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From: wmartin@brl-tgr.ARPA (Will Martin )
Newsgroups: net.books,net.religion
Subject: Re: The Name of the Rose
Message-ID: <3021@brl-tgr.ARPA>
Date: Tue, 5-Jun-84 09:13:19 EDT
Article-I.D.: brl-tgr.3021
Posted: Tue Jun  5 09:13:19 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 7-Jun-84 07:44:07 EDT
References: <745@bbncca.ARPA>
Organization: Ballistics Research Lab
Lines: 23

Truly a good and enjoyable book (the two are not always synonymous).

One annoyance I had with the translation into English (I have no idea
if it was this way in the original, so I will not blame the author) --
there are many inclusions in Latin, and SOME of them are translated into
English, but some are not. (Usually the method is that a character states
something in the Latin and it is then followed by a version in English,
as if the character was explaining or elaborating on his statement. It 
is a much smoother method than using footnotes.)

Anyway, if some are translated, ALL should be. My Latin is over 20 years
rusty, and most readers will have less than that. If it isn't worth 
translating, it isn't worth including, and if it is worth including, it
is worth making sure that the information is accessible to all readers.

This doesn't apply to standard phrases, or something used more for effect
than for content (such as a transcription of a chant during a service),
but it does apply to dialog. There would be a special exception made for
a certain character in this book who speaks in a mingled jumble of
Latin and local dialect, where the nature of the jumbled words is 
important to the characterization.

Will