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Rating: 
Summary: the loss of languages
Review: an eloquent, moving play about the love of one's native language (Irish) and the plight of lost languages (Latin, ancient Greek, and so on). Of course, it was written after the largely successful revival of the Irish language. There's your delayed "happy ending."the nice thing about friel's play is that he conveys the machine of colonialism with the appropriate complexity--it isn't "bad Englishman, good Irishman," but something much more complex. sometimes people like Owen, unwittingly or not, sell out their own. Sometimes others, for example the English soldier here, are part of the colonial apparatus, but not consciously or intentionally--and such people may end up being the colonized culture's greatest champions. I liked it better than Dancing at Lughnasa, though i haven't had the chance to see this one performed. It reads well--and a lot of plays don't.
Rating:
Summary: A sublime play...
Review: Friel does a wonderful job of using the beginnings of the
Irish Potato Famine and the callous attitude of the English
government as a backdrop for the far more interesting issue
of language and history- more specifically, how the words
we use can only imperfectly capture the feelings and connections
we feel about the object itself; and how the stories we
tell about history can be more important than what actually
happened. What is most poignant and touching to me is
the relationship between Maire, who speaks only Irish, and
Yolland, the British soldier who attempts to learn Irish
as they fall in love.
The politics that undo their relationship seem almost to
happen as an afterthought- the moments they share, and
their ability to communicate beyond language, make the
play sad and joyful.
Although this to me is certainly a very Irish play, its
impact and meaning(s) cannot be confined to Ireland. It
poses questions to all of us and the worlds we inhabit.
Rating: 
Summary: Phlisophy hits home
Review: I enjoyed reading other reviews, but i was constantly getting the feeling that there was a real ingorance to the underlining theme of the play. On the surface it is about human emotions and the trials a change in culture can have on a society. Friel also challenges the sugnificance of language itself and forces us to seek the relevance of the communication we use. It is thought provoking causing us to realise that everything is subject to human perception, making us questionwhether any liguistic source is reliable, is language just a guise for the truth? Must read for anyone challenging the relevance of everything we know to be real.
Rating:
Summary: Beauty Translates Itself
Review: I felt moved to add a review of Translations after reading several of the reviews other readers have left. Brian Friel has a feel for language that is nothing short of miraculous. This play in particular is a delicate and wonderful portrait of the universality of human experience. If you care enough to read these reviews you owe it to yourself to read this play. I am a long time admirer of Mr. Friel and I saw a remarkable production of this play in London several years ago. There are times - rare times - when a person leaves a theater and doesn't feel the ground under his feet because of the transport of the experience. That was one such performance, and this is that fine a play.
Rating:
Summary: Beauty Translates Itself
Review: I felt moved to add a review of Translations after reading several of the reviews other readers have left. Brian Friel has a feel for language that is nothing short of miraculous. This play in particular is a delicate and wonderful portrait of the universality of human experience. If you care enough to read these reviews you owe it to yourself to read this play. I am a long time admirer of Mr. Friel and I saw a remarkable production of this play in London several years ago. There are times - rare times - when a person leaves a theater and doesn't feel the ground under his feet because of the transport of the experience. That was one such performance, and this is that fine a play.
Rating:
Summary: Provocative dramatic essay
Review: I'll admit I had expected this play to be another political statement about disappearing languages and the hegemonic powers that threaten them--either that or a celebration of Irish Gaelic (I'm more with Joyce than Yeats when it comes to provincial sentimentality about a nation's older tongue). But Friel manages to make the reader/spectator ponder the seriousness of what can be lost in the translation of the marginal language into the majority discourse. In some instances, the signifer and signified, the sign and its referent are irrevocably separated. In such cases, the resulting loss is not merely to the "richness" of a country's culture but to human consciousness itself. What we can't say we can no longer know or even think.
Rating:
Summary: Stimulating, thought-provoking and very human
Review: Over the past few nights I have directed this play at my college. I am studying the book as part of my English 'A' Level course, and you'd think I'd get bored of it, but no, I love this book. Being Irish, I feel that it captures the very essence of Irish culture, and the hatred portrayed by Manus toward the English soldiers, is caught so well by Friel. Definitive and Encapsulating, I love this story. Tragedy or no, it's one of the best books I have read about the fall of one's culture through Language. It challenges the typical stereotype of the Irish, and shows how pompus the English could be! BUY IT!
Rating:
Summary: Language and identity
Review: This is without doubt my favourite play by Friel and one of my favourite plays of all time. However, what I find really frustrating about it is the fact that is nearly always interpreted as being simply about the death of the Irish language and the colonial relationship between the English and the Irish. In other words, it is constantly being interpreted as "uniquely Irish" and I feel this does the play a serious injustice by failing to underline its international appeal. I personally have always read the play as showing that the relationship between a word and what that word designates is not a purely arbitrary one, i.e. a rose by any other name would definitely not smell the same! For example, if someone suddenly started calling me John or Michael instead of Damian, I would feel that a vital part of my identity had been lost. The intricate link between language and identity is of universal significance - it is by no means restricted to Ireland! In fact, the play reminds me a lot of "Le premier jardin" by Anne Hebert and "Lost in translation" by Eva Hofmann.
Rating:
Summary: Very Incisive
Review: What a wonderfully light read for such a potentially heavy topic. As a native of Ireland that is constantly reminded of the legacy of the crass 'Anglosizing' of our country, I found this a very incisive read. It is a wonderful snapshot of a period in our history which has scarred our language and lanscape forever. An example would be a town built on the site of an old monastery 'Mainstir na Fir Maoi' or The Monastery of the Yellow Men was translated to Fermoy, a meaningless name with no relevance to the look or history of the area. Or even the fact that I am more comfortable writng this review in English than in Gaelic. Yet this is not a bitter book but a clever 'fly on the wall' account of the subtle changes being stamped on Ireland. This book of the play has developed wonderful characters which give us a great insight to what it must have been like for all the people who lived through that time. There is no agenda in this book. It is a nicely humorous account of the times from an accomplished playwright and author. If ever you plan to visit Ireland or if you live here and have wondered where places like Donegal got their names then this is book will give you enlightenment woven subtly into a wonderful story.
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