Today is my father's birthday. I drove to my home and delivered a little gift to him. Then my parents and I went for dinner. Our conversation drifted about many subjects and went ashore on French literature.
"I couldn't understand why La Petit Prince is supposed to be a masterpiece," I said to my dad.
"Well, that's because the translation was not good." His voice was very confident.
"Then, if I read it in French, I could appreciate its value?"
"Absolutely."
When he was young, my dad attended an extremely intensive boot camp to learn French and other expertise needed for his work. He actually mastered French in six months -- read
L'Etranger by Albert Camus in original then.
I recently managed to purchase all Japaneses translations of my all-time favorite writer Françoise Sagan's work at online used book shops. The translations' publisher somehow made many of those out of print recently. I don't understand why they made such a decision. But this led me to take her work actually all the more seriously.......
Right now, I've been reading La Laisse. It's a story about a up-and-coming musician and his rich and beautiful wife. She isn't quite happy about his new success, and that affects their marriage. Not to mention my dad's opinion, I would much better appreciate the novel if I could read it in original.
Mmmm.... I should start learning French again....perhaps in April.
"I couldn't understand why La Petit Prince is supposed to be a masterpiece," I said to my dad.
"Well, that's because the translation was not good." His voice was very confident.
"Then, if I read it in French, I could appreciate its value?"
"Absolutely."
When he was young, my dad attended an extremely intensive boot camp to learn French and other expertise needed for his work. He actually mastered French in six months -- read
L'Etranger by Albert Camus in original then.
I recently managed to purchase all Japaneses translations of my all-time favorite writer Françoise Sagan's work at online used book shops. The translations' publisher somehow made many of those out of print recently. I don't understand why they made such a decision. But this led me to take her work actually all the more seriously.......
Right now, I've been reading La Laisse. It's a story about a up-and-coming musician and his rich and beautiful wife. She isn't quite happy about his new success, and that affects their marriage. Not to mention my dad's opinion, I would much better appreciate the novel if I could read it in original.
Mmmm.... I should start learning French again....perhaps in April.
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