Translation Lecture Spurs Talks

By Krystyna Wamboldt
Staff Writer

The first in the fall series of lectures sponsored by the Pacific Basin Institute at Pomona College (PBI) brought speaker John Nathan to discuss with both students and faculty different obstacles found in translating text from one language to another. Titled “The Translator’s Art: Basic Problems in Different Languages,” Nathan’s talk discussed the importance of capturing not only the meaning of the original text in its translated version, but also the importance of retaining the author’s style.

Nathan is a Takashima Professor of Japanese Cultural Studies at UC Santa Barbara, yet this title speaks little of his accomplishments. A capable translator as well as scholar, he has translated works into English by such Japanese authors as Oe and Mishima. Nathan is also a filmmaker, winning an Emmy Award for his piece The Colonel Goes to Japan (1982).

During his talk, he cited the need for the translator to keep intact the original style of the work in its subsequent versions, despite the criticism that often comes with purposely keeping a convoluted or awkwardly-phrased piece in the translated version. He stated that his work on Oe’s novel, Teach Us to Outgrow Our Madness, posed quite a challenge; he strove to keep the dissonance that made Oe’s writing so innovative in Japanese alive in English, yet faced the critiques of many contemporaries who felt that the choppiness in his translation was due to his failure as a writer to smooth over the rough edges.

His talk was followed by comments from a faculty and guest panel of various backgrounds, each of whom detailed different issues of “translations.”

Foreign language professors Margaret Waller (French), Michael McGaha (Spanish), and Hans Rindisbacher (German) spoke to the more traditional aspects of the art of translation, addressing the cross-cultural barriers that acted as challenges to general understanding of the works. Each delved further into Nathan’s idea, by using his or her own examples of translation at work. For example, Waller’s work as a graduate student was to convert a highly technical piece of literary criticism into English and left her with the problem of how much she should modify in her translation, in order to clarify its more confusing aspects. Her decision was to err more on the conservative side, keeping vague words the same in English as in French, so as not to misinterpret the author.

Rindisbacher also had a unique example of an obstacle for translators. He showed the audience an original German poem by Paul Celan that used the word otterhaft. In English, this word can be translated as one of two ways: “otter-like,” or “adder-like.” He included two examples of translations of this poem, each choosing a separate interpretation of the word. Each version carried its own connotation, due to the obvious differences between an otter and a snake. Without a specific context on which to base their decision, the translators were forced to make their own interpretation of the poem on which to base their decisions.

Invited guest Judy Arase, a court interpreter in Chinese, spoke about her personal experience in that field. The main difference between her type of translation and that of the other speakers was timing; while literary translators can pause to reflect, finding just the right word, her job requires “simultaneous translation,” or making split-second decisions on the best way to go between Chinese and English.

Besides translation from one language to another, the lecture also called attention to the translation that can occur in other, seemingly unrelated fields. Professor of Music Alfred Cramer gave several examples of conveying emotions or poetry by translating them into music, and Professor Jo Hardin (Mathematics) gave a quick lesson on how to transform, or rather translate, statistical results into public policy.

The speakers were so engaging as to push me to further my pursuits in foreign languages; perhaps to the point where I would be able to distinguish between “die otter” and “der otter.” But it doesn’t make sense to plan my future career as translator just yet; before making up my mind I should wait until after the next PBI-sponsored talk to see what other fascinating topics they bring to campus.

The PBI as well as Professor Kyoko Kurita is to thank for this lecture, along with the respective foreign language departments.