# Shakespeare in other languages **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 17, 2012, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeare-in-other-languages/622167 "2012-05-17T03:32:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeare-in-other-languages/622167/1 "2012-05-17T03:32:51Z")
How highly is Shakespeare regarded in non-English speaking cultures? When his plays and poems are translated out of English, how much is lost? Are his stories and characters still considered works of genius when they’re divorced from Shakespeare’s original words? ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeare-in-other-languages/622167/2 "2012-05-17T04:07:55Z")
I started this thread a few months back, it might help. > **[Shakespeare translated?](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=638721)** > > Has anyone here ever seen a website, or a book, that has any of the work of William Shakespeare translated into other languages? I know it’s been done in German at least, because I read an article once about the actor Leon Askin(General Burkhalter)... ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeare-in-other-languages/622167/3 "2012-05-17T04:11:08Z")
If Bill Bryson is to be believed, the German translation of Shakespeare is considered one of the classics of German literature along with Actung! Panzer!. ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeare-in-other-languages/622167/4 "2012-05-17T06:59:45Z")
I can vouch that Shakespeare is highly regarded in Russian; I picked up a two-volume set of his complete works while studying in St. Petersburg (lost Volume one to mold, unfortunately). Couldn’t speak to how much is lost, but I’m relatively sure they are considered works of genius. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeare-in-other-languages/622167/5 "2012-05-17T07:04:00Z")
> [@Olentzero](#): > > I can vouch that Shakespeare is highly regarded in Russian; I picked up a two-volume set of his complete works while studying in St. Petersburg (lost Volume one to mold, unfortunately). Couldn’t speak to how much is lost, but I’m relatively sure they are considered works of genius. [Tolstoy didn’t like 'im,](http://www.george-orwell.org/Lear,_Tolstoy_and_the_Fool/0.html) for some reason. ---
**Author:** ![DataZak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ea666f/32.png) [@DataZak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DataZak)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeare-in-other-languages/622167/6 "2012-05-17T07:04:50Z")
You can’t appreciate Shakespeare until you’ve read him in the original Klingon. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeare-in-other-languages/622167/7 "2012-05-17T07:17:22Z")
> [@Olentzero](#): > > I can vouch that Shakespeare is highly regarded in Russian; I picked up a two-volume set of his complete works while studying in St. Petersburg (lost Volume one to mold, unfortunately). Couldn’t speak to how much is lost, but I’m relatively sure they are considered works of genius. Similar to the way Pushkin is known here or on a broader level? ---
**Author:** ![jovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@jovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jovan)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeare-in-other-languages/622167/8 "2012-05-17T07:25:54Z")
Shakespeare is also highly regarded in the francophone world also. Voltaire, though he considered his works inferior to the French classics, translated one of his plays, and since then, many authors have penned translations. The most famous are by André Gide and François-Victor Hugo (Victor’s son). Speaking of Victor Hugo, he wrote that Shakespeare was one of the authors who defended himself the best against translators. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeare-in-other-languages/622167/9 "2012-05-17T07:58:15Z")
> [@DataZak](#): > > You can’t appreciate Shakespeare until you’ve read him in the original Klingon. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/CiRMGYQfXrs/hqdefault.jpg "Star Trek Klingon Hamlet taH pagh taHbe' (To be or not to be)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiRMGYQfXrs) ---
**Author:** ![jovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@jovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jovan)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeare-in-other-languages/622167/10 "2012-05-17T08:44:50Z")
> [@jovan](#): > > Shakespeare is also highly regarded in the francophone world also. Just to expand a bit on this, Shakespeare is actually the most-often played theatrical author in France, more than Molière, and way, way more than Racine. In 2007-2008, Shakespeare was programmed 109 times in French theatres. > **[Les auteurs les plus joués au théâtre](https://www.lefigaro.fr/theatre/2008/11/27/03003-20081127ARTFIG00484-les-auteurs-les-plus-joues-au-theatre-.php)** > > Shakespeare, Molière, Racine, Marivaux, Brecht figurent dans le peloton de tête des hommes de théâtre en France. [http://annee.lagarce.net/IMG/pdf/stats-2.pdf](http://annee.lagarce.net/IMG/pdf/stats-2.pdf) ---
**Author:** ![Hallucinex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ba9def/32.png) [@Hallucinex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hallucinex)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeare-in-other-languages/622167/11 "2012-05-17T13:40:38Z")
Not sure how well regarded they are in these languages, but Shakespeare’s Globe in London is currently running [Shakespeare plays in 37 languages](http://globetoglobe.shakespearesglobe.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2012, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeare-in-other-languages/622167/12 "2012-05-18T09:20:43Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > Similar to the way Pushkin is known here or on a broader level? I’m going on memories that are coming up on 20 years old now, but I’d say on a broader level. Shakespeare wasn’t the province of nerdy Russian Anglophiles, as I recall - he seemed to be in the libraries of anyone who was even remotely well-read. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2012, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeare-in-other-languages/622167/13 "2012-05-18T13:37:30Z")
I was wondering that last night - we went to see **Coriolanus** last night (the new Ralph Fiennes one, which was very good) and I was wondering about translations and overseas markets. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2012, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeare-in-other-languages/622167/14 "2012-05-18T14:44:35Z")
See the thread linked in post 2, **Zsofia**. Translations are exactly what it was about. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2012, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeare-in-other-languages/622167/15 "2012-05-19T02:17:29Z")
[The Sonnets of Shakespeare have been translated into Latin](http://www.slu.edu/colleges/AS/languages/classical/latin/tchmat/pedagogy/latinitas/dv/dv.html). As far as I know, only one play has been translated. [Julius Caesar](http://books.google.com/books?id=ZKINAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=Gulielmi+Shaksperii&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Pf22T4jCMaeL2AX-hKzQCQ&ved=0CDcQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Gulielmi%20Shaksperii&f=false), as it turns out. I can’t rate the whole translation, because although I have been studying Latin enthusiastically for a few years now, it’s still hard work to absorb an entire literary work. Go figure. But, I did look at the famous opening word play with the cobbler to see how they managed to compare. Ecce: English: Marullus: But what trade art thou? Answer me directly. Citizen: A trade, sir, that I may use with a safe conscience; which is, indeed, sir, a mender of bad soles. Latin: Marulius: Quālis ergo opifex? Statim dīcās. Cīvis: Honestus, spērō, neque īnfimus; quamvīs inter ima hominum versor. What the Latin means: Marulius: What kind of craftsman? Let you say at once. Civiliam: An honest one, I hope, nor infamous; whatsoever may be at the bottom of men, there I dwell. The pun has changed, but the spirit of it was well translated, I felt. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2012, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeare-in-other-languages/622167/16 "2012-05-19T02:39:33Z")
I really do like that translation on the opening scene! ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2012, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeare-in-other-languages/622167/17 "2012-05-20T22:11:55Z")
The quality of Shakespeare in any foreign language depends on the skill of the translator, of course. The ne plus ultra in Russian is, I believe, Boris Pasternak’s work. I’ve seen his Romeo and Juliet, and it is superb. I’ve found Russians to be fairly knowledgeable about Shakespeare,or at least certain aspects of his work. When I was teaching English in Moscow, for example, I would often explain words like “ado” by saying something along the lines of “Shakespeare wrote a play called…” and they would pick up on it immediately. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2012, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeare-in-other-languages/622167/18 "2012-05-20T22:47:45Z")
> [@Hallucinex](#): > > Not sure how well regarded they are in these languages, but Shakespeare’s Globe in London is currently running [Shakespeare plays in 37 languages](http://globetoglobe.shakespearesglobe.com/) 😕 One of the “languages” listed is “South Africa.”