Literary Translation
How many books do you usually read by foreign writers? Do you read books in their native language, or you read them translated into your native language? Have you thought for a moment how many literary works your readers would be deprived of if there were no translators opening the doors to the virtual world to find on the pages of books?
Literary translation is an art and creativity that does not correspond to literal translation, and this means that the translator of literary works is in fact, a writer who almost rewrites the book and creates it for the readers, and this is a work that a person cannot perform if he does not possess the talent for writing, and this is why translators in this field face one of the most challenging areas in the Translation profession.
Literary translation cannot be compared to the translation of commercial transactions, as it must provide official expressions which include the information that the second party expects. It is not like oral translation, which gives priority to rapid response and accuracy in conveying words and tolerates imbalance of consistency as the literary translation requires the complete preservation of the story’s atmosphere and the style of the writer in the source language.
Have you ever thought that when you talk about your admiration for a certain foreign writer, you are actually impressed with the skill level of the translator who translated this text? Of course, the ability to make a text interesting and enjoyable while preserving the style in which it was initially written and conveying the idea of a writer is a translator’s talent, so a literary translator should master the theories and practices of literary translation throughout his life.
If we accept that literary translation has many advantages, it is of course linked to some difficulties that we, in TRANSLATION ARENA, seek to avoid, among these difficulties:
First: Losing the characteristics of the literary text upon literal translation because the literal translation is not suitable for literary texts, and for this reason, literary translation is a subject of contention between scholars and translators.
Second: The translation of wisdom and idiomatic expressions is one of the basics of literary translation. This problem at first glance does not seem complicated, but overcoming it requires a thorough knowledge of vocabulary and semantics and reliance on specialized dictionaries in literary translation.
Third: Literary translation involves wordplay and a sense of humor. One of the most enjoyable moments of literary translation is when the translated text contains humorous or sarcastic allusions, and it is necessary to possess special skills to preserve this wordplay the original writer intended.
Fourth: Literary translation is a mixture of styles, cultures, and history, and therefore it is necessary for a literary translator to be a researcher to a large extent; it is difficult to translate a text from a different period of time and a different culture if you are not aware of the characteristics of that period of time and culture, and this leads us again to the fact that a translator must be talented because if he is not gifted, he will not be the professional translator whose works you read with joy and pleasure.
There are many fields of translation in the language market. We can say that the most accurate and difficult field of translation is the field of literary translation related to the transfer of literary texts such as stories, novels, plays, poetry, and prose from one language to another, as this field of translation requires the availability of literary knowledge widely among specialists in this field.
In TRANSLATION ARENA we realize that every literary text is characterized by aesthetic and expressive images and metaphors dedicated to conveying the intended meaning of the text, that is, the ideas and themes that the text was written to convey, so when the translator selects a specific literary text for translation, he must study those aesthetic images and ideas included in the text and understand the intended meaning of them before he translates them, as the basis of the translation process is to convey the meaning completely without loss, and just looking at words and sentences and translating them into another language is not sufficient to bring the translated file to a level similar to the original text.
Among the other things that the translator must take into account is the type of the literary work; for example: if the translator is about to translate a theatrical text, he must take into consideration the relationships between the characters in that text and the appropriate language of the topic. For the short stories, the translator must take into account the formal and subjective focuses and the substantive unity of the text; in addition to translating the words, the aesthetic images, and the meanings to be conveyed, the translator must be careful to find a clear linguistic coherence similar to that found in the original text.
Perhaps the most challenging type that translators deal with in literary fields is “poetry,” where it is difficult to find a translated text that carries the same artistic form, rhythm, meaning, and poetic images similar to the original text.
Through what has been mentioned previously, we can conclude that translators specializing in literary translation must have high skill qualities. We in TRANSLATION ARENA have these experiences that are represented in a broad and deep knowledge of the language of the original text and the language into which that text is translated. An excellent knowledge of the cultural characteristics in both languages, meaning the culture, customs and traditions of their people, we are in constant contact with many holders of academic qualifications in many countries of the world. We spare no effort to benefit from them and their access to the cultures of the countries where they live. If they do not have enough time to participate with us in the translation process, they participate in the literature review process at the very least.
How does the literary translation process in TRANSLATION ARENA is made?
- View The Text: At first our translators acquaint themselves with the text to be translated, and understand it clearly before beginning the translation process, with the aim of determining the literary type of the text, and reviewing all the conditions of this type, so that the translation process can be done accurately.
- Understand the Text and Identify Ambiguous Terms in It: Our translators understand the text accurately and catch the meaning of all the ambiguities in it, search for their meanings, and understand the stories mentioned by the writer in his text, in order to find out all the ideas and meanings in the original text.
- Start Translating the Text: After that, the text is translated by dividing it into paragraphs and translating each paragraph separately, after understanding all the contents of the paragraph in a way that allows it to be properly translated.
- Understand the Stories and Images Included: It is an important step of literary translation as it is necessary to understand the images in the literary text, and then analyze these images and determine the possibility of using some similar images in the language to which the text is translated.
- Translate the Text: After that, the translation is done in a literary manner, taking care to use technical and graphic images and making sure that the translation is free from linguistic, grammatical, and spelling errors.
- Review the Translation: It is the final stage of the translation process, in which the translator must move away a bit from the text that he translated to rearrange his thoughts and then return to review the text to ensure that it matches the professional form.
TRANSLATION ARENA sets some conditions that must be met by its literary translators, to ensure that they reach the level that achieves the satisfaction of our customers. The most important of these conditions are:
- That the translator must possess great literary information, as he must be familiar with literary genres, have great knowledge and familiarity with international literature in general, and the literature of the language he is translating in particular.
- The translator should be able to write in a distinctive literary style, free from all linguistic, grammatical, and spelling errors.
- In addition, the literary translator must convey the spirit and sense of the writer so that the reader can feel the spirit and vitality of the text.