How are the Translations?

[CosmereScholar]

Hello! I’m interested to know if any of you have read translations of the Cosmere novels. If so, could you share your opinions of them and any interesting facts about how all the terminology was translated?

I have read a bit in Bulgarian. The translations are very good, it feels like the original novel, though I find myself visualizing the conversations a bit differently.

As for nomenclature: in Warbreaker, the names were complicated a great deal by the fact that compound nouns sound bizarre in Bulgarian. I imagine there are similar problems in Stormlight, though I haven’t read that. The title was translated literally: He Who Stops War. However, the names of the Returned and of Nightblood in the novel were written out phonetically, with a guide at the beginning to explain their meanings.

 

Will anyone who shares my interest please respond and share anything interesting about your translations?

 

 

[Thunder_93]

I read multiple books of Sanderson in German (Mistborn Era 1, Way of Kings, Warbreaker, Elantris, Steelheart), before I switched to English. I switched because I didn’t want to wait for the book to release, as the translation take a long time (or at least it feels like it, when I know the book is already released in English).
Overall, the books seemed translated really well, the conversations felt like an actual conversation, and also the “special terminology”, like Allomancy, BioChroma and just the cosmere-magic in general made sense / didn’t sound weird.

I have only 2 issues with the translations, both regarding Mistborn:

-End of book 1, Vin didn’t inhale mist. She just really flaired her metal. But in book 3, at the very end fighting all the Inquisitors, she did. So I was really confused when it said “she inhaled the mists, like when she killed TLR”.

-Names of the books For some the translation seems okay, for some it’s really weird. Some of the names are overworked, as the book is now sold by a new publisher.
 First the original name, then the german name, and then the german name translated back to English (so you see why it’s nonsense):

The final empire                      Kinder des Nebels                  Children of the Mist                 (seems okay, regarding it’s the first book of Mistborn)
The well of ascension             Krieger des Feuers                 Warrior of fire                          (I don’t understand to this day how they came up with that, and that one is not gonna change with the new publisher. Any idea why that name?)
Hero of ages                           Herrscher des Lichts               Ruler of the Light                    (with A LOT of creativity, a little related to the original name)

[CosmereScholar]

5 hours ago, Thunder_93 said:

End of book 1, Vin didn’t inhale mist.

Wow. This is a serious plot hole. 

The title changes are interesting. The reason for Warrior of Fire is perfectly clear.  The Warrior of Fire is Vin, who fights with a fiery passion, and simultaneously it is Elend, who fights to set the Final Empire on fire with his ideas. Also, the title is an oblique reference to Ruin, who is a warrior who progresses entropy, much like fire : )

Is the Hero of Ages called the Ruler of Light in translation? In Bulgarian, it is translated as The Hero of Time. Also, I’ve heard that Warbreaker is The Sound of Storms in German. What is the reason for this?

[Thunder_93]

I suppose you can look at the "Warrior of Fire" like that, but still, just calling it Tje Well of Ascension (so "Die Quelle der Erhebung" for example) would be way better. I still dont like the current title, but whatever.

In the book itself, hes called "Held aller Zeiten", so Hero of all Time, which is totally fine (the new publisher actually calls the book just like that). Why the other title, i really dont know.

I forgot about the titel of Warbreaker, good catch. Surprised you already checked that. Its called "Sturmklänge" which translates to Stormsounds, or Sounds of the Storm. But why?  No idea. A breath, for example, is "Hauch", which translates to... when you gently breath on something, for example. But its related, so thats really fine. The only thing you could relate to a storm, is the uprising in the palace... but then again, why the sound? I really cannot explain why they did that.

Interestingly, this namechanges were all of the same publisher. The only other books they released was Elantris (here the title is the same) and alloy of law. Word to word translated, it would be "Legierung des Gesetzes", but its called "Jäger der Macht" which means hunter of the power. So again, not really good. 

But I dont think this publisher is releasing any new Sanderson books.

Other interesting fact: The stormlight books are each splitted in 2 books in German, so theres already 6 (the second part of Oathbringer to be released), but the titles are fine here

[CosmereScholar]

I was joking about Warrior of Fire. It does not make sense.

I’m surprised that Warbreaker’s title has no relevance to the book. I had assumed it would be Vasher’s name.

It is interesting the books are split in two like that, and the unusual title of the Era 2 mistborn books! These sound like random changes done for someone’s amusement.

 

So, has anybody read another translation?

Edited March 22, 2019 by CosmereScholar

[Bloodweaver]

I've read some books in Polish and there are a few odd/ different names used, especially in Warbreaker. Originally it was translated as 'The Sower of War', which would indicate completely different intentions of the characters. Thankfully, they changed it to what might be translated as 'Peacemaker' so it fits better.

The characters in the Court of Gods also have different names: 

- Blushweaver is Morning Dew 

- Lightsong is The Gift of Song

- Clod's name could be translated as Nitwit or a Fool

Fortunately they didn't mess with the Stormlight Archive. And in Mistborn the first novel is called just 'Mistborn' instead of 'the Final Empire' but I'm not complaining. 

[Nnatel]

Yeah, because there are two polish translations of Warbreaker I was confused at the beginning, at least untill I found out that they are the same book (I read only the later one). And I must agree, almost everything is translated at least ok, if not really well. But I am planning to read all in English, to get used to names (because for now getting through forum is sometimes confusing as I have no idea who is who). And I just don't want to wait for Stormlight 4 being translated. 

Even if they are not one word, like in English. It happend with Mistborn - the meaning is the same but it is actually 'Born from mists' (or something like that) or as @Bloodweaver said - the names of gods in Warbreaker. 

[bxcnch]

As someone who has read the German versions I have to complain about the amount of Grunzen and Kichern in the books. Kaladin apparently "grunzt" a lot, which you could probably translate with "grunting". Except you usually use it in the context of pigs. The mental image of Kaladin randomly making pig noises is hard to ignore. There also is only one word for chukle, giggle in cackle in german, and that is "Kichern" which all characters do all the time. Suddenly all characters sound like imbecile young teenagers who start giggling childishly even at some of the less funny jokes in the books. 

Apart from that my only real complaint is about Vyre. In English it rhymes with Fire, which makes sense considering its spelling. For some reason that part was also translated. In german, Vyre (which Germans would usually just pronounce the English way ("Anglicism") or as Vee-reh) now rhymes with Feuer (German for fire). So, "Voyah" is how we apparently have to pronounce it in German. The spelling not only makes no sense then, but it also sounds pretty stupid. You could probably have said it rhymes with "Befreier" (Savior) which would be quite a little melodramatic, but at least it would make sense AND keep the Vyre-sound.

Edited September 20, 2019 by bxcnch