Jetta Sportwagen License Plate

What a nice thing to happen on a wet Monday! I was delighted to read the translations of my poem, for several reasons. First of all, it's a lovely present, having one's own work translated. Thank you, Anna, Sabine, Chrissanti and Theresa. I read your versions with great enjoyment, and was deeply impressed by your ability to make the poem work on all levels – linguistic, stylistic, poetic – in German. And then, the poem that I thought I knew so well has suddenly become something new and different: four semi-strangers, with all sorts of neat and impressive ways of expressing themselves that sometimes seem to me to read better than the original. And then, the experience made me think about how some parts of a poem seem pretty inflexible – they all get translated in much the same way – while others send the translators off in all sorts of directions, rather like the parallel lines in my poem. I was particularly intrigued by the fact that four German women all have their own individual, personal and highly expressive ways of saying 'You bastards!'. What can this mean? This is another very rewarding episode in my long-standing love affair with the German language. I'm most grateful to all of you.

.

Michael Swan

Can I Get A Waiver For Eczema In The Army?

It is really fascinating to see my work in German, and I wish I was familiar enough with the language to appreciate the skill and nuances of the three translations. I can see straightaway however that no two lines have been translated in exactly the same way! - which brings up the familiar point: there is no such thing as a "correct" translation of a poem; each translation reflects the interpretation and "ear" of the particular translator, and is perfectly valid in its own way.

I did ask my husband, who has a reasonable knowledge of German, to look at the translations, and he made a few observations which might be of interest. He felt that all three versions were sympathetic, and intriguing in their own way: the first seemed to be a more precise, literal translation; the second seemed to capture particularly closely the rhythms and poetic diction of English; while the third felt more imaginative and interpretive, and sounded particularly fluid in German.

.

Caroline Price