Translator is traitor?
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Jose Ortega y Gasset |
It is this inherent problem in the process of translation that gave rise to that (in)famous Italian saying about the translator: “Traduttore, traditore” or “Translator, traitor”. The translator, limited as s/he is by restraints imposed by language, will of necessity have to deviate from the original; in that sense s/he is ‘betraying' the text and hence becomes a traitor. Jose Ortega y Gasset in his essay “The Misery and Splendor of Translation” says that the creative writer is a rebel of some sorts who goes against accepted conventions of language and grammar. The translator who is not that courageous will not follow the author's defiant act of courage that is his writing. The translator, described by Gasset as a “shy character” lacks the courage of the writer, “will place the translated author in the prison of normal expression; that is, he will betray him” (qtd in Venuti 50). Hence the translator is traitor.
This is of course stating it in exaggerated fashion, but there is an element of truth to what Gasset says. It is true that especially in the case of literature, each writer differs in the matter of style. Style also implies an idiosyncratic and individualistic use of language that might be very hard to simulate in another language. Moreover each language has its own specific structure and pattern with respect to semantics and grammar. To that extent we can agree with Gasset when he says that there is no guarantee that “two words belonging to different languages, and which the dictionary gives us as translations of each other, refer to exactly the same objects” (qtd in Venuti 51). What Gasset proposes is that a translation bring the TL reader closer to the SL by means of an “imitation” or “paraphrase” rather than a translation. In other words, the translation is not made easy or domesticated for the TL reader. The reader can only expect a form of translation that is “ugly” and “must know beforehand that when reading a translation he will not be reading a literarily beautiful book but will be using an annoying apparatus” (qtd in Venuti 62). |
