David, your German is excellent even in the details.
only two things:
in this case it means "after a little while". Of course this is different than "then", but still closer than "sometimes".
His whole sentence is, as you quoted before: "Ich spielte mit einer Hand weiter" which does mean "with one hand".
These are even very small changes compared to many others he did.
And of course - it's especially the poems when Weissners translations become very 'free'. (The German word for this style of 'translating' is "Nachdichtung" which more or less means "adaptation". It's not uncommon for poetry.)
You're right, some changes aren't really necessary. And escpecially in cases where Buk does something intentionally, like the repeating of the piano, we should be critical.
But still - sometimes a 'free translation'/'adaption' hits the feeling of a different language much better.
Plus: don't forget, this translation dates from 1970. It's strange but a fact, that translations tend to sound 'aged' much faster than the original texts.
It's always easy to find something in translations, that I myself would make different. But as a whole, I must say that Weissner got the works right. They are a pleasure to read for Germans and transport the 'feeling' of the texts for German ears.
I still like to read Hanks prose in translation.
It's only the poems, where I avoid doing so.
But even those aren't too bad. It's a hard job and he did very well.
ps:
right now I'm reading 'Hollywood' for the first time in English. A lot of things turn out to be better of course, but some really worked better for me in German. (yes, I said 'better')
And in case anybody of you has ever wondered how sudden this book starts ("A couple of days later ...") - the German translation, as always, follows the original manuscript: and this one has a whole page before that start, telling about Pinchot calling him and asking to write a screenplay. I don't know why this was left out in the English version.
only two things:
in this case it means "after a little while". Of course this is different than "then", but still closer than "sometimes".
His whole sentence is, as you quoted before: "Ich spielte mit einer Hand weiter" which does mean "with one hand".
These are even very small changes compared to many others he did.
And of course - it's especially the poems when Weissners translations become very 'free'. (The German word for this style of 'translating' is "Nachdichtung" which more or less means "adaptation". It's not uncommon for poetry.)
You're right, some changes aren't really necessary. And escpecially in cases where Buk does something intentionally, like the repeating of the piano, we should be critical.
But still - sometimes a 'free translation'/'adaption' hits the feeling of a different language much better.
Plus: don't forget, this translation dates from 1970. It's strange but a fact, that translations tend to sound 'aged' much faster than the original texts.
It's always easy to find something in translations, that I myself would make different. But as a whole, I must say that Weissner got the works right. They are a pleasure to read for Germans and transport the 'feeling' of the texts for German ears.
I still like to read Hanks prose in translation.
It's only the poems, where I avoid doing so.
But even those aren't too bad. It's a hard job and he did very well.
ps:
right now I'm reading 'Hollywood' for the first time in English. A lot of things turn out to be better of course, but some really worked better for me in German. (yes, I said 'better')
And in case anybody of you has ever wondered how sudden this book starts ("A couple of days later ...") - the German translation, as always, follows the original manuscript: and this one has a whole page before that start, telling about Pinchot calling him and asking to write a screenplay. I don't know why this was left out in the English version.
