The 14 best translators through history for 2022

Finding the best translators through history suitable for your needs isnt easy. With hundreds of choices can distract you. Knowing whats bad and whats good can be something of a minefield. In this article, weve done the hard work for you.

Product Features Editor's score Go to site
Translators through History: Revised edition (Benjamins Translation Library) Translators through History: Revised edition (Benjamins Translation Library)
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Travels through Northern Persia: 1770-1774 Travels through Northern Persia: 1770-1774
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The New Testament: A Translation The New Testament: A Translation
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Chasing Lost Time: The Life of C. K. Scott Moncrieff: Soldier, Spy, and Translator Chasing Lost Time: The Life of C. K. Scott Moncrieff: Soldier, Spy, and Translator
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The Face of Water: A Translator on Beauty and Meaning in the Bible The Face of Water: A Translator on Beauty and Meaning in the Bible
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Tank Rider: Into the Reich with the Red Army Tank Rider: Into the Reich with the Red Army
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With Hitler and Mussolini: Memoirs of a Nazi Interpreter With Hitler and Mussolini: Memoirs of a Nazi Interpreter
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Translators through History (Benjamins Translation Library) Translators through History (Benjamins Translation Library)
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Decoding Egyptian Hieroglyphs: How to read the secret language of the Pharaohs Decoding Egyptian Hieroglyphs: How to read the secret language of the Pharaohs
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History of Technology and (V.1) Invention: Progress Through the Ages, Volume I: The Origins of Tech History of Technology and (V.1) Invention: Progress Through the Ages, Volume I: The Origins of Tech
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Translators through History: Revised edition (Benjamins Translation Library) (2012-07-05) Translators through History: Revised edition (Benjamins Translation Library) (2012-07-05)
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Translators through History: Revised edition (Benjamins Translation Library) (2012-07-05) Translators through History: Revised edition (Benjamins Translation Library) (2012-07-05)
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Antiquity Matters Antiquity Matters
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Fictional Translators: Rethinking Translation through Literature (New Perspectives in Translation and Interpreting Studies) Fictional Translators: Rethinking Translation through Literature (New Perspectives in Translation and Interpreting Studies)
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Reviews

1. Translators through History: Revised edition (Benjamins Translation Library)

Description

Acclaimed, when it first appeared, as a seminal work a groundbreaking book that was both informative and highly readable Translators through History is being released in a new edition, substantially revised and expanded by Judith Woodsworth. Translators have played a key role in intellectual exchange through the ages and across borders. This account of how they have contributed to the development of languages, the emergence of literatures, the dissemination of knowledge and the spread of values tells the story of world culture itself.
Content has been updated, new elements introduced and recent directions in translation scholarship incorporated, providing fresh insights and a more nuanced view of past events. The bibliography contains over 100 new titles and illustrations have been refreshed and enhanced.
An invaluable tool for students, scholars and professionals in the field of translation, the latest version of Translators through History remains a vital resource for researchers in other disciplines and a fascinating read for the wider public.

2. Travels through Northern Persia: 1770-1774

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Travels Through Northern Persia 1770 1774

Description

In 1770 the young German scientist and explorer Samuel Gottlieb Gmelin embarked on a journey on behalf of the Russian Academy of Sciences and in the service of Catherine the Great. These heretofore little-read accounts of his travels and broad research in Northern Persia, first published in German in St. Petersburg in the 1770 s, have now been translated for the first time into English by renowned scholar Willem Floor. In the two voyages recounted in this volume, Gmelin kept journals describing the customs, industry, political world, warfare, geography, and plant and animal life of Northern Persia, until his capture and imprisonment in the village of Parakay near the Caspian Sea in 1774--a misfortune that he also was able to record, and which is included here in the final volume of his travelogue.

3. The New Testament: A Translation

Description

From one of our most celebrated writers on religion comes this fresh, bold, and unsettling new translation of the New Testament

David Bentley Hart undertook this new translation of the New Testament in the spirit of etsi doctrina non daretur, as if doctrine is not given. Reproducing the texts often fragmentary formulations without augmentation or correction, he has produced a pitilessly literal translation, one that captures the texts impenetrability and unfinished quality while awakening readers to an uncanniness that often lies hidden beneath doctrinal layers.

The early Christians sometimes raw, astonished, and halting prose challenges the idea that the New Testament affirms the kind of people we are. Hart reminds us that they were a company of extremists, radical in their rejection of the values and priorities of society not only at its most degenerate, but often at its most reasonable and decent.To live as the New Testament language requires, he writes, Christians would have to become strangers and sojourners on the earth, to have here no enduring city, to belong to a Kingdom truly not of this world. And we surely cannot do that, can we?

4. Chasing Lost Time: The Life of C. K. Scott Moncrieff: Soldier, Spy, and Translator

Description

The thrilling first-ever biography of Proust translator C. K. Scott Moncrieff, penned by his great-great-niece

"And suddenly the memory returns. The taste was that of the little crumb of madeleine which on Sunday mornings at Combray (because on those mornings I did not go out before church-time), when I went to say good day to her in her bedroom, my aunt Lonie used to give me . . ." With these words, Marcel Proust's narrator is plunged back into the past. Since 1922, English-language readers have been able to take this leap with him thanks to translator C. K. Scott Moncrieff, who wrestled with Proust's seven-volume masterpiecepublished as Remembrance of Things Pastuntil his death in 1930.
While Scott Moncrieff's work has shaped our understanding of one of the finest novels of the twentieth century, he has remained hidden behind the genius of the man whose reputation he helped build. Now, in this biographythe first ever of the celebrated translatorScott Moncrieff's great-great-niece, Jean Findlay, reveals a fascinating, tangled life.
Catholic and homosexual; a partygoer who was lonely deep down; secretly a spy in Mussolini's Italy and publicly a debonair man of letters; a war hero described as "offensively brave," whose letters from the front are remarkably cheerfulScott Moncrieff was a man of his moment, thriving on paradoxes and extremes. In Chasing Lost Time, Findlay gives us a vibrant, moving portrait of the brilliant Scott Moncrieff, and of the erachanging fast and foreverin which he shone.

5. The Face of Water: A Translator on Beauty and Meaning in the Bible

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PANTHEON

Description

A dazzling reconsideration of the original languages and texts of the Bible, in both the Old and the New Testaments, from the acclaimed scholar and translator of Classical literature (The best translation of the Aeneid, certainly the best of our time Ursula Le Guin; The first translation since Dryden that can be read as a great English poem in itself Garry Wills, The New York Review of Books) and author of Paul Among the People (Astonishing . . . Superb Booklist, starred review).

In The Face of Water, Sarah Ruden brilliantly and elegantly explains and celebrates the Bibles writings. Singling out the most famous passages, such as the Genesis creation story, the Ten Commandments, the Lords Prayer, and the Beatitudes, Ruden reexamines and retranslates from the Hebrew and Greek what has been obscured and misunderstood over time.

Making clear that she is not a Biblical scholar, cleric, theologian, or philosopher, Rudena Quakerspeaks plainly in this illuminating and inspiring book. She writes that while the Bible has always mattered profoundly, it is a book that in modern translations often lacks vitality, and she sets out here to make it less a thing of paper and glue and ink and more a live and loving text.

Ruden writes of the early evolution, literary beauty, and transcendent ideals of the Hebrew Bible and the Greek New Testament, exploring how the Jews came to establish the greatest, most enduring book on earth as their regional strategic weakness found a paradoxical moral and spiritual strength through their writings, and how the Christians inherited and adapted this remarkable literary tradition. She writes as well about the crucial purposes of translation, not only for availability of texts but also for accountability in public life and as a reflection of societys current concerns.

She shows that it is the original texts that most clearly reveal our cherished values (both religious and secular), unlike the standard English translations of the Bible that mask even the yearning for freedom from slavery. The word redemption translated from Hebrew and Greek, meaning mercy for the exploited and oppressed, is more abstract than its original meaningto buy a person back from captivity or slavery or some other distress.

The Face of Water
is as much a book about poetry, music, drama, raw humor, and passion as it is about the idealism of the Bible. Rudens book gives us an unprecedented, nuanced understanding of what this extraordinary document was for its earliest readers and what it can still be for us today

6. Tank Rider: Into the Reich with the Red Army

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Tank Rider Into the Reich with the Red Army

Description

A sobering account of conflict on the Eastern Front of World War II told from the perspective of a Russian soldier.

Honest and irrepressibly frank, these are the dramatic memoirs of a Russian officer on the Eastern Front, where he played his part in a clash of titans and witnessed the shuddering collapse of the Third Reich.

The cataclysmic battle of Kursk in 1943 put an end to Hitlers hopes of victory on the Eastern Front, and it was Evgeni Bessonovs first battle. From then on the Germans were forced into a long, bitter retreat that ended in the ruins of Berlin in 1945. An officer in an elite guards unit of the Red Army, Bessonov rode tanks from Kursk, through a western Russia and Poland devastated by the Germans, and right into the heart of Nazi Germany.

Tank Rider is the riveting memoir of Evgeni Bessonov telling of his years of service at the vanguard of the Red Army and daily encounters with the German foe. He brings large-scale battles to life, recounts the sniping and skirmishing that tried and tested soldiers on both sides, and narrates the overwhelming tragedy and horror of apocalyptic warfare on the Eastern Front.

So much of the Soviet experience of World War II remains untold, but this memoir provides an important glimpse into some of the most decisive moments of this overlooked history.

Skyhorse Publishing, along with our Arcade, Good Books, Sports Publishing, and Yucca imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of biographies, autobiographies, and memoirs. Our list includes biographies on well-known historical figures like Benjamin Franklin, Nelson Mandela, and Alexander Graham Bell, as well as villains from history, such as Heinrich Himmler, John Wayne Gacy, and O. J. Simpson. We have also published survivor stories of World War II, memoirs about overcoming adversity, first-hand tales of adventure, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

7. With Hitler and Mussolini: Memoirs of a Nazi Interpreter

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With Hitler and Mussolini Memoirs of a Nazi Interpreter

Description

An insiders view of Hitler, Himmler, Heydrich, and Mussolini.

In the years before World War II, Eugen Dollmann arrived in Rome on a scholarship, intending to write a history of the Catholic Church. Instead he joined the Nazi Party and became an interpreter to various members of the German and Italian Fascist hierarchy.

In this capacity Dollmann attended the Munich Conference of 1938 and was present at most of the important meetings between Hitler and Mussolini, also witnessing many of the endless squabbles between Mussolinis son-in-law Galeazzo Ciano and Hitlers foreign secretary, Joachim von Ribbentrop. He interpreted for Heinrich Himmler during his visits to Rome and was, curiously for one of his temperament, appointed Obersturmfhrer in the Allgemeine SS. He played a considerable role in the surrender of the German Army in Italy, helping to prevent the execution of Hitlers scorched-earth orders.

The book is full of piquant anecdotesHimmlers excavations for the legendary treasure of King Alaric; the visit of Reinhard Heydrich to the House of the Provinces, a brothel frequented by officers and men of means; Hitlers dread and annoyance at being piloted into his newly conquered Ukraine by Mussolinito mention only a few.

Throughout, Dollmann makes no attempt to conceal or exonerate his association with the Nazis. With Hitler and Mussolini is a fascinating memoir filled with political intrigue, undercover activity, and insights into the biggest personalities connected to the Second World War.

8. Translators through History (Benjamins Translation Library)

Description

In AD 629, a Chinese monk named Xuan Zang set out for India on a quest for sacred texts. He returned with a caravan of twenty-two horses bearing Buddhist treasures and spent the last twenty years of his life in the Great Wild Goose Pagoda, in present-day Xian, translating the Sanskrit manuscripts into Chinese with a team of collaborators.
In the twelfth century, scholars came to Spain from all over Europe seeking knowledge that had been transmitted from the Arab world. Their names tell the story: Adelard of Bath, Hermann of Dalmatia, Plato of Tivoli. Among them was Robert of Chester (or Robert of Kent), who was part of an elaborate team that translated documents on Islam and the Koran itself.
Doa Marina, also called la Malinche, was a crucial link between Corts and native peoples he set out to convert and conquer in sixteenth-century Mexico. One of the conquistadors tongues or interpreters, she was also the mother of his son. She has been an ambivalent figure in the history of the new world, her own history having been rewritten in different ways over the centuries.
James Evans, an Englishman sent to evangelize and educate the natives of western Canada during the nineteenth century, invented a writing system in order to translate and transcribe religious texts. Known as the man who made birchbark talk, he even succeeded in printing a number of pamphlets, using crude type fashioned out of lead from the lining of tea chests and ink made from a mixture of soot and sturgeon oil. A jackpress used by traders to pack furs served as a press.
These are just some of the stories told in Translators through History, published under the auspices of the International Federation of Translators (FIT). Over seventy people have been involved in this project as principal authors, contributors or translators and proofreaders. The participants come from some twenty countries, reflecting the make-up and interests of FIT.

9. Decoding Egyptian Hieroglyphs: How to read the secret language of the Pharaohs

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Decoding Egyptian Hieroglyphs How to Read the Secret Language of the Pharaohs

Description

Read and interpret hieroglyphs as you learn about the intriguing world of the Ancient Egyptians. Decoding Egyptian Hieroglyphs interweaves a clear guide to deciphering this elegant picture language with vivid depictions of its origins and the people themselves. From farmers to pharaohs, uncover the beauty and mystery of the land that was Ancient Egypt.

10. History of Technology and (V.1) Invention: Progress Through the Ages, Volume I: The Origins of Tech

Description

Hardcover - 1962

11. Translators through History: Revised edition (Benjamins Translation Library) (2012-07-05)

12. Translators through History: Revised edition (Benjamins Translation Library) (2012-07-05)

13. Antiquity Matters

Description

A sharp, often surprising, view of the classical world by a major classics scholar at Cambridge and author of The Glittering Prizes

This book is the culmination of more than sixty years of a writing life during which Frederic Raphael has returned again and again to the literature and landscape of the ancient world. In his new book, Raphael deploys his renowned wit and erudition to give us a vivid mosaic of the complexities and contradictions underlying Western civilization and its continuing influence upon contemporary society. Tackling a broad range of topics, from the presumed superiority of democracy to the momentum behind today's gay rights movement, Raphael's often daringly heterodox view of the Greek and Roman world will provoke, surprise, and, at the same time, entertain readers. He shows how the interplay of fiction and reality, rhetorical aspiration and practical cunning, are threaded through modern culture.

14. Fictional Translators: Rethinking Translation through Literature (New Perspectives in Translation and Interpreting Studies)

Description

Through close readings of select stories and novels by well-known writers from different literary traditions, Fictional Translators invites readers to rethink the main clichs associated with translations. Rosemary Arrojo shines a light on the transformative character of the translators role and the relationships that can be established between originals and their reproductions, building her arguments on the basis of texts such as the following:

  • Cortzars "Letter to a Young Lady in Paris"
  • Walshs "Footnote"
  • Wildes The Picture of Dorian Gray and Poes "The Oval Portrait"
  • Borgess "Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote," "Funes, His Memory," and "Death and the Compass"
  • Kafkas "The Burrow" and Kosztolnyis Kornl Esti
  • Saramagos The History of the Siege of Lisbon and Babels "Guy de Maupassant"
  • Scliars "Footnotes" and Calvinos If on a Winters Night a Traveler
  • Cervantess Don Quixote

Fictional Translators provides stimulating material for reflection not only on the processes associated with translation as an activity that inevitably transforms meaning, but, also, on the common prejudices that have underestimated its productive role in the shaping of identities. This book is key reading for students and researchers of literary translation, comparative literature and translation theory.

Conclusion

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