Skip to main content

160 LOST IN TRANSLATION


160          LOST IN TRANSLATION



Translations are as good as the understanding of a translator of the poem and the context of the author. The nuances, subtlety and significance of words, and the complexity of context make some translations unable to capture the essence of a poem. Good translations require a degree of familiarity with the culture, the language and the poet.

My good friend and translator Nizar Sartawi had vehemently refused to accept to read a translation of a poem when we were in Morocco. He was totally scandalized that a poem should be translated in a literal way. I realized that when he was translating my poems into Arabic, he would call or message several times, he would ask me the specific context of the poems, and the story behind the "voice". In the case of Luz María López who translated my poems in Spanish, we would chat for hours, despite the fact that she knew English quite well.

I wrote a poem in 2016 about foul excrement:


Ambalingit a tai

angan na layag
pimmaway
ambanget a tai
balet tinapay na tawen
ed arom ya say pananisiya da
sikatoý Dios


In English, it translates to: Fragrant excrement / he ate an ear/ it came out/ it smelled like poop/ but it is manna from heaven/ to those who believe/ he is God.

In Ilocano: Nabanglo nga takki / nangan ti lapayag/ rimmuar/ nabangsit nga takki/ ngem tinapay ti langit/ kadagiti mamati/ nga isu ni Apo Dios.

In Pilipino: Mabangong tae / kumain ng tenga/ lumabas/ mabahong tae/ ngunit tinapay galing langit/ sa mga naniniwalang/ siya ang Diyos.

Here is the Google translation in English, if you copy paste the Pangasinan:

Ambalingit a tai / naught sail/ pimmaway/ ambanget a tai/ ballet loaf bread/ ed arom ya say pananisiya da/ sikatoý Dios.

If you copy paste the Pilipino translation, it becomes truly hilarious:

Dehydrated / eaten ears / go out / smelly shit / but bread from heaven / those who believe / he is God.


Before you go jumping with joy over the translations of your poems in various languages, notice the quantum leap of the translation, when and how did the “foul excrement" transition to “dehydrated”? It did not take long for the moisture to evaporate, did it? Most translations today are at best, translations of words, at par with the hilarity of translations in Google.









Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

168 ESTABLISHING “FACTS”

168           ESTABLISHING “FACTS” In 1997, during his professorial lecture at the City College of Manila, Ambeth Ocampo, former Chairperson of the National Historical Commission (NHCP) said "Personally, I think this controversy like that of the site of the first mass -- Limasawa, Leyte or Masao, Butuan -- belongs in the basura (trash). But then, textbooks and quiz shows require definite answers. People want "facts" not lessons or perspectives."   Vicente Calibo de Jesus, a relentless researcher on the subject of the first “mass” disagrees. He said, “A historian has a moral obligation to Truth, and an ethical responsibility to his readers, domestic and global.” There is also a claim that the first “mass” was actually in Bolinao, Pangasinan celebrated in 1324 by Odoric of Pordenone, OFM, also known as Odorico Mattiussi or Mattiuzzi, an Italian late-medieval Franciscan friar and missionary explorer, predating the  mass ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Armi

Published by  Sunday Punch Dagupan Pangasinan   July 23, 2019 Armi By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo It is not clear to me how I first met Armi Bangsal. I had this impression that she was introduced by Enoch Tan, but I could be wrong. Maybe she was introduced to me by another friend, Josefina (Josie) Lolarga. I have a clearer memory of how I met another friend, Fe Mangahas, from a timeline she remembers, which became the basis of my recall of the occasion. However, the clarity of our memory recedes over time, and with it, modifications of the stories, and so I think there may be an earlier event where we had met, which escaped her memory. Armi and I stayed close friends up to this day, seeing each other occasionally, sometimes only during Christmas and her birthday, and mourning the passing of other friends. I saw her more often during the last few years, because of the meetings scheduled by the Pangasinan Historical and Cultural Commission in Lingayen, where she res...
Post a Comment
Read more

155 INDEPENDENCE DAY

155           INDEPENDENCE DAY I had lunch with an old friend at Chocolate Kiss on Independence Day. We talked about our relationships and how we, considering our advocacy on women empowerment and environmental coexistence, experienced independence, codependence and interdependence.   “Alam mo, nakakapagod din. Buong buhay ko, nag-aalaga akong tao.” (You know, it is also tiring. All my life I have been taking care of people.) “Come to think of it, tama ka. Ganyan din ako.” (you are right. I am like that too.) “Sana sa next life, tayo rin ang alagaan.” (Hoping in the next life, we are the ones being cared for.) “Why in the next life? We can make steps to realize this, in this lifetime. And we can pray to God to make this happen.” “I miss him. It’s been years since I was pampered that way. He knows what I need before I even utter it. Sometimes, even before I think of it.” “In a way, we are lucky. At least ...
Post a Comment
Read more