Mango Languages

Translation Theory

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky in Russian

With the release of many e-readers, like the Nook, Kindle, iPad, Tablet, etc., books have become available to us at the touch of a button. Not only can we get millions of books electronically but nowadays we don’t even have to read them if we put on our headphones and tune in while multitasking with audio books.

With the availability to provide a plethora of books to readers within seconds, the demand for classic books translated into many different languages has significantly increased.

One of my favorite books is Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. I originally read, or struggled to read, the book in its native language, Russian (this was my mother’s brilliant idea to get her 12 year old to learn Russian). When I found out that Crime and Punishment was on the summer list of books to read for my 11th grade English class, I was one of the very, very few who were ecstatic.

After having many discussions about the book in class, I realized many of the students were frustrated with this particular reading assignment. Aside from 576 page time commitment, I noticed that English students were having  a hard time with understanding the content of the book. Having read the book in Russian and English, the problem seemed to be in the translation. I couldn’t help but wonder, how much of the book’s original context got lost in translation?

It seems like there are just some cultural concepts that cannot be translated into another language. I noticed this also, when I read J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye. To many people’s surprise, I enjoyed the book in Russian more than in its original language, English. It seemed like there was more sarcasm that exuded from the main character in the Russian version. Some would say that this would depend on how proficient one is in a language, but I would challenge that by saying that English is my strongest language yet the the Russian version of the American classic appealed more to me.

This led me to think about the practice of translation and what that process incorporates. I recently came across linguisticblog.com, a great blog that has posts about all things linguist and language theory related. There was a great post, My Translation Theory by guest blogger Aleksandra Milcic Radovanovic that talks about the art of translation.

Radovanovic says, “During translation, the translator does not judge, he is open to every idea that can cross the author’s mind.” She explains that the translator is more like an actor and needs to put aside their own personal emotions and personality to play the character they are assigned, or in this case, to translate an original piece to another language without adding their personal thoughts.  She goes on to say, “It is not always possible to discover what the author’s intention was: to provide information or to provoke an aesthetic experience. Therefore, the translator must serve the author, stand behind him trying not to miss any of his ideas.”

Is it true that there are just some things that are not possible to fully translate into another language? That no matter how professional and experienced the translator is, some of the context will get altered  a bit due to the language of the book?

What are YOUR thoughts? Have you experienced this when reading a book that has been translated from its original language?

Lost in Traslation – Language and Culture

Hello Everyone!

I came across a really interesting article, Lost in Traslation in the Wall Street Journal, about the influence that foreign languages have on how people see the world . The author uses a few languages as examples to show that people express themselves differently when talking about the same thing because of the structure of the language. This brings up questions about the definition of “meaning.” Does the meaning change due to the language you use?

In the article the author, Lera Boroditsky, quotes Emperor of the Romans, Charlemagne, saying that “to have a second language is to have a second soul.” This is a very deep and intricate thought. While reading this article, as a person who speaks more than one language, I realized that even though speaking different languages comes naturally to me, the make up of each language has its own structure, which in turn creates a unique approach to the way a person will use it to express their thoughts.

In any language that you are fluent in you can easily put together greetings, complete sentences, questions, etc. But when comparing these in different languages you see that the structure is not the same. For example, in the article it mentions that in Pormpuraaw, a remote Aboriginal community in Australia, to say hello, one actually say, “Where are you going?” If you don’t know that they don’t even use terms like “left” or “right” you would have a very hard time responding to the greeting. This particular community uses a different approach for greetings than English speakers do.

The article continues, with a focus on space, time, and gender when comparing different languages. The author goes to say, “the structures that exist in our language profundity shape how we construct reality, and helps make us as smart and sophisticated as we are.” I couldn’t help and connect this to our understanding of culture. The world we live in is so diverse with so much to offer in cultural learning, what makes them all so different? To me, it’s languages, the way we express ourselves. In some languages gender is a major part of being able to communicate in other it is the idea of space and time, this all plays a major role in how people think in those languages, which in turn establishes that unique culture.

“Do English, Indonesian, Russian and Turkish speakers end up attending to, understanding, and remembering their experiences differently simply because they speak different languages?”

What are your thoughts? Do you agree with the author?

2 Ways to Translate

There are two ways to translate a sentence.

1. Literal Translation – the meaning of of text from one language to another “word-for-word”

2. Understood Meaning Translation – the general sense of the text but takes into account context, grammar, conventions, and idioms.

At Mango we think offering the two ways to see the translations when learning new words/phrases and conversations makes the learning experience customized to the user’s personal preference.

Psst… in our Mango Basic product release on November 23rd you can switch between the two types of translation while in the program.

Which do you prefer Literal or the Understood Meaning?