Every time I see an ancient text translated, it always sounds like it was spoken by a classy Englishman from the 1800s. Is there a reason it’s translated that way instead of modern English?
Every time I see an ancient text translated, it always sounds like it was spoken by a classy Englishman from the 1800s. Is there a reason it’s translated that way instead of modern English?
I think all the other comments have some validity. In particular, the most famous or readily available (and certainly the most readily available for free) translations often were done by a “classy Englishman from the 1800s.” In the case of Latin and Greek, sometimes it was the 1700s.
Another point not yet raised is that the languages will simply convey different things in a single word or phrase, and if you want to maintain that meaning, sometimes tone will take a backseat to linguistic data. Good translations will provide context for what the tone and intended audience would be, as far as we can tell, and also for the translator’s methodologies and biases.
This introduction to a modern translation of Cicero gives, I think, a fairly decent rundown of the difficulties inherent in this process. See page 7; it is a Google Books link, fair warning.