Carpenter on Translation

I really enjoyed Carpenter's takes on translation. One line of hers in particular really stood out to me: " You play with the sound and idea until something clicks. You try it, and sort of live with it a while, and then either accept it or reject it." This statement is exactly how I feel about translation. It is really a gamble on how long each translation will take me. Sometimes, I find a translation comes to me instantly, like a divine intervention. Other times, nothing seems to be quite right, and I just have to deal with that feeling. Something that has surprised me about translation is one of the hardest parts is figuring out when to stop. 

I also thought she had an interesting point about Seidensticker's work being a new product as a result of his translation. I think there is a unique balance between trying to both identify with the author and separating yourself from the author. To best get a "feel" for what the text is trying to accomplish, you must think about the author and their intent. On the other hand, it is impossible to remain 100% faithful to a text. You must think about the English-speaking audience and whether the author's words are understood in English. 

She also mentioned that translating poetry was entirely different from translating other forms of text. I had a lot of trouble with the poetry this week. I felt changing the order from the original poem created an entirely new image. I didn't like the examples in class where the author changed the order of the poem to be more convenient grammar-wise. As a result, this week's translation was one of the only instances where I opted to stay as faithful to the text as possible. Since the genre of poetry allows for a degree of grammatical inaccuracy, I think it is best to stay close to the original. 

Kenna Ward