Introduction to

Literary Translation
Translation

“Translation, like politics, is an

art of the possible;
compromise is inevitable and
universal.” John Bester
Hujan selalu mengingatkanku
Padamu
Yang pernah tertumpu rindu
Pada suatu waktu
 Technical vs Literary Translation

• Technical translation focuses on information whereas

literary translation focuses on the way the information is
delivered.

(a lively, highly readable translation) VS

(a stilted, rigid and artificial rendering that strips the
original of its soul)
Technical vs Literary Translation

• More than other branches of the translator's

art, literary translation entails an unending
skein of choices; choices of words, fidelity,
emphasis, punctuation, register, even spelling.

Therefore, no two translations of the same

work would ever be the same.
Types

Translation of literary texts includes:

• literary translation of books, articles, stories
and other types of prose,
• literary translation of poetry,
• translation of advertising materials,
• translation of other texts that requires a
creative and flexible approach.
Capabilities of Literary
Translator

• Translation of literature is fundamentally

different from other categories.
• Main principle of literary translation is the
dominance of poetic communicative function.
• Rendering information to the reader AND
artistic image created in the particular literary
work
Capabilities of a Literary
Translator?
• tone,
• style,
• flexibility,
• inventiveness,
• knowledge of SL culture,
• ability to glean meaning from ambiguity,
• an ear for sonority
• and humility!
 Knowledge

• Knowledge of the target culture is crucial for successful

English-Indonesian-English translation.
• Poor comprehension may arise from lack of insight into
the target culture.
• Culture is the complex whole, which includes
knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, customs, and any
other capabilities or habits acquired by man as a
member of society
Prevailing View

• A translation should reproduce in the TL

reader the same emotional and psychological
reaction produced in the original SL reader
• not without its hazards???
--- reproduce boredom? Incoherence? Factual
errors?
It is said…

"A successful translation must sound somewhat

alien, strange, not because it is awkward or
unaware of the resources of the second
language, but because it expresses something
new in it." Murat Nemet Nejat
Transparency

• What is transparency? (vs

Fidelity?)
• Translator’s invisibility
• A view to reappraising the role of the translator as
AGENT
• A translation should not read like
a translation (how far?)
• Such as “what a hero!”  “Dia
benar-benar pahlawan sejati!”
Resistance

• The resistance of SL culture and SL language to

being shoehorned into a dissimilar cultural-
linguistic frame.
• Translators who follow “resistance theory”
deliberately avoid excluding any elements
that betray the "otherness" of the text's
origin.
Word-for-word OR
Thought-for-thought

• One problem is trying to squeeze every last kernel of

meaning from the SL text
• The result of overly zealous concern for "fidelity" to the
original.
• Don't go word-for-word!
 Word-for-word OR
Thought-for-thought
• Thought-for-thought should help you render more fluent or
transparent translations, especially with highly emotional
discourse.
• The goal is to translate not what the author wrote,
rather what the author meant.
• A competent translation will find an equivalent phrase in
the TL.
 Adaptation

• It is not straight translation

• When translating for the theater (translating or rewriting?)
• When translating for a movie
"We must flee at once before the nitroglycerin explodes into
a raging inferno, destroying our escape route and leaving
this entire building a charred ember!“
Puns and wordplay

• No aspect of translation is more frustrating

and more rewarding
• Most puns are untranslatable.
• But the effect can be reproduced (such as
humour)
Adaptation & Puns

• "Mine is a long and a sad tale!"said the mouse

turning to Alice and sighing. "it is a long tail,
certainly" said Alice, looking down with
wonder to the mouse’s tail " but why do you
call it sad?"
Register

• non-technical/technical,
• informal/formal,
• urban/rural,
• standard/regional,
• jargon/non-jargon,
• vulgarity/propriety
Check this out!

• Naught have I (archaic)

• Nothing have I (poetic)
• I have noting (standard or formal, written)
• I don't have anything (standard, colloquial, more
spoken)
• I don't have nothing (substandard, almost always
spoken)
• I ain't got nothing (substandard, spoken)
• I don't got nothing (substandard, dialect)
How about…

kidding – joking – jesting – japing – bullshitting--

die – kick the bucket – pass away – study the geology of

holy ground
 Tone

• It is the overall feeling conveyed by an utterance, a

passage, or an entire work, whether consciously or
unconsciously
• It can be: humour, irony, sincerity, earnestness, naïveté, or
any sentiment.
• It can shift mid-paragraph
• It helps in dealing with puns, and indirect allusions
Style

• It is more than just specific words

• It can be the ratio of long sentences to shorter
ones, paragraph division, figures of speech,
periodic sentences, etc.
 Style

• In theory, style in a translator is "oxymoron". Remain

invisible! Retain the individual idiosyncrasies of the writer.
• In practice, the translator consciously or unconsciously
displays a characteristic mode of expression. (couch/sofa,
curtains/drapes)
Case Study
• The author's style is characterized by commas separating
half a dozen of run-on sentences!

Decision two:
Decision usebreak
one: semicolons instead
the passage into
Decision
discrete four:The
sentences. leave it asmight
result is, hoping
of commas. The
Decision three: result
use amight
dash be abeand
here a
stop-and-go for an which
effect, exoticisflavor!
the opposite
bookish, academic
there look
of the hurry-hurry, out-of-breath pace
intended by the author
Cultural Allusions

• Sometimes a text makes reference to persons,

objects and institutions not really understood
by another culture.
• If they are familiar to the SL reader, they are
often meaningless to the TL reader.
• How should this problem be solved?
Allusions

• ST: Did you think you were Sir Lancelot to

involve in such a big fight?

• ST: Your story is similar to that of Romeo and

Juliet.
•
Bridging Cultural Gap in
Translation

• The greater the cultural distance between the

source culture and the target culture, the
more the translator will need to bridge that
gap!
• Whether to provide sufficient background- a
great deal, not much, not at all…
• Three Options: footnotes, interpolation,
omission
Footnotes

• yes, they convey the maximum possible

amount of information
• Yet! They break the flow, continually drawing
the eye away from the text; thus, disrupting
the "willing suspension of disbelief"
• The book's primary purpose will help you
decide!
Interpolation
• It is adding parenthetical word or phrase
• They should be done carefully and with
consideration for the rhythmic flow of
language.
• Keep them short!
Omission
• leaving the reader to his own devises.
• e.g. money (type or sum)
THANK YOU