The one series whose translations are very good is the series Asterix and Obelisk. The original is in French. I believe that most of the translations are good. Certainly the English one is.
Absolutely. I've read a few of the Asterix books in French, and a couple in Latin (my native language is English); they were originally written in French, of course. Just one example: in English, Obelix's dog is Dogmatix; the French version is Idée-Fixe. Brilliant!
That last one is weird in that while it conveys the same information of being stubborn, Dogmatix makes more sense in terms of humor because the point of Asterix is that the characters were supposed to have names that look vaguely like real Gaulish names like Vercingetorix; Dogmatix fits the mold better than Idée-Fixe. I know it isn't the case, but if I had to guess without knowing which was the original, I would have guessed Dogmatix.
The French name is pronounced something like `eeday-fix', so even though the dog doesn't look Gaulish, he sounds Gaulish.
Another of my faves in English Asterix is a Goth; all their names end in -ic. This one is named Electric. In a fit of enthusiasm about being a war leader, he says. `I shall be a general, General Electric!'
the translator (anthea bell) has also done a brilliant translation of leonie swann's "three bags full", a hilarious novel in which a flock of sheep try to figure out who murdered their shepherd. (at least, i assume it's a brilliant translation because the novel is both charming and funny in english.)