Translating Literatures – Translating Cultures

 

Translating Literatures – Translating Cultures

Seminar on Translation, FL, Pune 24/03/2015

0.    Basic concern

The title is at the same time my argument : Translating literatures means translating cultures.  Why do we translate literary works? And why do we the urge to read literature in translation? To know more about the author, contents, style, about culture, …Many a times it’s a new idea that fascinates us, sometimes it’s a new point of view to look at the world and to interpret it. Sometimes it’s the new perspective that amazes us. When I translated Kafka, I was completely fascinated by his style and applicability of his texts to the contemporary world. His works have the capacity to cross spatial and temporal boundaries.

 

1.    Scope of a language

It is said, that the boundaries of your language are the boundaries of your world. Look around, you have said it all. Whenever you identify or imagine anything, you find a name for it, i.e., you verbalize it. Computer is “sangaNk” and mobile number is “bhramaNakramanka” or of course you adopt a name from some other language and start using it. Whatever you see, think, imagine, you call it by name. But the flip side of this is, you don’t see or identify, think or imagine everything in the world, so you don’t seek after a name for it. Every language works within a definite scope. Each language verbalizes only a part of non-linguistic surroundings.  

Segmentation and classification

Every linguistic society sees the world, the surroundings with specific sects, divides it with its own criteria, names and classifies the identified segments in its own way.

The commonly known example is of the division of the colour band. Colours are recognized and named differently in different languages, depending on the percentage of basic two or three colours : In Marahti we recognize combination of blue and yellow as popti, we don’t have a name for bottle green or sea green. Whether JambhLa in Marathi means purple, voilet or mauve? We have besides this chintamani, morpankhi, rajvarkhi, shendri, keshri, bhagwa; whereas in English we have beige and mauve which we haven’t identified in our language as separate segments of the band and therefore haven’t found a name for that.

2.    Context and colocation

Moreover, we have specific contexts and associations with these names. If I say “bhagva ranga” all of us will associate it with Shivaji or Shivasena. If we hear Keshari we will think of saffron rice, if we hear shendri, we will associate it with a Hanuman-temple.

All these aspects of a language and a language community matter while translating. Colocation and contextualization are a very important part of the functioning of a language.

3.    Conceptualization and verbalization

Conceptualization and verbalization of segments is different in different languages, often because understanding of the surroundings is different. We have different names for rice in different context :“Bhat-sheti, tanduLachi poti, shijlela bhat” as against rice field, rice sacks, cooked rice. In English we have a differentiation between ice and snow as against “barfa”as the only name in Marathi. In Marathi we have expressions likePrem, preeti, anurag, maya, mamata, vatsalya, jivhaLa, javaLik, aplepaNa, Astha, akarshaN, odh, etc. In Urdu pyar, mohobbat, ishk, etc. in English “love, passion, affection, inclination, liking, fancy, attraction, admiration, adoration”, etc. Which  of these words can be translated with which other in a different language? Because the segments and contexts are not identical in languages, we have to choose from the various alternatives. Not only the names, but the process of contextualization is different. Structural distribution of a word is different.

 

4.    Categorization

But that doen’t mean that there is nothing in common. Here I must refer to Guy Deutscher, a linguist, who has written a very interesting book entitled “Im Spiegel der Sprache. Warum die Welt in anderen Sprachen anders aussieht, (Why the world looks different in different languages?) (2010). He argues : Even though the segmantation of the surroundings is different in each language there is a common principle about emergence of concepts and their classification. How do the categories of concepts emerge? Can there be one category for all the birds excluding those with white chest and all roses excluding yellow ones which we call “birose” (Vosen). As against that we call all the birds with white chest together with yellow roses “rords” (Rögel)

So, there are universal categories like colours, animals, birds, flowers, etc. Many language communities recognize seven basic colours and have names for each of them. Further shades may be different and need an explanation or description. But some concepts are unique to a particular culture. They are often introduced in hundreds of pages and they are still not explained enough. In such a case the term in one particular language becomes a universal term e.g., Yoga, Zeitgeist or cosher meal.

5.    Perception and perspective

Though we have common categories and names the use and presentation of these names may occur from a different perspective. Each word has a traditional meaning shared by each of the member of that particular language community. Therefore, the point of view, position and perspective of the author as well as of the reader has immense relevance while translating. For one linguistic community someone can be a hero or a martyr for some other the same person could be a traitor or a terrorist. The same is applicable to win or defeat. According to the context and the target reader one will have to choose between the expressions like assassination or murder.

Every language expresses the surroundings in its own way. Every language expresses its own reality. Since the words are only “indicators”, they indicate and relate to the non-linguistic surroundings in a particular way.

6.    Images

Languages exist and are used on the basis of associations and images. If one mentions “crossing the road” or “travelling by train”, the image you have in your mind charges if you are saying this in Indian or German context. Thus, the same expression can evoke a completely different image in the mind of a reader or a recipient.

It is very important to know the culture of the source language. If you are translating a story from English in to Marathi and there is a situation, when the guests are invited for a meal. A sentence in English like “The table is set” will be in Marathi “Pana vadhali aahet”. Not a single word is directly translated. In the Western culture an appetiser may be served before meals and one may wish “good appetite” while starting the meal. In Marathi culture the host will say “Savkash hoU de” or “Sankoch karu naka, poTbhar jeva”; Take your time, don’t hesitate, eat to your satisfaction.”

In Germany I wanted to speak to a girl on telephone. Her mother picked up and said “She is under the shower”. A completely different image. Indian mother would say “she is in the bath room” or as some would say “she is getting ready”. These are the concrete situations which are verbally expressed. As we would invite someone for tea and offer something salty with it, in Maharashtra “chaha-pohe”; in Germany you are invited on a week end for coffee and cake, and that too around 2.30 / 3.00 in the afternoon because many people skip the lunch between the late heavy breakfast and afternoon coffee.

There are some concrete situations behind the images and expressions which are culture bound. Therefore, they matter a lot in the process of translation.

Use of many words is culture bound and it evokes particular images in particular linguistic societies. Colours, birds, animals have specific associations and specific place in the given linguistic community. If you describe a woman in white, she may be a mourning woman in India or she may be a bride in Europe. Owl is a symbol of wisdom for some, for others it is a bad omen. In German “blöde Kuh” (a stupid cow) an abuse word, whereas in Indian context this colocation is unimaginable. The Kowalewsky children are fighting in the morning for getting into the bath room. The brother is annoyed and calls the sister “Du blöde Kuh!”. Now it’s the take of the translator, how she or he will translate this into Marathi.

Speaking of images, I cannot refrain myself from mentioning one example from a Hindi version of a Tamil film “Roja”. This film is deeply rooted in the Tamil culture. The famous song from this film (composed by R. R. Rehman) “Chhotisi asha …” is about the intoxicating cheerful youthfulness of the girl, her carefree confidence of conquering the world. In this song the girl says : “apani chotime bandh lun duniya”. This holding the world in the knot of her hair fascinated me. It is so culturally rooted, so culture bound and completely different than the imagery of Urdu shayari. Can a translation of this image evoke the same feelings and understanding of the character?

The image of a motherland or fatherland doesn’t differ only in the name. The whole association of political past of India and Germany is linked with and referred to while actually using these terms. Vaterland, patriotism, nationalism are the concepts which are no more sought after with a positive marker; whereas in India these terms are still used with pride.

7.    Translator’s role

Translator has to take into account the culture of the source language. Translations are generally done from a foreign language into one’s mother tongue. Therefore, the translator is in the first place reader and interpreter of a text in a foreign language.

When you are confronted with a text in a foreign language, it is important to identify fictional characters on the socio-cultural metrics. In one youth play by Grips Theater, Berlin, the family of Kowalewskys has been introduced. Mr. Kowalewsky is LKW-Fahrer, a truck driver, his wife a home maker, three children visiting a “Hauptschule”. When a video of this play was shown to advanced level students they couldn’t see poverty or misery of the Kowalewskys. This family, their home, their living standard didn’t look like a truck driver. Neither their language register, nor the “Hauptschule” nor the profession of Mr. Kowalewsky could give any clue to the foreign students, what the German audience could immediately notice. The foreign language audience understood the linguistic expression, but couldn’t place the family on the socio-cultural web. Therefore, they totally missed the message of the play.

While reading translated literature, the reader tends to fall back on the images and references of his linguistic community. The reader’s disposition, the way of thinking and understanding, is formed by experience of his native culture.

I would like to give one example from a Marathi one actor “Zulata Pul” by the well-known play write Satish Alekar. The play opens with a scene where you see a college going girl and a boy. The play was written many years ago when Alekar himself was about 20-year-old. The dialogue opens with a question. The boy asks the girl “You must be having a pressure cooker. At home. In your swaipakghar or your ‘kitchen’?” The girl, completely taken by surprise, asks “eh? What?” The boy says, I asked whether you have a pressure cooker. When she says “Yes, we have”, he goes on describing her family. You have a fridge at home, your mammy goes to a rummy club on a scooter and father to play tennis by car. The boy comes from the oldest part of Pune, Shanivar peth and the girl comes from Deccan Gymkhana. All the status symbols of middle class that time are linked with “pressure cooker”. While translating this play, the translator must be very well acquainted with social background and cultural differences.

8.    Atmospheric aspects

As we have seen, words tend to refer to historical, social, political, philosophical, religious, cultural background. Furthermore, they even refer to the geographical and atmospheric aspects.

My favorite example in this context is of the “rain”, which I have discussed at length in some articles. The “aha moment” occurred when I was translating a story from Marathi into German. I stumbled over the expression “Ticha / tichya bhavanncha olava jaNvat hota”. “Olava”, dampness, has a very positive connotation here. But this colocation seems impossible in German, as Germans associate dampness with discomfort, an unpleasant situation or with sex. In the Indian situation where it is at times very hot, dampness is pleasant and welcome. We await rains eagerly. (Not the untimely rains at present!) With rains we have an association of a “Milanotsuk virahiNi”, a woman, longing to embrace the beloved, an erotic expression. The tradition goes back from the latest Bollywood film songs to Ravindranath Tagore to Meghduta of Kalidasa. Sometimes we wonder whether the translated verse can evoke the same sort of feelings in the reader of English or German language. In Marathi we are drenched in happiness, we speak of shower of praise, etc. One can verbally translate these expressions, but is the same content and feeling conveyed or evoked through this translation? Can a foreign language reader identify herself/ himself with the character in the poem and her feelings?  Can they comprehend, commiserate the pain, relate to the atmospheric erotic spell on the character?   

Or the commonly used metaphors in the Hindi songs like Zulfonka andhera, nazarka teer, pyarka dard-dava, ankhe, palke, chilman, ika laDkiko dekha to aisa laga…

All these expressions are culture bound. Now it is your take as a translator to decide whether you want to maintain the foreign flavour or have a colorit of the target language. Translation is a tuff job and the translator perpetually faces dilemmas. S/He has to take decisions every now and then as there are more often than not many possibilities and alternatives to express oneself. Translation is many a times all about making the right choices.

I was rendering some interviews of women from Marathwada into German. They were facing problems one after the other – with water, irrigation, illnesses in the family, pressure of debt, etc. A woman describes her situation as from “aagitun nighun fufaTyat paDNa”. I rendered it in German verbally. There is a parallel saying in German, which if verbally translated, means “from rain under the eaves”. Some German friends suggested to use it instead of the verbal translation of Marathi. But I retained the verbal translation, because “from rain to eaves” could hardly mean from bad to worse in the drought prone area of Marathvada! So, I decided for the verbal translation of the Marathi saying, which verbally gave the opposite of the German saying.

At another instance the girl gets married and goes to “Sasar”. I maintained “Schwiegerelternhaus” or In-laws’ house, though this expression doesn’t exist in German, despite some objections from German friends. It was a story of a Marathi woman and I wanted to preserve the cultural background. I also wanted to establish that it wasn’t her husband’s house, but of the in-laws’, especially considering the problems she faced after her wedding. Beside that I didn’t want the text to sound so German as a German native speaker could have it.

9.    Translating poems

Translation is a very challenging process and a very absorbing activity. Even more so, when it comes to poems and songs. At the end I would like to read one stanza each from two Poems of Kusumagraj, the most revered and loved Marathi writer and poet and their rendering in German by a German native speaker in collaboration with a Marathi author. 

1.    Pruthviche Premageet :

yugamaguni chalari re yuge hi / karavi kiti bhaskara vanchana / kiti kaL kakshet dhavu tuzya me / kitida karu preetichi yachana //

Liebeslied der Erde :

Wie lange schon laufe ich endlose Bahnen / Oh Sonne, und bete ich dich an? / Es ziehn die Jahrhunderte Kette um Kette / Vorbei, und du hörst mich nicht an //

It is to a large extent a very good translation, though the translator has broken and rearranged lines. The only technical problem is of genders. The earth is addressing the sun and telling him, Mars, Moon and Venus are eager to get my attention. I am eager to embrace you and get burnt. In German Erde and Sonne are both feminine nouns. One could perhaps use Der Sonnengott instead of die Sonne, otherwise there is a danger of this German version being interpreted as love song of a lesbian!

The second example is of the referain of one of my most favourit poems.

2.    Swapnachi puurti :

Kadha sakhe gaLyaatil / tuze chandaNyache haata / kshitijachya palikaDe / ubhe divasache duuta //

          Erwachen :

Liebste, nimm von meiner Schulter / Deine weiche Sternenhand / Denn des Tages helle Boten / Stehen schon am Himmelsrand //

A romantic poem about the parting of lovers in the early morning. Very well rendered in German – though with some additions and omissions. In spite of the said limitations even the poems can be translated successfully.

10. Summing up

So, as we have seen, every language has its own structure, texture, habits, behavioral patterns. Therefore, acquaintance with both the cultures is an essential prerequisite while translating, especially translating literary texts.

While translating we have to the imagery from one language another Alian culture. This is how translations help widen the horizons of our knowledge and experience. Translation is thus an extremely challenging but equally rewarding activity.

Presented by

Prof. Dr. Neeti Badwe

GIP/ Departmental seminar

On 24^th March 2015