Lost in Translation

When we were discussing Aura in class this week, we touched upon the issue of translating. As the original text was supposed to be in Spanish, it is more than likely that we were not able to get the full effect of what Felipe wanted to give to the readers. We were probably very close but it still was not the complete full effect, no matter how miniscule the difference might be. One instance was the choice of the term “kid” when we find out that Aura is skinning a goat. As I had said, it took me a moment to realize that the text was referring to a goat. It was the choice of the editor and/or translator to use that choice of word. It was never meant to refer to a human child in the original novella.

The question then becomes have we lost to translation?

It’s always a question that comes up with translations. There’s an agreed lost to what the original text contained, but we don’t have a scale to notice how much disappears.

(Disclaimer: I’m going to use Chinese as an example because I am currently studying Chinese and just have a lot more examples for it. If you only see boxes and not the actual characters, it’s probably because your computer does not have the language installed for the keyboard and does not show it on the Internet. It’s not a big deal. Just don’t assume that I’m writing boxes for my amusement please.)

First thing we lose is the words that do not have an exact translation. While one language might depend on a certain word being within a sentence, another might just depend on the tone of voice. Example: In English, we use the tone of our voice to imply that we are making a suggestion about what to do in a situation. We also use certain words, although this list is not exact and uniform for everyone. In Chinese, there is a “particle,” 吧, that is place at the end of sentences to indicate that the statement is a suggestion. There is less need of an overall tone in the voice with this. While a translation could probably get the effects across decently well, there is something that feels lost because there is no exact translation.

The second thing we lose is the sound of words together. Poetical terms that are often applied to prose are suddenly lost being they depend upon the sound of the words rather than the meaning of the words themselves. Alliteration, cacophony, and euphony are all lost because of the different sounds. In Chinese, the character for “listen” is 听 (pronounce as “ting” in a high, even tone). To me, the Chinese version sounds prettier than just the word “listen.” But in translation, we lose the sound quality of words.

The last thing I’ll mention is cultural differences. They are usually explained in the text, but sudden realization of what is being implied is lost. Sometimes cultural references are completely shifted to make it relevant to the reader’s culture rather than the author’s intentions. This is common with anime that corporations (*cough4Kidscough*) when they would take relevant cultural differences and “Americanize” them. (Like replacing rice balls with doughnuts.) It limits not only our understanding of other cultures, but whatever impacts that might have been associated with certain things are suddenly gone.

Of course, the flip side to the argument is that we would have to study the language and culture in depth before we can get everything that we want from the novel. As chances of that happened tend to run slim, we are stuck with what we have from translation. Go figure. :/