Nick this is so so so awesome - I could read an entire book of your conversations with Red Pine - enthralling stuff. I saved it for when I had a moment and as I looked out at the harbor from the hospital room with the freshly hatched dragons I couldn’t help but pen a little poetry myself. Too many quotablea to list here but I loved the whole interview.
I will ask again at some point when you’ve got time to give us the map to read Red Pine’s books because I’m nearly ready to dive in.
Great post! It sounds like we're saying the same thing about language—you have to take a leap into the writer's intentions to truly understand the meaning.
Also, so true about literal translation. We had to do that in Greek class as an exercise, and boy did it sound stupid. Not terrible for understanding the grammar, though.
When I was translating Descartes for my senior thesis, one thing that helped me get into the right frame of mind was hearing French philosophy professors talk about how 'modern' he sounded, that his writing sounded as though it could have been written today. I thought that was very strange because every Descartes translation I'd read sounded exactly like what I would expect from a work written in the 1500s. But then again, French always sounds stuffy when you're parsing it in your head. We don't generally say 'whom' anymore, but they do it without batting an eyelash—even some thuggish lowlife on the street will sound like a professor when translated into English. Knowing that made me realize I should just do away with all the stuffy language I was hearing and take some liberties to make it sound the way it does to native French speakers—clear and direct.
Have you been to Montreal? One of the more interesting cities in N America. The French they speak of course, is different than in France, but still, it's a bit like going to a different country, even within Canada..kind of.
I have been there! Very cool city. Quebec City is nice too. We actually stayed in a cottage in Gaspe for a month. It was such a lovely place with such kind people. Their French is very twangy but you start to get used to it (granted, it took a long while for me). Of course, I learned 'standard' French—Parisian. One guy I spoke with in this very rural region of Gaspe actually apologized to me for his French! I would have said, "Dude, I'm barely getting by, I just sound really snotty when I do." Except I had no idea how to get that across. Anyway, that was a very memorable trip. We even considered moving there, but then we thought about the winters and isolation decided against it. Still, I'll never forget how beautiful it was.
Ah! Fantastic, you know a lot more than me, then. I'd like to go to Quebec City as well. Yeah, I prefer the disposition of many QC people. The weather is extreme, but I think much of America is seeming more isolated to me in multiple respects, these days. That being said, the PNW is geographically quite isolated as well.
Nick this is so so so awesome - I could read an entire book of your conversations with Red Pine - enthralling stuff. I saved it for when I had a moment and as I looked out at the harbor from the hospital room with the freshly hatched dragons I couldn’t help but pen a little poetry myself. Too many quotablea to list here but I loved the whole interview.
I will ask again at some point when you’ve got time to give us the map to read Red Pine’s books because I’m nearly ready to dive in.
Great post! It sounds like we're saying the same thing about language—you have to take a leap into the writer's intentions to truly understand the meaning.
Also, so true about literal translation. We had to do that in Greek class as an exercise, and boy did it sound stupid. Not terrible for understanding the grammar, though.
When I was translating Descartes for my senior thesis, one thing that helped me get into the right frame of mind was hearing French philosophy professors talk about how 'modern' he sounded, that his writing sounded as though it could have been written today. I thought that was very strange because every Descartes translation I'd read sounded exactly like what I would expect from a work written in the 1500s. But then again, French always sounds stuffy when you're parsing it in your head. We don't generally say 'whom' anymore, but they do it without batting an eyelash—even some thuggish lowlife on the street will sound like a professor when translated into English. Knowing that made me realize I should just do away with all the stuffy language I was hearing and take some liberties to make it sound the way it does to native French speakers—clear and direct.
Have you been to Montreal? One of the more interesting cities in N America. The French they speak of course, is different than in France, but still, it's a bit like going to a different country, even within Canada..kind of.
I have been there! Very cool city. Quebec City is nice too. We actually stayed in a cottage in Gaspe for a month. It was such a lovely place with such kind people. Their French is very twangy but you start to get used to it (granted, it took a long while for me). Of course, I learned 'standard' French—Parisian. One guy I spoke with in this very rural region of Gaspe actually apologized to me for his French! I would have said, "Dude, I'm barely getting by, I just sound really snotty when I do." Except I had no idea how to get that across. Anyway, that was a very memorable trip. We even considered moving there, but then we thought about the winters and isolation decided against it. Still, I'll never forget how beautiful it was.
Ah! Fantastic, you know a lot more than me, then. I'd like to go to Quebec City as well. Yeah, I prefer the disposition of many QC people. The weather is extreme, but I think much of America is seeming more isolated to me in multiple respects, these days. That being said, the PNW is geographically quite isolated as well.