What Makes For Quality Translation? Is 2nd Gen English Translation A Good Idea?
October 31st 2006 00:25
I find it very interesting that we only have access to one person's translation with most texts. I think the translator's role should be a lot more publicised, and their handiwork treated in a self-reflexive manner, with comments on the sides whenever possible, so that the presence of a second person to bring you the text of another is made more accessible, and celebrated.
What makes for quality translation? Is it better to search for a way to directly convey the rhythms of a language, or search for the [English] equivalent? I find that when I am reading 'If On A Winter's Night A Traveler' by Italo Calvino, translated by William Weaver I want to engage with the text by reinventing it (re-translating it) into my own understanding of fluent English. I appreciate the insight into Italian rhythms of speech that Weaver's version provides me, but I long for the text to be even more fluid in its engagement with English literature.
This is why I have taken on a project of mammoth proportions to keep me occupied in my spare time: re-writing If On A Winter's Night... to suit me.
I don't actually have the means to create the IOAWNAT I'd like to ideally, as that would include a number of different languages, and I'm only semi-fluent in Bulgarian, and my Japanese vocabulary is at beginners' level.
So I'd like you, the reader, to help me... if the text (either Weaver's original or my "second-generation English" translation) appeals to you and you can translate it into another language, please feel free to post it here at postmoderncritic.com - ideally this place can be it can be a cretive workshop.
I hope to add to the multiplicity of this book by reproducing it with my own distinctive touch. I believe it deserves to be explored in such a way, and I know I'd read another translation of it by someone else.
Now my semi-fluent grasp of Bulgarian means that I am more attuned to Italian language quirks than ppl who don't speak any European languages, but this is about all the advantage I have.
What makes for quality translation? Is it better to search for a way to directly convey the rhythms of a language, or search for the [English] equivalent? I find that when I am reading 'If On A Winter's Night A Traveler' by Italo Calvino, translated by William Weaver I want to engage with the text by reinventing it (re-translating it) into my own understanding of fluent English. I appreciate the insight into Italian rhythms of speech that Weaver's version provides me, but I long for the text to be even more fluid in its engagement with English literature.
I don't actually have the means to create the IOAWNAT I'd like to ideally, as that would include a number of different languages, and I'm only semi-fluent in Bulgarian, and my Japanese vocabulary is at beginners' level.
So I'd like you, the reader, to help me... if the text (either Weaver's original or my "second-generation English" translation) appeals to you and you can translate it into another language, please feel free to post it here at postmoderncritic.com - ideally this place can be it can be a cretive workshop.
I hope to add to the multiplicity of this book by reproducing it with my own distinctive touch. I believe it deserves to be explored in such a way, and I know I'd read another translation of it by someone else.
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Comment by Sisi
Comment by postmoderncritic
Postmodern Critic
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Padsoc
I think there are a few different versions of the Bible available, although I don't know a lot about them as I'm not religious... I do know that there have been different approaches to translating the section that details what men should and should not do with other men, and it's a very contested section of the Bible in many communities. I wouldn't be surprised if there were similiar translation wars where abortion and other controversial issues are concerned.