16: Les Deux Tours: J R R Tolkien: ISBN 2-07-052268-7

[lnr]

I'm surprised to have finished this in about a fortnight, though it was helped by me being off sick with a cold at the beginning and hence having lots of time tucked up in bed in which to read. It's always nice to re-read, and made nicer by having seen the films again, and of course being in French adds another dimension too. It was especially nice to re-read the interactions with Faramir, and remind myself just what his character is really like. And the Gollum/Smeagol stuff is of course rather different written than when done on film. I liked the way the film portrayed it though, it worked well. Um, I'm rambling to no real end here aren't I? Shall give it a break and read a couple more things in English before going on to Le Retour du Roi, but I'm looking forward to it still.

Comments

[mtbc100.livejournal.com]

How do you find that the French translations compare with the English versions? My limited experience is with instructions for assembling things and whatever, which tend to have more information in the French! (-:

Re:

[lnr]

It's a good question, though not one I've really thought about. There are places where I can see the translation is absolutely exact and literal because I can remember the exact phrases from the English, but mostly I haven't been making a direct comparison. Some things are a bit wordier possibly, but I think in some way French is rather well suited to Tolkien's rather wordy style of prose anyway. Names are often altered a little, which can be somewhat confusing.

The main thing I have difficulty with is just plain vocabulary problems. Names of trees. How many different words there are for misty or foggy or for different sorts of stream and puddle and lake. And I sometimes find myself learning the French word for some object and entirely unable to remember the English one: I recall asking rjk what the word for a thing you keep arrows in is. In French it appears to be Carquois, but it was some time before I remembered the English word was Quiver.