Our Abilities | Literary Translation

 

Literary translation has been going on for thousands of years. There are five volumes of the Oxford History of Literary Translation in English, which testifies to the complexity and depth of this topic.

The variety of literary works being translated shows the demand for different genres. While we cannot deny the importance of translating literature, the process of translation is difficult and involves a different process than regular content translation. It is one of the toughest among the types of translation works.

Literary translation consists of the translation of poetry, plays, literary books, literary texts, as well as songs, rhymes, literary articles, fiction novels, novels, short stories, poems, etc.

An essential characteristic of every piece of writing, is the style, the outcome of the writer´s personality and his emotions at the moment; a single paragraph can´t be put together without revealing to some degree the personality of the author. Every writer has a literary style and her style is reflected in her writing. Some authors say that a translation should reflect the style of the original text while others say that a translation should possess the style of the translator.

An excellent translator must have a deep understanding of the source and target languages, be able to identify with the author of the book or poem, understand their culture and territory, and be proficient in literary translation techniques.

A literary translator must take into account the beauty of the text, its style, the lexical, grammatical and phonological features. Some of these may not be the same in the target language. For example, in the Arabic language there is no “you,” which may be fundamental for a good translation. The aim of the translator is that the quality of the translation be the same as the original text without leaving out any of the content.

As a rule, in literary translation we translate messages, not meanings. The text must be seen as an integral and coherent piece of work.

Many literary translators have come and gone. The works of 6th century Roman philosopher, consul and senator Anicius Manlius Severinus Boëthius, or just Boethius, was translated by Geoffrey Chaucer and King Alfred the Great. Throughout the years, the Holy Bible is the most translated work. Among the classics, The Little Prince (French) is the most translated, followed by Pinocchio (Italian), Dao De Jing (Chinese), Pilgrim’s Progress (English) and Alice in Wonderland (English). Among the modern works, some of the most translated are Harry Potter (English), Sleep Tight, Little Wolf (German), Seven Brief Lessons on Physics (Italian), Before I Go to Sleep (English) and The Book of Mirrors (English).

Examples: 

1) The Story of An Hour by Kate Chopin

Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband's death. It was her sister Josephine who told her, in broken sentences; veiled hints that revealed in half concealing. Her husband's friend Richards was there, too, near her. It was he who had been in the newspaper office when intelligence of the railroad disaster was received, with Brently Mallard's name leading the list of "killed." He had only taken the time to assure himself of its truth by a second telegram, and had hastened to forestall any less careful, less tender friend in bearing the sad message.

Sabiendo que la Sra. Mallard sufría de un problema cardíaco, se tuvo mucho cuidado en comunicarle con la mayor delicadeza posible la noticia de la muerte de su marido. Fue su hermana Josephine quien se lo dijo, con frases entrecortadas e insinuaciones veladas que lo revelaban y ocultaban a medias. El amigo de su marido, Richards, también estaba allí, cerca de ella. Fue él quien se encontraba en la oficina del periódico cuando recibieron la noticia del accidente ferroviario y el nombre de Brently Mallard encabezaba la lista de «muertos». Tan sólo se había tomado el tiempo necesario para asegurarse, mediante un segundo telegrama, de que era verdad, y se había precipitado a impedir que cualquier otro amigo, menos prudente y considerado, diera la triste noticia.

2) Dreams by Langston Hughes

Hold fast to dreams	Aferrarse a los sueños
For if dreams die	Porque si los sueños mueren
Life is a broken-winged bird	La vida es un pájaro con las alas rotas
That cannot fly.	Incapaz de volar
Hold fast to dreams	Aferrarse a los sueños
For when dreams go	Porque cuando los sueños se van
Life is a barren field	La vida es un campo estéril
Frozen with snow.	Congelada con nieve.

3) A very old man with enormous wings by Gabriel García Márquez

Su prudencia cayó en corazones estériles. La noticia del ángel cautivo se divulgó con tanta rapidez, que al cabo de pocas horas había en el patio un alboroto de mercado, y tuvieron que llevar la tropa con bayonetas para espantar el tumulto que ya estaba a punto de tumbar la casa. Elisenda, con el espinazo torcido de tanto barrer basura de feria, tuvo entonces la buena idea de tapiar el patio y cobrar cinco centavos por la entrada para ver al ángel.

His prudence fell on sterile hearts. The news of the captive angel spread with such rapidity that after a few hours the courtyard had the bustle of a marketplace and they had to call in troops with fixed bayonets to disperse the mob that was about to knock the house down. Elisenda, her spine all twisted from sweeping up so much marketplace trash, then got the idea of fencing in the yard and charging five cents admission to see the angel.

Translate the language, translate their culture.