"Translators Struggle to Prove Their Academic Bona Fides"

Fri Feb 26 13:12:55 UTC 2010

A couple more cents: Robert's thoughts about the implications of Mercury in translation suggest a section of Lewis Hyde's book, *Trickster Makes This World: How Disruptive Imagination Creates Culture*, that treats translation. Another section of the book that might interest list members discusses the relationship of US government funding for the arts to Cold War competition with you-know-who in the area of culture. :-)

The metaphor of translation as dramatic interpretation is discussed (among many other things) in Robert Wechsler's *Performing without a Stage: The Art of Literary Translation*. (One of the intriguing other things: Wechsler suggests that the best preparation for becoming a translator is a legal education, with its emphasis on the import and precise meaning of Every Single Word. He recognizes, though, that getting a law degree a pricey option, especially considering the kind of money most translators make.)

The thematic focus of the 2010 conference of the American Literary Translators Association will be dramatic translation. The conference will take place Oct 20-23 in Philadelphia - if anyone would like more information, see the call for panels at <http://www.utdallas.edu/alta/>, or contact me off-list at <sforres1 at swarthmore.edu>.

Best wishes,

Sibelan

----- Original Message -----
From: "Josh Wilson" <jwilson at SRAS.ORG>
To: SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu
Sent: Friday, February 26, 2010 6:27:22 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] "Translators Struggle to Prove Their Academic Bona Fides"

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

[...]

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