Translations lost in Booker International prize judging
It's a sad truth that authors whose original work one cannot read are at an inescapable disadvantage
Read it on the Guardian website here.
Julian Barnes discussed the problem with particular reference to Madame Bovary. He cites six different English renderings of a single sentence, which vary to one degree or another, and of which, he observes, none is obviously preferable to the others. He resorts to a wine-tasting metaphor called "mouthfeel" to make the necessary discriminations between the alternatives.
Equally, a "brilliantly witty but sparse and snappy tale" by the Congolese novelist Alain Mabanckou was recently translated by two different people, who were unaware of each other's efforts until the time came to compare them. Their final texts had only one sentence in common. It read: "Really?" So: of the two versions of the story, which is "by" Alain Mabanckou? Both? The better of the two? Neither?
You only have to compare one set of translated Maaya lyrics to another to see that, just like the above, it's usually a case of 'same but different'. But if you don't speak Japanese then I suppose it's all down to personal preference, which turn of English phrase do you prefer?
As Maaya takes so much care with her selection of words in her lyrics and essays, what appears here is most likely a very poor interpretation no matter how much I have improved since beginning this blog in 2008.
An interesting read anyway!
3 comments:
Don't let that sort of details bother your effort to convey the feelings intrinsic in any form of message. What is important is the imagination that spark into the readers mind. Of course without veering to much from the original version and taking to much liberty with the contents.
I suppose you're right, sometimes one can't see the forest for the trees ^^;;
too much
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