Each language has it's own certain words, expressions, metaphors and meanings which are difficult to translate or gauge its true meaning in another language. There is a clear limitation as some words may be hard to translate so we are forced to subsitute in the closest possible meaning in order to make up for the lack of a visible match. Learning about a book which has been translated does help open doors into understanding different aspects on words and certain things that have a unique meaning.
A great part about studying a translated text is viewing something from a dofferent context and perspective such as viewing Thief and the Dogs from an Egyptian perspective and the revolution in Egypt helps shape our understanding better of the text and of the culture itself. A translated text helps see how the context can shape the writing ability of the author due to looking at the different circumstances the author was living in.
A link can be made to Lost in Translation where Feng Tang's work was translated into English and it appeared that 3 of the 326 poems were vulgar and inappropriate. This clearly shows the limitations on translating but also how understanding thse texts are shaped vis context due to the fact that many generations will view this in the weong light while others will not have a problem with the supposed vulgarity.
Great work Broski, but just update "war" to "revolution", other than that, very good post with some quality ideas.
ReplyDeleteLiked how you focused on the context of the translated text rather than the translations themselves, especially using Feng's case with the different generations and how they all reacted differently based on their context and understanding.
ReplyDeleteGreat work George. I liked how you linked the topic to Feng Tangs work. I also agree that reading a translated text allows the reader to view the context from a different perspective.
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