I really liked how Hibbet reflected on how you feel an intimacy with the text even if you don't perfectly understand something, and even when he gathers input from his friends then he doesn't feel obligated to make a statistical choice. I think this is a challenge, but a necessary skill that translators need to have because you have to make sure that your translation is an independent interpretation of the original, without being limited by what others may say. I'm also noticing a common theme, that in most of the interviews of translators we've read so far, people seem to agree that translating humor is the hardest part. I think that might be because with humor, there are so many cross-cultural references that are impossible to unravel without losing the comedic aspect.
With Nathan, I found it surprising when he used one of his own translations of Oe and explained how he thought his translation was "wrong." He said that it was too neat, that his passage doesn't do anything, and that it's "much too sanitized." I'm not sure if this is a struggle for all translators, this was certainly the first time I've heard of it, and I wonder if this is due to the fact that the translator doesn't feel like they've captured the "essence" of the original author's voice.
No comments:
Post a Comment