That's what I was thinking. I think, ideally, a translation would retain the character of the prose, but realistically that's not going to happen unless it's something like, say, Madame Bovary, which I recall a professor making a big deal about the translations for. I can't imagine it would have been any less awful with a different translation, though.

I'm wondering lately if there will be any of that sort of English-to-English translation with my novel. I believe the spelling thing is standard, but what weird Americanisms have I built into it without even realizing it?