The purpose of reading translated texts is to
convey stories from different parts of the world and make oneself aware of
varying literature. There are many arguments for and against the translation of
texts however one point most people can agree on is that the person translating
is in position of power; they have the power to portray an image of a culture
through the translated so it is their responsibility to do it in the most
accurate way possible. How the audience decides to perceive the translation is
a different story but as long as the translator believes that they incorporated
the context and the cultural values of the language it is being translated
from, then the process of translation has been done right in my opinion.
The main challenges present while translating a
text are comprehension the context of the text in one language and finding the
right the phrases with the intended connotation in the other language. Many
words can be translated directly from one language to another however
connotation varies depending on the culture of the language. For example, the
book The Thief and the Dogs is translated from Arabic and the word 'dog' has a
far worse connotation to it in Arabic then it does in English. This example
demonstrates the value of connotation in literature and in order to overcome
this challenge I believe the audience will need to develop an awareness of the
culture of the language the book has been translated from in order to preserve
the value of literature because there is no way the translator can bring about
the connotations from one culture to the other.
Furthermore, I agree with the fact that more
books need to be translated into English. Even though English isn’t the most common
language in the world, it is the most widely spread out language geographically
speaking and it is the language, which has the most growth in the number of
people learning it. Since there are many people who speak English from various
cultures, I believe that it is important for the stories from their cultural
backgrounds to be brought in the forefront in order to make the native English
speakers have a better understanding of the new people from different cultures
integrating into their language. This mutual understanding will increase
empathy between different cultures and decrease misunderstandings.
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I really liked your example linking to TTATD. I also thought your reference to power was interesting, as I'd never seen it that way before. You also mentioned that the audience can perceive the story in their own way, and that the translator's opinion is most important for a translation to be completed "effectively". Would you agree that the translator is also the audience at one point? This seems to imply that translations are subjective? Nice post. :)
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you when you say that all translated works need to be contextualised. Contextualisation establishes a concrete base for the interpretation of the book, and ensures that it is not taken out of context. It provides an important basis which is needed in order to correctly understand a book. I thought of q euston while reading your blog post though; is it necessary for a text to be in a particular language to define the culture explained as authentic?
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your blog post, it was really interesting to read and I especially the comprehension of the context and when you referred to the part where the word "dogs" have a stronger connotation to it and therefore translating into English can be a challenge yet it is still valuable to be translated.
ReplyDeleteI like the detail of your blog post. I found your last point about the English language to be interesting. How do you suggest that culturally-foreign concepts to the English language be translated? With the help of footnotes, maybe? Also, why is empathy between cultures important?
ReplyDeleteI liked that idea that you establish in order to appreciate the translated literature you need to open your mind and understand the culture. I think that is a main reason IB curriculum wants translated literature, because it encourages students to understand the culture. Great post!
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