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>>mitchb+(OP)
I read and loved the P&V Anna Karenina, so as a gift my Mom got me War and Peace. She very consciously bought me the Maude translation, which is how I first learned how contentious translations can be.

Then I recommended Anna Karenina to a friend and I started going over the pros and cons of the various translations when he stopped me and reminded me that Russian is his first language. That's when it clicked for me. It's like people who obsesses over which cut of a movie is the best, except in this case the "true" author's vision is available and many people can access it, just not them. I understand why people fixate on finding the "best" translation.

>>throw4+6k
War and Peace was my first introduction to the translation debate as well. I read and loved the Anthony Briggs translation, but I also read a few samples from the Maude translation and didn't think it was much different.

In general, I think there's too much emphasis on language barriers for the layperson. It's the classic problem where passionate people introduce considerations that aren't relevant to the casual user ("Don't use that brand/thing! This brand/thing is 0.1% better!").

I'm fluent in English, but still am capable of missing subtle uses of the language. Yet, we treat foreign (to us) languages as if all of the subtly is obvious to anyone who is fluent in it. I honestly don't think that the average Russian reader is going to see much more in the language than an English person with a good translation. An expert will see it, but not me.

In my opinion the return on investment is much higher for increasing your understanding of both the culture and historical moment, not the language.