This article is based on this Dutch article of Martinus Benders:
https://martijnbenders.substack.com/p/broddelwerk-is-de-norm-van-lieden
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Sloppy work is the norm, from people operating under double pseudonyms
Another shoddy piece of work by ‘Jan H. Mysjkin’ at Uitgeverij Vleugels, published on Neerlandistiek.nl
Meurtri par les grandes plaques de temps
has been translated as:
Bruised by large time plates
Any poetry lover would be shaking their head vigorously. No, no, no!
But then the next line:
moves through life like marble veins that want to spare themselves with their eyes
Why did Mysjkin cram that into a single line when in the original it is spread over two? And then there’s the mistranslation of se ménager des yeux, which does not mean ‘spare themselves with their eyes’ at all.
Translation errors, such as papillons invulnérables being translated as ‘untouchable moths’ instead of ‘butterflies,’ which is a significant deviation in meaning. Only an exceedingly frustrated translator would do this, one who believes they must make the poem more exciting because their own poetic calling failed.
Likewise, ne sortiront pas des tulipes de sang is translated as ‘on eggs from which no blood-stone tulips will break,’ while ‘will break’ does not convey the proper nuance of ‘will not emerge.’ ‘From which no blood-red tulips will appear’ would have been better.
But in the second poem, things get even worse.
1. Des vols de perroquets means ‘Flocks of parrots,’ not ‘Flying birds of paradise.’ Vols here refers to flocks or groups of birds, not the verb ‘flying.’ Perroquets means ‘parrots,’ not ‘birds of paradise’ (oiseaux de paradis).
2. Traversent ma tête means ‘cross through my head,’ but the Dutch word order is odd in the translation.
Marais vert (green swamp) becomes ‘pond,’ which is less accurate; ‘swamp’ would have been correct.
Nombril caspien (Caspian navel) becomes ‘Caspian sea navel’ – why? Do Dutch speakers not know that ‘Caspian’ already refers to a sea?
Nuit de lessive literally means ‘washing night,’ referring to a night of laundering. ‘Lye-water night’ introduces a chemical, almost toxic connotation not present in the French text.
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With such a list of errors, one gets by easily in the Netherlands—no one truly cares about literature, and everything serves as a job creation scheme. Jan de Man and Uitgeverij Vleugels must be kept busy, critics no longer exist, and the book factory must keep cranking out volumes.
Of course, Benjamin Péret’s poems themselves are not exactly world-class to begin with, but they certainly deserve a better translation.
Jan de Man—is that really his name? My sources say yes. But I suspect this, too, is yet another pseudonym.
Sloppy work is the norm, from people operating under double pseudonyms. How is this possible? I will reveal it all in my novel The Service.
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I am working on a Buddhist playlist:
I have tried to focus on authentic Buddhist chants and mantras, avoiding the so-called ‘ambient’ section as much as possible. I am still working on it, but here are already 10 hours and 45 minutes of remarkable music.
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Sloppy work of an even worse caliber is the ventriloquism on Volkskrant.nl, where the young men being dragged screaming to the front lines never appear in the images, even though those videos are all over the internet. But no,
‘They had hoped Trump would take the motto peace through strength seriously: making Ukraine so strong that Russia would have to stop the war. But he is doing the opposite, and that hits hard.’
So that was the grand plan: America had to make Ukraine so strong that the Russians would have no choice but to stop the war. Brilliant plan, almost as brilliant as buying 800 billion in conventional weapons, which Russia will soon disable with a handful of hazelnuts in a single strike.
But the arms shipments have resumed because the stage play has already done its work: another 800 billion secured. The gentlemen can go on for a while.
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Dumbest clip of all time:
https://x.com/i/status/1899588456852189229
Mister Omtzigt, the arsonist, will probably need a few months at home to recover.
Best regards,
Martinus Benders