unfortunately, the only language I really know is those Chicano words you can't say in polite company!
thanks largely to the internet, international poetry is becoming more popular and there is starting to be a push to have a translation, next to the original poem, next to a literal translation. Most publishers are very resistant - probably because of the extra printing costs.
One other thing about when you read translations of world poetry is understanding the culture and their metaphors. For example, ducks are just ducks to us. To Asians, ducks are believed to be monogamous, so when a duck swims through a poem, there's probably an underlying theme about some guy being unfaithful to some girl.
I think learning and figuring this stuff is one of the fun parts of reading world poetry, but then I am a poetry geek!
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2012-02-09 11:03 pm (UTC)thanks largely to the internet, international poetry is becoming more popular and there is starting to be a push to have a translation, next to the original poem, next to a literal translation. Most publishers are very resistant - probably because of the extra printing costs.
One other thing about when you read translations of world poetry is understanding the culture and their metaphors. For example, ducks are just ducks to us. To Asians, ducks are believed to be monogamous, so when a duck swims through a poem, there's probably an underlying theme about some guy being unfaithful to some girl.
I think learning and figuring this stuff is one of the fun parts of reading world poetry, but then I am a poetry geek!