: Re: Maintaining consistent style in a translation When translating something, how do you maintain a consistent style throughout? I'm concerned about starting off in my own style, then gradually slipping

@Eichhorn147

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In my opinion the true kernel of one and every translation is to deliver original author's idea by using your own unique style and signature. All the translations of original works to Russian I've ever seen carried some sort of original rework and refinement to make author's idea clearer to reader, to bring those emotions, thoughts and feelings author (or characters of his book) described and experienced.

This is not an easy task for sure. Many books were written in ancient times in a very complex and sophisticated language, many of them describe events, people and appearances that are not obvious to current people and in some cases neither they were to the contemporaries.

They need to be adapted and should be adapted.

And they are often adapted by historians and scientists like it supposed to do, by the people who know the epoch and who can translate those circumstances to the modern language. The perfect example is 1984 by George Orwell. Though it is a dystopia, it perfectly describes after-war state of minds and Cold War espionage mania and suspicion among people. For non-English natives it had required a fair piece of effort to translate all those Newspeak figures he used in this book.

Naturally translation of fiction literature should not be literal and it is wonderful.

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