I'm German and a professional (or at least 5 year university trained :) translator. One of the reasons I stopped reading German translations of American/English titles when I still lived in Germany was the truly atrocious quality of said translations. In part, I became a translator because of this (ah, the innocence and drive of youth that think all can be fixed). If my memory serves right, SF was only marginally better than romance in this respect.
The problem is generated by the fact that the publishing houses don't pay chicken shit for translations and consequently will hire anybody 'who speaks English' and therefore has to be a qualified translator and many non-qualified (read Anglisten) folks do this work.
I have absolutely no doubt that some bad reviews can be traced to this issue. Although it does sound like a couple of the reviewers might just have expected something different after reading the back cover summary and hence the disappointment.
If you want a blow by blow, I'd be happy to send you translations.
German translations
I'm German and a professional (or at least 5 year university trained :) translator. One of the reasons I stopped reading German translations of American/English titles when I still lived in Germany was the truly atrocious quality of said translations. In part, I became a translator because of this (ah, the innocence and drive of youth that think all can be fixed). If my memory serves right, SF was only marginally better than romance in this respect.
The problem is generated by the fact that the publishing houses don't pay chicken shit for translations and consequently will hire anybody 'who speaks English' and therefore has to be a qualified translator and many non-qualified (read Anglisten) folks do this work.
I have absolutely no doubt that some bad reviews can be traced to this issue. Although it does sound like a couple of the reviewers might just have expected something different after reading the back cover summary and hence the disappointment.
If you want a blow by blow, I'd be happy to send you translations.
Sasha