hulit1-1, Exercise 3: Why translations differ

Model answer (check the method):

Why they differ: Hungarian grammar, word order and sound work differently from English, so a translator must choose what to keep: the literal meaning, the rhythm and rhyme, the tone, or the effect on a reader. A translator of poetry has to give up something. Translators also work from different editions, in different decades and for different audiences, and their English reflects their own time.

How to choose: compare two or three translations of the same passage, read what the translators say about their aims in prefaces, check the edition each follows, and if possible look at a bilingual text or ask someone who reads Hungarian. For study, a plainer, more literal version may serve better. For reading pleasure, a more literary version may be preferable.

No translation replaces the original, and a quotation is always the translator's version.