During her lecture titled ‘Translating a Life’ at the Key West Literary Seminar, author Judith Thurman spoke of the obvious pitfalls of the translation process, and of some of the skills needed to do so effectively and truthfully.  Truth, as Thurman perceives it, is that which is ‘untranslatable’.  It is within this obscure and fleeting word where the writer’s dilemma lies.  And worst of all is that of the translator.

If words are meant to put meaning and symbolism to the physical, the emotional, and the spiritual, then how can one truthfully translate something two steps removed from the actual?  How to convey the meaning of an idiom in another language?

Thurman presents the answer as a hard lesson, and something that they definitely don’t teach in school.  In order for the writer to communicate effectively, there must be some mark of himself on the page, even if it may be a translation.  It serves as a mark of humility and authenticity, and brings the translation process one step closer to the truth.  Not to do so is not putting your best foot forward.

For while the words themselves are being translated two steps removed, the interpretation comes directly from the gut of the translator, and herein lies a truth of its own.More.

See: WLRN

Subscribe to the translation news daily digest here.