"Translators Struggle to Prove Their Academic Bona Fides"

[Josh Wilson]

A couple cents on this - 

I think a lot of it simply has to do with the fact that non-translators seem
to think that there is nothing hard about translation - that translators
simply breathe in one language and exhale another and that there are hard
and obvious "correct" and "incorrect" in translations... 

I find that I often have to educate both intern-translators and clients that
translations are not a simple task and that you can't expect anyone who
simply "knows" both languages to perform translations. I also find I end up
explaining to the same people multiple times the same concepts - because
they just don't get it (and it's not an easy subject to explain - most
mortals simply do not contemplate the subjectivity of reality or the power
of creation). 

I would assume that many translators stay out of conversations on this as
well because it is difficult (and time-consuming) to explain. I think likely
this is especially true in countries where monoglots are the norm - who have
never thought outside their own language.

Incidentally, I had very similar trouble when teaching Introduction to
Theatre and especially "interpretation of scripts," as it is called, in the
directing section. Getting students to understand that a play could be
presented in multiple ways, with nearly any message, simply by changing the
way lines are stated, using stage movement, costume and set, non-vocal
communication, etc. to turn the script into a full-fledged production of how
you, personally, see it as a director and what you want to communicate with
it. Most would not believe it was possible without rewriting or heavily
editing the script. The fastest way I found to quickly express this and at
least get them thinking that it is was possible, was to play them remakes of
songs (Smells Like Teen Spirit - as performed by Nirvana and Tori Amos, for
example - same "script" - words and even basic composition - but completely
different feel). 

In short, I would guess that the reasons behind these issues are based in
the fact that the market is simply not educated about translation - and that
many who translate have not the time, energy, or perhaps even skill to
educate and press their market. Just as speaking a language is a separate
skill from translating into it, teaching something is a different skill from
actually doing it... 


Josh Wilson
Assistant Director
The School of Russian and Asian Studies
Editor in Chief
Vestnik, The Journal of Russian and Asian Studies
SRAS.org 
jwilson at sras.org


-----Original Message-----
From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list
[mailto:SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu] On Behalf Of Robert Chandler
Sent: Friday, February 26, 2010 10:47 AM
To: SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] "Translators Struggle to Prove Their Academic Bona
Fides"

Dear all,

Yes, it is a good article, but I still feel there is something in all this
that I do not understand.

I am aware that translators tend to get relatively little recognition, but
Mr Anderson is saying more than that.  He is saying that work in the field
of translation not only goes unrecognized but that it counts (or has, in the
past ??, counted) AGAINST one.

I was also struck by the headline of a recent long article in the Guardian
about a new complete edition of Van Gogh's Letters.  The letters have been
translated, over a period of several years, by five translators and from two
languages - both French and Dutch.  This article, which dwelt on matters to
do with the production of the book (there are a lot of illustrations, etc,)
did not say a word about the fact that the letters were translated.  More
than that: it was titled, VAN GOGH IN HIS OWN WORDS!!

Is there some deep, largely unconscious, sense of shame about the need for
translation?  Are we still all ashamed of what happened with the Tower of
Babel?

I wonder also if we should be thinking about the fact that Mercury/Hermes is
a patron of tricksters and thieves as well as of hermeneutics of all kinds,
presumably including translators.  Is this a reason why we distrust
translators?

Naïve questions can often be telling.  I was recently asked after a talk,
'But why IS it sometimes impossible to translate something?'  Perhaps most
people really do not want to think about the fact that languages really do
differ from each other in important ways.

I am groping...  Does anyone else have any thoughts about all this?

Vsego dobrogo,

Robert


His story about translating THE TRIAL under a pseudonym

After Mr. Anderson, a Kafka scholar, got a job as an assistant professor at
Columbia, he recalls in an e-mail message, "I was offered the chance to
translate Kafka's The Trial and was about to submit a sample when my chair
got word of it and advised me, rightly, I think, not to do this until I
finished my book and got tenure. Which I did." He published a translation of
Thomas Bernhard's novel The Loser  while still untenured‹but under a
pseudonym ("Jack Dawson," which according to Mr. Anderson is a pun on
Kafka's Czech name and means "son of Kafka"). "We had a celebratory lunch
after I got tenure at Columbia, and I told the story and got a good laugh,"
Mr. Anderson says. "But it's a real issue, and I think my chair gave me
excellent advice."

He adds a qualifier that goes beyond institutional pragmatism: "Although I
think translation is important and valid, it's worth noting that translation
can take people away from criticism and theoretical thinking of an original
sort. My chair was also telling me, Finish the book, don't lose sight of
that." When you're translating, you already have a text to work with,
"whereas writing your own book can often be more taxing, since you don't
know where it needs to go."




> Hurray for the article, and thank you Steve and Lynn!
> I have written three research books, translated one from English into
Russian,
> and co-translated at least two (judging by the degree of collaboration)
from
> Russian into English, with Robert. The translation work has required more
> research and academic dedication than the strict-research one--not less.
After
> all, in translation, we have to address all the textual problems, and some
> extra-textual--not merely those we feel like choosing for our personal
> interest. Yet where is the recognition?
> Olga Meerson.
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------

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