Was TE Lawrence a good Translator?! By Yasin T. al-Jibouri Written translation and oral interpretation are two faces of one and the same coin, and if one misses a word or two, such an omission can prove to be catastrophic, especially when it comes to important agreements, charters and pacts. When someone gives you a text to render from one language into another, it means that he trusts you to undertake this responsibility seriously, honestly and faithfully and to do your job accurately. But, alas! Life has taught us that this is not always the case simply because translators/interpreters are human beings with likes and dislikes, preferences and prejudices. These humans are subject to overlooking, forgetting or even deliberately omitting texts, if and when doing so serves a certain purpose, and this is what this brief article is all about. Any average reader of Gilgamesh magazine knows that T.E. Lawrence (Thomas Edward Lawrence who was born in 1888 and died in 1935), who is famous as “Lawrence of Arabia,” played a significant role in shaping the Arab world during and after World War I, especially the time he spent in Hijaz and Syria. One of the earliest times during which Lawrence acted as an Arabic-English interpreter was in Damascus in October of 1919 when Gen. Edmund Allenby pressured Faisal, one of the sons of Sharif Hussain of Mecca, to rule Syria on behalf of his father under France’s protection, supervision and financial support, a scheme which later failed miserably. Here, Lawrence acted as an interpreter, but later he acted as a translator, and here are the details: Following the infamous Balfour Declaration of November 2, 1917, the Jews were working hard with help, of course, from the British, to set up a “national home” for them in Palestine, so they were trying to win the support of prominent Arab leaders, including that of Faisal who was being persuaded to support the said Declaration. They finally succeeded more than two years later through efforts exerted by Chaim Weizmann (1874 – 1962) who signed on January 3, 1919 the famous Weizmann-Faisal Agreement which was comprised of nine Articles. We are not concerned in this brief research with those articles but with a statement which Faisal, who later became King Faisal I of, wrote in Arabic on its last page as follows: ال لرم ل ارا خ را ة رر يب يان را العا ر9191 ارانن الاران4 اذا نالت العرب اتراللهل ا ا را ناه راق ياللب بنرا ال ر فان منافق عا ما ذُ ِاب ي ياق هذق ال ناد و ا حصل أدن تغ ب أو تهم ل فه أان مازوما و مبيننا يري اا رر اانرت "يل تُعَ ّم هذق ال لاولر ال ش ء و ال ُحم ل ا و ال اعالها و ال أُنالَ يي ون خ اانت Here below are two translations of this royal statement, one done by T.E. Lawrence, and one by the writer of this article: 1. LAWRENCE’S TRANSLATION:
“If the Arabs are established as I have asked in my manifesto of January 4 presented to the British Secretary of Foreign Affairs, I will carry out what is written in this agreement. If changes are made, I cannot be answerable for failing to carry out this agreement.” 2. MY TRANSLATION: “If the Arabs win their independence, as we demanded it in our report dated January 4, 1919 submitted to the attention of the foreign [ministry] of Great Britain, I will then agree to what is stated in these articles. And if the slightest change or substitution takes place, I will not be obligated or tied to any word whatever; rather, this contract will be nil, non-binding, having no value and I will not be demanded in any way whatever it may be.” Let us count the number of their words: The word count of Lawrence’s translation is 48. The word count of my translation is 82. As you can see, the difference is really not just one or two words. Also, line and a half is written on the same sheet then scratched…, God knows why! What remains for the interested discreet reader is to compare both translations and identify the sentences or phrases which Lawrence ignored or deleted then wonder why he did so: Did he act on his own, or was he instructed by the Jews or the Britons to do that? The answer may open Pandora’s box…
Reference: Grethiplethi Articles: http://www.crethiplethi.com/agreement-between-emir-faisal-husseiniand-dr-weizmann/historical-documents/2009/
Weizmann (left, wearing an Arb headgear) and Faisal
A scanned typed page of the Weizmann-Faisal Agreement