Joachim Neugroschel's Metamorphosis

When translating a foreign piece of text, words may be interpreted differently. For example, the differences between the William Aaltonen and Joachim Neugroschel translations of The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka are noticeable yet relatively minor. The first dissimilarity is when William Aaltonen uses “troubled” to describe a dream that Gregor Samsa, the main character, had, while in the Joachim Neugroschel translation, he uses “agitated”. Both words mean quite differential things. “Agitated” seems more severe and is sharp, whereas “troubled” is softer and more intellectually inconveniencing. The second noticeable difference is in the first sentence where William Aaltonen describes Gregor Samsa’s transformation as into a “giant bug”, whereas Joachim

Lastly, in Aaltonen’s translation, he makes “quivered wretchedly” sounds frightful, while the Neugroschel translation uses “danced helplessly” which sounds slightly somber. The use of different structure is present too. A subordinate clause is a clause that is dependent on a main clause. In the Aaltonen translation, he uses “Raising his head a little,” as an introduction. In Neugroschel’s translation, he embeds “and when lifting his head slightly”. Both doing the job of getting the idea across, however Neugroschel conveys it more smoothly. Joachim Neugroschel seems to like to use more exotic words such as girth, agitated, and vermin, which display a more mystic tone. In William Aaltonen’s translation, the word “regiment” is used. Upon researching the definition of this word, it does not quite match up to what he might have tried to use it as. “Regiment” seems to relate to militaristic terms. Upon considering the possibilities, one could conclude that he could have meant a large number of something. With these differences, it is effortless to see that even with the simplicity of translating, there can be many variances and interpretations that can mean similar things but give off different tones and images in your