zlacker

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.