The Translator as Mediator Between CulturesWord文档下载推荐.docx

The Translator as Mediator Between CulturesWord文档下载推荐.docx

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ü

ber-setzen."

Initsmostbasicvisualization,theGermanwordmeans"

tocarrysomethingfromonesideoftherivertotheothersideoftheriver."

TheEnglishword"

doesnotimmediatelyevokethesameimageinthemind."

InGerman,wecansay:

"

mitderFä

hredenFlussü

ber-setzen"

whichwouldliterallymean:

totranslatetheriveronaferryboat."

Thevisualizationoftheword"

--tomovefromonesideoftherivertotheothersideoftheriver--leadstoseveralimportantinsightsintothenatureoftranslation.We,astranslators,arealwaysinvolvedincarryingsomethingacrosstheriver,whetheritbefromheretothereorfromtheretohere.Ourcargocanhaveamultiplicityofshapes:

thedescriptionofatechnologicalobject,aculturalorhistoricalphenomenon,apoeticimage,ametaphoricalexpression,orahumanemotion,tonameonlyafew.

Wheneverwecarrysomethingacrosstheriver,wehavetobegintothinkaboutthenatureofthelandscapewewillencounterontheotherside.TheMexicanpoetandessayist,OctavioPaz,pointedoutthateachlanguageisawayofseeing,ofinterpretingtheworldinaspecificway.Eventhoughtheshapeofnaturalphenomenadoesnotchangefromonecountrytothenext,thewayweinteractwithandinterpretthesephenomenaisdistinctlydifferentfromonelanguagetothenext.InGermanthemoonhappenstobe"

masculine"

（derMond）,inFrenchitisfeminine（lalune）;

inGermanthewordforsunisfeminine（dieSonne）inFrenchmasculine（lesoleil）.Thus,theFrenchandtheGermansdon'

tseethesamethingwhentheylookatthemoonorthesun.Thesameappliestohumanemotions.Theemotionofloveandhatredareprobablypresentinallcultures,however,howwereacttoandinterprettheseemotionsdiffersgreatlyfromoneculturetothenext.

Thus,astranslatorswecannottakeanythingforgranted.Wemustbeinvolvedinaconstantprocessofunlearning,becausetherealitiesandexpectationsofourownculturearenotnecessarilythesameintheotherculture.Notonlythat,wedon'

tevenknowwhetherourownculturalandsocialsituationwantstoopenitselfuptoaninfluxofideasandperspectivesthatareprominentinanotherculture.Inotherwords,ifweplantotakeourcargototheothersideoftheriverwemustworryaboutthenatureofourreception.Weareneversurewhetherwhatweplantodeliverwillbemetwithopenarms.Willwefindpeopleontheothersidewhoareopentoreceivewhatwebringwithus,dotheywanttointeractwithusorarewegoingtoimposeourselvesonthem.

Whatwe,astranslators,carryacrosslanguagebordersisalwayspackagedinwords:

pronouns,verbs,nounsetc.However,theproblemwithwordsistheirimprecision--hardlyanywordcanbeforcedintoclearlydefinedconceptualcontoursthatwouldsuggesttheexactsamethingtoeverypersonwhocomesincontactwiththeword.Weknowthatwordscreatedifferentconceptualandemotionalresonancesineachoneofus.Becauseofthefragilenatureofwords,wecanhardlyevertakethemattheirfacevalue.Therefore,wemustconsiderthewordsonthepageassignpoststowardasituation--thesituationbehindthewords--thatwemustreconstruct.

Inordertoreconstructthatwhichisormightbebehindthewords,itisimportantthatthetranslatorbecomesfamiliarwiththenatureofwords.Apianistwilllistenoverandoveragaintotheintrinsicqualityofanoteoracompositionofachord.Withrespecttotheword,wedefineitssemanticparameters,welistentoitssoundandrhythm,andexploreitsexistencewithinitsimmediateandlargercontext.Thespecificplacementofawordwithinasentenceorapage,evenintermsofitsgraphicdesign（pointside,bold,italicsetc）continuouslychangestheenergyandthepossibleassociationsthatthewordmightbeestablishingwithanotherword.Thisisparticularlytrueintherealmofliteraryworks,andmostconspicuouslypresentinpoeticworks.Theonlywaythatatranslatorcangetclosetothespecificassociationthatapoetattributestoawordisthroughacontextualanalysis.Ifindeedthepoethascreatedanewperspectiveofseeingorinterpretingtheworld,oramomentinthatworld,thentheestablishedmeaningsofawordareinaprocessofbeingchangedormodifiedbyculturalorsocialchanges.Creationinwhateverformpresupposessomekindofdiscontinuity,adegreeofdisruption.Whateverthenewcreationmightbe,itconstitutesadifferencetowhattherewasbefore.Inasense,thatisboththeattractionwefindincreativityandatthesametimethefearwehaveinthepresenceofcreativity.Someoftheestablishedwaysofthinkingorinterpretingarebeingchallenged.

Icomebacktotheconceptofthe"

word."

Wearetoldthat"

inthebeginningwastheword."

Yet,weknowthattheparametersofeachwordarequitefragile;

notwopeoplewilltaketheexactsamemeaningfromaword.Iamremindedofthediscrepancyofperceptionthatcouldbeconnectedwiththeword"

culture."

Theassociationsthatahumanistconnectswith"

culture"

arequitedifferentfromthoseofabiologist.Thus,whenwespeak,wehavetomakesurethatwecommunicatethedirectionofthinkingthatwewantawordorasequenceofwordtohave.Ifindeedeachwordhadthesameconceptualboundary,thenitisconceivablethatwewouldallcarrythesamemeaningawayfromeachword.Itwouldimplythatseveralpeoplecouldproducetheexactsametranslationofagiventext.Translatorsknowthatthisisabsolutelynottrue.

Tofurtherillustratetheimpossibilityofsuchanassumption,onecouldaskatranslatortotransferatext,let'

ssayfromSpanishintoEnglish,thenaskaSpanishtranslatortotranslatethatsametextbackintoSpanish,onlytobefollowedbyanotherEnglishtranslatorwhowouldtransfertheSpanishtranslationbackintoEnglish.VerylittleresemblancewouldthenexistbetweenthefinalEnglishtranslation-versionandtheoriginalSpanishtext.

Weknowthattranslationisnotthetranslationofwords,eventhoughthefinalproductofourtranslationsappearsintheformofwordsandsentences.Wordsinthemselvesareveryfragileentities.Eachoneofusdevelopsdifferentconnotationsinourencounterwitheveryword.Thus,wehavetoacquireasenseforthemagneticfieldofwords,theirsemanticfieldsbothinthepresentaswellasinthepast.Weoftenneedtogobacktotheoriginofaword,themomentthatawordenteredtheworldbecauseatthattimewordswerestillverycloselyrelatedtothevisualimagetheyproject.Someofthevisualenergyinherentinwordsgetslostoveralongerperiodoftime.Wefailtoexperiencetheoriginalpowerandintentionofaword.Veryfewofusstillexperiencethemeaning-ramificationsbehindtheword"

Mr.Goodman."

Doesthiswordhaveaparticularsignificanceinthecontextofaliterarytext?

Doesthenamereflectaparticularfeatureofthecharacterinthenovel?

Ifso,whatshouldwedowhenwetranslatesuchawordintoFrench,forexample?

TheFrenchword"

lebonhomme"

reverberateswithentirelydifferentemotionalundertones.ItprobablycreatesadrasticallydifferentreactionintheFrenchreader.

Theunderlyingimplicationofthepreviouscommentscouldbeformulatedinthefollowingmanner:

eachtranslatorshouldreceiveathoroughtrainingintheetymologicalandphilologicaldevelopmentofwords.Everywordthatweusetodayhasitsrootssomewhereinthepast--andasweknownewwordsarebeingcreatedeveryday--whichmeansthatwewillbetterunderstandandexperienceaword,ifwebecomefamiliarwiththeoriginalmomentoftheword'

scomingintolife:

inotherwords,itsetymologicalorigin.However,wordsneverstaythesame,therefore,weshouldfollowthetransformationofmeaningsthataccompanyawordthroughalongerperiodoftime,whetheritwillbejustafewdecadesorafewcenturies:

theword'

sphilologicalhistory.Eachhistoricalperiodaswellaseachhumanbeingimpressesitsownrefinedconnotationsonaword.Thephilologicalstudyallowsustogetafeelingforthesemanticchangesthatwordshaveundergonefromonegenerationtothenext.Whena16thcenturypersontalksabout"

art,"

thentheconnotationsandimplicationsoftheword"

art"

indicatedifferentdirectionsofthinkingfromourcontemporaryconceptofart.Etymologicalandphilologicalprobingintotherealitiesofwordsintheirculturalandhistoricalcontextenrichestheexperienceoftheusageofwordsinthepresentandbringsthosewordstolifeforus.

Theactivityofetymologicalandphilologicalinvestigationshouldbearegularpartofatranslator'

straining.Ideallyspeakingthisresearchactivityshouldbematerializedinbothlanguages:

thesourcelanguageaswellasthereceptorlanguage.Thisresearchprocedurewillrefinethetranslator'

sperceptionofthemagneticfieldofeachword.Strangelyenough,theappearanceofawordonthepageisastaticone,butthetranslatorhastogivemovementbacktotheword.Behindthestaticappearanceofaword-passageemergestheenergyofasituation,whetherconceptual,emotionalorfactual.Thatsituationhastobetransferredbythetranslatorfromonesideoftherivertotheotherside,fromonelanguagetotheother,fromoneculturetotheother.AsPazsays:

wordsaresignstowardsomething,signstowardthesituationthatliesbehindthewords."

ForatexttobetransportedfromaforeignlanguageintoEnglishorviceversa,aninterpretationandanunderstandingofthetextunderconsiderationmustbeinitiatedfirst.Agreatnumberofmistakesintranslationoccurbecausetranslatorsdonotful