No one had greater disdain for the French than Mark Twain
And no one ridiculed the French language better than Mark Twain.
Twain discovered a French translation of his story “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”.
He back-translated the story into English, word for word, retaining the French grammatical structure and syntax.
He then published all three versions: the original, the French translation, and his re-translation of the French back into English.
Here it is in published form:
Read it online here:
SAMPLES
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Original: The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County
Rev. Leonidas W. H’m, Reverend Le—well, there was a feller here, once by the name of Jim Smiley, in the winter of ‘49 —or maybe it was the spring of ‘50—I don’t recollect exactly, somehow, though what makes me think it was one or the other is because I remember the big flume warn’t finished when he first come to the camp; but anyway, he was the curiousest man about always betting on anything that turned up you ever see, if he could get anybody to bet on the other side; and if he couldn’t he’d change sides. Any way that suited the other man would suit him any way just so’s he got a bet, he was satisfied. But still he was lucky, uncommon lucky; he most always come out winner. He was always ready and laying for a chance; there couldn’t be no solit’ry thing mentioned but that feller’d offer to bet on it, and take any side you please, as I was just telling you. If there was a horse-race, you’d find him flush or you’d find him busted at the end of it;
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The same paragraph clawed back to English from the French translation:
Back Translation - The Frog Jumping of the County of Calaveras
It there was one time here an individual known under the name of Jim Smiley; it was in the winter of ‘89, possibly well at the spring of ‘50, I no me recollect not exactly. This which me makes to believe that it was the one or the other, it is that I shall remember that the grand flume is not achieved when he arrives at the camp for the first time, but of all sides he was the man the most fond of to bet which one have seen, betting upon all that which is presented, when he could find an adversary; and when he not of it could not, he passed to the side opposed. All that which convenienced to the other to him convenienced also; seeing that he had a bet Smiley was satisfied. And he had a chance! a chance even worthless; nearly always he gained. It must to say that he was always near to himself expose, but one no could mention the least thing without that this gaillard offered to bet the bottom, no matter what, and to take the side that one him would, as I you it said all at the hour (tout a l’heure).
Translation is an art, not an exact science. Regardless of which language you translate to and from, the syntax and grammar *will* be different.
This is why people find running passages through one or more languages in Google Translate and then back to English so amusing.
From the Lord of the Rings:
Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,
Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
The same poem, translated through French, Russian, Arabic, Indonesian, Scottish Gaelic, Danish, and back to English (I may have forgotten a step):
Three rings for the kings of elves under heaven
Seven dwarves in a room,
Nine mortal man is doomed to die,
One of the Dark Lord on the throne of darkness
In the land of Mordor where the shadows lie.
One Ring to rule them all, one ring to find them,
The ring them all and in the darkness Bind
In the land of Mordor where the shadows are ..
It’s sort of the same... but not.