The Linguist - Autumn 2020

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Editorial Dear readers, This term, the theme for ‘The Linguist’ is translation, and we are so excited to share many different articles surrounding this theme.

We have included topics varying from pieces of literature, to how languages are translated and the implications behind that, to our use of idioms in our own language. Covering a broad set of countries with many languages, we hope that there is something for everyone in this edition. We hope you enjoy reading it as much as we enjoyed researching and writing it, and that you also learn something new about translation in different languages!

Avinashi Sahota and Bavini Saravanamuthu, Editors in Chief

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Contents Section One Keira Cumming, L’Impatto Culturale Di Divina Commedia

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Rachel Hodes, Die Schwierigkeiten bei der Übersetzung von Werken der Musiktheater Anaya Jaffer, Traduire ‘Harry Potter’ et ses mots inventés

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Diora Juraboeva, Translation of traditional Russian fairy-tale “Гуси-лебеди” Fleur Lee, ‘한국어를 이해할 수 없는 사람들은 어떻게 한국 음악을 들을 수 있을까?’

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Section Two Lara D’Amico, Una dimostrazione che Google Translate non funziona.

Avinashi Sahota, ¿Qué significa trasaltar de un idioma a otro?

Bavini Saravanamuthu, Lo que no necesita ser traducido: las famosas artistas de España

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Karel Ohana, Méfiez-vous des faux amis !

P20 Mary Qurban, 中文量词的使用 P22 Anaya Popat, ‘Es como hablar a la pared’ - una conversación entre un principiante y un nativo (traduciendo literalmente) P24

Section Three Esha Shah, Translation and summary of the Spanish Poem “Hora tras hora, día tras día”

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Aviva Sharp, Translation of the French poem ‘Coronavirus’ by Stephen Blanchard & how I went about translating it.

Sophie Orgler, Translation of a famous Japanese ghost story.

Miss Santos, Toda saudade.

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Chief Editors: Avinashi Sahota and Bavini Saravanamuthu Front and back cover: Mary Qurban

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L’Impatto Culturale Di Divina Commedia

La illustrazione di Botticelli inspirato di 'Divina Commedia'

La Basilica di San Pietro nella Città della Vaticana

Tradotto in quasi 300 lingue, La Divina Commedia di Dante sta spesso proclamando uno dei più influenti testi letterari del mondo. Entro l’anno 1400, non meno di 12 commentari era scritto sul poema e Dante è diventato noto come la divina poeta. Yeats, un poeta irlandese, l’ha chiamato “la principale immaginazione del mondo cristiano” e T S Eliot, un americano-inglese poeta, ha confrontato la preminenza di Dante da quello di William Shakespeare. La Divina Commedia non solo diventa inspirazione per scrittori attraverso secoli, ma anche ha influenzato pintori da Botticelli a Dalì; scultori come Rodin – su famoso Kiss era basato sulle amanti eternamente dannato di Dante, Pablo e Francesca; compositori come Tchaikovsky chi ha tratto simile ispirazione per su fantasia orchestrale Francesca da Rimini; e persino era illustrato nei fumetti di X-Men. Dante ha scritto originariamente nel Fiorentino Tuscano invece di latino, la lingua di tutte opera letterarie serie in Italia quell’epoca. Tuttavia, tanti italiani alfabetizzati si hanno sforzato di imparare il dialetto Tuscano in modo da riconoscere la opera nella sua forma originale, rendendolo la lingua franca di Italia e infine è diventato conosciute come unicamente ‘Italiano’. Facendo una lista delle peccate e traendo le dovute conclusioni della Bibbia, Dante ha aiutando gettare la basi per una rivoluzione intellettuale, compreso il Rinascimento o l’Illuminismo. Per di più, l’uso di Virgilio, una figura letterario che Dante le guardava con ammirazione, e Beatrice, la sua donna ideale, come guide mostrano le sue faziosità. Questi pregiudizi formano un gran porzione del nostro punto di vista di Paradiso, Inferno e Purgatorio. Ha combinato la mitologia greco-romano con la teologia cristiano e ha utilizzato questi referenti come i testimoni retorichi per commentare sui problemi politichi o religiosi ai suoi tempi. Ha condannato con energia la Chiesa Cattolica ed è fra i primi di attaccare così tanti aspetti, incluso la vendita di appagamenti, nei suoi testi letterari.

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The Cultural Impact of The Divine Comedy

Translated into almost 300 languages, Dante’s Divine Comedy has often been heralded as one of the world’s most influential literary texts. By the year 1400, no fewer than 12 commentaries had been written on the poem and he became known as the ‘divina poeta’ or the divine poet. Yeats, an Irish poet, called him “the chief imagination of Christendom” and T S Eliot compared his pre-eminence to that of William Shakespeare. Not only did it become inspiration for writers across the centuries, but it also influenced painters from Botticelli to Dalí; sculptors such as Rodin – whose famous Kiss was based on Dante’s eternally damned lovers, Pablo and Francesca; composers such as Tchaikovsky and his orchestral fantasia Francesca da Rimini; and was even illustrated in the comics of X-Men. Dante originally wrote in Florentine Tuscan instead of Latin, which was the language of all serious literary works in Italy at the time. However, many literate Italians strove to learn the Tuscan dialect in order to appreciate the work in its original form, making it the lingua franca of Italy and eventually it became known as solely ‘Italian’. By cataloguing sins and filling in the blanks of the Bible, Dante helped set the stage for intellectual revolution, including the Renaissance or the Enlightenment. Furthermore, the use of Virgil, a literary figure he himself looked up to, and Beatrice, his ideal woman, as guides demonstrates his biases which inform much of our view of Hell, Purgatory and Heaven. He combined Greek/Roman myth with Christian theology and used these references as rhetorical testimonies to comment on the political or religious issues of his day. He powerfully condemned the Roman Catholic Church and is one of the first to attack so many aspects, including the sale of indulgences, in his literary work.

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Die Schwierigkeiten bei der Übersetzung von Werken der Musiktheater Es ist immer schwierig, etwas zu übersetzen, weil jede Sprache seine eigenen Eigenarten, die es einzigartig macht, hat. Zum Beispiel, obwohl Deutsch und English zu der gleichen Sprachfamilie gehören, haben sie ganz andere Wortstellung. Eine Übersetzung ein Werk der Musiktheater deshalb muss viele Faktoren berücksichtigen, um genau zu sein. Natürlich muss ein Übersetzer über die tatsächlichen Worte überlegen – jedoch steckt da mehr dahinter. Theater und Musiktheater sind häufig entworfen, um die Gesellschaft zu widerspiegeln – also muss eine genaue Übersetzung die Kultur sowohl der Ausgangssprache also auch der Zielsprache widerspiegeln, weil es Auswirkungen auf dem Empfang und dem Verständnis wird. Häufig hat eine wörtliche Übersetzung ein unterschiedliches Gewicht für der Zuschauer aufgrund von inhärenten Unterschieden zwischen Kultur. Vielleicht kann es durch Kleinigkeiten anderen behoben werden, zum Beispiel die Essen, die erwähnt sind, um es nachvollziehbare für die Zuschauer zu machen. Letztlich ist Musiktheater zu genießen, und die Zuschauer wird mehr verbunden und stärker engagieren fühlen, wenn sie die Anspielungen verstehen.

Wie bei jedem Übersetzen, sind Wortspiel und idiomatische Ausdrücke schwierig zu übersetzen – aber alle Schwierigkeiten des Übersetzens, wenn man Gedichte oder Lieder übersetzt, verstärkt sein werden. Es ist besonders problematisch mit Sprache die sehr lange Worten nutzen, wie Deutsch, die häufig zusammengesetzten Worte verwendet, weil die Wörter schwierig, um zu dem Text zu passen sind. Tonsprachen (zum Beispiel viele asiatische Sprachen) kann auch Probleme verursachen, weil, wenn die Bedeutung eines Wortes mit leichte Stimmveränderungen ändern kann, ist es komplizierte, um die Melodie und der Songtext originalgetreu zu halten. Vielleicht müssen einige Worten geändert sein, um die Melodie und der Songtext zu erhalten. Deshalb können alle Übersetzungen stark abweichen abhängig von dem Übersetzer.

Ein Übersetzer muss versuchen, die notwendigen Änderungen zu machen während unter Beibehaltung der ursprünglichen Melodie und Absicht. Dazu wäre umfangreiches Wortschatzkenntnisse und ein gründliches Verständnis der ursprünglichen Kultur und der Zielkultur. Wegen all diese Reifen, durch die einen Übersetzer springen muss, vielleicht wäre es genauer, die Übersetzung von einem Musical als ein „Adaption“ oder „Übertragung“ bezeichnen. Meiner Meinung nach erfordert es ebenso Geschick – wenn nicht mehr – als das Musical in erste Linie zu schreiben!

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The difficulties faced when translating works of Musical Theatre Translating anything is difficult because each language has its own distinctive quirks which make it unique. For example, even though German and English are technically from the same language family, they have a very different word order. A translation of a work of musical theatre must therefore take into account numerous different factors in order to be accurate.

Naturally, a translator must consider which words should be used in the translation – but it is much more complicated than just that. Works of theatre and musical theatre are often designed to reflect society, so an accurate translation should also consider the cultures of both the source and the target language, as this would significantly affect the reception and understanding of the work. Often a literal translation will not carry the same weight for audiences due to inherent differences in culture. This may be remedied by changing minor details, such as the food which it refers to, making it more relatable for the audience.

Ultimately, musical theatre is there to be enjoyed, and an audience will feel more involved and connected to the show when they understand the references.

As with any translation, wordplay and idioms are difficult to translate, but any difficulties in translation are magnified when translating a piece which rhymes, and even more so when the piece is designed to be sung. This is especially a problem with languages with very long words, such as German, which tend to use compound words which are difficult to fit into the melody, and also with tonal languages, for example many Asian languages, because if the meaning of a word changes with inflection, it is harder to keep both the wording and the melody true to the original. Words may need to be changed to preserve the rhyme or melody, and it is up to the translator to protect the original intention of the piece. This is why translations can differ wildly between translators.

A translator must attempt to make the necessary changes while still keeping the original intention and melody and would need very extensive vocab knowledge and very thorough understanding of both the source and target cultures. Due to all these hoops which a translator must jump through, it would perhaps be more accurate to refer to the translation as an adaption or transferral, and in my opinion it requires just as much skill, if not more, than writing the musical in the first place!

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Traduire les Mots Inventés dans Harry Potter La série «Harry Potter» est bien connue autour du monde. En totale, plus de 500 millions d’exemplaires ont été vendus et ils ont été traduits en 80 langues. Les livres sont pleins de mots inventés et le jeu de mots, ce qui crée une histoire magnifique mais aussi la difficulté à traduire.

Les traducteurs doivent essayer de garder les nuances en traduisant des expressions. Il n’y a pas souvent beaucoup de communication entre l’auteur et le traducteur, et ainsi les contradictions sont possibles, mais un atout de ça est la variabilité. Certains traductions sont plus exactes et des autres préfère utiliser le jeu de mots. Il y a plusieurs d’exemples dans la version française.

Le premier endroit magique que Harry visite est le «Chemin de Traverse».

En fait, cet traduction est plus littérale et manque le calembour dans l’original. En anglais, c’est «Diagon alley» (rue Diagon) qui vient du mot «diagonally» qui veut dire «en diagonale». Mais même si le jeu de mots n’est pas possibles dans quelques cas, le traducteur l’ajoute dans d’autres.

Par exemple, «Choixpeau» est un calembour de «choix» et «chapeau», mais ça n’existe pas dans l’original «Sorting Hat». La maison Poufsouffle vient de «Hufflepuff».

Cette traduction est intelligente car «huff and puff» en anglais est lié à respirer, donc le français utilise «souffler». De plus, le traducteur a gardé les sons doux des lettres «p» et «f». Par ailleurs, il a utilisé le mot «serpent» dans Serpentard pour maintenir l’idée des serpents dans «Slytherin» la version anglais. Cet idée est important pour l’histoire. L’un des changements le plus intéressant est à l’anagramme «je suis Voldemort» et «Tom Elvis Jedusort». L’original était «I am Lord Voldemort» et «Tom Marvolo Riddle». Il y a un jeu de mots ajouté ici en français parce que «Jedusort» sonne comme «jeu du sort» qui a le sens de sortilège ou destin. Cet traduction est possible en français mais elle est pourrait être difficile avec les autres langues, par exemple en chinois car il n’a pas d’alphabet.

Les romans Harry Potter sont pleins de mots inventés, tout comme des autres livres fantastiques. C’est souvent compliqué mais grace à la créativité des traducte urs on peut en profiter autour du monde.

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Translating Harry Potter’s Made-Up Words The Harry Potter book series is enormously successful worldwide with over 500 million copies sold in over 80 languages. The books are filled with imaginary words and wordplay making for an enchanting story but a tricky translation. Translators are tasked with adapting it to fit their language while keeping as many nuances as possible. There is often little communication between the translator and the author which could create inconsistencies, but also leads to a lot of interesting variation: some translations are more literal and others use wordplay in creative ways. There are many examples of both in the French translation.

One of Harry’s first experiences of the magical world is Diagon Alley, a play on words of ‘diagonally’.

In French, this is translated more literally to ‘Chemin de Traverse’ meaning ‘a crossing lane’. As you can see, in this example the play on words is lost in favour of a more exact translation. However, wordplay is creatively added in some places, for example with ‘the Sorting Hat’. The translator chose to name it ‘Choixpeau’ as a pun on ‘choix’ meaning choice and ‘chapeau’ meaning hat. Hufflepuff was cleverly translated into Poufsouffle. The ‘huff and puff’ breathing imagery in English was conveyed through souffler (to breathe) in French, even managing to keep the soft ‘p’ and ‘f’ sounds.

Meanwhile, the translator used the French word for snake ‘serpent’ to translate Slytherin to Serpentard. This maintains the idea of snakes which is important to the plot. One of the most interesting adaptations that needs to be made is the anagram ‘Tom Marvolo Riddle’ to ‘I am Lord Voldemort’. To make an anagram of ‘Je suis Voldemort’ in French, his name was changed to ‘Tom Elvis Jedusor’. This is especially clever because it sounds like ‘jeu du sort’ meaning game of spells of game of fate, both of which are fitting. Anagrams are possible in French but they can be very difficult to carry into other languages. Mandarin, for example, does not have an alphabet and therefore cannot include this in the translation.

The Harry Potter books are filled with words like these along with a lot of fantasy literature. It can often be tricky to translate but thanks to translators’ creativity they can still be enjoyed all across the world.

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Translation of traditional Russian fairy-tale ‘Гуси-лебеди’ «Гуси-лебеди» — это русская народная сказка, созданная путем трансформации мифа. Изначально она была рассказана устно, прежде чем ее перевели в письменный рассказ и анимацию. Она следует аналогичной структуре западных сказок: объяснение контекста, столкновение с проблемой и ее решение, усвоив моральный урок. Тем не менее, русские сказки отличаются от других культур своим исследовательским подходом, в котором много персонажей (часто оживающих неодушевленных предметов), каждый из которых может рассказать свою собственную историю, ответвляющуюся от одной основной сюжетной линии. Это делает историю очень интересной. Однако часто бывает, что основная сюжетная линия теряется и запутывается. Русская литература очень стилистична, но это не единственная причина, по которой рассказы трудно переводить. На многие элементы русских сказок повлияла их культура. Это мешает другим нациям в полной мере насладиться этими историями из-за непонимания определенных практик, предметов или продуктов питания, которые имеют большое значение в России, но неправильно понимаются в других странах. Вы можете заметить некоторые элементы, обсуждаемые в сокращенной версии рассказа ниже

Жили-были муж с женой. Была у них дочка да сынок маленький.

— Доченька,— сказала женщина,—мы пойдём на работу; будь умна, береги братца, не ходи со двора. Старшие ушли, девочка посадила братца на травке под окошком, а сама побежала на улицу, заигралась, загулялась. Налетели гусилебеди, унесли мальчика на крылышках. Пришла девочка, глядь —братца нету! Выбежала она в чистое поле, видит: метнулись гуси-лебеди вдалеке и пропали за лесом. Девочка догадалась, что они унесли её братца, и бросилась их догонять. Бежала, бежала и вдруг видит — стоит печка.

—Печка, печка, скажи, куда гуси-лебеди полетели?

— Съешь моего ржаного пирожка — скажу.

— Да у моего батюшки и пшеничные не едятся! Печка ей не сказала. Побежала девочка дальше, смотрит — стоит яблоня.

—Яблоня, скажи, куда гуси-лебеди полетели?

—Съешь моего лесного яблочка — скажу.

— Да у моего батюшки и садовые не едятся! Яблоня ей не сказала. Побежала девочка дальше, смотрит — бежит молочная река.

— Молочная река, скажи, куда гуси-лебеди полетели?

— Съешь моего простого киселя с молочком — скажу.

— Да у моего батюшки и сливочки не едятся! Яблоня ей не сказала. Побежала девочка дальше, смотрит — бежит молочная река.

— Молочная река, скажи, куда гуси-лебеди полетели?

— Съешь моего простого киселя с молочком — скажу.

— Да у моего батюшки и сливочки не едятся!

Река ей не сказала. Далеко убежала девочка. Варуг видит: стоит избушка на курьих ножках, кругом себя поворачивается. Живёт в ней Бабаяга — костяная нога. А рядом с избушкой сидит братец на лавочке. Девочка подкралась, схватила братца и бросилась бежать. Баба-яга увидела пропажу и закричала: —Гуси-лебеди! Летите в погоню! Сестра братца унесла! Сестра с братцем добежала до молочной реки.

— Речка, матушка, спрячь меня!

— Поешь моего простого киселька. Девочка поела и спасибо сказала. Река укрыла её под кисельным бережком. Гуси-лебеди пролетели мимо. Девочка с братием опять побежала. А гусилебеди воротились, летят навстречу! Подбежала девочка к яблоне.

— Яблоня, матушка, спрячь меня!

— Поешь моего лесного яблочка. Девочка поскорее съела и спасибо сказала. Яблоня её спрятала, и гуси-лебеди пролетели мимо. Девочка опять побежала. Тут гуси-лебеди увидали её, налетели, того гляди, братца из рук вырвут. Добежала девочка до печки.

— Печка, матушка, спрячь меня!

— Поешь моего ржаного пирожка. Девочка съела пирожок и села с братцем в устьице. Гуси-лебеди полетали, покричали и ни с чем улетели. Девочка сказала печке спасибо и прибежала с братцем домой. А тут и отец и матери пришли.

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The Magic Swan-Geese The Magic Swan-Geese” is a Russian fairy tale developed through the transformation of myth and was told orally before being interpreted into a written story and animation. It follows a similar structure to that of Western fairy tales: explaining the context, encountering a problem and resolving this having learnt a moral lesson. However, Russian fairy tales differentiate from other cultures through their explorative approach of having many characters (often inanimate objects brought to life), each with their own story to tell, branching from one main storyline. This keeps the story very engaging, however, it is often the case that the main storyline becomes lost and confused. Russian literature is very stylistic however this is not the only reason why stories are difficult to translate. Much of the elements in Russian fairy tales are influenced by their culture. This makes it difficult for other nations to fully enjoy these stories due to their lack of understanding of certain practices, objects or foods that hold much significance in Russia but are misunderstood elsewhere.

You may notice some of the elements discussed in the shortened version of the story below.

Once upon a time there lived a husband and wife. They had a daughter and a little son.

“Daughter,” the woman said, “we are going to work; be smart, take care of your brother, and do not go out of the yard.”

As soon as the elders left, the girl sat her brother down on the grass under the window and ran onto the street.

Little did she know, that as she played a game and took a walk, the swan-geese flew down and carried the boy away on their wings. The girl came back but her brother was gone! She ran out into an open field and saw as the swan-geese darted in the distance and disappeared behind the forest.

The girl realised that they had carried off her brother and rushed to catch up with them. She ran and ran and suddenly saw a stone stove.

“Stove, stove, tell me where the swan-geese flew”, demanded the girl.

“Eat my rye pie and I'll tell you”, said the stove.

“We don’t event eat my father’s wheat bread!”, exclaimed the girl.

And so, the stove didn't tell her. The girl ran further and saw an apple tree.

“Apple tree, tell me, where did the swan-geese fly?”, said the girl.

“Eat my forest apple and I’ll tell you”, said the apple tree.

“We don’t even eat apples from our own garden!”, she exclaimed.

And so, the apple tree did not tell her. The girl ran further and saw a running milk river.

“Milk river, tell me, where did the swan-geese fly?”, asked the girl.

“Drink my milk and I'll tell you”, said the milk river.

“We don’t even enjoy my father’s home-made cream!”, shouted the girl.

And so, the river did not tell her. The girl ran far away until suddenly, she saw a wooden hut standing on chicken legs, turning around. This is the home of the witch with the bone leg: Baba Yaga.

Next to the hut sat her brother on a bench. The girl crept up, grabbed her brother and ran away. Baba Yaga saw the escape and shouted: “Swan-geese! Fly in pursuit! The boy’s sister stole him away!

The sister and brother ran to the milk river.

“Mother river, please hide me!”, pleaded the girl.

“Drink my milk.”, said the milk river.

The girl drank and said thank you. The river covered her under a milk bank as the swan-geese flew past. The girl and her brother ran again but the swan-geese had returned and were flying towards them!

The girl ran up to the apple tree.

“Apple tree, apple tree, please hide me!” she pleaded.

“Eat my forest apple.”, said the apple tree.

The girl ate it quickly and said thank you. The apple tree hid them, and the swan-geese flew past. The girl ran again but the swan-geese saw her and swooped down so close that the brother was nearly pulled out of her hands.

The girl ran to the stove.

“Mother stove, please hide me!”, exclaimed the girl.

“Eat my rye pie.”, said the stove.

The girl ate the pie and sat down with her brother in the stove.

The swan-geese flew around, shouted and then flew away empty-handed. The girl said thank you to the stove and ran home with her brother just in time for the arrival of their parents.

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한국어를 이해할 수 없는 사람들은 어떻게 한국 음악을 들을 수 있을까?’

-번역은 웰빙의 문과 위로의 상자를 열 수 있는 열쇠다. 오늘날, 한국 음악은 점점 더 세계화되고 있다, 특히 케이팝. 케이팝의 화려한 뮤직비디오와 날카로운 안무에도 불구하고, 팬들에게 가장 큰 매력은 음악 그 자체다; 케이팝이 전 세계적으로 새로운 관객과 팬들을 끌어모으면서 한국 원어민이 아닌 청취자의 수는 계속해서 증가하고 있다. 그리고 한국어가 아닌 청취자들이 받는 가장 흔한 질문은 '한국어를 이해할 수 없는데 어떻게 들을 수 있냐?'이다. 내가 몇년전에 처음으로 케이팝에 빠져 되었을때, 케이팝이 얼마나 세계화되었는지를 발견하고 놀라웠던 기억이 난다. 난 그리고, 바로 이 질문이 내 머리에 떠올랐다. 그 질문의 답은 간단하다. 나는 이 팬들이 번역문을 읽었다는 것을 알게 되었다 – 한국어 원곡 가사에서부터 그들 고유의 모국어로. 케이팝 노래의 번역을 제공하는 유튜브 채널, 웹사이트, 소셜 미디어 계정이 여러 개 있는데, 팬들은 음악을 들으면서 이 번역들을 참고한다. 많은 케이팝 그룹들이 자신들의 노래를 작곡하고, 계속해서 그들의 청취자들에게 선물로 그 노래들을 발매한다; 이 노래들은 위로의 말을 담고, 정신 건강 문제를 해결하고, 사회적 오명을 물리칠 수 있다. 예를 들어 그룹 방탄소년단이 팬(ARMY)에게 자기애, 자기수용 등의 메시지를 전파하기 위해 2017~18년 'Love Yourself'라는 시리즈로 앨범 3장을 발매한 것은 말할 필요도 없이 아름다운 시적 가사를 통해 이런 메시지를 전달하는 게 성공했다. 케이팝 팬들은 이 노래들의 번역을 찾아보고, 그들이 담고 있는 메시지를 숙지하며, 들을 때 그들이 듣고 있는 노래가 위로, 감사, 혹은 반성의 노래라는 것을 머리와 가슴 속에서 알 수 있다. 이 노래들은 청취자들에게 같은 감정을 불러일으킨다; 이러한 의미 있는 노래들로 인해 케이팝 팬들의 정신건강이 향상되었다는 수많은 이야기들이 있다; 팬들은 그러한 방법으로 그들을 돕는 그룹들에게 가장 깊은 감사만을 전할 수 있다. 그렇기 때문에 케이팝은 단순히 한국어를 이해할 수 있는 사람들이 아니라 모든 연령, 국적, 인종의 사람들에게 사랑받고 인정받을 수 있다. 하지만 이것은 모두 한국 가사를 그들만의 언어로 해석할 수 있는, 뒤에 있는 여러 언어를 할 수 있는 번역사들 덕분이다; 이것은 언어의 중요성과 번역 능력을 강조하는 한 예일 뿐이다 – 왜 그러한 마법의 문이 기다리고 있을 때 복도에 머물러 있는가?

13

‘How can non-Korean speakers listen to Korean music?’

-Translation as a key to unlocking doors to well-being and chests of comfort.

Today, South Korean music is becoming increasingly globalised, especially K-pop (popular Korean music). Despite K-pop’s colourful music videos and sharp choreographies, the primary appeal to fans is the music itself; as K-pop attracts new audiences and fans all over the world, the number of non-Korean speaking listeners is ever-increasing. And the most common question that non-Korean speaking listeners receive is: ‘How can you listen to Kpop when you can’t understand it?’

When I first fell down the rabbit hole of K-pop a few years ago, I remember being amazed at discovering just how globalised K-pop had become, and this very question popped into my own head.

The answer is simple. I learned that these fans read translations – from the original Korean lyrics into their own native languages. There are multiple YouTube channels, websites, and social media accounts which provide translations of K-pop songs; fans refer to these while listening to the music.

Many K-pop groups write their own songs, proceeding to release them as gifts to their listeners; these songs can contain words of comfort, tackle mental health issues, and combat social stigmas.

For example, the group BTS, in an effort to spread messages of self-love and selfacceptance to their fans (ARMY), released three albums in a series called ‘Love Yourself’ in the years of 2017-18 – needless to say, they succeeded in conveying such messages through their beautiful poetic lyrics.

K-pop listeners look up translations of these songs, familiarise themselves with the messages that they contain, and as they listen, they can know in their heads and in their hearts that the song they are listening to is of: comfort, gratitude, or reflection. These songs bring about the same emotions in the listeners; there are countless stories of K-pop fans’ mental health improving due to such meaningful songs; fans can give back nothing but the most profound gratitude towards the groups who help them in such ways.

And so that is why K-pop can be loved and appreciated by people of all ages, nationalities, races – not simply those who can understand Korean. But this is all thanks to the polyglots behind the scenes who are able to interpret the Korean lyrics into their own languages; this is just one example highlighting the importance of languages and the ability to translate – why linger in the corridor when doors to such magic await?

14

Una dimostrazione che Google Translate non funziona.

Fin da quando eravamo in Y7, I nostri professori ci hanno sempre detto di non copiare il nostro testo da tradurre, come compito per casa, in Google Translate, aspettandoci che faccia tutto il lavoro per noi. Ci dicono che si vede subito quando uno studente non si è impegnato e ha scelto quella che loro credono sia una scorciatoia; sia che accettiamo questa sentenza fin dall’ inizio, o dopo che abbiamo ricevuto un votaccio rosso in margine al nostro lavoro… tutti ci chiediamo la stessa cosa: come fanno a saperlo?

Bhé, in breve, i traduttori online più rudimentali operano a livello di parole, ansi che concetti… quindi scambiano ogni parola in una lingua con la parola equivalente nell’ altra. Tuttavia, raramente questo funziona, dal momento che non tutte le parole di una lingua hanno un esatto corrispondente nell’ altra, e ci sono parole che hanno molteplici traduzioni che dipendono dal contesto.

Questo semplice esperimento ci farà vedere dove questi traduttori incontrano delle serie difficoltà. Se prendiamo, per esempio, il breve testo che segue, e usiamo google translate per tradurlo dall’ Italiano all’ Inglese: Italiano: ‘Ne ho piene le scatole della sua arroganza, no so chi si crede di essere per trattare tutti dall’ alto in basso!”

Risultato: ‘I’m full of his arrogance boxes, I don’t know who he thinks he is to treat everyone from top to bottom!”

Questo semplice esperimento ci farà vedere dove questi traduttori incontrano delle serie difficoltà. Se prendiamo, per esempio, il breve testo che segue, e usiamo google translate per tradurlo dall’ Italiano all’ Inglese: La cosa più evidente nella versione Inglese è che la traduzione parola per parola delle espressioni idiomatiche Italiane: ‘averne le scatole piene’ e ‘trattare dall’ alto in basso’, crea una frase priva di senso.

Ovviamente, per uno studente principiante, è molto difficile sapere coso suona bene nella lingua straniera: e questo spiega come fanno i professori ad accorgersi se hai usato google Translate.

In ogni caso, è facile vedere quanto il significato originale può cambiare: • Prendendo la traduzione, inserendola nuovamente nel traduttore automatico: Risultato ritradotto: ‘’Sono piena delle sue scatole di arroganza, non so chi pensa di essere per trattare tutti da cima a fondo!

•

Se ripeti il procedimento più volte Risultato ritradotto (5 volte): ‘’Sono pieno delle sue scatole arroganti, non so chi pensa che tratti tutti da cima a fondo!’

•

Se provi a tradurre il testo in lingue diverse prima di tornare all’ originale: Risultato ritradotto (4 Lingue): ‘’Sono nella sua scatola arrogante, persone, persone, presone, persone!’

Ecco dunque la prova che i traduttori automatici non sono esattamente gli amici che pensavi fossero.

D’altro canto, è anche vero che con l’avanzamento della tecnologia, anche i traduttori automatici stanno diventando sempre più precisi, soprattutto quelli professionali; anche se rimango scettica sulla capacita da parte di una macchina di capire tutti i livelli di significato di un testo e trasferirli esattamente in un'altra lingua.

15

Proof that Google Translate doesn’t work.

Ever since year 7, language teachers have been telling us not to plug our homework text into google translate and just expect it to do the translation for us. They tell us that it’s blatantly obvious when a student hasn’t been bothered to do the task properly and has taken (what they believe to be) the easy way out; but whether we just accept this from the start… or accept it once we have received an angry comment scribbled in red on our homework… we’re all left wondering the same thing: how do they know?

Well, in short, basic machine translators deal with words, not even sentences… so they take each word from one language and change it to the equivalent word in another. However, this very rarely works, as it is often the case that not all words have an exact equivalent in other languages, and one word may have multiple meanings which depend on the context.

We can see where the translators start to fail us with this simple experiment. If we take, for example, the short text below and use google translate to translate it from English to Italian: English: ‘I’m just so fed up of her expecting to be waited upon hand and foot. I think she needs to grow up and get over herself!”

Translated outcome: ‘Sono solo cosí stufo che lei si aspetti di essere aspettata con le mani e con i piedi.

Penso che abbia bisogno di crescere e superare se stessa.

What immediately jumps out as odd in the Italian version, is the direct, word for word translation of the idiom: ‘to wait on hand and foot’ which, although commonly used in English, does not make sense in Italian. Understandably, if you are only in the early stages of learning the language, it is very difficult to know what sounds right and what doesn’t: hence the reason why the teachers are able to tell when a translator has been used, even though you can’t.

Either way, you can still see just how distorted the meaning can become: • If you take the translation, plug it back into the translator, and set it back to the original language: Retranslated outcome: ‘‘I’m just so sick of her expecting to be waited on with her hands and her feet. I think she just needs to grow and overcome herself.’’

•

If you repeat this step multiple times: Retranslated outcome (5 times): ‘I am so tired that you expect to be served with hands and feet.

I think she needs growth and to overcome herself.

•

If you try translating into multiple different languages before going back to the original language: Retranslated outcome (4 languages): ‘’The place your servant has been to is like your hand, my feet are enough, I am outside. And I think we have to grow to win.

So… there it is: the proof that machine translators aren’t exactly the best friends you thought they were.

However, it should also be said that as technology is improving, machine translators are becoming increasingly accurate, especially professional ones; although I am still extremely doubtful as to whether a machine will ever be able to understand the true meaning of a text and convey it in the best possible way in another language.

16

¿Qué significa trasaltar de un idioma a otro? ¿Qué problemas podemos ver en este proceso? ¿Qué significa trasaltar de un idioma a otro? ¿Qué problemas podemos ver en este proceso?

Vemos traducciones todos los días en nuestras vidas, en novelas, poemas, películas y más.Pero, ¿qué hace una buena traducción? ¿Es suficiente solo con comprender el idioma o también necesitamos comprender la cultura? Al evaluar la calidad de una traducción, hablamos de equivalentes de traducción. Esta es la idea de que los textos traducidos transmiten la misma idea y significado que el texto original.

La traducción literal de palabras y estructuras gramaticales puede ser fiel al texto original, pero puede que no sea lo mejor para crear un texto que sea significativo para la audiencia destinataria. Las palabras a menudo no tienen equivalentes de traducción directa, e incluso cuando los tienen, las connotaciones pueden ser diferentes. Entonces, ¿qué estrategias debemos utilizar para abordar este problema?

Las expresiones fijas como modismos pueden causar algunos problemas. No tendría mucho sentido traducir el modismo inglés “pigs fly” a otro idioma palabra por palabra. Por supuesto, un traductor podría transmitir ese significado diciendo y describiendo que ese evento en particular nunca sucedería, y por eso es un modismo. Esta sería una representación precisa del mensaje, pero perdería el humor y el efecto contextual. Una mejor solución sería tratar de encontrar un idioma equivalente en el idioma de destino, por ejemplo, en español sería "Cuando las ranas críen pelo" (que se traduce como "cuando a las ranas les crecen pelo"), ya que emite el mismo mensaje ó intención porque retiene la idea de un evento que nunca sucedería.

Por lo tanto, una buena traducción tiene que pensar en los significados de las palabras en los modismos y en cómo transmitirlos, pero también en cómo tender puentes entre los entendimientos culturales.

17

What does it mean to translate between two languages?

What issues arise in this process?

Translations are all around us in our everyday lives, in novels, poems, movies and more. But what makes a good translation? Is it enough just to understand the language or do we also need to understand the culture? When evaluating the quality of a translation, we talk about translation equivalents. This is the idea that translated texts convey the same idea and meaning as the original text.

Translating words and grammatical structures literally may be faithful to the original text but it may not be what’s best for when creating a text that is meaningful for the intended audience. Words often do not have direct translation equivalents, and even when they do, the connotations may be different. So, what strategies must we use to address this problem?

Fixed expressions like idioms can cause some problems. There would be little point in translating the English idiom “pigs fly” into another language by a word by word basis. Of course, a translator could convey that meaning by saying and describing that that particular event would never happen, and that’s why it’s an idiom. This would be an accurate representation of the message, but it would lose humour and the contextual effect. A better solution would be to try and find an equivalent idiom in the target language e.g in Spanish it would be “Cuando las ranas críen pelo” (translating to “when the frogs grow hair”) as it gives off the same message or intention because it retains the idea of an event that would never happen.

Therefore, a good translation needs to think about the meanings of words in idioms and how to convey them, but also how to bridge cultural understandings too.

18

Lo que no necesita ser traducido: las famosas artistas de España.

A lo largo de la historia, los artistas hispanos han sentado las bases para que el arte sea un vehículo de reforma política y social. Aunque estas obras están realizadas por personas que solo hablan español, personas de todo el mundo pueden comprender su importancia a pesar de esta barrera. Las piezas incluidas en este artículo muestran diversas emociones sin quedar confinadas a la barrera del idioma, mostrando cómo el arte nos permite descubrir diferentes culturas sin necesidad de ser traducido.

El tres de mayo de 1808 en Madrid, Francisco Goya Francisco Goya fue uno de los artistas más influyentes e importantes de la España del siglo XVIII. Goya tuvo mucho éxito durante su vida como pintor de la corte, pero en esta pintura se centra en la política más que en la realeza.

Goya lo pintó para jurar lealtad al nuevo rey, Fernando VII, pero también como un homenaje a los ciudadanos españoles inocentes que lucharon por su país contra los soldados franceses durante las guerras napoleónicas. La obra de arte está llena de drama y acción, y captura un momento de gran tragedia y angustia para España, cuando cautivos inocentes son masacrados por su país.

Las dos Fridas, Frida Kahlo Las dos Fridas es una de las pinturas más impactantes de Kahlo, ya que muestra su lucha con la dualidad después del divorcio con su esposo, Diego Rivera. El lado izquierdo de la pintura muestra a la mujer que dejó Rivera, con el corazón roto, con un vestido típicamente europeo, un estilo que Frida adoptó en su vida posterior. El lado derecho muestra a la mujer de la que Rivera se enamoró, quien lleva un vestido típico mexicano y cuyo corazón está completo. Estas mujeres se toman la mano mostrando cómo Kahlo está tratando de unir sus dos identidades durante este tiempo de dolor y sufrimiento.

Desocupados, Antonio Berni Antonio Berni creyó que el arte debería mostrar las verdaderas realidades sociales de la clase trabajadora argentina en la década de 1930. Sintió que el surrealismo de la época no transmitía actualidad y, por lo tanto, desarrolló su estilo, nuevo realista para salvar la distancia entre la realidad y el arte. Esta pintura muestra la gravedad de la pobreza que vivían quienes vivían en los barrios marginales argentinos y el impacto que ha tenido en ellos el desempleo. Cada personaje es retratado como taciturno y aburrido, personificando la desesperanza de la situación.

A través de estas pinturas podemos establecer que el arte casi trasciende la barrera del idioma. Sin conocer el idioma, podemos utilizar estas obras como herramientas para comprender otras culturas y los sentimientos que sienten los nativos en diferentes períodos de tiempo.

19

What does not require translation: the famous artists of Spain Throughout history, Hispanic artists have paved a way for art to be a vehicle of political and social reform. Although these works are made by those who can only speak Spanish, people from all over the world can understand their significance despite this barrier. The pieces included in this article show various emotions without being confined to the barrier of language, showing how art allows us to discover different cultures without needing to be translated.

The Third of May 1808, Francisco Goya Francisco Goya was one of the most influential and important artists of eighteenth-century Spain. Goya received lots of success during his lifetime as a Court Painter but in this painting he focuses on politics rather than royalty. Goya painted it to pledge allegiance to the new king, Ferdinand VII but also as a tribute to innocent Spanish citizens who fought for their country against French soldiers during the Napoleonic Wars. The artwork is filled with drama and action and captures a moment of great tragedy for Spain as innocent captives are slaughtered for their country.

The Two Fridas, Frida Kahlo The Two Fridas is one of Kahlo’s most impactful paintings as it shows her struggles with her duality after her divorce from her husband, Diego Rivera. The left side of the painting shows the woman who Rivera left, one who is brokenhearted, wearing a typically European dress, a style Frida adopted in her later life. The right side shows the woman Rivera fell in love with, one who is wearing a typical Mexican dress and whose heart is complete. These women hold hands showing how Kahlo is trying to unite her two identities during this time of pain and suffering.

The Unemployed, Antonio Berni Antonio Berni believed art should show the true social realities of the working class of Argentina in the 1930s. He felt as though the surrealism at the time did not convey actuality and thus developed his style, nuevo realista (new realism) in order to bridge the gap between reality and art. This painting shows the severity of poverty experienced by those who lived in Argentinian shanty towns and the impact unemployment has had on them. Each character is portrayed as sullen and bored, personifying the hopelessness of the situation.

From these paintings we can establish that art almost transcends the barrier of language. Without knowing the language, we are able to use these pieces as tools to understand other cultures and the feelings felt by natives at different periods of time.

20

Méfiez-vous des faux amis !

Plus de 10,000 mots en anglais viennent de la langue française. Il est estimé que 29 pour cent de la langue anglaise est composée de mots français purs.

Ceci peut être attribué à l’invasion des Romains autour de 50 av. J.-C. Après cela, ‘Britannica’ fit partie de l’empire romain, et donc le latin devint la langue de la vie politique et administrative.

Autour des 5eme et 6eme siècles, certaines tribus Germaniques - dont les Saxons- ont envahi la Bretagne, en apportant leurs langues avec eux. Néanmoins, le latin resta puisque c’etait la langue de l’Église catholique.

Effectivement, toutes les cérémonies religieuses avaient lieu en latin. Ceci mena à l’infiltration des mots utilisés en prière dans la langue anglaise usuelle. Le français est une forme vulgarisée du latin, alors on retrouve ces racines latines dans les mots anglais comme “devil” (Latin : diabolus) et “angel” (Latin : angelus).

Cela dit, la raison principale pour l’abondance de mots français utilisé en anglais date de l’invasion des Normands en 1066, quand Guillaume le Conquérant (William the Conqueror) a gagné le trône britannique dans la bataille de Hastings. Après son ascension, la cour royale fut composée de nobles normands, qui parlaient français.

Ainsi l’ancien anglais et l’ancien français coexistèrent, puisque la majorité des Bretons n’avaient pas de contacts avec la noblesse. Au fur et à mesure du temps, les mots français ont encore été utilisés dans la langue anglaise.

Les secteurs principaux dans lesquels on peut observer cela sont le droit, l’administratif, et la nourriture. Par exemple, les mots sovereign (souverain), justice (justice), and counsel (conseil). Cependant les mots “pig” and “sheep” ont des racines Germaniques alors que, en tant que nourriture, ils deviennent “pork” (porc) and “mutton” (mouton) – et proviennent donc du français.

Il est aussi intéressant de noter que les mots français contenant un accent circonflexe, avaient en fait un ‘s’ à leur origine. Par exemple, le mot, château été originellement chasteau, et forêt était forest. C’était le cas quand les mots en Français étaient empruntés à la langue anglaise, alors plusieurs mots contenant un accent circonflexe ont des homologues anglais.

Mais faites attention ; il ne faut pas se laisser piéger ; il y a, comme toujours, plusieurs exceptions ! Ci-dessous quelques exemples.

Le mot « Library » en anglais veut dire une bibliothèque. Alors qu’en français une librairie correspond à un « bookshop ».

Il y a aussi ce problème avec le mot « Sensible ». Lorsqu’en anglais une personne qui se comporte « sensibly » est une personne sage ou raisonnable, en français le mot « sensible » correspond à « sensitive » en anglais. Cet exemple démontre parfaitement les périls d’une trop forte dépendance à « Google translate » vu que cette nuance sensible ne passe pas à travers le logiciel. Également avec le mot « eventually ». En anglais ceci veut dire « au final », alors que « éventuellement » indique une potentialité en français ; on le traduirait plutôt par « perhaps ».

Ces trois exemples démontrent bien l’importance des linguistes pour éviter la confusion, préserver l’intégrité des textes clés, et honorer notre histoire partagée.

21

Be wary of false friends!

More than 10,000 words in English come from the French language. It is estimated that 29 percent of the English language is made up of pure French words.

This can be attributed to the Roman invasion in around 50 AD. After that, ‘Britannia’ became part of the Roman Empire; thus, Latin became the language of political and administrative life.

Around the 5th and 6th centuries, Germanic tribes – including the Saxons - invaded Britain, bringing their language along with them. Nevertheless, Latin remained prominent as the language of the Catholic Church.

Indeed, all religious ceremonies took place in Latin. This led to the infiltration of words used in prayer into daily English language. Since French is a popularized form of Latin, we find these Latin roots in English words like “devil” (Latin: diabolus) and “angel” (Latin: angelus).

However, the main reason for the abundance of French words used in English dates back to the Norman invasion of 1066. After William the Conqueror won the British throne in the Battle of Hastings, the royal court was mainly composed of Norman nobility, who spoke French.

Thus, Old English and French coexisted, since the majority of Britons had no contact with the nobility.

Over time though, French words have further infiltrated into the English language. The main areas in which this can be identified are law, administration, and food. For example, the words sovereign, justice, and counsel. Whilst the words “pig” and “sheep” have Germanic roots, their food forms “pork” (porc) and “mutton” (muton) - come from French.

It is also interesting to note that French words containing a circumflex accent originally contained an ‘s’. For example, the word chateau was originally chasteau, and forest was forest. This is because French words were borrowed into the English language, hence many words containing a circumflex accent have their English counterparts.

But be careful; do not let these similarities lead to translation pitfalls! There are, as ever, several exceptions. Below are some examples.

The word "bibliothèque" in English means a library, where in French “une librairie” is a bookshop.

This problem also arises with the word "Sensitive". While in English a person who behaves "sensibly" is a wise or reasonable person, in French the word sensible corresponds to "sensitive" in English. This example perfectly demonstrates the perils of an overdependence on "Google translate”; this sensitive nuance does not pass through the software!

Likewise, with the word "eventually". In English this means "in the end", while the French “éventuellement" indicates a potentiality, this would be translated as "perhaps".

These three examples clearly demonstrate the importance of linguists in preventing confusion, preserving the integrity of key texts, and honouring our shared history.

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中文量词的使用

文和英文是非常不一样的语言。英文有拉丁字母, 中文有汉字; 英文有屈折语, 但是中文 没有; 中文的声调很重要, 可是英文没有。我可以继续 列出（中文和英文在语言树的不同 侧）, 但是一个特别有意思的区别是量词的使用。尽管英文也有量词, 但是它们不经常被 使用。比如有人可能会说一块蛋糕或者一碗饭等, 仅此而已。然而中国人总是将量词和 名词一起使用。 量词可以分为两组: 用于无法数名词和可数名词。可数量词没有办法直接翻译成英文, 可 是无法数量词可以直接翻译。比如’一个人’的‘个’不能翻译成英文, 可是’一块蛋糕’的‘块’ ，或者’一片面包’ 的‘片’ 可以翻译。不可以说’三个水’, 必须说’三滴水’ 。 最常用的可数量词是’个’, 例如‘那个人’, ‘两个姐姐’, ‘上个星期’, ‘一个西瓜’ 等。如果说’这’ 或’那’ ，或者使用数目, 都必须使用量词, 所以’个’的使用非常多。 除了’个’以外, 还有很多其他可数量词更特定, 包括’本’ 用于书, 和 ‘间’ 用于房间。对于动 物, 人们使用’只’，对于鱼或蛇，人们使用’条’, 因为鱼和蛇(特别是蛇)是长条状的, 而且量 词通常描述名词的形状。因此’条’不但只用于鱼和蛇, 也用于河或路。另一个例子是量词’ 张’, 用于扁平的物件比如桌子, 床, 和纸。

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The use of measure words in Mandarin

Chinese and English are very different languages. English has a Latin alphabet, while Chinese has Chinese characters; English has inflections but Chinese does not; Chinese tones are important, yet English doesn’t have any. I could go on (Chinese and English are on different sides of the language tree), but particularly interesting difference is the way measure words are used. Although English has measure words, they are not used very often. For example, you might say a piece of cake or a bowl of rice, etc., but that’s all. However, Chinese always uses measure words with nouns.

Two groups of measure words can be identified: measure words for uncountable nouns and for countable nouns. Countable measure words (count-classifiers) cannot be directly translated into English, but uncountable measure words (mass-classifiers) can be directly translated into English. For example, ‘one (个/gè) person’ has no direct translation, but ‘a piece of cake’ or ‘a slice of bread’ can be translated. You can’t say ‘three waters’, you must say ‘three drops of water’.

The most used count-classifier is ‘个(gè)’, for example you would say ‘that (gè) person’, ‘two (gè) older sisters’, ‘last (gè) week’, ‘one (gè) watermelon’, etc. If you say ‘this/that’ or use a number, you must use a measure word, thus ‘gè’ is used plentifully.

Apart from ‘ge’, there are also many count-classifiers which are more specific, including ‘本(ben)’ for books, and ‘间(jiān)’ for rooms. For animals, you use ‘只(zhǐ)’, and for fish/snakes you use ‘条(tiáo)’, because fish/snakes (especially snakes) are like long strips (tiáo means strip), and measure words often describe the shape of the noun. Thus, ‘tiáo’ is not only used for fish and snakes, but also for rivers and roads. Another example is the measure word ‘张(zhāng)’, which is used for flat objects such as a tables, beds, and paper.

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‘Es como hablar a la pared’ - una conversación entre un principiante y un nativo (traduciendo literalmente) NOTE: Amy is making mistakes as she is learning Spanish Imagínate esto. Estamos en una fiesta. Hay mucha gente, mucho ruido y conocemos a Amy y Miguel. Amy es de Inglaterra y está en España para visitar a una amiga. Miguel se encuentra a Amy y decide hablar con ella…

Miguel: ¡Eh, tía! ¿Qué pasa?

Amy: Disculpa, no soy tu tía M: (Dándose cuenta...) ¿De dónde eres, guapa?

A: La verdad es que soy de Inglaterra, de hecho, estoy en España para visitar a una amiga M: ¡qué guay! y hablas muy bien español A: No, la verdad lisa y llana es que quiero mejorar mi español porque cuando yo hablo con un nativo me siento un poco embarazada M: (riéndose) pues, estás en el lugar correcto para practicar, ¿te invito a una copa?

A: creo que está bien, y alguna cosa para comer también ya que tengo hombre M: (sonriendo) Bueno, espérame acá [vuelve con las bebidas y la comida con prisa] A: no necesitas preocupar, todavía yo estoy aquí (él le da la bebida a ella) M: ¿Por cuánto tiempo estarás aquí?

A: muchas gracias, pienso que hasta la fiesta termine, ¿no?

M: Bueno, ¿pero cuánto tiempo estarás en el país?

A: Para ser honesta, yo no sé, pero probablemeM: ¿hasta que tu pasaporte expire?

A: no…hasta que mi viaje termine M: (sonriendo) vale, y ¿piensas que España es muy diferente a Inglaterra?

A: yo creo quM: aparte de la lengua A: ¡me leíste mi mente! Desde mi punto de vista sí. Aparte de la lengua, la comida es bastante diferente, y además la hora de comer. A veces yo estoy durmiendo cuando mi amiga me dice que la cena es preparada. Y en cuanto al tiempo, estoy caliente aquí M: si te parece que soy demasiado guapo, podría irme A: ¿qué? ¿dónde quieres ir?

M: (cerceándose internamente) no, no pasa nada, y ¿Manejas bien español? o sea ¿cómo va tu español?

A: Desde mi perspectiva, mi español va bien. Antes yo no podía tener una conversación, pero ahora yo siento como cometo menos errores y yo he realizado que practicando hablar con el gente aquí yo me ayuda mucho M: Claro, yo creo que el mismo de mi punto de vista… (riéndose) olvídalo, te estoy tomando el pelo A: ¿Qué quieres hacer a tu pelo? Desde mi punto de vista creo que un nuevo corte de pelo te quedaría más bien M: gracias por tu opinión, (más rápido) tal vez debes intentar acortar tus oraciones- pero bueno, (menos rápido) me mola que estas aprendiendo. Ay, ¿quieres otra bebida?

A: No, gracias. Yo debo encontrar Paula, puede pensar que estoy dando calabazas. Me gustaría quedarme aquí, pero estoy casada M: ah entiendo, tienes un bebé y un esposo…

¡Anda! Esa historia estuvo mejor de lo que esperaba. Por lo menos, ella habló en español todo el rato…desde su punto de vista.

Podemos ver que hay una variedad de maneras para cometer errores, pero eso es la diversión de lenguas y traducciones.

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'It's like talking to the wall' - a conversation between a beginner and a native (literally translating) [ ] – what she is trying to say

Imagine this. We’re at a party. There are lots of people, lots of noise and we meet Amy and Miguel. Amy is from England and she is in Spain to visit a friend.

Miguel spots Amy and decides to speak to her…

Miguel: Hey mate/aunt, what’s up?

Amy: Sorry, I’m not your aunt M: (realising…) Where are you from, beautiful?

A: The truth is that I am from England, in fact, I’m in Spain visiting a friend M: cool! your Spanish is really good A: No, the plain, hard truth is that I want to improve my Spanish because when I’m talking to a native I feel a bit pregnant [embarrassed] M: (laughing) well, you’re in the right place to practice, can I get you a drink?

A: Sounds good, any maybe something to eat now that I have a man [I am hungry] M: (smiling) okay, I’ll be back (he returns with drinks and food in a hurry) A: don’t worry, I’m still here (he gives her a drink) M: How long are you going to be here for?

A: thank you so much, I think I’ll stay until the party finishes right?

M: Sure but how long are you going to be in the country?

A: To be honest, I don’t know, probabM: until your passport expires?

A: no….until my trip ends M: (smiling) okay, and do you think Spain es very different from England?

A: I thinM: apart from the language A: you read my mind! From my point of view, yes. Apart from the language, the food is quite different here and the timings of meals as well. Sometimes I’m sleeping when my friend tells me that dinner is ready. And regarding the weather, I’m turned on [it’s hot in Spain] M: I can leave if my attractiveness is too much for you A: What? Where do you want to go?

M: (laughing internally) No, nothing, don’t worry. How are you dealing with Spanish? I mean, how’s your Spanish going?

A: From my perspective, my Spanish is going well. Before I couldn’t hold a conversation, but now I feel like I make less mistakes and I’ve carried out [realised] that practicing with the people here has helped me a lot M: Yes I agree, I think the same from my point of view…(laughing) forget it, I’m kidding A: What do you want to do with your hair? From my point of view, I think a new haircut would suit you better M: Thanks for your opinion, (quickly) maybe you should try shortening your sentences- but yes, (less quickly) I like that you’re learning. Oh, do you want another drink?

A: No thanks. I should find Paula, she might think I’m giving pumpkins [showing her up] I would like to stay but I’m married [I’m tired] M: Yes I get you, you have a baby and a husband…

Wow! That story was better than what I had hoped for. At least Amy spoke in Spanish the whole time…from her point of view.

We can see that there is a variety of ways of making mistakes, but that is the fun of languages and translations.

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Translation and summary of the Spanish Poem “Hora tras hora, día tras día”

Hora tras hora, día tras día by Rosalia de Castro Hora tras hora, día tras día, Entre el cielo y la tierra que quedan Eternos vigías, Como torrente que se despeña Pasa la vida.

Devolvedle a la flor su perfume Después de marchita; De las ondas que besan la playa Y que una tras otra besándola expiran Recoged los rumores, las quejas, Y en planchas de bronce grabad su armonía.

Tiempos que fueron, llantos y risas, Negros tormentos, dulces mentiras, ¡Ay!, ¿En dónde su rastro dejaron, En dónde, alma mía?

Rosalía de Castro escribió este poema en la segunda mitad del siglo XIX. El título ya nos sugiere que el poema es una reflexión sobre el paso del tiempo. El poema comienza hablando del inevitable paso del tiempo, que avanza persistentemente como inundaciones de agua que empuja nuestra vida hacia delante. En las siguientes líneas se nos recuerda que hay que sacar el máximo partido de todo, incluso las pequeñas experiencias como los sonidos de las olas en una playa. Todo se desvanecerá pero puede permanecer en nuestro recuerdo mientras sigamos vivos. El poema termina con una pregunta, ¿Qué pasó con el pasado? La repuesta se encuentra en nuestras propias almas y recuerdos.

En general, el poema nos invita a estar abiertos a nuevas experiencias y a disfrutar el momento en nuestro entorno.

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Hour after hour, day after day Between the earth and sky that keep Eternal watch, Like a rushing headlong torrent Life passes on.

Restore fragrance to the flower After it withers; From the waves that caress the beach And one after the other die in that caress, Gather the murmurs and the complaints And engrave on plates of bronze their harmony.

Times now past, tears and laughter, Dark afflictions, soothing falsehoods, Ah, where do they leave their mark, Tell me where my soul!

Rosalia de Castro wrote this poem in the second half of the 19th century.

The title suggests that the poem is about the reflection on the passage on time. The poem starts with the inevitable passage of time, persistently moving forward like floods of water taking our life onwards. The next few lines remind us to make the most out of everything, even the little experiences such as the sounds of waves on a beach. They will fade away but can stay in our memories as we live life. The poem ends with a question, what happened to the past? But the answer is that it lies in our own souls and memories. Overall, the poem reminds us to be open to new experiences and to take in our surroundings.

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Translation of the French poem ‘Coronavirus’ by Stephen Blanchard & how I went about translating it.

Coronavirus- Stephen Blanchard

My translation of the poem

Nous voilà confinés, face à l’épidémie, Le virus se répand, il faudra patienter, Nous n’avons plus le temps de tout argumenter, Les français sont touchés, c’est une pandémie.

Facing the epidemic, we are now confined We will have to be patient, the virus is spreading We no longer have the time to argue about anything This is a pandemic, the French are also quarantined

Chacun panique à bord, la porte refermée, La guerre est déclarée en absence de choix, L’amour est en danger quand l’horizon sans voix Nous prive de l’espoir d’une visite aimée.

The door closed shut, panic is mounting War is declared against our will; we are choiceless Love is endangered when the silent horizon, voiceless, Deprives us of hope, of a treasured outing

Je regarde la vie en perte de lien, À l’heure où vont s’enfuir les ailes de mes rêves, Le vide et l’abandon sont de mortelles sèves Me transperçant le cœur d’un doute kafkaïen.

Mais l’homme tend ses bras vers la belle espérance, La solidarité sur un même chemin, Car le devoir l’appelle à se faire devin Pour sauver notre monde aux jardins de l’errance.

I watch life losing its connection At a time when the wings to my dreams will be crushed by annulment The deadly saps of emptiness and abandonment Pierce my heart with Kafkaesque dejection Yet, man extends his arms towards sweet aspiration Coupled with solidarity For duty implores him to think with clarity In order to save our itinerant nation

How I went about translating this poem ‘Coronavirus’ consists of four enclosed-rhyme quatrains, meaning that I had to alter my literal translation of the poem to preserve this form in English. This included switching the order of some clauses to ensure that the words at the end of each line rhymed with one another. For example, the first line of my final translation is ‘Facing the epidemic, we are now confined’, whereas my literal translation of ‘Nous voilà confines, face à l’épidémie’ was ‘Now we are confined, facing the epidemic’. In this case, I switched the clauses in order to include the rhyme of ‘confined’ and ‘quarantined’. The lines in which I found it most challenging to adhere to the ABBA rhyme scheme were the middle two of the second stanza. After much deliberation, I decided to translate the ends of these lines more literally and take advantage of the fact that ‘choix’ and ‘voix’ rhyme in both French and English.

My favourite part of translating the poem was using my analytical skills to unlock its meaning. I found that understanding what Blanchard aimed to convey in French meant I could express the same in English more easily. For example, I interpreted the third, most melancholy stanza to be expressing Blanchard’s misery after all his plans for the future are cancelled due to Coronavirus. This lead me to include the words ‘annulled’ and ‘dejection’ in my translation even though these were not explicitly written in the poem.

Overall, I thoroughly relished the challenge of translating this poem and particularly enjoyed reading its optimistic ending.

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四谷怪談－お岩さん (Yotsuya Kaidan- Oiwa-san) この有名な民話の幽霊の名前はお岩です。お岩は実際に存在していて、１６３６年に死にました その昔お岩は伊右衛門という武士と結婚しました。伊右衛門は不実な男で盗み癖があったので、世間でいう悪い結婚で した。結婚生活はすぐにうまくいかなくなり、お岩は伊右衛門を残して実家に戻ることを決め家を出ましたが、伊右衛 門はお岩を追いかけました。伊右衛門はお岩の父、四谷左門に会うことを止められました。逆上した伊右衛門は剣を抜 き、左門を切り殺してしまいました。 伊右衛門はお岩のところへ行き、左門がならず者に殺されたと嘘を伝えました。伊右衛門は父親のかたき討ちをするこ とを約束するなどうまく言いくるめてお岩を家に連れ戻したのです。 その後まもなく、お岩は伊右衛門の赤ちゃんを産みました。しかし、お岩は産後病弱になり、生活は困窮するばかりで した。伊右衛門がお岩を重荷に思い始めたころ、伊藤喜平という金持ちの医者の美しい孫娘であるオウメに出会いまし た。すぐに伊右衛門はお岩を捨ててオウメと一緒になりたいと思い始めました。 喜平は、お岩と離縁すればオウメとの再婚を許し伊藤家の富を継承させてやると伊右衛門をそそのかしました。そこで 伊右衛門は喜平と手を組み、病気を治すためとお岩を欺き軟膏を与えますが、実際にそれは彼女の顔を恐ろしく爛れさ せる猛毒でした。軟膏を塗ったお岩の顔は恐ろしいほど崩れてしまったのです。伊右衛門は顔の爛れたお岩の姿にうん ざりし、若くて美しいオウメにますます惹かれていましたのでどうにかして早く離縁できるよう悪事を重ねていきま す。オウメと結婚するのに十分なお金を持つために、伊右衛門はお岩の持ち物を勝手に質に入れ、そしてお岩と離婚す る正当な理由が必要だったので、お岩のありもしない不貞を告発できるように図り、友人の卓越を雇って彼女を強姦し ようとしました。 卓越は言われたとおりにお岩を襲おうとしたのですが、お岩を一目見た彼は悪事を遂行できなくなるほどに震え上がり ました。卓越はお岩に伊右衛門の企みを伝え、崩れ果てた顔を鏡で見せました。お岩は軟膏が彼女の顔をめちゃくちゃ にしたことに気づいていなかったので、鏡に映った自分の顔に驚愕しました。恐怖の中で、彼女は爛れた顔に前髪をか ぶせることによって恐ろしい爛れを隠そうとしましたが、とっさに握った髪の毛は抜け落ち血まみれの塊となって地面 に落ちました。それを見たお岩は狂い叫び、近くの剣で自分の喉をかき切りました。お岩は床に横たわってもだえ苦し み血を流して死んで行きました。 お岩の遺体は伊右衛門の召使いである小平によって発見されました。悪い知らせを聞いた時でも伊右衛門は顔に喜色が 浮かぶのを隠せず、それをみた小平は驚きました。小平は伊右衛門を疑わしく思いましたが、疑念を誰かに伝える前に 伊右衛門に殺されてしまいました。伊右衛門は、小平とお岩の遺体を戸板に釘付けにして川に流しました。その後、小 平とお岩が浮気をしていたという嘘を流布しました。こうして伊右衛門はついにオウメと結婚できるようになりまし た。 しかし、ここからがお岩の復讐のはじまりでした。 彼らの婚礼の夜、伊右衛門は寝台で寝返りを打つと、彼のすぐ隣にお岩の恐ろしい顔を見ました。はっとした伊右衛門 はすぐに剣を取り、幽霊を切りつけました。我に返ると伊右衛門は自分がお岩を切ったのではなく彼の最愛のオウメを 切り捨てたと気づいて驚愕しました。お岩の姿が消えた時にはオウメはすでに死んで床に横たわっていたのです。 伊右衛門はオウメの実家に駆けつけました。しかし、伊右衛門が伊藤の家に着いたとき、そこで彼は殺された小平の幽 霊に直面しました。もう一度伊右衛門は小平を切りましたが、小平の姿が消えた時にはその場に喜平が絶命して床に横 たわっていました。 伊右衛門がどこへ逃げても、お岩の怨霊がすぐ現れます。お岩の崩壊した顔は夢の中でも彼を怯えさせ、その恨みのこ もった悲惨な声は常に彼女の復讐を伊右衛門に思い出させました。 お岩は寝ても覚めてもどこにでも恨めしい顔をして現れるのです。最後に、伊右衛門は山奥の粗末な小屋に逃げ込みま した。しかし伊右衛門はもはや幻覚を現実から見分けることができなくなり、やがて狂気の暗い夜に沈んでいきまし た。

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Translation of a famous Japanese ghost story.

This famous folktale’s ghost is called Oiwa-san. She is someone who actually existed and died in 1636.

In the olden days, Oiwa married a samurai named Ie-mon. It was a bad marriage because Ie-mon was a disloyal man and had a habit of stealing. The marriage soon started to deteriorate, leading Oiwa to decide to leave Ie-mon and return to her family home, but Ie-mon chased after her. Ie-mon was stopped from seeing her by Oiwa’s father, Yotsuya Samon. However, Ie-mon drew out his sword and killed Samon.

Ie-mon went to Oiwa and told her that her father had been killed by a rogue. He promised to avenge her father and brought Oiwa back home.

Shortly afterwards, Oiwa gave birth. However, Oiwa became sickly and life was only difficult. When Ie-mon was beginning to think that Oiwa was a burden, he met Oume, the beautiful daughter of a wealthy doctor named Ito Kihei. Ie-mon started to think straight away that he wanted to abandon Oiwa and be with Oume.

Kihei told Ie-mon that he would allow him to remarry Oume and inherit the wealth of the Ito family if he separated from Oiwa. So, Ie-mon teamed up with Kihei and deceived Oiwa by giving her an ointment that he said would cure her disease but which in reality, was a terrible poison that would disfigure her face horribly. Oiwa’s face, covered in ointment, collapsed horrifyingly. Ie-mon was disappointed by Oiwa’s appearance with her disfigured face and became more and more attracted to the young and beautiful Oume, leading him to commit more bad deeds so he could divorce quickly. In order to have enough money to marry Oume, Ie-mon pawned off Oiwa’s possessions without her permission, and because he needed a good reason to divorce her, tried to accuse her of infidelity by hiring his friend Takuetsu to rape her.

Takuetsu tried to attack her as he was told but when he first caught sight of Oiwa he started trembling so much that he could not carry out the bad deed. Takuetsu told Oiwa about Ie-mon’s plan and showed her collapsed face with a mirror. Oiwa had not realised that the ointment had messed up her face so was shocked by her own face reflected in the mirror. In fear, she tried to cover her disfigured face with her bangs but the hair that she had grasped suddenly fell out onto the ground as a bloody mass. After seeing that, Oiwa screamed madly and cut her own throat with a nearby sword. Even after Oiwa collapsed on the floor, she suffered and bled to death.

Oiwa’s corpse was found by Ie-mon’s servant, Kohei. Even after hearing the bad news, Ie-mon was not able to hide the joy on his face and Kohei, who saw this, grew shocked. Kohei found Ie-mon suspicious but before he could tell anyone about his doubts, he was killed by Ie-mon. Oiwa and Kohei were nailed to a door board by Ie-mon and swept away by a river. Afterwards, he told a lie that Oiwa and Kohei were having an affair. In this way, he was finally able to marry Oume.

However, this was the beginning of Oiwa’s revenge.

On the night of their wedding, Ie-mon turned over on the bed to see Oiwa’s horrifying face right next to him. He immediately drew out his sword and cut the ghost. When he became rational again Ie-mon realised that he had not cut Oiwa but his beloved Oume. By the time Oiwa’s ghost had disappeared, Oume had already died, lying on the floor.

Ie-mon rushed to Oume’s family house. However, when Ie-mon arrived, he faced the ghost of Kohei who had been killed. Once again, Ie-mon cut down Kohei, but when Kohei disappeared, Kihei was dead on the ground.

No matter where Ie-mon ran away, Oiwa’s ghost appeared immediately. Oiwa’s disfigured face haunted him even in his dreams and her resentful and tragic voice always reminded him of her revenge.

Oiwa showed up everywhere with a resentful face, whether he was sleeping or awake. Finally, Ie-mon ran away into a humble hut deep in the mountains. However, Ie-mon became unable to distinguish his hallucinations from reality, and eventually sank into a dark night of madness.

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Toda saudade Toda saudade (1989), Gilberto Gil Toda saudade é a presença Da ausência de alguém De algum lugar, de algo enfim Súbito o não toma forma de sim Como se a escuridão se pusesse a luzir Da própria ausência de luz O clarão se produz o sol na solidão Toda saudade é um capuz transparente Que veda e ao mesmo tempo traz a visão Do que não se pode ver Porque se deixou pra trás Mas que se guardou no coração O que não se pode ver Porque se deixou pra trás Mas que se guardou no coração No coração No coração https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKnF293ERNA

Saudade é uma emoção muito especial para os Portugueses e para a qual é difícil encontrar um equivalente direto noutras línguas. É várias vezes definida como um sentimento de nostalgia, a sensação de sentir falta de algo ou alguém ou até o desejo pela coisa amada, que se torna doloroso pela sua ausência. A sua origem envolve alguma incerteza. Para alguns deriva do Latim solitate, do verbo português saudar e até mesmo da palavra árabe sawdā que significa um estado de humor melancólico. O que é certo é que este conceito tem tudo a ver com a identidade e etnicidade portuguesa e que há vários séculos vem influenciando os poetas, cantores e artistas de várias áreas. Tomemos como exemplo a canção de Gilberto Gil intitulada Toda saudade.

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Every longing Every longing (1989), Gilberto Gil Every longing is the presence Of someone’s absence Of somewhere, of something at last Sudden, the no takes form of yes As if the darkness started to shine Of the very absence of light The glare produces the sun in solitude Every nostalgia is a transparent hood That seals and brings vision at the same time Of what cannot be seen Because one has left it behind But that one kept in the heart Of what cannot be seen Because one has left it behind But that one kept in the heart In the heart In the heart https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKnF293ERNA Saudade is a very special emotion for the Portuguese e for which is difficult to find the direct equivalent in other languages. It is many times defined as a feeling of nostalgia, the sensation of missing something or someone or even the desire for the beloved thing, made painful by its absence. Its origin involves certain uncertainty.

For some it derives from the Latin solitate (solitude), from the Portuguese verb to greet and even from the Arabic word sawdÄ which means a melancholic mood.

What is certain is that this concept has everything to do with the Portuguese identity and ethnicity and that for several centuries has been influencing poets, singers and all artists. Let’s have a look at the example of the song from Gilberto Gill called Every longing.

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