Russian poet Boris Pasternak once described literature to be "the art of discovering something extraordinary about ordinary people, and saying ordinary words something extraordinary" There are best-selling novels created by authors from all over with different ethnicities, backgrounds, and cultures. The fact that we were able to read some of these novels as a result of translation is truly a gift. However the chief issue with translating Literature is the presence of language barriers which restricts our appreciation and understanding of these translated works.
The main advantage that translated literature brings to the table, is that we (The world) as a multi-cultural society are able to read each other's works and gain the ability to better understand the world we live in through gaining appreciation of other people's cultures and values.It's a wonder how words that once meant gibberish to us are now world-renowned texts translated into our very own languages that we are now able to read and gain life-lessons from. One example of such a text is "O Alquimista' written by Portuguese author Paulo Coelho. The book sold over 65 million copies world-wide and was translated to 67 languages.
One issue with translation is that each one of us was brought up differently and perceive different things through our unique life-experiences and then attempt to relate them to literature and other sources of knowledge. If one translator perceives something differently, then the text is altered, which could ruin the entire message behind the original text. A Chinese author "Feng" translated a collection of poems and out of the 326 verses, only three were criticized as the meaning of the official poems was slightly altered. This was because Feng perceived the poems in a more sexual form than what the author meant, thus he received countless amounts of criticism and death threats .
With that being said, i believe that despite the potential of a loss of meaning through translation, the fact that we are now able to comprehend literature from other cultures is intriguing. All credit solely goes to translation. All in all, some say that you would never understand the true meaning of life without reading certain texts. This statement alone, puts great emphasis on the importance of literature and why language barriers should not be a major issue.
i like your introduction as it is attention grabbing yet still on topic and educational. it is also good that as well as discussing the issue at hand you provided advantages and disadvantages to further support your argument.
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This is a very insightful and interesting piece of writing. I like your use of real world examples and the facts that you are able to grab the reader in with. The personal opinion in the last paragraph is a nice touch as well.
ReplyDeleteInteresting how you view translation as a valuable asset to everyone despite the many inherent limitations it has, and that exposure is more important. Also, good use of examples throughout the text.
ReplyDeleteI think that your response complete shows the two sides of the story. On the one hand you discussed that when a text is translated, new information and values are being made available to individuals of different societies, which is a fact that enriches the culture, having into account that numerous views values, and situations are portrayed in stories with complex plots. Besides of this, I have to say that I agree with what you said about the art or altering a literary work. When translation of a literary work occurs, the message is sometimes misinterpreted and therefore changed, but I think that instead of ruining the message it creates a new one that can be understood as a different view that offers a different perspective. Very good job, your word choice was superb.
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