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Page 1, paragraph 1

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  Let's start from the first two paragraphs of the book. In English they read:   TAO District 242, Shirong, Sichuan, 2098 Like oversize birds, we balanced on our respective branches, each of us with a plastic container in one hand and a feather brush in the other. In German, the same lines read:  tao Bezirk 242, Shirong, Sichuan, 2098 Wie verwachsene Vögel balancierten wir auf unseren Ästen, das Plastikgefäß in der einen Hand, den Federpinsel in der anderen. In French, the same lines read: Tao District 242, Shirong, Sichuan, 2098 Tels des oiseaux disproportionnés, nous nous tenions en équilibre chacune sur notre branche, un bac en plastique dans une main, un plumeau dans l'autre. Let's start with consideration of the English word "oversize", which I will comment should be "oversized" in this context.  The French word in this translation for the English "oversize" is " disproportionnés", which in English translates to "disproporti
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The History of Bees

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The History of Bees   Welcome to this blog, dedicated to the Norwegian novel by Maja Lunde called in Norwegian "Bienes historie", and in English "The History of Bees". I was recently given a copy of the novel in German, and purchased a copy in French, and it occurred to me to compare the translations against each other, and against Google Translate, as a way of improving both my French and my German language skills at the same time. I intend to proceed line by line, making a careful study of the vocabulary and the choices made by the translators as I go. The English version of the novel that I will be working from was published in 2020 by Atria, a division of Simon & Schuster, translated by Diane Oakley. The French version, "Une histoire des abeilles", was published in 2017 by Presses de la Cité, and was translated by Loup-Maëlle Besançon. The German version, "Die Geschichte der Bienen" was published in 2018 by Random House, translation by Ur
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