I recently picked up a German translation of 1984, and trying to read it got me to wondering: How does Newspeak translate into other languages?
How did it translate into German?
In Hebrew it was translated as שיחדש which is a merging of שיח (“discourse” or “discussion”) and חדש (“new”) – so almost a literal translation of “Newspeak”
In German, we have one translation from the 1950s by Kurt Wagenseil and another by Michael Walter that was done at the beginning of the 1980s (… isn’t that a surprise?).
IIRC, the translations differ a lot; unfortunately, I don’t have both copies close at hand.
Wagenseil translated Newspeak with Neusprache (which rather means “new language”), while Walter stayed much closer to the original by inventing the word “Neusprech”.
In Spanish, it’s “neolengua”.
I don’t think it’s the word “newspeak” she’s asking about, but rather the actual language.
Depending on the language, probably ungood.
:smack:
In German, the ministries are Miniwahr (Minitrue), Minipax, Minifluss (Miniplenty), Minilieb (Miniluv).
Doublethink = Doppeldenk (new) or Zwiedenken/Zwiegedanke; the new word is closer to the original in a literal sense, the older one catches the twisted meaning better, imo.
Thoughtcrime = Undenk (very clever translation, although not exactly literal; it stresses the idea that a thought that deviates from the party line is unthinkable while it is thought).
Someone who doesn’t exist any longer/has never existed is consequently a “Unperson”.
And a person who never has a thought he couldn’t possibly have in the first place is a “Gutdenker”.
German grammar is eerily able to express Doublethink perfectly.
I wonder if that was intentional on Orwell’s part.
Don’t know … but wouldn’t surprise me.
English is more linear than German: one thought follows another. In German, otoh, it’s easy to include a thought within another and point to yet another, earlier or later one, without twisting a sentence too much. It’s great to show actual dependencies but you can also twist meaning easily that way. Try to read Hegel.
We can also do the same within words without problem, given the way they are built.
Right. I have only a somewhat knowledge of German, but reading the “Newspeak” appendix, I thought the language adapted itself to German very well. Which would make the clumsiness of English Newspeak hard to convey in German.
[hijack]
The whole point of Newspeak is to make heretical thought impossible, because nobody has the words to express it, therefore to think it. But O’Brien explains to Smith that the face will always be there to be stomped on. The whole point of Ingsoc is political sadomasochism, a way for the Inner Party to express its power in the only undeniable way, by making others suffer, and tearing their minds to pieces and rebuilding them along Party lines. So, if there is no more thoughtcrime . . . what fun is left for the Inner Party? 
[/hijack]