Translations of Dostoyevsky

I am reading Crime and Punishment for the third time but this time in German translation from the old Piper Verlag edition of the 1920's. The novel is called Raskomlikov and not Crime and Punishment. It has started me thinking about all the translations of Dostoyevsky in different languages and how different translations can affect one's view of any great writer. My initial impression (only an impression-I have made no scientific comparison of specific extracts yet) at the moment is that the characters in the German version do not seem to be not quite so mad and peremptory as they appear in the two English translations and the characters are easier to identitfy and remember! I cannot say why. I should be interested in hearing other people's views of Dostoyevsky from the point of view of translation versions.