half of it, not a third.

Like Lhun, I've also translated parts of The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion for my own enjoyment, so I think this may be some sort of a professional deformation.

 

[Ingwë]

I want to add something though I'm not a translator. I read it in 'The Letters of Tolkien' some time ago. It is a letter concerning translation of The Lord of the Rings or other book written by him. Tolkien says that it will be very difficult to translate it because it 'contains' many words that cannot be found in dictionaries. We know that Tolkien is a linguist ----> he used some old english words. Probably this book contains such words, too.

 

[Walter]

But I didn't think it was so.... so.... boring. I've translated the first part of three (about 240 pages...) but I cannot do it anymore.

I did not find it boring when I read it, but probably because I was very interested in the background and the history of the LotR. But I do understand that you can find it boring, if you're not really "into Tolkien", but you've already gone a long way in accomplishing your task...

Congratulations..

P.S.: I live in Favara, near Agrigento, the city of the greek temples...

I haven't visited Favara, but we were - of course - greatly impressed by the "valle dei templi" - despite of all the tourists there - and much more in the region. Actually the region around Agrigento was the part of Sicily we liked best...

 

[Lhunithiliel]

Like Lhun, I've also translated parts of The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion for my own enjoyment, so I think this may be some sort of a professional deformation.

Isn't it a wonderful combination - between one's main occupation and main hobby?!
But then ... I think it should be the only valid one for the translators of Master T.'s books!

.... concerning translation of The Lord of the Rings or other book written by him. Tolkien says that it will be very difficult to translate it because it 'contains' many words that cannot be found in dictionaries...

Ah! But this is the thrill of the challenge of translating Tolkien!
One undertakes a long "journey " to the world of linguistics, searching for the exact meaning of the word used in the source language, and then for the very right word to use in the target language ...

Mith, come on!, don't give up! Think about all the Italian Tolkien fans/readers! Aren't they going to be forever grateful to you !!!

 

[Mith]

I was translating it for my pleasure too, but I think that Christopher has written a wrong book. In a book has to lye the mystery of the writing (save if it is a particular period...), and it remove this mystery, making it just a succession of several corrections. I'm a reader of Tolkien, I love his books, but this explanes things that don't need to be explaned.
It means I will translate some other book, such as The Silmarillion, or maybe The Lord of The Rings, or something other.

 

[Ingwë]

That will be interesting (I mean translating The Silmarillion, or maybe The Lord of The Rings). I don't know how did the Italian translator translate the book but I'm sure that you'll find phrases that you won't translate like the translator. I don't know Italian but I guess that it has many different words about one thing synonyms and it is very interesting (sometimes difficult) to choose the right word. I don't know much about English but in Bulgarian translation I found many old words that we don't use now. That's why it is difficult to translate Tolkien's works.

 

[Mith]

You're doubtless right. But after reading some yet-translated Tolkien's Book, I understood the method used to do it. For exemple: "Wanderer" in Italian tongue is translated "Ramingo" (a not-used word), not "Vagabondo" (a more-used word)....
I wanted to add that Italian is one of the hardest lenguages to learn, because it has a very very complex grammar. English is doubtless one of the easiest lenguages of the world, and I can say it because I'm studying both Old Greek and Latin.....

 

[Walter]

I wanted to add that Italian is one of the hardest lenguages to learn, because it has a very very complex grammar.

Hai ragione ... purtroppo...per noi stranieri che vogliamo imparare la lingua...

But what frustrates me even more is that when I come to Friuli people speak Friulano (e non capisco niente), when I come to Venezia people speak Veneziano (e non capisco niente), and when I came to Sicilia ... stannu parrannu Sicilianu (un capu nenti)

English is doubtless one of the easiest lenguages of the world, .....

True, but still, a lot of people struggle with it ...


...including myself, but at least I can claim it ain't my first language...

 

[Mith]

Ma si vo i ti possu 'nsignari u Favarisi, o zoccu vo tu....
it's a normal Favarese sentence... because in Sicily (and I think in each other regions of Italy) we have a lenguage different for every town... In a region they're similar, but the accent is always different.
For exemple "YOU" in Favarese is "Vantri", whereas in Agrigentino (Agrigento is 9km far from Favara) is "Va(v)utri", in Ribera (another town not far) is "Vatri"....