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TRANSLATORS AND TRANSLATIONS


  • I-Like-Rhymes
    Oct 14 7:01 AM 2008
    Reply
    Translations

    There is a whole world of poetry out there and a whole world of potential readers. I am conscious that we are not reaching vast areas of that target audience since we post work, predominantly, in English. True we do have a smattering of other languages on offer as well as translations of some of the more prominent non-English poems. But we do not have enough.

    Unfortunately translations are and always will be a thorny problem. The only person that could fully do justice to a translation would be the original poet; if he or she had linguistic fluency. That means much of the translated work that is seen here and elsewhere is, in fact, new poetry. True it is based very closely on the original piece but it might lack the depth of feeling, the nuances of language or the rhythm and metre of the original since it is restricted by the same limitations of any translational activity. The range of experiences, historical and cultural that produce one language are never exactly matched by the experiences that produced another language and so the actual languages do not precisely match.

    The result is either a translation retaining the mood and perceived intent of the poet concerned or a translation that follows strict literal rather than literary guidelines. In general we at Oldpoetry try to use the former approach. We rely on the skilled efforts of our hard-pressed translation team augmented by occasional contributions from our readers.

    From time to time readers will naturally take issue with translations of their favourite poets or poems and will contribute their own thoughts on the particular piece. Provided this is done in an open and non-combative manner, this can only enhance matters and is welcomed.

    It would be marvellous to increase our translation efforts but that requires time that our hard-pressed volunteers cannot always give. Since we all have other jobs and activities in the real world time pressures are always with us. It would help tremendously if we could find other supporters with linguistic skills to support the work already being done.

    Is there anyone out there with the time and skill to contribute?

  • Mari Goes
    October 15, 2008 ↑
    Reply
    I agree with you, but you do realise that there are already here many poems translated, whether translated specially to OP, or already found on the web. Poets like Neruda, Garcia Lorca, Tagore, Hesse, just to mention some examples, have their poems translated to English in many different websites, but we don't always find their original work. Not knowing the original poem and most important, the original language, would make very hard to compare. I have seen some translations from Dutch, French and Portuguese to English that don't hold the full essence of the originals, yet they are all over the internet.
    I'll in the future keep both, original and translation posted here.


    • I-Like-Rhymes
      October 15, 2008 ↑
      Reply
      Yes I know. Virtually all the Haikus for example are only here in translation but most of them have been around long enough to become oldpoetry in their own right.
      Even great poets like Robbie Burns have errors since some of the posts are modern translations of his old Scots writing and it is not properly annotated.
      There are many flaws with the content we have and we keep fixing them bit by bit and doing the best we can.
      At least if we have a uniform policy then we don't make it worse.
      There is a suggested policy for translation on the mod board at the moment for discussion but so far you and I are the only ones thinking about it (or so it seems).
      In some ways your translations are 1000% better than ones we have here already because I know you are working from the original printed works. A lot of the rest we have taken on trust and fortunately no-one has noticed yet
      Jim

  • Peteskid
    October 23, 2008 ↑
    Reply
    Errors... occur in every human endeavor, subjective translation of poetry from even possibly dead or long unused idioms would not likely be an exception. So I am glad to know that the talents of the people who contribute translations to OP are recognized and appreciated.

    I have seen comments dwell on minor errors as if some flash of an epiphany had stirred a dark place... and I meant to frame one where a commenter went on for a paragraph over an extra space in one of my lines. I always say thanks for the edit and thanks for reading...but it must be noted was raised ...trained from childhood...to be polite....

    Anyway, my hat's off to people who can do translations with art and skill, and it seems to me that so many of us benefit from these donated labors, I for one have been exposed to African and Latin writers that I would not have likely known and so much to the better for development as a writer.

    Adding the original language is a big plus for me, another avenue for learning; and I read the original, but if it takes an effort to do so I can easily do without because I imagine that only a few people go to the original language...they seek a translation in the first place because they want it or need it...for understanding. I am always happy to see the original but never disappointed if it is not there [usually they can be found by research.

    Thanks for the useful and informative topic...PK
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