Treatise on the Impossibility of Literal Translation
and the Shortcomings of Language
02/12/06 23:59
Language
is the translation of one's thoughts, ideas, and
feelings into sounds or written words, which are then
translated by the listener back into thoughts, ideas
and feelings. The problem of language lies in that
there are these two translations that take place
every time language is used, and each individual
person learned differently and individually which
thoughts, feelings, and ideas are represented by
which sounds and words. Problems arise from this
first unguided learning process and then are
compounded by one's life experiences. For example,
the word "beat" inspires certain ideas and feelings
in a professional musician, and completely different
feelings and ideas in a woman who has lived with an
abusive husband for 10 years. And while I discuss the
problems of this "morass" of words, thoughts, and
ideas, someone might think I just said a dirty word;
although it inspires in me a mental image of a sticky
swamp and to me simply means "a confusing mess". The
same goes for grammatical structures. Inspire certain
obvious associations to the Star Wars generation, the
inversion of sentences will. And though that may be,
a valid sentence will the poetry scholar hear. To me,
"love" is not a word to be tossed around lightly, but
read someone's Myspace comments and you'll see that
it obviously means something completely different to
the great majority of my generation. I say all these
things to mean this: when I speak a word, it is
because to me that word represents a certain abstract
idea. When the person to whom I am speaking hears
that word, it is translated into what the hearer has
learned the word to represent. It is nigh impossible
that the to person to whom I am speaking, the word
represents exactly the same thing as it does to me,
because we learned separately and independently and
our life experiences have further altered the
associations we make with the given word. That is the
fundamental shortcoming of language. The purpose of
language is to try to bring the hearer's translation
of a word as close as possible to the original
intention; that the idea translated from the word is
as close as possible to the idea that inspired the
word.
Once I was translating something from English to Spanish, and somebody who knew a little Spanish was also listening in. This person knew only enough Spanish to make a nuisance of herself, because she still had the idea that a non-literal translation was an incorrect translation. She noted this to me, and I hadn't the time to inform her and explain exactly why attempting a literal translation of anything not only requires a misunderstanding of the aforementioned fundamental purpose of language, but is also quite an impossible pursuit. I will now address why literal translations into another language are not simply difficult, but non-existent.
Take this sentence: "Right off the bat, before I got a chance to stop him, he started singing at the top of his lungs...".
Now, this sentence is very easy to understand of any native English-speaker. But there are a few difficult points for anyone not familiar with English slang: "right off the bat", if translated, would make absolutely no sense. "Got a chance" is also another difficult point, because "got" literally would be translated "obtained", and "got a chance" wouldn't make sense. The same with "at the top of his lungs". To translate this sentence such that it could be understood, I would have to change it to the following:
"Immediately, before I had an opportunity to stop him, he began to sing as loud as he could."
This sentence means, in terms of denotation, exactly the same thing. However, "right off the bat" is very informal and gives the line a humorous connotation. "Before I got a chance" implies that the speaker was actively trying to shut this guy up but was unable to do so, while "had an opportunity" sounds very passive. "As loud as he could" doesn't carry quite the mental picture as "at the top of his lungs", again connoting humor. Now, if there existed an idiomatic expression for "right off the bat", I would use it, assuming it carried the same connotation and denotation. It would be the most accurate and useful translation, but would not be literal. Unfortunately, no such expression exists, so you have to go with the denoted meaning. This is my first point: both formal and informal speech in any language is so filled with untranslatable idiomatic expressions, that only a non-literal equivalent will most accurately suffice.
Furthermore, the textbook translations most often are inaccurate. My Spanish book taught me that "to forget" translates "olvidar". For example, if I wanted to say, "I forgot that it was your birthday", I would say, "Se me olvidó que era tu cumpleaños." However, in the Spanish translation, the subject is an implied "it", "that it was your birthday" is the direct object, and the reflexive pronoun "me" makes the speaker the indirect object. Another reflexive "se" turns the action of the verb "olvidó" back onto the subject "(implied) it". The verb is the third person singular past tense...meaning a literal translation from Spanish back to English would be something like this:
"It forgot itself to me that it was your birthday."
"It (implied) forgot itself (Se...olvidó ) to me (me) that it was your birthday (que era tu cumpleaños.)."
Obviously, "forgot" cannot be correctly used in this way. A better English translation would be "It escaped me...", but that carries obvious incorrect connotations. As you can see, a literal translation is impossible, simply because no such word exists in Spanish.
Similar difficulties are presented in nearly every sentence, especially because in Spanish the reflexive pronoun is so prevalent, while it is absent in English. Another difficulty is even words that translate fairly literally, like "to take" and "llevar", are not always used similarly. If you take a pill, you use "tomar". If you take a turn in a car, you use "dar una vuelta" ("to give a turn"). You use "llevar" as "to wear" when discussing clothing, "to have" when discussing things like accent marks, age differences, etc. The word "feo" which literally translates "ugly" is commonly used to describe weather, health, situations, music, or anything for which in English we would use "bad". I could go on and on, because the examples are as numerous all the words in the languages.
Every single word carries connotations: jokes based on the words, similarity in sound or form to other words, common usages for the purpose of humor, offense, vulgarity, etc., and life experiences all change the meaning of each word for each person. When you say a word, it will inspire slightly different ideas and feelings in anybody else, and therefore it means something different to everybody else. The best we can do is take our differences into consideration, and choose words and phrasing such that, in our best judgment, the hearer as closely as possible understands the ideas and feelings that the words are trying to express. Not only is it impractical to attempt to translate "literally", but it is also impossible two completely understand the intended meaning between to native speakers of a single language.
Once I was translating something from English to Spanish, and somebody who knew a little Spanish was also listening in. This person knew only enough Spanish to make a nuisance of herself, because she still had the idea that a non-literal translation was an incorrect translation. She noted this to me, and I hadn't the time to inform her and explain exactly why attempting a literal translation of anything not only requires a misunderstanding of the aforementioned fundamental purpose of language, but is also quite an impossible pursuit. I will now address why literal translations into another language are not simply difficult, but non-existent.
Take this sentence: "Right off the bat, before I got a chance to stop him, he started singing at the top of his lungs...".
Now, this sentence is very easy to understand of any native English-speaker. But there are a few difficult points for anyone not familiar with English slang: "right off the bat", if translated, would make absolutely no sense. "Got a chance" is also another difficult point, because "got" literally would be translated "obtained", and "got a chance" wouldn't make sense. The same with "at the top of his lungs". To translate this sentence such that it could be understood, I would have to change it to the following:
"Immediately, before I had an opportunity to stop him, he began to sing as loud as he could."
This sentence means, in terms of denotation, exactly the same thing. However, "right off the bat" is very informal and gives the line a humorous connotation. "Before I got a chance" implies that the speaker was actively trying to shut this guy up but was unable to do so, while "had an opportunity" sounds very passive. "As loud as he could" doesn't carry quite the mental picture as "at the top of his lungs", again connoting humor. Now, if there existed an idiomatic expression for "right off the bat", I would use it, assuming it carried the same connotation and denotation. It would be the most accurate and useful translation, but would not be literal. Unfortunately, no such expression exists, so you have to go with the denoted meaning. This is my first point: both formal and informal speech in any language is so filled with untranslatable idiomatic expressions, that only a non-literal equivalent will most accurately suffice.
Furthermore, the textbook translations most often are inaccurate. My Spanish book taught me that "to forget" translates "olvidar". For example, if I wanted to say, "I forgot that it was your birthday", I would say, "Se me olvidó que era tu cumpleaños." However, in the Spanish translation, the subject is an implied "it", "that it was your birthday" is the direct object, and the reflexive pronoun "me" makes the speaker the indirect object. Another reflexive "se" turns the action of the verb "olvidó" back onto the subject "(implied) it". The verb is the third person singular past tense...meaning a literal translation from Spanish back to English would be something like this:
"It forgot itself to me that it was your birthday."
"It (implied) forgot itself (Se...olvidó ) to me (me) that it was your birthday (que era tu cumpleaños.)."
Obviously, "forgot" cannot be correctly used in this way. A better English translation would be "It escaped me...", but that carries obvious incorrect connotations. As you can see, a literal translation is impossible, simply because no such word exists in Spanish.
Similar difficulties are presented in nearly every sentence, especially because in Spanish the reflexive pronoun is so prevalent, while it is absent in English. Another difficulty is even words that translate fairly literally, like "to take" and "llevar", are not always used similarly. If you take a pill, you use "tomar". If you take a turn in a car, you use "dar una vuelta" ("to give a turn"). You use "llevar" as "to wear" when discussing clothing, "to have" when discussing things like accent marks, age differences, etc. The word "feo" which literally translates "ugly" is commonly used to describe weather, health, situations, music, or anything for which in English we would use "bad". I could go on and on, because the examples are as numerous all the words in the languages.
Every single word carries connotations: jokes based on the words, similarity in sound or form to other words, common usages for the purpose of humor, offense, vulgarity, etc., and life experiences all change the meaning of each word for each person. When you say a word, it will inspire slightly different ideas and feelings in anybody else, and therefore it means something different to everybody else. The best we can do is take our differences into consideration, and choose words and phrasing such that, in our best judgment, the hearer as closely as possible understands the ideas and feelings that the words are trying to express. Not only is it impractical to attempt to translate "literally", but it is also impossible two completely understand the intended meaning between to native speakers of a single language.
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