Latin in Translation
The best Latin literature has been translated into most major languages. Until the 1900s, the majority of educated people in the West knew at least some Latin. Today, a smaller proportion of educated people are familiar with the language, but an increasing number enjoy Latin literature through translations.
Some translators paraphrase — that is, they try to keep the beauty and spirit of the original work without providing the exact meaning of each phrase. During the 1600s and 1700s, a number of English poets translated much Latin poetry by paraphrasing. Perhaps the outstanding example was John Dryden's English version of the poems of Virgil, published in 1697.
Other translators provide literal translations, trying to imitate exactly the writings of Latin authors. But these translations lose much of the beauty and style that made the originals works of art. The chief value of literal translations lies in helping students read Latin more easily.
Read more about this topic: Latin Literature
Famous quotes containing the words latin and/or translation:
“I am not of the opinion generally entertained in this country [England], that man lives by Greek and Latin alone; that is, by knowing a great many words of two dead languages, which nobody living knows perfectly, and which are of no use in the common intercourse of life. Useful knowledge, in my opinion, consists of modern languages, history, and geography; some Latin may be thrown into the bargain, in compliance with custom, and for closet amusement.”
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)
“Whilst Marx turned the Hegelian dialectic outwards, making it an instrument with which he could interpret the facts of history and so arrive at an objective science which insists on the translation of theory into action, Kierkegaard, on the other hand, turned the same instruments inwards, for the examination of his own soul or psychology, arriving at a subjective philosophy which involved him in the deepest pessimism and despair of action.”
—Sir Herbert Read (1893–1968)