Reading Language

    Goethes influence on german philosophy (and a lot of other fields) was tremendous. And i think its possible to discuss this on a scientific level. It's even possible to understand concepts like "faustian" as you mentioned. It's just a synonym for something that you once desired but that will haunt you forever now that you have it.

    I would still think its damn impossible to understand the beauty of Goethes poetry without speaking the language. The whole book(s) is made of perfectly rhyming and flowing poems. I wouldn't even know how to translate a single line of it.

    My guess is that english translations cover the story but nothing beyond that. And probably it's the same with Shakespeare translated to german. I'm not really an expert tho.

    Quote from Duff-e

    Do people in Germany read translated works of Shakespeare? To me that sounds as ridiculous as translating Goethe sounds to you. But then in that same respect the Italians probably think we're wasting our time reading a translated version of Dante's Inferno.

    suddenly, it becomes clear why the bible is so controversial

    Oh Steppenwolf I know that Faust is worthy of all the merits it's given. I don't claim to understand them all but I've read about the philosophy behind it and everything beyond that. What I was trying to say is that in the conversations where "Faust" or "Faustian" came up it was clearly just a stand in for the expression "making a deal with the devil." From my experience this is the extent to which your average person in the U.S. comprehends Faust. I'm not implying that we're stupid, I'm just agreeing with you that a lot of the subtlety that makes it a classic for native German speakers is lost on others.

    There are translations of shakespeare and some of them are very good. http://%7boption%7d is an except from the translation and it shows how good that works (although the original version is still the "true" one. Schlegel - the translator, lived only a good 150 years later than shakespeare (little compared to our 400 years timespan) and captured the feelings very nice (it might be also helpful that his brother friedrich is one of the founders of the german romantic and brother in law to Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (who wrote the overtoure of the hebrids - fingal's cave). So he had a very good insight into what makes good german language and what made good english language.

    Quote from Rick_D

    this fuckin country forces you to do everything in their sodomised half-language

    yea i don't get why countries aren't adopting more international languages. on the other hand, you see mcdonalds everywhere. it's ok if you mess with the health of our people, BUT ILL BE DAMNED IF YOU CAN TAKE OUR LANGUAGE

    I dont think english has the widest vocabulary out there to be honest.

    But i must say that when i'm suppose to choose between Polish and English version of something, be it Website, Book or a Movie i always choose English version.

    I also prefer USA stand ups and late night shows... somehow.

    is seir going to burn me in here or not

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