I really had wanted to learn Italian for a long time. I think ever since - or even maybe even before I had read Dante. And I just sort of had this idea that I wanted to read Dante in Italian. And then in my office, we actually had a class - an Italian class.

Ann Goldstein

Categorized in : Thinking Class Italian

As the writer, you can choose the word that seems best in terms of meaning, nuance, sound, etc. As the translator you are unlikely to find a word in your language that exactly matches, so that you are always making a decision about which meaning or nuance to choose, or emphasize, over the others.

nuance decision sound

Primo Levi's - I mean, he's a very different kind of writer. He's a much more formal writer. He's a much more -almost detached. I mean, I wouldn't really say that he's detached ultimately. But he does write as a scientist, and so he describes things very - in great detail, very carefully.

details writing mean

The truth is, just to hear other people speaking Italian is really worth it. It keeps the sound in your ear.

italian sound people

I have very strict rules in my head that seem to me to be the way... by Ann Goldstein

I have very strict rules in my head that seem to me to be the way things should sound.

I don't have a philosophy. If I had a philosophy, it's that I'm kind of literal minded. For example, I would never translate poetry - it's too hard, there are too many levels. Not that prose doesn't have many levels, but it's more grounded.

levels example philosophy

I think that if you are sticking to the text, essentially, you're not trying to write your own version of it. I mean, of course, it is your own version of it. And every translator would probably have a different version. But I think that that's what keeps the writers from being individual in English. They may be my English, but I don't think that Ferrante sounds like Levi.

writing mean thinking

I always hesitate to say that something is lifelike. by Ann Goldstein

I always hesitate to say that something is lifelike.

I like to think of the individual words, then you put the word in the sentence, then you have to think about what that word means in the sentence, then you have to read the sentence in the paragraph - you're sort of building up like that; that's my philosophy.

philosophy mean thinking

It's really the story of a young woman, or two women, growing up in Naples in a poor neighborhood. The way that they get out of it - or don't get out of it - that's part of it. But it's also the story of the mid-20th century in Italy so it's really like a social, historical and personal novel. I think that even though I didn't live in Italy in those years, it did cover that same type of generational upbringing that someone like me might've had in America.

growing-up two thinking

Trying to take a feeling from one language, and express it in another is naturally that's my goal. You can't possibly achieve that in a perfect way because there's so many things you have to take into consideration. You know, think about every word, every sentence, every paragraph, and do what you can.

goal perfect thinking

I think that physical actions are always hard to describe, to tra... by Ann Goldstein

I think that physical actions are always hard to describe, to translate.

translate action thinking

I think that being an editor, someone who works with words, is very good training for being a translator because it trains you to be attentive to words in a very specific, very concrete, very literal way.

training editors thinking

It's one of the hardest things to translate anything that's not s... by Ann Goldstein

It's one of the hardest things to translate anything that's not standard.

standards translate hardest

One naturally identifies to some extent with an "I" female narrator going through something that you recognize whether you've gone through it or not.

narrators female gone

That's a huge subject - a writer refusing to do publicity but wri... by Ann Goldstein

That's a huge subject - a writer refusing to do publicity but writing about publicity.

publicity subjects writing

The Neapolitan novels have a lot of references to things outside, to things of the world, to culture, politics, the city of Naples. People have mentioned that Naples is like a character in the novels.

cities character people

To have the translator be a figure in the book's presentation seems like a big thing, especially for a book that's really popular.

bigs figures book

I think it's important to be accurate on the level of the word, but it's also important to be accurate at the level of the sentence, at the level of the paragraph. Sometimes you lose sight of that - I remind myself to go back and read.

important sight thinking

I tend to be kind of literal about translation. I think it's important to present the writer as closely as possible.

be-kind important thinking

I've translated a lot of dead writers so I'm kind of used to not having contact with the writer, i think it's admirable that she's made this decision to have nothing to do with her books once she's written them.

lifestyle