The Schottenstein edition of the Talmud

Note: The following question is a follow up to the one addressed in my blog-posting of Tuesday, September 29, 2009 entitled: "RaMBaN's commentary on the Pentateuch - a comparison of two English translations"

Question:
How does the English translation of the Talmud, published by Artscroll – Mesorah and known as the Schottenstein edition, compare to other English translations of the Talmud? Does Artscroll’s status as a publishing company aligned with Haredi Orthodox Judaism effect their translation?

Answer:
In my opinion the Artscroll English translation of the Talmud is excellent for helping someone gain a basic understanding of the Talmud. Other translations (e.g. Soncino, Neusner) merely translate the Talmud – little in the way of explanation is given. The Talmud’s style is very terse and idiomatic. The myriad later commentaries on the Talmud often explain the same piece in variant ways. Also, the Talmud assumes that you are already familiar with many of the topics it discusses. Without extensive comments and notes, someone without prior experience who can not read the later commentaries, would be completely lost. The Artscroll edition is more than a translation – it is, as I believe they themselves call it, an “elucidation” that takes you step by step through the Talmud and explains the meaning of each line and how it fits into the discussion as a whole. The notes tell you critical information found in other parts of Rabbinic literature that you need in order to understand the topic at hand. The notes also summarize what the later commentaries say and explain some of the variant ways to understand each subject. No other English translation at present does anything like that (except perhaps for Steinsaltz’s English translation – but that is only available on a handful of tractates).
Of course any work that does what Artscroll does is going to inevitably leave the reader with the impression that their way of translating and interpreting a particular piece of Talmud is the only way. They try to alleviate this by, as I mentioned before, giving a few alternate approaches in their notes. However, they can not possibly give all possible approaches and even what they do give might confuse beginners. Furthermore, they only draw on traditional sources and do not take into account more modern approaches that might use textual and source criticism to facilitate understanding the text.
What I have said about the Talmud translation also applies to Artscroll’s RaSHI on Humash translation (and to their RaMBaN on Humash translation). As long as one keeps in mind the necessary limitations of such works (as mentioned above) they are excellent and unique resources.

RaMBaN's commentary on the Pentateuch - a comparison of two English translations

Question: I am interested in studying RaMBaN's (Nahmanides') commentary to the Pentateuch. I have been told that two English translations of this commentary have been published - one by Rabbi Charles B. Chavel [New York: Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976] and one by Artscroll [Brooklyn, N.Y. : Mesorah, 2004-]. Would you assist me in evaluating which is the right translation for me?

Answer: The Artscroll version is much more extensive and user friendly. It uses Chavel’s writings as one of its sources. It contains the text of the Pentateuch in Hebrew and English; the text of RaSHI in Hebrew; the text of Targum Onkeles in Aramaic; and the text of RaMBaN's commentary in Hebrew and English. RaMBAN’s commentary is presented in Hebrew with nekudot - both as one running text and in an elucidated form in which a few words of RaMBAN’s Hebrew are quoted followed by their translation and elucidation. Chavel’s work only contains the translation of RaMBaN's commentary (and Chavel’s notes) - not the original Hebrew or any of the other texts that Artscroll includes. Chavel did publish RaMBaN’s original Hebrew text together with Chavel’s notes in a separate edition [Yerushalayim : Mosad ha-Rav Kuk, 1959]. Artscroll’s translation also seems to have more extensive notes than Chavel provides in his English translation (the notes in Chavel’s Hebrew edition seem to be more extensive than in his English edition).
On the other hand, Chavel has an index, Artscroll does not have one in the volumes I saw. The Chavel edition is already complete in 5 volumes. The Artscroll edition is due for completion (in 7 volumes) in March 2010 with the publication of the volume for Va-yikra. Chavel seems to translate the RaMBaN’s commentary in its entirety. Artscroll’s translation skips some sections that are kabbalistic (they do print the entire Hebrew original and they do tell you what they are skipping).