Via con me
Review of the Vintage paperback edition (February 7, 2017) [with reference to the eBook] translated by [a:Ann Goldstein|183680|Ann Goldstein|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] from the Italian language original [b:In altre parole|24777102|In altre parole|Jhumpa Lahiri|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1422711555l/24777102._SY75_.jpg|44409289] (January 29, 2015).

I think that translating is the most profound, most intimate way of reading. A translation is a wonderful, dynamic encounter between two languages, two texts, two writers. It entails a doubling, a renewal.
...
To understand this poem I had to be persistent, translating every word. I had to devote myself to an ancient and demanding foreign language. And yet Ovid’s writing won me over: I was enchanted by it. I discovered a sublime work, a living, enthralling language. As I said, I believe that reading in a foreign language is the most intimate way of reading.

A long, long time ago I started translating Estonian author Jaan Kross's [b:Kolme katku vahel|57006622|Kolme katku vahel|Jaan Kross|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1612845238l/57006622._SY75_.jpg|89196360] [Between Three Plagues] (Originally 4 volumes 1970-1980) in an effort to understand it. I could read the Estonian as it is my heritage language, but so much of its literary language was so foreign to me that it seemed as if I would need to write it down in English in order to really know what was being said. Of course I only managed several pages at the time, and fortunately Merike Lepasaar Beecher's translation [b:The Ropewalker: Between Three Plagues Volume I|33553388|The Ropewalker Between Three Plagues Volume I|Jaan Kross|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1482524029l/33553388._SY75_.jpg|2903588] (2016) and its sequels were eventually published.

I remembered that naïve time while reading Jhumpa Lahiri's delightful memoir about her discovery and enthusiasm for Italian. This has even come to the point where she has started to write stories & essays in her newly acquired language. Such is the case with this series of essays which are presented in this bilingual edition in both Ann Goldstein's English translation and in Lahiri's Italian original. In the paperback, the entire English text precedes the Italian. In the eBook you can actually toggle between the English and Italian after every page. I'll admit that barely 1/20th, if that, of the Italian was understandable to me, so technically I really only read 50% of this book, but I don't count that as a DNF in this case.

I wanted to read this memoir after recently enjoying Lahiri's edited volume of [b:The Penguin Book of Italian Short Stories|41715725|The Penguin Book of Italian Short Stories (A Penguin Classics Hardcover)|Jhumpa Lahiri|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1549311654l/41715725._SY75_.jpg|65070276] (2019) which included her biographical summaries of the 40 authors and some of her own translations (several others contributed translations as well) of stories chosen for the collection. I'm now curious to seek out her further selection of [b:Great Italian Stories: 10 Parallel Texts|122495009|Great Italian Stories 10 Parallel Texts|Various|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1717688486l/122495009._SY75_.jpg|120178905] (2024) which is also presented in a bilingual edition.

Soundtrack
I couldn't resist listening to one of my favourite Italian songs, the joyous "Via con me" (Come With Me) (1981) by Paolo Conte (1937-) which you can listen to on YouTube here in a delightful video using clips from Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire's dance routines in the movies. The lyrics (Italian and the occasional English) are provided in the subtitles and an English translation is provided in the description.