In Suzanne Jill Levine’s Translation as (Sub)version: Translating Infante’s Inferno, she emphasizes the importance of wordplay and how it influences the quality of translation, even though it can be seen as an unfaithful approach to the translation process. She expresses this importance by pointing out, ‘’ Wordplay is inscribed in the language of the translation and yet brings to life the language of the original.’’ She further explains, ‘’Translation, another form of parody, is for a writer like Cabrera Infante ‘’a more advanced stage’’ of the writing of the book, as Jorge Luis Borges once said. Thus, I have had the freedom to exaggerate the parodical elements (such as alliteration) when translating writers like Infante and Puig, particularly because they have been actively involved in the ‘subversion’ of their originals.’’ Handling translation as a parody highlights the fact that translation is not an original, is not an imitation, it is the different form of the same original, text or language. For example, the parody of a sing is the same song with different interpretation such as voice, emphasis on words, etc. And, having the freedom to exaggerate the parodical elements involved in the subversion of the original is an equal translation for Levine since it creates the same effect in the translation. Here, from what I render, if the author has the power to subvert the original, so does the translator have that kind of power to subvert the translation.
In Vladimir Nabokov’s Problems of Translation: Onegin in English, translating mainly focusing on the spirit rather than the textual sense should be the first step of the translator. This step actually renders what the author intends to convey to the target readers. Nabokov states that, ‘’The clumsiest literal translation is a thousand times more useful than the prettiest paraphrase.’’. Here, paraphrasing is not translating. Literal translation is not about the beauty of the original /source text but the spirit and the meaning of the text. The different translations of Eugene Onéguine, translated by Lieut.-Col. Spalding; Eugene Onegin, translated by Babette Deutsch in The Works of Alexander Pushkin, selected and edited by Abraham Yarmolinski; Evgeny Onegin, translated by Oliver Elton; Eugene Onegin, translated by Dorothea Prall Radin and George Z. Patrick. Seeing the differences in word choices and spirits of each translation was inquiring: what did they do different? Each and every translator focused on a different aspect of the source text and came up with completely different translations, even though they are accurate in their own ways.
In Robert Fly’s The Eight Stages of Translation, he explains the eight crucial stages of translation; 1) setting down a literal version, just to get to the inner core of the source text, 2) Following every eccentric branch out to its farthest twig, after seeing the differences between the source and target texts regarding the meaning, 3) returning to the literal version and find the parts that lack of meaning, redoing the literal trying to make sense in the target language (here, it is English), 4) after translating the source text into the English language, adapting it into a specific language/vernacular/nation (here it is the American English), in this stage the spoken language is the main focus, 5) translating according to the tone and therefore, the mood of the source text, 6) paying attention to the sound, 7) asking someone born into the language to go over our version, this stage made great sense, since getting feedback on the translation from a native and evaluating the translation from a distinguished aspect/perspective is really helpful for me as a not-much experienced translator, 8) and the last stage is to come up with the final draft by reading the translation once again, making minor, final adjustments not substantive changes. Overall, his outline for the translation process is not an outline that can be used for every translation process since he focuses on the sound and tone for the most part, but for poetry, this could get beginner translators without confusing them.
ECE CELIKKOL
No comments:
Post a Comment