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How Impactful Is A Translator For Good Literary Translation?

To understand the impact of a translator on a good literary translation, one first needs to understand the meaning of literary translation and how literature can shape the entire society, culture, and the world. Therefore, today, we will begin with the meaning of literature, move on to literary translation, examine its challenges, discuss the crucial role of literary translators, and end with the most beautiful examples of translation of literary work. So, literature is an art form in written text format, categorised as novels, plays, and poems. Furthermore, it includes print and digital writing and can also comprise transcribed oral literature. Literature serves as a method of recording, preserving, and transmitting knowledge, feelings, emotions, and entertainment.

What Is Literary Translation?

If we go by the literal meaning, literary translation refers to the translation of literary work or original text from one language to another to bridge linguistic and cross-cultural differences. However, the concept of literary translation is much broader than a one-line explanation. Literal translation bridges the language gap and promotes communication, reading, and distribution of work. The meanings, emotions, and eccentricity of the original text written by the original author or speaker must be conveyed to the reader and listener to do justice to the author and the literary text. Therefore, mere translation of words and phrases cannot be called literal translation.

What Are The Types Of Literary Translation?

Infographics talks about the types of literary translations
As the definition goes, the types of literary translation include translating prose, poetry, and novels. Let’s learn about each type in detail:

Poetry Translation

There are a few approaches to translating poetry. Translators can choose literal translation, re-creative translation, or adaptation. Now, as we are talking about literary translation, we need to emphasise the importance of literal translation, which means the translator must convey the essence of poetry while keeping the originality of the text and scholarly work from the source language to the target languages. For poetic translation, a translator must translate literal and implied meaning, emotional impact or effect, rhythm, and rhyme.  

Novel Translation

Literary texts must be engaging and readable to connect with the audience in novel translation. Therefore, the translator must understand the original text, the author’s intent, and the cultural context and possess literal artistry. Thus, a translator is supposed to not only offer direct translation of the text but also convey the novel’s personalities, moods, humour, and subtexts. Translated literary texts must express the most accurate source text form.

Play Translation

Though novels and plays are similar, they are different because plays are supposed to be performed. Therefore, the cultural and literary aspects need to be expressed at the proper time, and the rhythm of the original piece must be conveyed adequately. When translating a play, the translator usually works with the actor and director throughout the production process to ensure the translation is accurate, culturally sensitive, and politically precise.

Is Literary Translation Important?

Infographics show 6 reasons why literary translation is important

Absolutely, yes, literary translation plays a crucial role in bridging gaps and connecting languages and cultures. But that’s not all; in addition to bridging the language gap, literary translation is essential for the following reasons:

Educational Value

Any form of translation helps reach a broader audience; literary translation, in particular, is essential in educating audiences and allowing them access to educational resources in their language. As a result, it enhances a text’s educational value, impacting society positively and negatively by promoting critical thinking. This also helps comprehend various writing styles, cultural contexts, and thematic elements.

Cultural Exchange

A good translation is exchanging cultural ideas, beliefs, and artistic expressions. Translated literature familiarises people with different cultural contexts and facilitates a deeper understanding and empathy for global issues. A translated literary text promotes shared values and human connection between the source and target cultures.   

Language Enrichment

Translation is a significant source of learning idioms, stylistic influences, and vocabulary. In essence, translation improves a language’s richness and diversity by alleviating cultural differences and elevating creativity among the target audience. Intertextuality and cross-cultural references work as a bridge between people who speak various languages. 

Access to Global Literature

Literature is the most significant source of knowledge about different cultures. Through literary translation, authors, writers, and publishers can open the doors of literary work to a large audience from various cultures. This not only broadens the reader’s horizon but also helps authors reach a wider audience, thereby making the literary piece a global piece of literature. 

Preserving Literary Heritage

Translating literature allows timeless works to transcend linguistic barriers, ensuring that future generations preserve and appreciate significant cultural narratives. This process revitalises ancient texts and brings them into contemporary discussions, allowing new audiences to engage with historical literature.

Promoting Diversity In Literature

Alice in Wonderland, The Adventures of Pinocchio, and the Brothers Grimm fairy tales are all translated from one language to another, breaking the language and geographical barriers. This shows that translation promotes diversity in literature and enhances values and understanding of universal themes. 

What Are The Challenges Of Literary Translation?

Infographics shows 7 challenges of literary translations

Robert Frost once said, ‘Poetry is what gets lost in translation.’ Literary translation is one of the most challenging forms because it involves translating nuances of a literary work while keeping the original essence intact. Let’s learn the 7 most common challenges of literary translation:

Linguistic & Structural Differences

Since a translator must work on various languages, one must understand and be familiar with their structure and syntax. A translator can be considered good only when they know the structure of both the source and target languages. For instance, the Japanese structure is subject-object-verb, while the English structure is subject-verb-object.

Connotations & Emotional Impact

Every word in literary text or work contains connotations and emotional weight. Connotations and emotional impact vary according to various cultures and languages. Therefore, the translator translating the text must know the exact word that will create a similar effect on the mind of the reader or intended audience and evoke the emotion that the original author wanted to evoke. 

Cultural Nuances & Context

Our world is made of 28 cultures if we categorise them broadly. While various cultures have unique idioms, customs, as well as references, literature can be the glue that holds it together. Therefore, a translator must be familiar with the nuances of the source culture and the target culture to ensure that the translation aligns with both.  

Terminology & Consistency

While translating a long text or scholarly work, the translator must maintain consistency in names and terms. Often, translators fail to ensure coherence and consistency, leading to a bad translation of the original text. This is mainly seen in novel translation, where specific names, places, or words are sometimes untranslatable because they carry the plot.  

Author’s Style And Voice

Maintaining the author’s voice, style, and tone is essential. To retain the text’s originality, the translator must be familiar with the cultural references and the author’s voice, tone, and style. An author’s distinctive style sets the entire work apart. However, many translators fail to convey the ambience because they simply translate word for word.      

Puns And Wordplays

A good translation involves good word choice that reflects the perspectives of various cultures. Puns, humour, and wordplay cannot be translated word for word. Instead, the words must be translated to capture the essence of literary work. Understanding how to translate a joke that entails and poses the same idea is particularly challenging. 

Poetic Devices

Rhyme, alliterations, onomatopoeia, or metaphor can be quite challenging to translate if the translator is unfamiliar with the poetic devices in both the source and target language. Therefore, this is the biggest challenge when translating poems, as rhyme is integral to poems.

How Literary Translation Works?

1. The first step in translating a literary work is to analyse the original work thoroughly. A translator must read the source repeatedly to understand the text’s literal and interpretative meaning.

2. Next, it is essential to understand the purpose of translation. The purpose and intended audience set the tone of the translation.

3. The translator must employ strategies depending on the complexity and distinctiveness of the literary work. For the first draft, they can translate the work using a Translation Management System or AI translation tools or just translate entirely themselves.

4. After carefully translating the work from one language to another, the translator must pay attention to cultural references, nuances, wordplay, and syntax distinctions.

5. Lastly, the translator must also proofread and edit thoroughly to ensure that the translation is culturally appropriate.

What Are The Qualities Of A Good Literary Translator?

The translation studies are regarded as the “Art of Revelation.” Therefore, one should be careful when choosing a translator, as only a good translator can translate the essence of the work. Let’s learn about the qualities of a good translator:

1. A good translator must ensure that the essentiality of the text is not lost while translating to another language. Therefore, they should possess language proficiency.

2. They must not only be good writers but also good readers because the death of the author causes the birth of the reader.

3. A translator must be creative, innovative, and culturally sensitive. A good translator must also know how to naturally convey subtle meanings and ideas.

4. A good translator must be deadline-driven and collaborative. This can be attained through continuous practice of translation and careful consideration of translation theory.

5. A literary translator must be passionate about literature. One must be an avid reader as part of the translator.

How To Choose The Best Literary Translator To Communicate & Translate Your Work?

There are multiple translation service providers in Australia; however, very few offer literary translation, which is challenging and time-consuming. A publishing company must research properly when choosing a literary translator:

Research and Recommendations: Research the translation agency and read reviews from genuine clients. Find a way to connect with them directly and share your requirements in detail.

Review Portfolios and Samples: Request a portfolio or previous work and samples. You may also send them a sample to check how well they translate and how long they take.

Conduct Interviews: Interviews are essential. A face-to-face interview will help you learn much about the person, especially their knowledge and skills.

Request a Test Translation: Conduct a translation test. It is best to conduct the test in your presence to ensure the translator is genuine.

Best Literary Translation Examples

It is reasonably challenging to list the best literary translations, but there are a few that will help translators express themselves and learn a great deal about how the translation process works.

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez: Translated by Gregory Rabassa (1970)

The Epic of Gilgamesh: Translated by Andrew George (1999)

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry: Translated by Katherine Woods (1943)

The Odyssey by Homer: Translated by Robert Fagles (1996)

The Blind Owl by Sadegh Hedayat: Translated by D.P. Costello (1957)

Also, a list of the best literary translations of 2024:

“We Will Survive” by Rolla Barraq: Translated from Arabic by Muntather Alsawad and Jeffrey Clapp

“Bird-women” by Vito Apüshana: Translated from Spanish and Wayuu by Maurice Rodriguez

“The Reeling City” by Najwa Bin Shatwan: Translated from Arabic by Mona Zaki

Poems by Behçet Necatigil: Translated from Turkish by Neil P. Doherty

Poems by Najwan Darwish: Translated from Arabic by Kareem James Abu-Zeid

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