Drama Translation: Principles and Strategies PDF

Drama Translation: Principles and Strategies *Translating for the theater  Translating for the stage differs in significant ways from other genres of translation. The essence of theatrical translation, at least from the standpoint of the spectator, is its ‘speakability.’  Most other...

Drama Translation: Principles and Strategies *Translating for the theater  Translating for the stage differs in significant ways from other genres of translation. The essence of theatrical translation, at least from the standpoint of the spectator, is its ‘speakability.’  Most other considerations – meaning, fidelity, precision – are secondary to this primordial characteristic. Even style, which is by no means unimportant in dramatic translation, sometimes must yield to the reality that actors have to be able to deliver the lines in a convincing and natural manner.  Eric Bentley in Thinking about the Playwright listed four different ‘phenomena’ all of which have at one time or another been called translations: (1) The rendering that is so meanly literal that Arthur Miller has used the expression Pidgin English to describe its vocabulary and style. (2) The rendering that is in correct and cogent/ convincing English but otherwise sticks as close to the original as possible. (3) The adaptation. This can have (2) as its basis but then take such liberties as: making cuts and interpolations and changing the style and/or tone. (4) The variation. This is very close to/verges on an original play merely ‘based on’ a foreign one. In other words, it’s not just a translation or copy—it’s been adapted or changed so much that it feels like its own unique work. Instead of being exactly like the original foreign play it’s inspired by, it’s more like a new creation/a completely new play that is only loosely "based on" the original.  Of these possible versions, as Victor Dixon has noted in his commentary on Bentley’s typology, ‘all but the first…have a claim to be performed; but only the second can in honesty be called a translation. The third and fourth should advertise their nature without equivocation [without any confusion, doubt, or attempt to hide their true nature].’  Moreover, the fourth possibility (the ‘variation’) belongs more to the realm of creative writing than translation.  As Eric Bentley remarked in The Life of the Drama, a play exists in a dual sense: as a written text and as a performed script. Reading a play is in every way different from seeing that same play presented on stage. By and large, the translator’s duty is to produce a version that honors the latter without shortchanging the former.  In the same vein, in his article ‘Text and Ideotext: Translation and Adaptation for the Stage’ David Johnston aptly observes: «[R]ather than giving new form to an already known meaning, translation for the stage is concerned with re-constructing meaning both as text and as theatre through a process … which is no less dramaturgical than it is linguistic.» The quotation means that when translating a play for the stage, the goal isn’t just to change the words from one language to another while keeping the original meaning. Instead, the translator works to recreate the meaning in a way that works both as a written text and as a live performance. This process involves thinking about how the play will work in a theater setting (dramaturgy) just as much as about the language itself.  In translating drama, the translator has unseen collaborators: the actors and the director. Both can make explicit elements that on the printed page might forever remain cryptic/ mysterious.  But in order for meaning to journey from paper to spoken word and gesture, the translator must provide the extratextual clues through explanatory notes. As in any other field of literary translation, culture has a leading role.  For instance, in a Brazilian play in which candomblé figured prominently, the translator should offer information about that African- Brazilian fetishistic religion and, if relevant, its belief in communication with the dead. EXERCISE  Comment on the following quotation by David Johnston: «[T]he translator as dramaturge must provide, in the sense of making explicit, in the target language text (and, in an ideal world, subsequently through active participation in rehearsal) an array of information which is encoded in the culture-specific frame of reference or the paraverbal elements of the original, so that the final process of reconstitution can take place on stage in as complete a way as possible.»  Light drama such as farces are often adapted rather than translated.  The essential requirement is to retain the humor, suspense, satire, or any other important effect of the play, however much it may entail textual modifications.  It is not uncommon for retranslations of existing classics to be commissioned for a new production, often by regional or university- affiliated theaters.  Because it is a highly specialized area, anyone intending to embark upon translating for the stage is well advised to read a number of successful translations of drama in addition to the musings of well- known drama translators. EXERCISE 1  Read the quotation from Romeo and Juliet, then read the Turkish translation by Özdemir Nutku and decide if the translator is able to preserve the style and meaning. JULIET Ay me. ROMEO, ⌜aside⌝ She speaks. O, speak again, bright angel, for thou art As glorious to this night, being o’er my head, As is a wingèd messenger of heaven Unto the white-upturnèd wond’ring eyes Of mortals that fall back to gaze on him When he bestrides the lazy puffing clouds And sails upon the bosom of the air. JULIET O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name, Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, And I’ll no longer be a Capulet. EXERCISE 2  Translate a short extract from an English play of your choice into Turkish, using the tips for translating drama. EXERCISE 3  Translate a short extract from a Turkish play of your choice into English, using the tips for translating drama.