Talk:Bel Ami/Chapter I

Appalling "translation"

Maupassant (via Google Translate):

When the cashier had given him change for his hundred-sou coin, Georges Duroy left the restaurant.

As he looked handsome, by nature and by the pose of a former non-commissioned officer, he arched his waist, curled his moustache with a military and familiar gesture, and cast a quick, circular glance at the late diners, one of those pretty boy glances that spread like the swipes of a hawk.

The women had raised their heads towards him, three little working girls, a middle-aged music teacher, unkempt, unkempt, wearing a hat that was always dusty and always dressed in a crooked dress, and two bourgeois women with their husbands, regulars at this fixed-price eatery.

This "translation":

After changing his five-franc piece Georges Duroy left the restaurant. He twisted his mustache in military style and cast a rapid, sweeping glance upon the diners, among whom were three saleswomen, an untidy music-teacher of uncertain age, and two women with their husbands.

Worthless. --Pfold (talk) 18:57, 22 December 2024 (UTC)

Of course that the fact this is not an exact translation or it is not a translation made under our contemporary standards of a good translation does not mean it is "worthless". It is the original translation published in 1903 and as such it is a very important historical document. Among others, it is very useful for anybody who needs to know for their research what text was available to the English readers in the beginning of the 20th century.

The goal of Wikisource is not to gather texts that somebody might consider good, our goal is to gather various notable published texts (which are in the public domain) that can be useful for anybody's research. --Jan Kameníček (talk) 19:35, 23 December 2024 (UTC)