Patrik Enander wrote:

>Yes, of course, but why four different essays with different content.  If
>the companys wanted to save money I must be cheaper to translate one essay
>instead of getting 4 writers to write one each

My impression, from reading quite a few liner notes in my time (and having
a smattering of German and French), is that quite often all but one of the
texts are in fact translations of the original one, and in such cases the
variations are generally minor--the sort of thing translators generally do
when they are not working on very technical texts.

In other cases, of course, the company does commission different notes in
each language, but my impression, and I may be wrong, is that these cases
are in the minority.  At any rate, that's the decision of whoever produces
the record, and I suppose they have their reasons--perhaps they thought
that this particular music needed to be presented differently in different
countries.  At any rate, I don't think that the writers are paid such
magnificient fees that substituting translators' fees for three of them
would bring down the cost of the CD to the consumer very much (and as a
translator, I have an idea how much the translators would get).

Jon Johanning // [log in to unmask]