The Kaiser's Speeches —— Forming a Character Portrait of Emperor William II

----- 凯撒的演讲

ISBN: 9781330624661 出版年：2016 页码：365 Wolf von Schierbrand Forgotten Books

On the other hand, much of the matter in Klaussmann's compilation has been either abbreviated or left out. The sole reason for this was in every case that it was not of sufficient general interest, that it was elsewhere repeated (literally or in substance), or that it was merely introductory to the core of the subject itself.The Italians have a saying, Traduttore, traditore - The translator is a traitor. I venture to hope that the English garb I have given the Kaiser's German speeches will not corroborate this pithy and picturesque statement, for I have throughout striven hard to reproduce the essentials of the original - viz., the train of thought, the spirit of each utterance, and the peculiar phrasing of it. However, I am free to confess that the task of putting the Kaiser's German into adequate English has been more than ordinarily difficult, inasmuch as his German is very idiomatic - bristling with proverbs, sayings, and peculiar modes of speech (many of them self-coined), and showing that wonderful flexibility of German syntax, coupled, however, with as wonderful complexity of construction. In some cases the new English garment will not fit quite as neatly as might be wished. Yet this at least may be claimed for it: it is as true to the original as the limitations of language would permit.