My name is Katrina Spencer and I am originally from Los Angeles, California. I haven't lived there in four years, however. For the past two years, I resided in Columbia, Missouri where I completed coursework towards a Ph.D. in Spanish Language Literature. Prior to that, I spent two years in Madrid teaching English and completing a Master in Spanish.
I decided to change careers and to become a librarian, but not to abandon my interests in Romance languages. This summer my independent study will examine what compromises must be made when a children's literature text is translated from its original language into a secondary one.
I've chosen to examine Roald Dahl's Matilda, this summer in English, Spanish and French. It's a novel about a school-aged girl and focuses on her adventures and magical powers as she masters her world. (I will examine select passages that best serve my goals and not necessarily the entire text.) If you've read Matilda, for example, you'll know that there are two characters, "Miss Honey" and "The Trunchbull" that act, respectively, as ally and nemesis to the young protagonist Matilda. My question is, in this instance, how does a translator acquire the 'sweetness' associated with the former and the 'brusqueness' associated with the latter when filtering a story into a new sociolinguistic paradigm? 'Miel,' the Spanish word for 'honey,' is not a believable last name in Spanish and "trunch" isn't even a word in English. So how do we conjure the same images and feelings when carrying these names into a new language? That's what I'm studying: not translating word for word, but rather translating ' essence.' I still need to determine to what audience this information might be relevant.
If you want to riddle your (bilingual?) mind with more questions, consider these frequently occurring endings in both English language and Spanish language children's books: What is/are the difference(s) between "And they lived happily ever after" and "vivieron felices y comieron perdices" (in English, "they lived happily and ate partridges")? But more importantly, do the potential differences matter? And to whom do they matter and why? Therein lies the center of my research this summer.
Thank you. A pleasure to meet you.
Katrina
P.S. I just re-read our assignment and see that I need to say how I became interested in this topic. Briefly, I used to read to children in a trilingual bookstore in Madrid and translation presented an interesting challenge. Then, in my Stylistics class, Spring 2013, Dr. Monica Marcos-Llinas explained the bolded phrases above. I thought, 'perdices?' How would I communicate to an English-speaking audience the relevance of 'perdices'? A 'perdiz' being a form of poultry. While in Spain this food may be associated with a privileged echelon of society, people from the United States (and many other places) do not share this cultural reference. So, when we want to immerse our students in bilingual education, we must consider norms, mores and messages that are not made explicit, for example, this one.
Thanks, Katrina. I think your research questions are really remarkable and so critically important. So much gets lost in translation...I've read several research publications in anthropology and sociolinguistics about this very question, and also in cultural studies. One could truly approach this questions from an interdisciplinary analytical approach. Some of the most interesting pieces I've read have been about translating Native/Indigenous American stories into English..and the challenges that lie therein. When we think about the world become progressively more and more English speaking and monolingual, it does scare me to think about the richness that could be lost...that has already been lost. Anyhow, I really respect your work and look forward to hearing you discuss these issues more.
ReplyDeleteRushika
Hello Katrina,
ReplyDeleteAfter reading your post I wanted to know more about your research!! Your research topic is quite interesting. I am a native Spanish speaker and I have always been so intrigued about bilingualism and how it really works.
After reading your post I was very interested because I remember when I was little sometimes my mom used to say ".. y comieron perdices" and I had no idea what a "perdiz" was or the meaning it had, all I knew is that it was sarcastic and not true. I remember this phrase meant, in a sarcastic way, that everyone lived happily ever after. Therefore, I think the connotations of translation are not only linguistic but also cultural. In Spain this phrase may mean something good, whereas in Colombia is something sarcastic.
This is a very interesting topic and I look forward to hear more about it!
Maria P.
Hey Katrina:
ReplyDeleteI am so impressed. That is an amazing research topic. I am a pretty big Roald Dahl fan. Last summer, I read and re-read: Matilda, The Witches, James and the Giant Peach, and a couple other titles.
Though my proficiency in Romance languages is more than a little rusty, I am very excited you have chosen this ambitious topic. I can't wait to learn more from you.
Hey Katrina,
ReplyDeleteI love the sophistication of your inquiries, and especially their context of children's lit (and your pursuit of it through library sciences). As someone who does not have a second-language down fluently, and yet is most familiar/experienced with texts in translation (particularly philosophy/critical theory), I'm cognizant of what gets lost in translation, and the many levels at which meaning is lost (e.g. punning). In the context of the texts I work with, I have often thought of the significance of privileging the most accurate translation of the word in the original language contra the grammar, syntax, etc. of the language of translation. But your example raises the very point against that approach (so thank you!). As a final thought, I wonder what the role of annotation could play here, both in the text (as in parentheticals), as well as in the form of footnotes, as a means of providing both the context you speak of (e.g. Spain), and the maintenance of the original word (and what/how it may be punning, for example) regarding my own fleeting/novice reflections.
Las obras de Roald Dahl son unas de mis favoritas :D !!!! How exciting to learn about your work and to marvel at the nuance and complexity of this project! I love languages and totally understand what you mean about things not translating directly, if ever, and even how meaning can be radically different from one language to another: meaning as a conversation with gestures rather than sound, getting at an idea rather than the thing itself! I would love to sit down and talk about all of your experiences in language and teaching!!
ReplyDeleteFor the record, because inquiring minds want to know ;), the French edition of Matilda used "Mademoiselle Candy" to say "Miss Honey." It's a bit of a cheat, isn't it? LOL "Trunchbull" is "Legourdin," which, according to wordreference.com (http://www.wordreference.com/fren/gourdin) would be something like "the clubber" or "the bludgeoner." Now that's pretty good.
ReplyDeleteAn unexpected, musical find: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Evj1z3l5hco . I don't know if Dahl lived long enough to see his work make it to the stage.
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