piatiknizhie in English Pentalogy

[Paul B. Gallagher]

Robert Chandler wrote:

> I think it is more than clear that Olga has made her choice
> 'consciously with an understanding of the implications'!

Olga has responded well and clearly, so I feel no need to pursue this. I 
am grateful for her admirable response, and I think it has been a 
valuable contribution to our discussion.

> You seem, Paul, to be forgetting that, like most activities,
> translation can serve many purposes.

To the contrary, my remarks were made specifically with that in mind.

Still, I think misleading the client as to the content of the original 
is beyond the bounds of ethical translation, and that's why I brought it 
up. There may be valid reasons in a particular context for making this 
choice, just as a chef may choose to offer a dessert devoid of 
nutritional content whose purpose is not nutrition, or an attorney may 
offer his client moral support that is not legal advice.

> I know one interpreter who was congratulated for her diplomacy after
> the successful performance of an opera. The producer was, I think,
> Lyubimov; the orchestral conductor was George Solti (I may have
> muddled the names). Solti told her that, but for her diplomacy (i.e.
> MIStranslations) the production would have fallen apart.

This is a good example of going beyond translation into diplomacy, and 
if that's the job it's all well and good, but it's not translation.

> On one occasion Solti asked why Lyubimov kept using the word IDIOT so
> often. The interpreter sweetly replied that it was a Russian word
> meaning 'he/she is coming/going'. Solti did not really believe this,
> but I think he was so amused and charmed that he did not continue the
> row with Lyubimov.

Cute.

BTW, I always have to do a double-take when I see "row" used this way 
(in American, it can only mean ряд etc., never ссор). ;-)

-- 
War doesn't determine who's right, just who's left.
--
Paul B. Gallagher
pbg translations, inc.
"Russian Translations That Read Like Originals"
http://pbg-translations.com

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