Wolfgang Hohlbein translated

Urmel

New member
I think it is possible to translate almost 100% of the vibe and atmosphere from a different language. But this will be a really great amount of work and I think this will be only possible if this is your profession and you can think in this language.

But as Ayrun already said, we don't have the time to do that. We just want to give a small extract from the novel of Hohlbein.

monkey said:
But here's one to ponder: Holbein himself did an interview on this site, IN ENGLISH!!! Why the heck doesn't he translate them????
Writing and speaking in English doesn't mean that you can perfectly rule it.
The Problem is to think in English.
This is only possible when you live many years in an english speaking country.
I tried to translate the unfinished fanadventure "Spear of Destiny" from english to german. It was really difficult to translate it so that it has the same meaning that fits into the scene.

If someone really wants a perfect translation page by page he or she has to find a way to publish the demand for translation in english, or just learn dutch or german. :D
 
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ElodieJones

New member
Why not ???

There are Indy novels in English, translated in French I have them.
I can read both English and Feench.

English, of course more difficult for me ;)

It's really similar.

I have learn german in school. I understand a very little bit. But I hate this language. So I hop that they would translate those books...I hope...
 

Canyon

Well-known member
A long time ago, I read part of a translation of one of these books and was very impressed. Also, I once signed a petition to get these books printed into English. ;)
 
I just finished reading all Indy-novels ... except the two from Martin Caidin because his books (judging from the synopsis and the reviews) seem to be awful).

Here´s my ranking of the authors:
1.) Hohlbein
2.) Mc Coy
3.) MacGregor

You guys are really missing some good stuff with "Wolle" Hohlbein. The way he writes is magnificient (senternces, strucutre, thoughts of the characters, humour, describing of action sequences , etc.) really hooks you. I hope that the translator will be able to kieep the Hohlbein-style (if the books ever get translated). I found MacGregor´s novels very boring. MacCoy was good, but he needed to describe some things a bit more (sometimes I didn´t exactly know what was going on / what he wanted to tell) but his adventures were exciting.
Comparing Hohlebein stories with McCoys:
Some of Hohlbeins are better than McCoys´s (like "the feathered snake" (best Indy-novel PERIOD! "the lost people" (which seems to be underrated with some german Indy-fans), "Gold of El-Dorado" and "Labyrinth of horus"). I would rate "sword of Genghis Khan" on the same level as MacCoy´s. "Longship of gods", "secret of the easter islands" and "legacy of avalon" were inferior to the McCoy novels, but that doesn´t mean they were bad (they are still better than MacGregors).
As an Indy-fan I noticed two flaws in details while reading Hohlbein novels:
He uses Belloq´s twin brother in "avalon" ... for some reason he reffers to the "original" Belloq as "Jaques Belloq" instead of "Rene Belloq". Fedora (the guy from the prolouge of LC) returns in "Lost People", but for some reasons Hohlbein doesn´t call him "Fedora" ... he refers to him as "Jake" ... and wasn´t Indy´s fat sidekick in that same prolouge called "Herman"? Hohlbein refers to him as "Herbert"! Seems to be a mistake from Hohlbein (or maybe there were some ocopyright issues?). But that doesn´t ruin the fun (you correct the names in your own mind ;) ).
Indy-fans notice some confictds between the novels and the Indy-computer-games: Maccoy desribes how Indy and Whu-Han meet and how Indy finds the tomb of the first emperor ( which is a conflict to "Emperor´s tomb"). In Hohlbein´s "Sword of Genghis Kahn" Indy visits "Shambala Sanctuary", which he travles to in "Infernal machine"). He also meets Quetzacoatl in "Feathered snake" and in "Infernal machine".

Just my two-cents.
 
Forgot to mention: The summaries of Hohlbein´s novel´s in theraider.net´s timeline ( http://www.theraider.net/indyjones/timeline/1922_1992.php) are incorrect:

Feathered snake: Indy doesnt "find" dying the geologist in an village! He was on an expedition together with him and eh dies while they are trying to escape from an errupting vulcano!

Longship of gods: Disc/UFO in the iceberg that flies into space? Nope, doesn´t happen! There is a longship of an old viking godness (forgot which one) in it which caries the souls of the viking warriors to valhalla (also, Thor´s hammer is on board of that ship). In the end, Indy´s female sidekick (who is a viking descendant) floats away with the ship to Valhalla (the ship does not sink into the ocean!).

Avalon inheritance: What celtic headband? Doesn´t happen in the book! The book is about Lancelot and his servant returning from Avalon in order to defend Brtitain against a new danger (the Nazi). Belloq and the Nazi capture him and use him in order to find excalibur (which can conquer/control england) ... which Indy (with the help of Lancelot´s medieval servant) tries to stop, of course.

Labyrinth of Horus and Sword of Genghis Khan: These short summaries don´t contain any mistakes.

Secret of easter island: while the summary isn´t totally incorrect (like the summary of "Avalon" or "longhsip") it misses the main plot of the book: Indy finding the lost people of the easter island (who worship a stranded Lady as their new god), their magical. powerful orb (which the nazi try to conquer) etc.

The other two summaries ("El dorado" and "lost people") are okay ... but Indy realizes that El Dorado is an (radioactive), golden meteor crater nearly at the very end of the book. So the summary gives a spoiler, which explains the reason/the causee why El dorado exists (and why it´s gold is "cursed").
 

cool indy

New member
Hello, guys! I haven't been here for months. I've just made a petition to get the German novels published into english. I need 10,000 signatures. Here's the link to this petition. Does anybody know Wolfgang Hohlbein's address?:) ;) :( :whip: :gun: :confused: :dead: :D :cool: :mad: (y) :sleep: :sick: :eek: :hat: (n) :eek: :rolleyes: :p
 
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Plaristes

New member
Yes, I'd love for translations, too. It's bizarre that there were Dutch translations, when the Dutch-reading market must be fairly small, but no English translations, which they'd undoubtedly sell far more of. :confused:
 

Howlrunner

New member
That doesn't show up as a link, and unfortunately it appears shortened (.....) so can't copy and paste it into the URL addres box either.
 

The Drifter

New member
Howlrunner said:
That doesn't show up as a link, and unfortunately it appears shortened (.....) so can't copy and paste it into the URL addres box either.

Same with me.
Cool Indy, just copy the URL, and paste it here.
(In case you don't know how, just hold in the left mouse button, drag it until you highlight said address, right click and copy, and then paste it here by doing another right click and paste.)
 

JuniorJones

TR.N Staff Member
Well, whilst your all waiting prehaps you'll like to help out with...

 

IndyBr

Member
I think you're adressing this petition to the wrong person, Wolfgang Hohlbein has no power over his novels (Just like Rob Mcgregor and "his" Staff of Kings novel). He may be the one who wrote it, but Lucasfilm owns it.

I signed the Staff of Kings petition years ago... but unfornately nothing came from it. I'll sign this one too, we can try, right? :)

In the meantime, i've bought two of his novels in very good condition. I plan to learn german someday anyway.
 
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