Text 15934, 55 rader
Skriven 2008-05-24 12:26:39 av Michiel van der Vlist (2:280/5555)
  Kommentar till text 15887 av Robert Bashe (2:2448/44)
Ärende: Translations (was: Casus belli)
=======================================
Hello Robert,

On Wednesday May 21 2008 14:32, you wrote to me:

 DS>>> What really matters most is what it said in the language in which
 DS>>> it was written.  Since I cannot read that, I have to accept the
 DS>>> word of those who have studied the original language.

 MV>> And you think that the first translators did NOT study the
 MV>> original language?

 RB> Just to jump feet-first into this _fascinating_ discussion,

Fascinating? Hmmm, I suppose you, who made translating your job would see it
that way.

 RB> I might remark that translations are never exact because human
 RB> languages are not exact, and after you finish translating some text
 RB> first from the original to another language, then from that to a
 RB> third, a fourth and a fifth, you're lucky if the final translation has
 RB> anything to do with the original at all.

Of course. Natural languages are not exact. But it becomes worse when you take
into account that language barriers almost always involve cultural barriers as
well. And then when there is a 2000 year time barrier too, attempts to
translate become almost futile.

One can argue whether whoever wrote the ten commandments meant "kill" or
"murder" but to me that quickly becomes an exercise in futility when we realise
that the difference between "kill" and "murder" may be of a totally different
nature in their culture than in ours.

 RB> Try translating something from Dutch to English sometime, and then ask
 RB> someone else (in your absence) to translate the English back into
 RB> Dutch. Even _that_ will give you a text that is often quite different
 RB> from the original, and that's only one round of translation.

Of course.

 RB> So it's pretty useless to try to argue about the meaning of specific
 RB> words or phrases that have doubtless been translated and re-translated
 RB> multiple times, since unless you personally have and can read the
 RB> original text, you'll never know what you're really talking about.

And even if one can read the original text it may not be possible to fully
grasp its meaning because of the cultural and temporal differences.

Have you read "What's it like to be a bat" from Daniel Dennet and Douglas
Hofstadter's "The mind's I"?


Cheers, Michiel

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