Let me explain: I do not want to train translators but to use translation criticism and comparison as a tool to teach writing to ESL science doctoral students.
I want to collect and anthologize a dozen passages from well known scientists whose works have contributed to a paradigm shift in their fields.
Ideally, I need original works in a variety of languages together with their translations in English, French and/or any language.
I am teaching international students and would like for a any student to find a sample from their mother tongue in my collection. Suggestions for works in Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Russian and any European language would be great.
Thank you for any ideas you might contribute.
Here's a good book on history translated from Russian into English:
Stalin
by Эдвард Радзинский, H.T. Willets (Translator), Edvard Radzinsky
From the author of The Last Tsar, the first full-scale life of Stalin to have what no previous biography has entirely gotten hold of: the facts. Granted privileged access to Russia's secret archives, Edvard Radzinsky paints a picture of the Soviet strongman as more calculating, ruthless, and blood-crazed than has ever been described or imagined. Stalin was a man for whom p ...more
Paperback, 624 pages
Published August 18th 1997 by Anchor (first published 1995)
Original Title
Stalin: The First In-depth Biography Based on Explosive New Documents from Russia's Secret Archives
ISBN 0385479549 (ISBN13: 9780385479547)
Edition Language English
Thank you Boris.
I will keep this suggestion in mind should I teach history students.
At the moment, I mostly teach physics, chemistry and enviromental science students. So I was thinking texts such as the canonical Gallileo, Darwin or Copernic for instance, that would have translations in many different languages. I am also especially interested in texts by less known women scientists, to try and broaden the canon!
Дарвин Чарльз. Книги онлайн
http://www.koob.ru/charles_darvin/
Галилео Галилей
ДИАЛОГ О ДВУХ ГЛАВНЕЙШИХ СИСТЕМАХ МИРА
http://www.ezospirit.com.ua/publ/filosofija/galileo_galilej_dialog_o_dvukh_glavnejshikh_sistemakh_mira/7-1-0-926
«Классики науки»
http://publ.lib.ru/ARCHIVES/K/''Klassiki_nauki''/_''Klassiki_nauki''_J-M_.html
Dear Sophie
May I suggest some of the first science texts written in English, not Latin. The Gutenberg society has many of them free online. Darwin's texts are abundant on the internet. Newton's Optics in its first and second version can be found as well. And a French one: Experiment Aerostatique, which cover texts about the hydrogen balloon, Then there are the patents, for instance about textile colouring. There is the patent numbered No. 1984 from 1856 called "Dyeing Fabrics" about Mauvein, the first synthetic colour for textile patented by William Perkin. May I also suggest Wallace Carother's patent application for nylon, called "Linear Condensation Polymers. Furthermore, there might be texts on the Haber Bosch process: the first nitrogen, which in civil life was used as a fertilizer, in the first world war for deadly gasses, in 1945 the invention of disulphram for antabus treatment, etc.
Hope you can use some of the suggestions.
Dear Birthe and Ketevan,
Thank you both of you for these suggestions.
I am familiar with Marianne Lederer's book and theory, but did not know it was translated in so many different languages. This is very useful. I will look up the patents too, they may come in handy in my writing class and in others as well.
Thank you
Dear Sophie, I dare to suggest the following idea: Use a library's catalogue (Russian, Arabic, German, etc.) and write the name/subject/title of a masterpeice of your preference and you will see in the masterpiece library record the translation in a given language. I wrote "Darwin, Charles" in the catalogue of my university in Mexico, (Spanish language country) and the result was 254. There were 33 out of 50 translations into Spanish. By using a library's catalogue, you have the great advantage of selecting the topic, author or title. Finaly, a great text that may serve as a warming up activity is One hundred percent American, by the anthropologis Ralph Linton. I studied English literature and teach English, and a workshop to publish in journals. Wish you the best luck in your demanding activities.
Muchas gracias.
Puedo hacer asi, pero me encantaria si alguien me hiciera suggenrencias de autores que no conozco. Tengo cada ano mas estudiates chinos y pienso que tal vez hay autores mayores que no estan muy conocidos fuera de su pais. Seria une oportunidad de "descubrir" los.
Muy bien pensado. Si se trata de clásicos, el principio de buscar en el catálogo de la biblioteca (china, vietnamita, croata...) es exactamente el mismo. Mucha suerte.
The translation of popular astrophysics is an interesting issue, since material written in English makes use of various metaphors to assist understanding, including, for example, the metaphor of "cloth". So we get "tears in the fabric" of space, for example.
As for scientists writing about this in English, a very influential female physicist is Lisa Randall. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisa_Randall
She wrote a wonderful book called "Warped Passages". Professor Randall created a deep impression on the scientific community in Japan, where research on astrophysics is well developed. She was featured a lot in the media here a few years ago, so her books are popularly read in Japanese translation. (I paste below a link to the Japan Amazon site for the Japanese translation of Warped Passages.)
It might be very interesting to examine the translation between English and Japanese from the perspective of the treatment of scientific metaphors. Just concerning the title, "Warped Passages", the word "Warp" is simply transliterated into Japanese, although it is meaningless in Japanese; "Wa-pu suru uchu ("warping space"). I think the title is poor as a translation, so even the translator's choice of a meaningless title could be a discussion of translation effectiveness. Bonne chance!
http://www.amazon.co.jp/%E3%83%AF%E3%83%BC%E3%83%97%E3%81%99%E3%82%8B%E5%AE%87%E5%AE%99%E2%80%955%E6%AC%A1%E5%85%83%E6%99%82%E7%A9%BA%E3%81%AE%E8%AC%8E%E3%82%92%E8%A7%A3%E3%81%8F-%E3%83%AA%E3%82%B5%E3%83%BB%E3%83%A9%E3%83%B3%E3%83%89%E3%83%BC%E3%83%AB/dp/4140812397/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1454254160&sr=8-1-fkmr1&keywords=%E3%83%AF%E3%83%BC%E3%83%97%E3%81%97%E3%81%9F%E4%BD%99%E5%89%B0%E6%AC%A1%E5%85%83
Hello, again. I was in the bookstore the other day, and happened to recall your question when I saw Silent Spring by Rachel Carson on the bookshelf. As you probably know, it is a classic text from early environmentalism. It is translated into many languages, including French of course. It was originally published in 1962. http://www.amazon.fr/Printemps-silencieux-Rachel-Carson/dp/291849027X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1454676179&sr=8-1&keywords=printemps+silencieux
This is the " Avicenna The Physics of The Healing" book.كتاب الشفاء لابن سيناء. It is a parallel English-Arabic text .
http://www.umsl.edu/~philo/People/Faculty/McGinnis%20Works/Physics%20translation/Physics-vol.1.pdf
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