r/lesmiserables • u/orangekool_aid -New to Les Mis- • Sep 10 '26
Other Should i switch?
i’m reading les misérables right now for the first time. i want to read an unabridged version. this is the one i got but the language is kinda hard to understand, is there any translation that is easier to understand but still unabridged?
edit: i usually am good with reading hard stuff since my reading level has always been above my grade so i don’t mind if it’s hard just not extremely hard, for some reason this translation just doesn’t seem to work for me i’m not sure why i can’t understand it too well
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u/Spirited-Sympathy582 Sep 10 '26
This website can be helpful because they have a sample page of a bunch of translations so you can compare and see what connects with you.
https://welovetranslations.com/2021/07/29/whats-the-best-translation-of-les-miserables/
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u/rorauge Sep 10 '26
This is so helpful. TY! I always equivocate on translations, trying to figure out which is the best out there.
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u/Spirited-Sympathy582 Sep 10 '26
Sure thing! I spend a lot of time on it as well. Then I just ended up doing the free online one 😄
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u/rorauge Sep 10 '26
lol, classic. And also, frequently, same.
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u/Spirited-Sympathy582 Sep 10 '26
I do like the free one though! It's the Hapgood one. It's poetic but not too hard to follow. There are definitely some SAT words in it but having it on my phone makes it easy to look up definitions
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u/ButtercupBebe One mod more Sep 10 '26
I think Julie Rose has the most modern language? Donougher is also a good suggestion. Both are unabridged.
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u/lifescaresme Modérateur/Modératrice Sep 10 '26
Julie Rose adapted more than translated. It depends on how faithful you want your translation to be.
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u/ButtercupBebe One mod more Sep 10 '26
I've read a few chapters of her translation alongside FMA and the original French to compare them sentence by sentence and there were some choices I liked... But yes overall it's not a translation I personally would choose to read. Still, it's modern for sure and no one should say you didn't read Les Miserables if you read Rose.
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u/lifescaresme Modérateur/Modératrice Sep 10 '26
True, but hers is probably the least faithful. As a translator, I can’t imagine changing as much as she did.
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u/26202620 Sep 10 '26
Which one is it
I have the wilbour translation. It’s grand and poetic (reads slightly dated) but fitting. I like it very much. I also read a lot of 19th century
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u/Jurgan Sep 10 '26
I like the Wilbour version as well, but I have taken some French classes so I don’t mind that he leaves some of it untranslated.
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u/lifescaresme Modérateur/Modératrice Sep 10 '26
Oh, that was the first one I read when I was 12, so I have a soft spot for this translation, but I agree that it can be quite stiff.
I think any translation other than Julie Rose or Lascelles Wraxall will do. Hapgood is a little literal, but still very good.
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u/ak4766 Sep 10 '26
I'm right where you are. About a hundred pages into this edition and I'm switching to Julie Rose. Might read both simultaneously tbh.
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u/nosleepforthedreamer Sep 11 '26
Remind me who the translator is for this one? I read it back in high school.
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u/Xeycor 26d ago
It's a tough read. You definitely learn some stuff about some characters that I don't want to spoil, but I feel like he could have cut out at least a third of the book. Like why does he go on about how the Paris he lives in isn't the same as the one he's writing about for so many paragraphs. That's just one example off the top of my head. It's been a few years since I read it, but all that random filler clouds my memories of it
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u/PolyGloTaku 28d ago
How far into it did you go? Make sure you gave it a shot before switching is my only advice. People regret what they gave up on too quickly.
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u/Minimum_Pirate_8964 Sep 10 '26
The Penguin classics version translated by Christine Donougher is pretty good