Translation week 6

Dialecto

• Some translators produce translations that are painful to read and cause embarrassment for the translator
• These translations are "difficult for the general reader, especially those who do not understand foreign languages"
• It is acceptable to have "exotic" elements and retain "foreign flavor" in translations, but this should apply to the content and style of the original work, not merely the language
• Translating to be exotic should not only focus on the language but adapt to the language's nuances and tones
• Translating to be exotic should be based on the content and style of the original work, not just the language itself
• Ye Shengtao stated that "We should accept foreign influences on the condition that they are compatible with Chinese language habits"
• Translations should avoid "foreign language written in Chinese characters" that do not align with Chinese language customs
• The process of "domestication" and absorbing new expressions are mutually reinforcing, not contradictory
• Domestication should not be considered a "deviation" in translation

Harmony between the Elegant and the Vulgar in Translation

• "Determine elegance and vulgarity before considering skill"
• Liu Xizai pointed out, "Whoever is good at classical and elegant language is also good at vulgar sentences"
• This concept can be applied to translation, signifying the beauty of using vulgar language to express elegance
• Huang Tubi discussed using plain descriptions to transform the vulgar into the elegant in literature
• He suggests that it should not be too lofty, for fear of losing the meaning, and not too vulgar, for fear of resembling crude talk
• Extract refined and elegant literary language from rough, colloquial speech
• Fangyan dialects are the rough and colloquial speech, possessing rich expressive power and diverse rhetorical functions
• Lu Xun stated that "dialects have some profound meaning... which is beneficial to literature, it can be more interesting than articles using only 'general language'"
• Lin Yutang stated, "In the language of another country, there is a closest word for translation, but there is no word with the same color and individuality"

Example Analysis

• Example: "A man never knows what's going to happen next in the State of Maine; that's why I wish sometimes I'd never left."
• This is from Erskine Caldwell's short story "Country Full of Swedes"

Example Translation

• "In Maine, you can never tell what's going to happen next, so sometimes I really regret not leaving the interior
• I used to earn sixty dollars a month in the hill, with food and accommodation that were fine
• But I ran away, came here to Maine Bay
• God bless me, I want to go back to my village, I have never had a peaceful day since coming here three or four years ago."

Concerns About the Prior Translation

• A reader might assume it is a Chinese writer's work due to use of Beijing dialect, such as the phrases "好得没说的"
• The translation's Beijing flavor is strong may cause it to be mistaken for a native work
• The text seems localized in China and does not represent the characteristics of Caldwell's stories. Phrases such as "damn," "damnest," and "hell" were translated without equivalent expressions

Another Translation Example

• "There wasn't any sense in me standing there in the cold air shivering in my night-shirt, so I put on my clothes" translated to, "I wearing pajamas, standing there shaking and shivering in the cold air is meaningless so I put on my clothes"

Summary of Issues

• The translations drew the unique characteristics of the text
• The original text's "locality" was replaced with a distinctly different "locality"
• Translating a dialect with another dialect is practical but not the best approach
• Translating a dialect with another dialect seems to only capture the art of similarity
• Translators need to remember that translation is not meant to replace the original work
• Translators can only seek success from the original

Translating Dialects

• China has a vast territory, where many different kinds of dialects can be found
• Readers may be unaccustomed to the use of southern dialects used when translated
• Northern readers may find these examples agreeable, however, southern readers may avoid it
• In return, the effect will be the same if it is translated by a southern translator
• Excerpt: "Thoughts of his comrades came to him. The brittle blue line had withstood the blows and won." translated to something about the strength of defense
• This passage contains Beijing dialect: "This is one of the reasons that they had no other supporters for a long period of time."

Concerns About Dialect Translations

• From "The Red Badge of Courage", translated with elements of dialect with parts that state "this world is too vicious".

Analysis of Dialect Usage

• Using another meaning, such as "This is because they were like little pigs who can't tell you who they were."
• Translator's translation style is very similar to this
• Lin Yiliang, "We must remember that the most colloquial element in dialects is the life and soul of the dialect, its use in translation, just to completely smudge the local character of the original, turning foreigners into Chinese"
• There are writers or literature, but you must maintain the true meaning of the original

Purity and Simplicity in Translation

• "Where cleanliness is appropriate, use simplicity; where complexity is appropriate, use complexity."
• The text aims to eliminate superfluous elements for writers and translators to achieve clarity
• The core lies in "mediocrity, so there are redundant sentences, mediocrity in writing, so there are redundant words"
• Cleanse with simplicity, and be free from mediocrity
• American critic Bates made a statement that Hemingwa did just that
• A simple method of the writer
• The style and text stripped everything
• In that style, the translated work must convey proper translation avoiding both "fullness" and "redundancy"
• Excerpt: The hills across the valley of the Ebro were long and white. On this side there was no shade and no trees and the station was between two lines of rails in the sun."