Proceedings from the Document Academy Proceedings from the Document Academy
Volume 9
Issue 2
Proceedings from the 2022 Annual
Meeting of the Document Academy
Article 2
2022
Translation Disease: Proximity Gone Awry Translation Disease: Proximity Gone Awry
Laurie J. Bonnici
University of Alabama
Brian C. O'Connor
University of North Texas
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Recommended Citation Recommended Citation
Bonnici, Laurie J. and O'Connor, Brian C. (2022) "Translation Disease: Proximity Gone Awry,"
Proceedings from the Document Academy
: Vol. 9 : Iss. 2 , Article 2.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.35492/docam/9/2/2
Available at: https://ideaexchange.uakron.edu/docam/vol9/iss2/2
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A translation must preserve the sense of its original, and it is not hard to imagine,
or find, instances of texts claiming to be translations of such and such a work, but
bearing so little resemblance to the original, preserving so little of the sense of the
original as to be ‘no translation at all.’ But there is no imaginable way of saying
precisely how much of the sense of the original must be preserved, for a putative
translation really to be a translation of some text.
—Patrick Wilson, Two Kinds of Power, 1968. p. 10
In our work on proximity, we looked to translation as one manner of achieving
some degree of proximity between authors and recipients at some cultural or
temporal distance from one another (Bonnici & O’Connor, 2022). We assert that
when a translation does not adequately present the “sense of the original” to some
recipient there is a dis-ease.
We present here considerations of three trans medial translations that have caused
dis-ease. We look at novel to film, poem to cantata, and novel to film to television
series translations to examine various strains of dis-ease. Upon early consideration,
we realized Wilson’s call for a “turn to the functional” provides a means of
determining whether a translation is “inadequate” – has gone awry. We then fit the
concept of translation into our model of proximity as a way to consider whether a
“putative translation really [is] a translation of some text.” Ultimately, we argue
that one person’s disease may be another’s cure.
Thoughts on some translations
Laurie Bonnici: In high school I gravitated toward modern foreign languages. A
natural polyglot, I voraciously absorbed Spanish, French, and German – speaking,
reading, and writing. As a result, I was awarded a study abroad experience in
Mexico. Such an educational experience would afford understanding beyond the
literalness of language – it should bring a greater completeness of understanding
that lingers between without evident connection.
When we think of the word ‘translation’ many a thought is drawn to the work of
interpreting content of one language into another – Spanish to English, English to
French, Greek to German, etc. Famous translations include:
• The Bible, which has been translated into 450 languages from its original
Hebrew text
• Indian Sutras, translated by Buddhists for Chinese audiences
• The Qur’an, translated from Arabic into 100 different languages
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• Treaty of Kadesh, a peace agreement concurrently written by Egyptians and
Hittites
• Twain’s “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County,” translated
from American English into French
Each of these famous works has been interpreted through various translation types.
Twain’s translation was playful, engaging in back-translation. This process used
the French version as the source material to make a translation to English. The
Treaty of Kadesh was a legal translation which evaded a literal approach. Although
co-scripted, the Egyptian version was blunt while the Hittite was evasive of
wording. While the Qur’an is considered sacred and should not be violated, it was
believed that it should never be translated. However, concern for understanding the
Islamic belief was important and drove translation into languages for understanding
across the globe. Translated versions of the Qur’an are described as interpretations
of the original. The Sutras, similar to the Qur’an are categorized as localization
translation efforts where interpretation allows for fit with a particular culture, in
this case Chinese culture which was attractive to monk countrymen. Each of these
translations is a shift from one language to another. But even more so, they are
shifts in values and understanding from one culture to another to increase chances
of understanding and adoption – what we refer to as assimilating proximity.
It is to be assumed, if not wholly expected, that translation from one language to
another will result in marked changes in meaning for the reader. But what of
translations within language but between formats? Here we specifically consider
book to screen translations – commonly referred to as adaptations. Our
considerations of these translations specifically are around the concept of stickiness
as it relates to the assimilation of proximity.
My study abroad experience afforded me fluency in the Spanish language. No
longer did I need to rely on literal translations from English to Spanish to navigate
conversations and other day-to-day living in Mexico. However, it wasn’t until my
return States side that I realized how deeply a language impacts the psychological
and cultural components of our being. Just months after my return I was speaking
about the loss of a dear friend to cancer. Certainly, words and phrases such as
sadness, deep loss, emptiness were appropriate. But there was a lingering nagging
at my consciousness to use language to convey a sentiment I was experiencing. The
only word I could think of was a word in Spanish, ‘ajeno.’ We can use English to
describe the word – external or unconnected, to name a couple. But these fail to
convey a sentiment – one that does not exist in the American culture.
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Je ne sais quoi
It is this failure to convey sentiment – to build a bridge of understanding between
humans who share the same language that lingers from interpretations of book to
screen adaptations. We offer as example a recently authored book – best seller
turned to big screen – Where the Crawdad’s Sing by Delia Owens (Newman, 2022;
Owens, 2018).
My introduction to the book
was through a close network
of friends who frequently
discuss and share what they
read. Owen’s book was one
of many, but one that
strongly impacted our
conversations around our
readings. Although all
concurred that the book conjured up beautiful imagery, there were differences in
evaluation of narrative. Our differences held deep conviction of difference. Some
of us felt the book was consistent in tone throughout the novel while others detected
a nearly indistinct change in tone – as if it were “a bit sophomoric.”
With respect, these differences were embraced as one of our group was touched by
the sexual violence due to a personal experience. It was not until the recent debut
of the movie that we revisited the book and our analyses. We all agreed that the
imagery was well displayed in the movie, some small differences in translation
from book to movie existed – though not to distraction. For the most part, characters
translated in demeanor and appearance. Even the location seemed true to the book
(despite being filmed in Louisiana, not North Carolina where the story is set). Our
discussion turned to the lingering difference among us. The question was posed –
did those who experienced a change in tone in the book experience this in the
movie? Interestingly there was a unanimous feeling that it went undetected in the
movie. Yet this was not to the distraction of the viewers when considering the
overall story translation from book to screen. Yet conviction remained that it was
evident in the book.
Our query turned to how was this detected by some readers but not others in our
group? One reader, who did not detect the shift in tone, stated they felt that the
author must have experienced sexual trauma. Further exploration revealed that
imagery in the movie of sexual misconduct was so real it “took their breath away.”
Only someone with proximity of experience could be impacted so deeply – so
Composite by O'Connor
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profoundly. It was this realization that turned our attention back to the difference
in interpretation of prose. Assumptions were that the difference in tone was so
subtle that it went undetected by some. Our discussion revealed that those in the
group who had been victim to sexual abuse did not detect the shift in prose while
those fortunate to be free of such experience identified the change when reading the
book.
We use “disease” in its older sense of “lack of physical comfort, tranquility, state
of mind” to describe reactions of original authors and reactions of readers/ viewers/
listeners of translations. We witness two distinct disease reactions to the book.
Those who detected the shift in narrative experienced disease with the reading
experience. A few described the shift as an indicator that the author could have
ended the book sooner. Content within the shift seemed unnecessary or distracting.
Meanwhile, those who had suffered sexual abuse in real life, who read the book
unaware of the shift in tone, experienced increased feelings of disease around
content – shared experience correlated with post-traumatic response.
Through this shared experience of adaptation, we see vestiges of interpretation and
localization translation. The same content was experienced differently across
readers (interpretation). Lived experiences afforded proximity to content
(localization translation). However, without the lived experience, the sentiment
failed to translate to some readers. In neither experience does this impact
understanding of the story. Among us there remained an unspoken, untranslated
(mis)-understanding. Those who experienced sexual trauma which resulted in
undetected shift in prose could not convey the experience to those without lived
sexual trauma. There were no words to translate the feeling, the sentiment, the
emotion. We can label a strand of the web as shared lived experience – direct
experience with sexual trauma. This conveys a difference in interpretation. But we
cannot translate the sentiment. For some, the strand is left unnavigated – does not
stick. We are left with a ‘je ne sais quoi’ in plotting the web of proximity.
Brian O’Connor: As an undergraduate student of Greek and Latin literature, I
became quite taken with the work of Gaius Valerius Catullus (c. 84 – c. 54 BCE).
Why so? His poetry was the antithesis of the heroic tradition, short pieces of a few
lines or a few pages rather than, say, the 12,000 lines of Homer’s Odyssey. The
voice is often first person and the topics personal rather than great tales of heroes
and gods. It is, perhaps, of no small interest that Catullus was deeply influenced by
Callimachus (Καλλίμαχος), the polymath at the Museum & Library of Alexandria
who authored the Pinakes – a catalogue of all the poetry and prose within the
Library. Callimachus was, himself, a highly influential poet.
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One of my favorite poems is generally referred to as Catullus 85, the 85
th
poem of
the 116 known works by the poet. An elegiac couplet, its entirety is but two lines.
The premise that the poet has just been dumped by a woman by whom he had been
enchanted and now was beginning to desire in a more lasting relationship.
Odi et amo. Quare id faciam fortasse requires
Nescio, sed fieri sentio et excrucior. (Catullus & Merrill, 1966)
In English it is rendered something like this:
I hate and love. How can I do this you might ask.
I don’t know, but I feel it happening and I am torn apart.
There are some intriguing issues around the translation from Latin to English. At
the time of Catullus, “amo” had more the sense of “fuck” today and it is in Catullus
that we see the beginning of a shift to “love” in today’s sense, but those two senses
are not yet distinct. Similarly, there is considerable discussion over “excrucior” –
does it mean something like crucify, general suffering, or being torn apart by teams
of horse? Intriguing as such matters of word-for-word translation are, it is another
form of translation that gave me dis-ease in 1965 and to this day. We cannot have
a conversation with Catullus for an author’s opinion, though we can do scholarly
examinations and exegeses.
For our purposes it is the structure of the poem that matters. How does one translate
the structure? Catullus 85 has been noted for some centuries for its structure as
much as for its words, as one might expect of a poem. The poet has compressed the
entangled, wrenching emotions of lost love in 14 words. When spoken in Latin, the
poem has elisions that join, importantly, two nouns at the opening and two verbs at
the end. Hate and love are literally one, as are feel and torn apart.
Odi et amo. Quare id faciam fortasse requires
Nescio, sed fieri sentio et excrucior.
The poem is first person, brief – about 11 seconds – and the elisions (highlighted
in yellow) tangle the poet’s feelings together. An audio recording of the poem is
available at the 2 minute, 35 second mark in classicist Christopher Francese’s
discussion of Catullus 85 (Fancese, n.d.).
Carl Orff set Catullus 85 within his cantata Catulli Carmina, composed 1940–1943.
His is a translation of format, of medium – the words remain: Odi et amo. Quare id
faciam fortasse requires. Nescio, sed fieri sentio et excrucior. Set to music and
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performed by a group result in a piece quite different though the words remain the
same. The words “Odi et amo” are pronounced distinctly and discreetly, no elision.
The words are repeated. First, Odi, odi odi; then Odi et a a a a amo; then all three
words again. These are sung by multiple voices. In most recordings the “Odi et
amo” portion occupies about 24 seconds – more than twice the length of the entire
poem spoken. The Catullus 85 portion of the cantata generally occupies about 78
seconds of the cantata – seven times the spoken version.
Orff changed the structure. One might ask what is the source of dis-ease? Catullus
and the neoteric poets, in the school of Callimachus and the tradition of Sappho,
specifically rejected the epic traditions, the tales of heroes and gods told at great
length. The multiple voices and orchestra of the cantata could be seen as more of
the epic approach. Yet, audiences have liked the work and recordings are abundant.
What was dis-ease to my sense of Catullus’s work, was not dis-ease to many
modern listeners. (Orff, n.d.)
We might ask “proximity to what?” For the young classicist, the jewel-like
encapsulation so much emotion in 14 words seemed extraordinary – the structure
mattered. Yet, for concert-goers, an unaccompanied solo speaker presenting the
same 14 words would not have fit the idea of a cantata – they would likely have felt
dis-eased, especially if they did not understand Latin.
How big is Jack Reacher
We turn to a modern-day triangular translation issue – filmic translations of Lee
Child’s Jack Reacher novels. The combined sales of all the titles in the series about
a retired military police investigator has passed 100 million copies. Motion pictures
followed.
Tom Cruise, popular action-adventure actor portrayed Reacher in two feature films
with gross receipts approaching half a billion dollars. Amazon Prime produced an
eight-episode series based on the first Child novel, that was ranked number two by
Nielson in the category of streamed series. Tom Cruise was replaced by Alan
Ritchson for the series.
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What does the original author think of the translations?
Both filmic translations of Jack Reacher were popular and both even have cameo
appearances by Lee Child. One controversial aspect of the translations makes them
of interest here – how big Jack Reacher is. In the novel he is described as about 6
feet 5 inches tall and very broad. Tom Cruise if 5 feet 7 inches tall. Many who had
read the novels were upset with the size difference. In this instance we have
comments from the author about the two filmic translations. Child had commented
favorably on Cruise’s portrayal of Reacher, noting that the large size of the
character on the page was a “metaphor for an unstoppable force” and that few are
better playing “unstoppable steely determination” than Cruise (Shoard, 2011).
However, Child eventually agreed with those who objected to Cruise because of
his size:
"I really enjoyed working with Cruise. He's a really, really nice guy. We
had a lot of fun. But ultimately the readers are right. The size of Reacher is
really, really important and it's a big component of who he is...So what I've
decided to do is – there won't be any more movies with Tom Cruise. Instead,
we're going to take it to Netflix or something like that. Long-form streaming
television, with a completely new actor. We're rebooting and starting over
and we're going to try and find the perfect guy. (Andreeva & Hipes, 2018)
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How might we think about translation?
It is worthy of note that “translation” is derived from the same verb as “transfer”
and both have the sense of “moving a thing from one place to another, change of
position, transfer of property or rights from one person to another, transferred or
figurative use of a word, transfer of ideas from one context to another, action of
translating from one language to another.” (OED)
Translation is a form of representation. As such, some things are highlighted and
some things are left out. If this were not the case, the translation would simply be
another instance of the original. As Marr notes, the user of a representation can only
make use of it if they know the coding system – the rules for what is selected and
how it is coded.
Sterling and Scott provide insight into the translation process in the preface to their
rendition of The Republic by Plato: “Translation can never reproduce the original.
Variances in vocabulary, sentence structure, word order, idiom, and cultural context
are …the principal reasons why translation must be a matter of conversation and
not mere copying.” (Plato, 1996)
The “matter of conversation” can be seen a as a manifold construct. A translator
converses with the circumstances of the authoring of the original message, and with
the circumstances of the likely audience. Similarly, each individual engaging with
the translation message converses with the message through their own capabilities
and needs.
Translation web of proximity
In our work on proximity, we developed a web of proximity for Emily Wilson’s
translation of Homer’s Odyssey to illustrate the translator’s conversations with the
earlier text and its environment and the future readers and their environment
(Homer, 2018). In this particular web, the translator is central to the translation,
working to bring attributes of an earlier work into alignment with attributes of a
contemporary audience. The translator cannot know all the attributes of either the
original author or all members of the contemporary audience; however, with some
research they can know many of the attributes and they can add to the conversation
by stating their assumptions and practices. For example, Emily Wilson embeds her
translation of the Odyssey within 80 pages of discussion of her research on the
cultural and linguistic foundations of the text and her efforts to align her translation
with the abilities and assumptions of her intended audience, along with maps and a
glossary.
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Situational fitness of translation
Our examples of differing reactions to the same message, the same putative
translation, bring us to Shannon and Wilson. The text claiming to be a translation
is a message. Shannon (1948) asserts that the message does not in and of itself
contain meaning; an author generates a message within a certain coding system,
making assumptions about the decoding abilities of an audience. The message
carries only those coded marks. The recipient of the message engages with the
codes and derives what they are able to, desire to from those codes.
Wilson’s notions of situational relevance and accessibility are useful companions
to Shannon here. Why someone engages with a message and the degree to which a
message is linguistically accessible (here meaning whatever coding system),
conceptually accessible, and critically accessible have significant bearing on the
functionality, the meaning for the user (Wilson, 1977).
Translation is a channel between a message using one representation coding system
and a user not familiar (perhaps totally unfamiliar or merely not so facile as
desired.) The channel carries representations of the radials and connecting arcs.
Proximity Web
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We overlaid our construct of proximity onto the typical graphical representation of
Shannon’s model of communication to represent the distinction between message
and meaning, as well as Wilson’s notion of functionality depending on
accessibility. Here we assert that the degree of overlap between an author’s coding
system and all the antecedents to the message and the decoding abilities of each
user and all the antecedents to the engagement with the document is the inverse of
the noise in the system. The greater the overlap, the greater the functionality of the
message. Antecedents likely include language, style, coding / decoding ability.
Also likely is purpose of the original author, the translator, and the individual
recipient: motivation, articulation education, felicitation (Pratt, 1998).
Shannon, Wilson, proximity overlay
User reactions and putative translations
Given these constructs – the dichotomy of good / bad translation evaporates, with
the possible exception of Wilson’s “…instances of texts claiming to be translations
of such and such a work, but bearing so little resemblance to the original,
preserving so little of the sense of the original as to be ‘no translation at all’”
(Wilson, 1968). The situational functionality is the measure. The greater the
proximity, the greater the likelihood of functionality and the lower the likelihood
of disease.
Taking inspiration from spider webs led us to thinking of the connections between
user attributes and text / author / translator attributes in terms of “stickiness.” What
combinations stick well enough for a user to be satisfied with a text; or, in a case
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such as Tom Cruise as Reacher, so stuck on an antecedent attribute as to reject a
connection that might otherwise be acceptable. Stickiness is essentially the
intersection of antecedents impacting / facilitating decoding and functionality of a
message – the functional antecedent dance partners.
We can map user reactions to messages and to messages that translate other
messages. As to whether we can exactly predict which translations will work for
each and every user we must, at least for now, agree with Wilson that “there is no
imaginable way of saying precisely how much of the sense of the original must be
preserved, for a putative translation really to be a translation of some text.”
Looking ahead
Agreeing with Sterling and Scott (Plato, 1996) about conversation being a crucial
concept in translation – and we would argue, in any information seeking setting –
we have returned to an earlier representation of our proximity construct. Here we
have represented as a vestibule, the commons on which one might stroll about
seeking connections with others who might be suitable partners in the dance of
functional antecedents.
We imagine the vestibule as not only a space in which to wander about randomly,
though that can sometimes be a good idea – browsing. Rather it is a space with
suggested paths, signposts, tracking, dynamic restructuring, filtering, etc. Many
aspects of such a vestibule exist already, of course – cataloguing, hashtags,
aggregated reviews, and suggestions based on previous viewing are but a few. The
vestibule is a setting for the conversation of translation – a place for the multiple
conversations, the engagement of multiple sets of antecedents. It is the purposes
and coding / decoding abilities of the “original author,” the “translation author,”
and each user (“personal re-author”) to negotiate connections of attributes.
We see the negotiation vestibule similar to an airport terminal. It’s not a destination.
Rather it is a transitional space between where one once was and where one is
headed – even when we might not know where that is. A place where one
encounters unknowns to solve needs – grabbing a meal, catching a nap, or chatting
with a stranger. It is a waypoint in the pathway to our destination. We see the
negotiation vestibule as a set of possible paths offering a new set of experiences of
which we may have little previous knowledge, some familiarity, or no knowledge
at all. A source of connections to ease dis-ease.
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A setting for the conversation of translation
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