09-16-2010, 05:08 AM
I'm not finished with the book yet (just at 1/3), but I would like to say something about foreign languages. So often I find that when an author uses other languages in her book he/she doesn't research this enough. Which surprises me as I would say nothing is more easy than to find out how things are written and what the correct translation is in the other language. Doesn't the author care and thinks most readers won't find out because they probably don't know the language themselves?
Carol Goodman uses Dutch words in this book and well, you could say I'm an expert on that subject.
She talks about "wittewieven" and says it means "white woman". Not so. "Witte wieven" (note the space between the two words) means "white women", so she should have said "wit wief".
Another strange thing is that she uses the word "clove" for the chasm in the mountain. This comes from the Dutch "kloof". Why not leave the Dutch word in place? The full name of the chasm is "Witte clove", a combination of a Dutch word and an English word. Doesn't seem logical.
Carol Goodman uses Dutch words in this book and well, you could say I'm an expert on that subject.
She talks about "wittewieven" and says it means "white woman". Not so. "Witte wieven" (note the space between the two words) means "white women", so she should have said "wit wief".
Another strange thing is that she uses the word "clove" for the chasm in the mountain. This comes from the Dutch "kloof". Why not leave the Dutch word in place? The full name of the chasm is "Witte clove", a combination of a Dutch word and an English word. Doesn't seem logical.
