After all, why shouldn't I do it?

Why shouldn't I take another translation question? You guys I feel like Bilbo with the ring. I just can't let it go. It's so much fun.

I've been doing these words, words episodes on Fridays I said it was going to be every now and then I still do intend to do more interviews I've got some lined up for the year I promise but I am just having too much fun

talking to you about translation about how to pick good translations about what issues

go into translation and more deeply as a result talking to you about the nature of language which is my

Favorite subject it is where my heart has always really been at and so I'm just having a blast and it seems like you guys like these

too so you know I got an email I mentioned that somebody said I should quit my day job and

only do this I don't really know what my day job is at this point because I'm always just doing stuff that I love and I feel very lucky about that but message received. I've been getting a lot, a lot of these questions. I have enough of them now to do this for quite some time. So you guys like it. I like it and most importantly of all my mom likes these episodes which you guys know that I would do absolutely anything to make my mom happy.

She sends me texts sometimes about particular episodes of the show that she likes and out of the blue

she was like I really like the words words words things. So that settles it. If mama Clavin says it, it's going to happen.

And I've got a really juicy one today, such a juicy one that I think it's going to be a two-parter.

I'll just read this question that I got, and then I'll explain why I want to spend

some time on answering it. This is from Nathan and oh by the way to ask me questions you should

go to rejoice evermore dot sub stack dot com that's my

newsletter it's where you'll get regular updates from me plus if you become a paid

subscriber extra essays and backstage stuff and all sorts of fun things but either way you can be in the mailbag and you can ask me

translation questions this way that's what Nathan has done here here here's his question what are your

thoughts on idiomatic translations versus literal

translations? In high school we read an idiomatic translation of crime and

punishment. It was uncharacteristically easy to find myself lost in the book, despite each character having six names.

I know Russians are the worst about this. The Russian novels, it's impossible.

But I mentioned a while back, those names are even themselves bearers of information. They have they contain more than just this is the guy that we're talking about. That's why you have to keep them even in translation. Anyway, this is not what that question is about.

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