[lostfocus]

I remember that dumb ad. I think that was the moment when I finally decided to read his books in his original English instead. (It helped that at this time my English got good enough that I could read whole novels complete with puns and obscure references.)

[henriquecm8]

> (It helped that at this time my English got good enough that I could read whole novels complete with puns and obscure references.)

It's been almost a decade since I started watching movies/tv shows, and playing games with original audio (usually english or japanese) and english subtitles instead of my native language, to help improve my english. But I to this day, every time I rewatch the movie Airplane, there are new jokes I hadn't understood before. It's one's of the reason I like to rewatch it every couple of years, the other being that it's my favorite comedy movie.

[Terr_]

Even as a native English speaker, I'll occasionally re-read a Pratchett book and realize there was a minor reference or pun that I probably missed the last time.

[sorokod]

Sometimes it is the core language and sometimes it is the jargon on top. After watching Apocalypse Now many times I recently found out that in Kilgore's "Outstanding Red Team, outstanding..." , red team is an actual thing in Air Cavalry .

[ur-whale]

> when I finally decided to read his books in his original English instead.

Good for you.

Sooo much is lost in the translations of Pratchett to other (even linguistically close) languages.

I mean, the translator try their best to carry the word plays or funny anglo-centric cultural references over, bu very rarely succeed in matching the wit and timing of the original English.

[10729287]

French is one of the most famous translation and is known to be excellent. I can confirm although I never read it in English (I'm not good enough, especially regarding cultural references).

[btilly]

The one series whose translations are very good is the series Asterix and Obelisk. The original is in French. I believe that most of the translations are good. Certainly the English one is.

[totetsu]

How do the weemens way of talking come across in translation

[Cosi1125]

Much is lost (and I learned this painfully reading the translation along with the annotations in APF), but also a lot is added by the translator. The translators had a lot of freedom – with Pterry's blessing – and some of them put it to good use. I love the Polish translation by Piotr Cholewa.