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Holiday accommodation: Self-catering rental apartment Mimosa on the shore of Kotor Bay in Montenegro

The Art of Translation

But, for my own part, it was Greek to me. (Julius Caesar, Act I, Scene II) Lines from the works of English playwright William Shakespeare have entered the annals of history as some of literature?s most celebrated quotes. Furthermore, they have been adopted into modern day English and have even been assigned an almost proverbial wisdom. For many English speakers, there?s a Shakespeare quote for all seasons ? and all reasons!

But what about translations of Shakespeare into other languages? Is the appeal of ?The Bard? universal or context specific? Does Shakespeare work as well in a French translation or appeal so widely in a Korean translation?

Many famous translators have made their livelihood and reputation from translating the dramatic works of Shakespeare into their own languages. For instance, the most famous German translations of Shakespeare were produced by Schlegel and Tieck, and Nobel Prize winning Russian writer and poet Boris Pasternak translated Hamlet, Macbeth and King Lear into Russian in the 1930s. Hebrew translations are credited to T. Carmi, Yitzhak Salkinsohn and Abraham Shlonsky, whilst one of the biggest names in the Japanese Shakespearian translations is Odajima Seisi. If you?re looking for Shakespeare in Polish, try the translations of Maciej Slomczynski, for Portuguese, Décio Pignatari and for Swedish, Carl August Hagberg. Julius Nyerere, better known as the first president of Tanzania, had even translated Shakespeare into Swahili.

Shakespeare became known in Korea in 1906 by name, but it took until 1919 for readers to become familiar with Ku Lee-byung?s English to Korean translation of The Tempest. Since that time English Korean translations of Shakespeare have become popular and Korean English translations are now frequently produced and studied in Korea.

On a personal note, I?ve even come across Spanish translations of Shakespeare in a Spanish course Spain. What the Othello quote had in common with my Spanish courses Spain, I?ll never know, but it proved amusing!