[HELPS TO STYLE.]
Though Style cannot perhaps be taught, it can certainly be formed and improved. There are several ways of improving your Style. For example:—
[14.] Through the Best English Literature.—Read good Literature, the best English Authors in prose and verse. You will know something, perhaps, of Shakespeare and Scott, of Macaulay and Tennyson. Though you may not be able to attack the complete works of any great author, you ought not to have any difficulty in finding good books of selections from the English Classics.
[15.] Through good Translations.—Study a few good English Versions of passages from the best Latin writers. You may often have a good version of the passage you translate read to you in your Division after your mistakes have been pointed out to you, and to this you should pay great attention. You will thus learn eventually to suit your style to the Author you are translating, while at the same time you render the passage closely and accurately.
[16.] Be Clear.—Remember that the first characteristic of a good style is clearness—that is, to say what you mean and to mean what you say. Quintilian, the great critic, says that the aim of the translator should be, not that the reader may understand if he will, but that he must understand whether he will or not. The more you read the greatest Authors the more you will see that, as Coleridge says, ‘there is a reason assignable not only for every word, but for the position of every word.’
[17.] Be Simple.—With clearness goes simplicity—that is, use no word you do not understand, avoid fine epithets, and do not choose a phrase for its sound alone, but for its sense.
[18.] Avoid Paraphrase.—You are asked to translate, not to give a mere general idea of the sense. What you have to do is to think out the exact meaning of every word in the sentence, and to express this in as good and correct English as you can.
[19.] Pay attention to Metaphors.—The subject of Metaphor is of great importance in good translation. You will find that every language possesses its own special Metaphors in addition to those which are common to most European languages. As you become familiar with Latin Authors you must try to distinguish the Metaphors common to English and Latin and those belonging only to English or to Latin.
For example:—
(1) Metaphors identical in Latin and English—