EN964 Translation Studies
in Theory and Practice
Issues of Untranslatability
John T. Gilmore
Department of English and Comparative Literary Studies,
University of Warwick
What might be “untranslatable”?
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
words
concepts
language-specific items
culture-specific items
puns
metaphors
idioms
aspects of form
How far do these overlap?
To what extent are the following “equivalent”?
•bread
•pain
•brot
How far are we dealing with something
different when we talk about
“taking the bread out of someone’s mouth”
or “Give us this day our daily bread”?
How would you render these in English?
la gloire
Schadenfreude
关系
What is a 旗袍 ?
qipao
cheongsam
MDBG online Chinese-English
Dictionary defines 旗袍 as
“Chinese-style dress / cheongsam”
马
虎
马马虎虎
????
马马虎虎
so-so
comme çi, comme ça
说曹操，曹操到。
Talk of the Devil …
Puns and jokes 1
A Victorian joke:
Question:
Why are there no eggs in Saint-Domingue?
Answer:
Because they all cast off their yokes and threw out the whites.
Points to consider:
•Is this funny?
•What degree of historical or other culturally specific knowledge might be needed in
order for it to be funny?
•How far is the humour dependent on the pun?
•In what ways might reactions to the joke have changed over time?
•Is this translatable?
Puns and jokes 2
The citizen of Geneva and his country cousin
The country cousin’s question:
“Why do all the cars have these stickers saying GE and CH?”
He works it out for himself:
“Ah! GE stands for Gonfederation Elvetique, and CH stands for
Chenève.”
CH
GE
Confederatio Helvetica
Genève
Form and content
Poem by George Herbert (1593-1633)
Examples of Brazilian concrete poetry from the 1950s.
Taken from Concretismo
(Lima: Centro de Estudios Brasileños, 1978)
by Pedro Xisto
by Pedro Xisto
cheio = full
vazio = empty
by Augusto de Campos
lixo = rubbish, garbage
luxo = luxury
(musical interlude)
Es razón de alavar, al Dío grande y poderoso,
Con temoridad de corazón, y alegría y gozo,
En el día este, santo y temeroso.
Ah ! En este día abajo el Dío del mund’ a Sinai,
y milarias de malakhim con él,
Por dar la Ley a su pueblo, casa de Israel,
Por mano de Moshe Rabenu, pastor fiel.
Ah! No quiso abajar, sobre ningun monte alto,
Salvo el Monte de Sinai, que se arrabajo tanto,
Porque deprenda el hombre, y tome la anavah
por manto.
There is cause to praise God, great and
powerful,
With trembling of heart, and joy, and delight,
In this day, holy and awesome.
Ah! In this day, the God of the world came
down to Sinai,
and thousands of angels with him,
To give the Law to His people, the House of
Israel,
By the hand of Moses our teacher, faithful
leader.
Ah! He did not wish to come down on any
other mountain,
Except Mount Sinai, who lowered himself so
much,
That Man might learn, and take humility for
his covering.
Ketubbah for Shavuot, first printed 1753.
Written by Yehudah bar Leon Qalai’i of Salonica.
Sung by Izak Algazi Effendi (1889-1950); recorded 1920s;
included on CD issued by Kalan Müzik Yapım, Istanbul, 2004.
But what does such a translation leave out?
Es razón de alavar, al Dío grande y poderoso,
Con temoridad de corazón, y alegría y gozo,
En el día este, santo y temeroso.
Ah ! En este día abajo el Dío del mund’ a Sinai,
y milarias de malakhim con él,
Por dar la Ley a su pueblo, casa de Israel,
Por mano de Moshe Rabenu, pastor fiel.
Ah! No quiso abajar, sobre ningun monte alto,
Salvo el Monte de Sinai, que se arrabajo tanto,
Porque deprenda el hombre, y tome la anavah
por manto.
Hebraicism:
En el día este [Sp. en este día]
Hebrew loan words:
malakhim [angels];
Rabenu [our teacher];
anavah [modesty, humility]
Other features:
el Dío [Sp. Díos]
manto [from Fr. manteau; compare Sp. capa]
What other approaches might be possible?
Other approaches
•
•
•
•
Foreignising translation
Keep the loan-words as they are
Use of annotation and commentary
Seek some sort of “equivalent effect” by other
means
This still does not deal with the issue of form (e.g.,
including – but not limited to – verse forms).
Can we think of other examples of
texts which would pose similar
difficulties for the translator?
Suggestions for further reading
•
•
•
Guo Jianzhong, “Translatability in CE/EC Translation”, in Chan Sin-wai and David E.
Pollard, An Encyclopaedia of Translation: Chinese-English – English Chinese (Hong
Kong: Chinese University Press, 1995, 2001), pp. 1057-1067
Anthony Pym and Horst Turk, “Translatability”, in Mona Baker, ed., Routledge
Encyclopedia of Translation Studies (London and New York: Routledge, 1998,
2001), pp. 273-277
Michael Herzfeld, “The Unspeakable in Pursuit of the Ineffable: Representations of
Untranslatability in Ethnographic Discourse”, in Paula G. Rubel and Abraham
Rosman, Translating Cultures: Perspectives on Translation and Anthropology
(Oxford and New York: Berg, 2003), pp. 109-134