Literary Translation: Challenges & Rewards of Translation

Ever wondered what is involved in translating literary writing, fiction or non-fiction, from another language? Christina Baum and Trista Selous are both professional literary translators and tutors of literary translation courses at City Lit. Christina translates from Brazilian Portuguese and Trista translates from French. Here, they exchange ideas based on their work as both translators and teachers of translation.

Christina: 

To me, it’s the translation of any text where the writing style is as important as the content. So that includes novels, plays, poetry and songs, and also creative non-fiction, such as travel writing, memoir, and biography, where the translator doesn’t need specialist knowledge as long as they know how to do proper research. 

Trista:

And it can also include more academic writing on subjects such as art or history, where the translator might need more specialist knowledge. And at the other end of the spectrum, there are all kinds of texts for a wide readership, where again, the translator needs to know how to recreate a particular style.

Christina: 

You need to be familiar with the language and culture of the original author. It’s essential to get the nuances of the language. But one misconception is that, if you have in-depth knowledge of the two languages involved, you can translate, which is not the case. I would also say you need excellent writing skills.

Trista:

Yes, what really matters is whether or not you can write well in English – or whatever language you’re translating into. You need to be able to feel the voice of the original text and to get a sense of who is narrating it and what the equivalent would sound like in English.

Christina: 

I agree – you need to be able to convey that. Do you think computer skills are important?

Trista:

Yes! Online dictionaries and forums are really useful for translators.

Christina: 

And research is important too. 

Trista:

And to search for phrases. Of course, you need a feeling for the languages you’re translating from and into, but you can check whether something is a set phrase or the author’s invention, and that changes how you translate it. 

Christina: 

It gives you access to other cultures and ways of thinking.

Trista:

One thing I feel I’ve learned is a more detailed understanding of language and how different languages work, and what their different strengths are.

Christina: 

It is fun trying to find the right English word for an untranslatable word in the original, like the Portuguese word saudade, for which there isn’t a complete English equivalent. So, depending on the context, you might have to go into all the nuances and vary your word choice to get over whatever you want to convey in a particular paragraph or sentence.

Trista:

I like it when people move away from the original expression and you suddenly see a new perspective on how you could approach it, and you think, “Oh yes! I would never have thought of that!” Sometimes, I have very creative students, and having these different perspectives is great. 

Christina: 

I find it very interesting because you can get the same source text, and every student does a different version. Some people are so creative and write so well. It’s lovely to see what they come up with. We learn from our students the same way they learn from us and from each other.

Trista:

Definitely! And teaching keeps my interest alive.

Christina: 

I would say accuracy in conveying what the original text is saying and getting it right in the translation – the tone, the nuances, the register. The voice is very important. And consistency is crucial as well. If you choose one word that works – because sometimes you have options – you don’t use a different word just because you couldn’t remember what you said on the page.

Trista:

It needs to sound like something being told by a single voice.

Christina: 

But it’s also a co-creation – we are sort of collaborating with the author, and we’re not neutral; we all have our preferences, so we all write differently. You can have two renowned translators translating the same text completely differently. And they can both be outstanding because they convey what the original was saying, but differently.

Christina: 

It’s a creative process, so it can be great fun. And if you do it as a collaborative activity, as we’ve been doing at City Lit, it can be lots of fun because you create something together.

Trista:

Most of my class involves the students talking to each other and swapping ideas, but I also invite them to do their own versions as individuals. Then I can put them on our class site, and everyone can see how their versions are all different, which is nice.

Christina: 

It’s also fun to compare. And as the students at City Lit come from different backgrounds, this collaborative work can be very enriching.

Trista:

Yes, people all have different ways of using the English language, which is great. And because we offer online courses, you can have students from different parts of the country, different parts of the world, so you get to hear so many different possibilities.

Christina: 

Getting over the hurdles when there isn’t an equivalent word is fun too – particularly as a group, in collaborative work.

Trista:

Yes, I always enjoy that. When it’s something that’s really hard, and everybody’s tearing their hair out, it’s intense!

Christina: 

It’s like solving a puzzle. And you can do it together, “Oh, we found this word that works!” It’s exciting to work collaboratively, helping each other to find a solution.

Trista:

And letting your imagination go, to a certain extent, allowing yourself to inhabit a different world.

Christina: 

Exactly! A translator is a writer, so you’re inhabiting this language, this way of thinking, this author’s voice.

Trista:

It’s a bit like being an actor or a musician playing from a score…

Christina: 

…you’re interpreting someone’s work and solving its puzzles.

Christina: 

Insight into the depth of other cultures is one, but you can also discover an ability to find solutions, as we were saying. I think that can be really rewarding for students, that you might find you have this ability that you don’t know you have. 

It’s developing in-depth knowledge because when you’re reading a novel, you might feel like you’re reading it closely, but if you’re translating, you really have to focus on every single word.

Trista:

We’re the closest readers an author can have.

Christina: 

We are. Sometimes, I’ll need to ask an author, “What did you mean here?” because it’s not clear. And I can’t just decide; the author visualised a situation, and I need to know what was in their mind.

Trista:

But sometimes they don’t know themselves!

Christina: 

Or they forget – “I wrote that?”

Trista:

Or they say, “You decide”. I’ve had quite a lot of that.

But the other thing I was thinking about for finds in translation are the times when you find a phrase that works as a translation, but it also does something more; it helps shed light on a character maybe, or you can use a quote or something that English speakers might use where the original is quite plain, and it kind of resonates sympathetically with the text and brings something more. Because you also lose things when you’re translating.

Christina: 

You do, undoubtedly. So, if you can make up for the loss at another point...

Trista:

I’ve had lots of students who have come up with something, and I’ve thought, yes, that enhances the text in a way that works with the original.

Christina: 

Enhancing is a key element. And you can find creative solutions and creative interpretations.

Trista:

Yes, which makes up for the stuff you inevitably lose. You think, I’ve done this, and it’s helping the text along.

Christina: 

And when we do that, and you see students finding it, it’s great!

Trista:

It’s been suggested that AI will put literary translators out of work, but I don’t think we’re there yet, and I’m not sure we ever will be. Translators have been using IT tools for a while now, but tools still need a human user – we’ve all seen the howlers produced by Google Translate! 

Of course, AI tools will become smarter and smarter as they absorb more and more texts and become more subtle in the possible translations they can offer. But however well-trained an AI tool might be, however much language it has absorbed and how accurate its translations may become in conveying meaning, I don’t see how a machine can ever replace the crucial human element that is the voice of a text. 

Take an apparently simple French phrase like il fait beau, literally “it makes/does beautiful”, which is what people say when it’s sunny. There are so many different ways to convey that idea in English, with so many tiny nuances of style that reflect different contexts, and that’s just one tiny phrase. 

Christina: 

Yes, the same is true in Portuguese. For instance, the phrase ela está bonita means “she looks beautiful” and not “she is beautiful.” This is because in Portuguese, like in Spanish, there are two verbs ‘to be’ and they are used to express different states of being. So to translate a whole novel with a consistent style that can convey a voice in all its particularity… – I’m not sure any machine could ever do that.

Trista:

So it seems likely that there will be human literary translators for a long time yet – maybe as long as there are human writers in many different human languages. And we will go on doing our work of enabling people with different languages and cultures to understand each other. What could be more important in today’s world?