When, around this time last year, I began to draft up my personal statement, there was one particular thought that I came back to time and time again: how do we go about translating and indeed explaining nuances, be it cultural or linguistic, between languages? Naturally, this led me to think about the nature of translation as a whole and I decided to read to pick up Matthew Reynold's Translation: A Very Short Introduction in a bid to gain a better insight. As a break from texts which are in the respective languages I study, it is this book that I thought I would share with you today - which is accessible to anybody with a general interest in languages. Without further ado, I hope you enjoy this post and let's hop right on in!
G x
G x
A S Y N O P S I S
Unlike the other texts that I have spoken about in the MFL Book Club Series, Translation: A Very Short Introduction is not a work of fiction - hence there is no plot overview, as such, to discuss. However, this text is split into 7 key chapters and I thought that it may be worth summarising the general contents of each chapter to see whether this book is one that you may be interested in reading yourself.
The opening chapter begins with the million-dollar question: what is translation? Funnily enough, I had already had an answer formulated in my head having heard that this was a question asked at an Oxford Modern Languages interview - and it seems rather simple, no? What I happened to learn very quickly is that I had a very one-dimensional view of translation and that translation can mean very different things to different people, depending on factors such as their purpose. This chapter also explores the notion of translation crossing languages and indeed borders - not just geographical borders, either. When we think of translation, we tend to think of a printed text being turned into another printed text - but what about translations moving between, quote on quote, pictograms and alphabetic words?
The second chapter, Definitions, delves deeper into the idea of trying to define the activity of translation and points out how the definitions of translation vary from language to language - as well as how the meaning of translation has evolved over time. Particularly interesting for me was the exploration of Quince's "Thou art translated" from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream - for it is certainly not the translation we think of today that the character is referring to. From there on, Reynolds begins to discuss the problem with rigid translation (something which I had previously believed to be the ideal, alas not anymore) and, interestingly, the question of whether all communication is in fact translation.
The third chapter, Words, contexts, and purposes, begins by exploring whether translation actually translated the meanings of words - and this is where cultural factors begin to take their shape. Can you really translate the word 'scone' into German when Germans do not have an identical delicacy of their own? Is it really translation if you translate 'scone' to the next best thing available? Leading on from this, Reynolds looks at how the context of a word can change its meaning; by way of example, the meaning of the verb 'run' is very different for "I'll run away" and "I run a company" - and this may indeed pose problems when translating into other languages that do not have a grammatical equivalent. What particularly stood out to me in this chapter was the discussion of how purpose also affects the way in which something is translated and let me just say, I never thought that I would be considering how Innocent market their juices differently in different countries!
The fourth chapter, Forms, identities, and interpretations, takes a closer look at translational format rather than contents. Up to that point, I had been convinced that a translation as close to the original as possible was the way to go, but my mind was completely changed when Reynolds began to look into how one goes about translating poetry and the power held by the translator, for it is they who decide what is important about the poem: is it to keep the rhyme scheme of the poem, or the syntax? You can't have it all, it seems, and some translators have come out with very different translations for one passage alone - not because they're incompetent, but because they have decided to hone in on different things.
The fifth chapter, Power, religion, and choice, predominantly looks at how translation manifests itself into religious texts and the impact of these translations. A point which I found rather thought-provoking was that translations were, and indeed are to this day, subject to great censorship - which can greatly alter the meaning of the original media. Having studied it as a part of my A-Level course, I found the example of Francoist Spain to be particularly fascinating. Long story short, the 1948 film Arch of Triumph was, at times, dubbed incorrectly to hide the fact that one of the characters has relationships with various men to whom she isn't married.
The penultimate chapter, Words in the world, looks at the regulation of translation in organisations such as The United Nations in addition to the media and the book trade. From there on, Reynolds looks at mechanical translation completed by machines, featuring every language learner's favourite programme: Google Translate. What is clear is that our technology is still not up to speed to translate self-sufficiently and that, if such measure is taken, we still require people to tidy the result up - if you will.
The concluding chapter, Translational literature, looks at the notion of multilingual writing and I must say, I was quite surprised when I saw how many world-renowned authors and poets wrote in multiple languages or indeed translated their works. Another concept which Reynolds delved into was that of translaterature and how translation manifests itself into theatre - again, not something which I had necessarily considered. We conclude about the complex and multifaceted nature of translation, how it is much a blessing as it is a curse - but one which needs to be at the forefront of our thinking when we consider language.
The opening chapter begins with the million-dollar question: what is translation? Funnily enough, I had already had an answer formulated in my head having heard that this was a question asked at an Oxford Modern Languages interview - and it seems rather simple, no? What I happened to learn very quickly is that I had a very one-dimensional view of translation and that translation can mean very different things to different people, depending on factors such as their purpose. This chapter also explores the notion of translation crossing languages and indeed borders - not just geographical borders, either. When we think of translation, we tend to think of a printed text being turned into another printed text - but what about translations moving between, quote on quote, pictograms and alphabetic words?
The second chapter, Definitions, delves deeper into the idea of trying to define the activity of translation and points out how the definitions of translation vary from language to language - as well as how the meaning of translation has evolved over time. Particularly interesting for me was the exploration of Quince's "Thou art translated" from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream - for it is certainly not the translation we think of today that the character is referring to. From there on, Reynolds begins to discuss the problem with rigid translation (something which I had previously believed to be the ideal, alas not anymore) and, interestingly, the question of whether all communication is in fact translation.
The third chapter, Words, contexts, and purposes, begins by exploring whether translation actually translated the meanings of words - and this is where cultural factors begin to take their shape. Can you really translate the word 'scone' into German when Germans do not have an identical delicacy of their own? Is it really translation if you translate 'scone' to the next best thing available? Leading on from this, Reynolds looks at how the context of a word can change its meaning; by way of example, the meaning of the verb 'run' is very different for "I'll run away" and "I run a company" - and this may indeed pose problems when translating into other languages that do not have a grammatical equivalent. What particularly stood out to me in this chapter was the discussion of how purpose also affects the way in which something is translated and let me just say, I never thought that I would be considering how Innocent market their juices differently in different countries!
The fourth chapter, Forms, identities, and interpretations, takes a closer look at translational format rather than contents. Up to that point, I had been convinced that a translation as close to the original as possible was the way to go, but my mind was completely changed when Reynolds began to look into how one goes about translating poetry and the power held by the translator, for it is they who decide what is important about the poem: is it to keep the rhyme scheme of the poem, or the syntax? You can't have it all, it seems, and some translators have come out with very different translations for one passage alone - not because they're incompetent, but because they have decided to hone in on different things.
The fifth chapter, Power, religion, and choice, predominantly looks at how translation manifests itself into religious texts and the impact of these translations. A point which I found rather thought-provoking was that translations were, and indeed are to this day, subject to great censorship - which can greatly alter the meaning of the original media. Having studied it as a part of my A-Level course, I found the example of Francoist Spain to be particularly fascinating. Long story short, the 1948 film Arch of Triumph was, at times, dubbed incorrectly to hide the fact that one of the characters has relationships with various men to whom she isn't married.
The penultimate chapter, Words in the world, looks at the regulation of translation in organisations such as The United Nations in addition to the media and the book trade. From there on, Reynolds looks at mechanical translation completed by machines, featuring every language learner's favourite programme: Google Translate. What is clear is that our technology is still not up to speed to translate self-sufficiently and that, if such measure is taken, we still require people to tidy the result up - if you will.
The concluding chapter, Translational literature, looks at the notion of multilingual writing and I must say, I was quite surprised when I saw how many world-renowned authors and poets wrote in multiple languages or indeed translated their works. Another concept which Reynolds delved into was that of translaterature and how translation manifests itself into theatre - again, not something which I had necessarily considered. We conclude about the complex and multifaceted nature of translation, how it is much a blessing as it is a curse - but one which needs to be at the forefront of our thinking when we consider language.
M Y T H O U G H T S
For me, Reynold's Translation: A Very Short Introduction was a thought-provoking read that provided me with an excellent insight into the basics of translation theory; I began my journey, if you will, with a very one-dimensional view of translation and was left thinking about how on earth I would go about translating a poem so as to keep it's rhyme scheme. Although it was a comparatively short read, at a mere 120 pages, it was very dense and it's certainly not a book I think you could read at once and be able to digest the information; at times, I found myself reading the page all over again to fully grasp what it is Reynolds was getting at - a common theme, I've found, with the A Very Short Introduction series. I must say, though, I think that this book is structured very well and concepts flow together very well and the examples chosen to illustrate certain points, as weird and wacky as they were, were excellent - particularly the matter of translating 'scone' into German. I also appreciate the addition of a glossary and recommendations for further reading specifically related to the contents of each specific chapter. Long story short, if you want to know a little more about translation but don't want to be bogged down by a series of technical terms and concepts, I think that this would be an excellent book to start with - particularly as translation appears to be an ever growing debate.