“Why Translation Matters”: conferme e smentite tra teoria e pratica
Il mio resoconto di un intervento di Edith Grossman, sul blog di Tradurre. È stato diviso in due parti, non perdetevene una!
Incontro con Edith Grossman
04 Jun 2013 2 Comments
in Theory, Translation Tags: Edith Grossman, theory vs. practice, University of East Anglia
Teoria Pratica / Practical Theory 
Jun 07, 2013 @ 14:47:39
Hello!
I am not in the linguistic field thus cannot give any comment about theories of translation or whatever related to that (although I can swear I read all the posts as yet published).
However, I would like to leave here the following considerations.
Being Italian, I’ve been living in french-speaking countries for almost three years now. To me, without being a translator, just the fact of living abroad raises similar questions and debates that these blog articles were dealing with, especially the present one.
I will try to express myself better: living everyday life with foreigners sometimes signifies the only need of understanding each other as best as possible, that is having the goal of merely transferring information in a way which is the quickest the best. On the other hand, on many other occasions it means the absolute requirement of being accurate and careful in what one says, meaning how one is able to translate his or her mother tongue. We Italians all know how there are plenty of nuances and tone subtleties our native language, like many other languages also, and how much we make use of them to give meanings, implications, essences. Are we able to hand all this over the translated language? Are we sure is it exactly the same nuance?
Another interesting consideration is about our interlocutor. It makes a big difference whether we are talking in our mother tongue or we both are talking a foreigner language. In the second case, isn’t it even more difficult to get the nuance, since there could be an accumulation of two mistakes, one while translating and one while understanding?
I find arguing and talking about sentimental feelings the most challenging. Are we really sure that what we’ve said coincides with what we wanted to say?
Questions stay open, it would be nice hearing your opinion. I am dealing with them everyday, while becoming more and more fluent in English and French. I am dealing with them right now, while writing this post, and while wondering if my English is correct and is really expressing what I wish. I reckon all translators conjecture about the same questions, with the significant distinctions that they might have the option of taking their time while translating and that their interlocutors are spread around the world and they do not answer, but only read and interpret.
Jun 07, 2013 @ 15:54:13
Hi Erica,
Thank you for your comment. I think I understand what you mean. There is a whole range of linguistic difficulties in living in a foreign country: first of all the urgency of the need to communicate effectively, to get your general message across, and then the desire to express the nuances you speak of as accurately as possible. Fortunately literary translation can partially avoid these problems: to start with, we normally translate into our native language so we are not required to use the foreign language actively and secondly, as you say, we have the time to think about how to translate, to check the internet, dictionaries or ask for the advice of a native speaker. All luxuries that cannot be afforded in the immediacy of live conversation, where as well as linguistic difficulties, there are also social and cultural issues and conventions to be taken into account. I find that in the UK, for example, honest remarks such as would be normal in Italian, are often perceived as excessively blunt or even rude so I have to ‘adapt’ the way I structure my arguments to make sure I don’t inadvertedly cause offence. I intend to post something about living abroad and bilingualism quite soon and I think they will deal more closely with some of the issues you mention.
I hope Switzerland is treating you well! xxx