Stages and Skipping

Reading "The Eight Stages of Translation" by Robert Bly reminded me of one of the first texts I read about translation, "Translation from French into English by the ABC Method" (1927). One thing these texts had in common was the presentation of steps or stages of translation followed by the assertion that eventually some steps will be skipped or fuse together as you become a more intuitive translator. They both share the idea that the first step will be a literal version. But why? Bly assumes this is needed to get the "thrust" of the poem. But isn't that provided by simply reading the source text? I am concerned by the idea that writing a trot is a useful or essential step for beginning translators; it has the air of a schoolroom exercise. Why not reverse the process? Have the beginner skip right to their nuanced translation and the expert work through the nitty-gritty of each step, now that they have the wisdom to truly benefit from such a process. Of course, Nabokov would have us stop translating at step one and head off into our reams of footnotes.

Bly's use of the term "mood" was also useful. Other terms, like "sense" or "spirit" or even "vibe" have a certain vagueness to them that hamper their usefulness. Mood, on the other hand, is more concrete and more visible in the text. This innovation allows for a reading-informed direction to the translation, much like what Damion Searls described in his lecture as "the book telling you what it needs". 

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