Translation
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| + | "It would appear that Western civilization has endured two millennia of consecrated sexual neurosis simply because the authors of Matthew and Luke could not read Hebrew [and mistranslated the word ''[[almah]]'']" --''[[The End of Faith]]'' by Sam Harris | ||
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| + | [[Poetry is what gets lost in translation]] --Robert Frost | ||
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| + | "The Greek word ''[[Pharmacon|pharmakon]]'' poses a [[quandary]] for [[translation|translator]]s- it is both a [[remedy]] and a [[poison]]." --Sholem Stein | ||
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| + | [[Image:Charles Baudelaire.jpg|thumb|right|200px|[[Charles Baudelaire]] (portrait by [[Etienne Carjat]], ca. [[1863]]) | ||
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| + | [[Charles Baudelaire]] was one of the most influential [[French literature|French poet]]s of the nineteenth century. He was an important [[translator]], most notably of the works of [[Edgar Allan Poe]].]] | ||
| {{Template}} | {{Template}} | ||
| '''Translation''' is the [[interpretation]] of the [[Meaning (linguistic)|meaning]] of a text in one [[language]] (the "source text") and the production, in another [[language]], of an [[Dynamic and formal equivalence|equivalent]] text (the "target text," or "translation") that communicates the same [[message]]. | '''Translation''' is the [[interpretation]] of the [[Meaning (linguistic)|meaning]] of a text in one [[language]] (the "source text") and the production, in another [[language]], of an [[Dynamic and formal equivalence|equivalent]] text (the "target text," or "translation") that communicates the same [[message]]. | ||
| - | ===Back-translation=== | ||
| - | A "back-translation" is a translation of a translated text back into the language of the original text, made without reference to the original text. Back-translation is analogous to reversing (or [[inverse function|inverting]]) a [[mathematical]] operation; but even in mathematics such a reversal frequently does not produce a value that is precisely identical with the original. In the context of [[machine translation]], a back-translation is also called a "[[round-trip translation]]." | ||
| - | Comparison of a back-translation to the original text is sometimes used as a [[quality control|quality check]] on the original translation. But while useful as an approximate check, it is far from infallible. Humorously telling evidence for this was provided by [[Mark Twain]] when he issued his own back-translation of a [[French language|French]] version of his famous [[short story]], "[[The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County]]"; he published his back-translation in a single 1903 volume together with his English-language original, the French translation, and a "Private History of the 'Jumping Frog' Story," the latter including a synopsized adaptation that Twain tells us had appeared, without attribution to him, in a Professor Sidgwick's ''Greek Prose Composition'' (p. 116) under the title, "The Athenian and the Frog," and which for a time, Twain tells us, was taken for an independent [[Ancient Greece|ancient Greek]] precursor of Twain's "Jumping Frog" story. | + | Translation of [[literature|literary works]] ([[novel]]s, [[short story|short stories]], [[theatre|plays]], [[poetry|poems]], etc.) is often considered a literary pursuit in its own right. |
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| + | Writers, among many who have made a name for themselves as literary translators, include [[Vladimir Nabokov]], [[Jorge Luis Borges]] and [[Charles Baudelaire]]. | ||
| + | ===Poetry=== | ||
| + | Views on the possibility of satisfactorily translating poetry show a broad spectrum, depending largely on the degree of latitude to be granted the translator in regard to a poem's formal features (rhythm, rhyme, verse form, etc.). [[Douglas Hofstadter]], in his 1997 book, ''[[Le Ton beau de Marot]]'', argued that a good translation of a poem must convey as much as possible not only of its literal meaning but also of its form and structure (meter, rhyme or alliteration scheme, etc.). | ||
| - | In cases when a historic document survives only in translation, the original having been lost, researchers sometimes undertake back-translation in an effort to reconstruct the original text. An example involves the novel ''[[The Manuscript Found in Saragossa|The Saragossa Manuscript]]'' by the [[Poland|Polish]] aristocrat [[Jan Potocki]] (1761–1815). The [[polymath]] [[polyglot]] composed the book entirely in [[French language|French]] and published fragments anonymously in 1804 and 1813–14. Portions of the original French-language manuscripts were subsequently lost; the missing fragments survived, however, in a Polish translation that was made by [[Edmund Chojecki]] in 1847 from a complete French copy, now lost. French-language versions of the complete ''[[The Manuscript Found in Saragossa|Saragossa Manuscript]]'' have since been produced, based on extant French-language fragments and on French-language versions that have been back-translated from Chojecki's Polish version. | + | The [[Russia]]n-born [[linguist]] and [[semiotician]] [[Roman Jakobson]], however, had in his 1959 paper "[[On Linguistic Aspects of Translation]]", declared that "poetry by definition [is] untranslatable". [[Vladimir Nabokov]], another Russian-born author, took a view similar to Jakobson's. He considered rhymed, metrical, versed poetry to be in principle untranslatable and therefore rendered his 1964 English translation of [[Alexander Pushkin]]'s [[Eugene Onegin#Into English|''Eugene Onegin'' in prose]]. |
| - | Similarly, when historians suspect that a document is actually a translation from another language, back-translation into that hypothetical original language can provide supporting evidence by showing that such characteristics as [[idiom]]s, [[pun]]s, peculiar [[grammatical]] structures, etc., are in fact derived from the original language. | + | Hofstadter, in ''[[Le Ton beau de Marot]]'', criticized Nabokov's attitude toward verse translation. In 1999 Hofstadter published his own translation of ''Eugene Onegin'', in verse form. |
| - | For example, the known text of the ''[[Till Eulenspiegel]]'' [[folk tale]]s is in [[High German]] but contains many puns which only work if back-translated into [[Low German]]. This seems clear evidence that these tales (or at least large portions of them) were originally composed in Low German and rendered into High German by an over-metaphrastic translator. | + | Gregory Hays, in the course of discussing [[ancient Rome|Roman]] adapted translations of [[ancient Greek literature]], makes approving reference to some views on the translating of poetry expressed by [[David Bellos]], an accomplished French-to-English translator. Hays writes: |
| - | Similarly, supporters of [[Aramaic primacy]]—i.e., of the view that the [[Christian]] [[New Testament]] or its sources were originally written in the [[Aramaic language]]—seek to prove their case by showing that difficult passages in the existing [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] text of the New Testament make much better sense if back-translated into [[Aramaic]]—that, for example, some incomprehensible references are in fact Aramaic [[pun]]s which do not work in Greek. | + | :"Among the ''idées reçues'' [received ideas] skewered by David Bellos is the old saw that "poetry is what gets lost in translation." The saying is often attributed to [[Robert Frost]], but as Bellos notes, the attribution is as dubious as the idea itself. A translation is an assemblage of words, and as such it can contain as much or as little poetry as any other such assemblage. The [[Japanese people|Japanese]] even have a word (''chōyaku'', roughly "hypertranslation") to designate a version that deliberately improves on the original." |
| == See also == | == See also == | ||
| - | *[[Untranslatable]] | + | *[[Traduttore, traditore]] |
| + | *[[Untranslatability ]] | ||
| *[[Index Translationum]] | *[[Index Translationum]] | ||
| *[[Translation theory]] | *[[Translation theory]] | ||
| + | *[[Words hardest to translate]] | ||
| {{GFDL}} | {{GFDL}} | ||
Revision as of 20:48, 2 September 2019
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"It would appear that Western civilization has endured two millennia of consecrated sexual neurosis simply because the authors of Matthew and Luke could not read Hebrew [and mistranslated the word almah]" --The End of Faith by Sam Harris Poetry is what gets lost in translation --Robert Frost "The Greek word pharmakon poses a quandary for translators- it is both a remedy and a poison." --Sholem Stein |
Charles Baudelaire was one of the most influential French poets of the nineteenth century. He was an important translator, most notably of the works of Edgar Allan Poe.
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Translation is the interpretation of the meaning of a text in one language (the "source text") and the production, in another language, of an equivalent text (the "target text," or "translation") that communicates the same message.
Translation of literary works (novels, short stories, plays, poems, etc.) is often considered a literary pursuit in its own right.
Writers, among many who have made a name for themselves as literary translators, include Vladimir Nabokov, Jorge Luis Borges and Charles Baudelaire.
Poetry
Views on the possibility of satisfactorily translating poetry show a broad spectrum, depending largely on the degree of latitude to be granted the translator in regard to a poem's formal features (rhythm, rhyme, verse form, etc.). Douglas Hofstadter, in his 1997 book, Le Ton beau de Marot, argued that a good translation of a poem must convey as much as possible not only of its literal meaning but also of its form and structure (meter, rhyme or alliteration scheme, etc.).
The Russian-born linguist and semiotician Roman Jakobson, however, had in his 1959 paper "On Linguistic Aspects of Translation", declared that "poetry by definition [is] untranslatable". Vladimir Nabokov, another Russian-born author, took a view similar to Jakobson's. He considered rhymed, metrical, versed poetry to be in principle untranslatable and therefore rendered his 1964 English translation of Alexander Pushkin's Eugene Onegin in prose.
Hofstadter, in Le Ton beau de Marot, criticized Nabokov's attitude toward verse translation. In 1999 Hofstadter published his own translation of Eugene Onegin, in verse form.
Gregory Hays, in the course of discussing Roman adapted translations of ancient Greek literature, makes approving reference to some views on the translating of poetry expressed by David Bellos, an accomplished French-to-English translator. Hays writes:
- "Among the idées reçues [received ideas] skewered by David Bellos is the old saw that "poetry is what gets lost in translation." The saying is often attributed to Robert Frost, but as Bellos notes, the attribution is as dubious as the idea itself. A translation is an assemblage of words, and as such it can contain as much or as little poetry as any other such assemblage. The Japanese even have a word (chōyaku, roughly "hypertranslation") to designate a version that deliberately improves on the original."
See also
- Traduttore, traditore
- Untranslatability
- Index Translationum
- Translation theory
- Words hardest to translate
Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Translation" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.
