Has anyone ever read a book that has been translated from one language into English? Did it have a feeling like it wasn't originally in English? I've read Koji Suzuki's "Ring" and Kaoru Kurimoto's "The Guin Saga," and I just love the feeling that's preserved. It almost has an air of mystery to it.

I agree that a translation can have a very different feel to it. It's great when the translator manages to keep a flavour of the original language in it. I have read a number of books as a translation and in the original and sometimes they lose some of the subtlety of the original.

Thanks to those writers who are good in translating book. The translation helps us understand the message of the original author of a certain book. But of course the original writing is still the best book to read. I used to read Korean books. Go Eun is one of the best writer for me.

Translators have to work very hard at what they do. Not only do they have to be good translators, but hey have to be good writers, too.

Agreed - translators have a tough job!

Oddly one of the "translations" that springs to my mind is Terry Pratchett's books. They weren't translated in the traditional sense, but when they were released to American audiences, a lot of the British slang and all of the British spelling was changed to American-ize them. I picked up some of the originals when I was in London, and there was a noticeable difference... it was sad that they lost some of that English edge when they got changed.

I know. I hate when publishers try to just take all the culture out of a work by just making it into something blandly American. It's the same way with other imported things like manga. In the early days, they were flipped from the right to left style and made to read left to right like mainstream comics. There were a lot of name changes, too.

I'm currently reading a book by Haruki Murakami which was translated. When I read a book that wasn't originally written in English, it often makes me wonder how good of a writer the original writer was. Basically what we're reading is the original writer's words filtered through the translator.