Buggy 4 Bloggin'
Hey, blog buds! I am in a time crunch this Sunday because I am going to a concert tonight. However, I am still committed to dishing out a great blog. Let's get going!
So apparently there is this guy Kafka who wrote an absurdist novella called Metamorphosis. Just like our guy, Camus, this popular novella was originally written in a different language; German! This makes translations a little dicey because they can convey different things than the author originally intended. In the following part of my blog post, I will partake in a fun exercise in which I analyze the multiple versions of the opening sentence of Metamorphosis:
#1:Gregory Samsa woke from uneasy dreams one morning to find himself changed into a giant bug.
The first thing I notice about this first this translation is that it is encapsulated into one sentence and has no commas or breaks in the sentence. Another interesting thing is the diction in the sentence. One thing that differs from sentence to sentence is the adjective used to characterize Samsa's dreams. In this case, 'uneasy' is used. This makes me think that the dreams weren't necessarily scary, but just dreams that made him feel a little off or nervous. Another thing is that we are introduced to the main character right away and he is named Gregory rather than Gregor.
#2: When Gregor Samsa awoke from troubled dreams one morning he found he had been transformed in his bed into an enormous bug.
In this translation, Gregor Samsa has 'troubled' dreams. This diction gives me the vibe that he had worries in his life and those worries transferred into the dreams he was having. He is also named Gregor in this translation rather than Gregory. We also find out the setting in which this event is occurring in this translation, his bed.
#3:As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect.
This translation, as in the first, utilizes the adjective 'uneasy' to characterize Gregor's dreams. Something that caught my eye in this one that slipped my mind in some of the previous translations was the use of the word "transformed" as opposed to "changed" in the first translation. This conveys a more total transformation that changed does.
#4:One morning, upon awakening from agitated dreams, Gregor Samsa found himself, in his bed, transformed into a monstrous vermin.
This translation is by far the most different from the others. The sentence is very fragmented by commas which makes it seem more like a stream-of-consciousness style of writing. In addition, the phrase 'monstrous vermin' is used. This is game-changing because the use of the word monstrous makes it seem like Samsa is less than human. Instead of using a descriptor to depict the size of the creature, it is the very nature of the creature itself that is communicated. The use of the word vermin also makes it seem like he could have transformed into something other than a bug.
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How does the word choice, syntax, punctuation, and imagery shift in each affect meaning? Is one more effective than another? Why? What does this exercise bring up about the difficulty of reading translated texts? How do different translations effect the tone of the sentence?
Now that I have analyzed those translations, I am going to write a good old fashioned response in paragraph form:
As we can observe from my analysis, syntax, punctuation, and imagery affect meaning in writing. I think that imagery most affects meaning in writing. This is because the adjectives used in the different translations vastly change the meaning of the sentence. This subsequently changes the way the audience perceives the text and its message. This is so important because when authors are trying to convey something specific with their writing, translations can mess that up. Because of this, I could have easily missed what Camus was trying to show in The Stranger.
Now that I have completed this exercise, it makes me frustrated about the unreliability of translations in literature. I like to know the perspective of the author when I am reading but I am afraid that this has made me question if I really do in translated texts such as these. As I was saying before, the imagery and diction used are very important in the meaning of texts. If this diction, and thus imagery, is fundamentally changed by translation, the tone of the text could also be compromised. This is bad because the tone of the text informs the entire meaning of the work itself. The implications translations have been far-reaching. Religious texts such as the Bible or the Quran are often interpreted in different ways due to translations. Ultimately, due to this blog post, I see the perils of translated texts and am sad about them.
That's all for today, blog buddies! Peace out. I hope you have a good day, thanks for reading if you did! :)))
So apparently there is this guy Kafka who wrote an absurdist novella called Metamorphosis. Just like our guy, Camus, this popular novella was originally written in a different language; German! This makes translations a little dicey because they can convey different things than the author originally intended. In the following part of my blog post, I will partake in a fun exercise in which I analyze the multiple versions of the opening sentence of Metamorphosis:
#1:Gregory Samsa woke from uneasy dreams one morning to find himself changed into a giant bug.
The first thing I notice about this first this translation is that it is encapsulated into one sentence and has no commas or breaks in the sentence. Another interesting thing is the diction in the sentence. One thing that differs from sentence to sentence is the adjective used to characterize Samsa's dreams. In this case, 'uneasy' is used. This makes me think that the dreams weren't necessarily scary, but just dreams that made him feel a little off or nervous. Another thing is that we are introduced to the main character right away and he is named Gregory rather than Gregor.
#2: When Gregor Samsa awoke from troubled dreams one morning he found he had been transformed in his bed into an enormous bug.
In this translation, Gregor Samsa has 'troubled' dreams. This diction gives me the vibe that he had worries in his life and those worries transferred into the dreams he was having. He is also named Gregor in this translation rather than Gregory. We also find out the setting in which this event is occurring in this translation, his bed.
#3:As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect.
This translation, as in the first, utilizes the adjective 'uneasy' to characterize Gregor's dreams. Something that caught my eye in this one that slipped my mind in some of the previous translations was the use of the word "transformed" as opposed to "changed" in the first translation. This conveys a more total transformation that changed does.
#4:One morning, upon awakening from agitated dreams, Gregor Samsa found himself, in his bed, transformed into a monstrous vermin.
This translation is by far the most different from the others. The sentence is very fragmented by commas which makes it seem more like a stream-of-consciousness style of writing. In addition, the phrase 'monstrous vermin' is used. This is game-changing because the use of the word monstrous makes it seem like Samsa is less than human. Instead of using a descriptor to depict the size of the creature, it is the very nature of the creature itself that is communicated. The use of the word vermin also makes it seem like he could have transformed into something other than a bug.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
How does the word choice, syntax, punctuation, and imagery shift in each affect meaning? Is one more effective than another? Why? What does this exercise bring up about the difficulty of reading translated texts? How do different translations effect the tone of the sentence?
Now that I have analyzed those translations, I am going to write a good old fashioned response in paragraph form:
As we can observe from my analysis, syntax, punctuation, and imagery affect meaning in writing. I think that imagery most affects meaning in writing. This is because the adjectives used in the different translations vastly change the meaning of the sentence. This subsequently changes the way the audience perceives the text and its message. This is so important because when authors are trying to convey something specific with their writing, translations can mess that up. Because of this, I could have easily missed what Camus was trying to show in The Stranger.
Now that I have completed this exercise, it makes me frustrated about the unreliability of translations in literature. I like to know the perspective of the author when I am reading but I am afraid that this has made me question if I really do in translated texts such as these. As I was saying before, the imagery and diction used are very important in the meaning of texts. If this diction, and thus imagery, is fundamentally changed by translation, the tone of the text could also be compromised. This is bad because the tone of the text informs the entire meaning of the work itself. The implications translations have been far-reaching. Religious texts such as the Bible or the Quran are often interpreted in different ways due to translations. Ultimately, due to this blog post, I see the perils of translated texts and am sad about them.
That's all for today, blog buddies! Peace out. I hope you have a good day, thanks for reading if you did! :)))
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