Lost in Translation

Metamorphosis! 

Original: "Als Gregor Samsa eines Morgens aus unruhigen Traumen erwachte, fand er sich in seinem Bett zu einem ungeheuren Ungeziefer verwandelt". 

Overall, this seems like quite an abrupt start for a book, with no real rising action. We have no background information on why or how he is a bug. Honestly, it has a somewhat comedic tone for me, because of how abrupt it is. 

Translation #1: "Gregory Samsa woke from uneasy dreams one morning to find himself changed into a giant bug". 

- this is the only one of the translations that added a 'y' to the end of Gregor, which to me makes it somewhat more 'Englishified'

- very simple word choice

- the word 'uneasy' doesn't give much insight at all into what he was dreaming about

- the only description of the bug is that it is giant

- when compared to the other translations, this sentence doesn't give any insight into where he was, or how he changed 

Translation #2: "When Gregor Samsa awoke from troubled dreams one morning he found he had be transformed in his bed into an enormous bug". 

- uses Gregor instead of Gregory

- the word 'troubled' makes me feel like he was more upset or scared by the dreams

- clarifies that he was transformed in his bed

Translation #3: "As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect". 

- this one places the most emphasis on the insect, calling it gigantic, making it more scary and interesting. It makes me question whether or not he had outgrown the bed

Translation #4: "One morning, upon awakening from agitated dreams, Gregor Samsa found himself, in his bed, transformed into a monstrous vermin".

- this translation seems more formal or sophisticated, as it says 'upon awakening'

- this is the only one that uses commas to break up the sentence like the original quote does 

- the word 'agitated' seems more serious to me than 'uneasy' or 'troubled' 

While there are subtle differences between these four translations, the differences all have a large effect on how each sentence is interpreted. I think that this shows just how important correct translations are. I experience this a lot in choir class, because we often sing in different languages. Another good example of how things can be lost in translation that came from my choir class was earlier this year when we sang a song called An Die Musik, a German song about the love for music. Coincidentally, this year in choir we have an exchange student from Germany, who was not only able to help us with our pronunciation, but also with talking about the meaning behind the music. Most of our pieces of music come with a translation inside of the cover, and this one did, but this was where the discrepancy came in. The music had translated the song's word for love as a deep love, like one would have for a significant other, however our exchange student said that the word used was more talking about the love one would have for a family member. While these kinds of love can possibly be seen as the same thing, it changed the conversation we were having in class. 

Another example of how translation can affect the interpretation of words is within the Stranger. We learned that the book was originally in French, and that its French title could be translated as 'The Stranger' or 'Estranged or an Outsider'. These hold very different meanings. When I think of a stranger, I don't think of them as separated completely from society, but when I think of an outsider, I do. In addition, when I think of the word estranged, I think of one being estranged from family, and never seeing them again, so overall just very left out. I think that Meursault really embodies the second translation more, as he seems very removed from society mentally, mostly because of his way of thinking that is very unique to him. 

Overall, I think that reading a translated text makes it very difficult for one to feel EXACTLY what the writer was thinking, because at the time he was writing in his native language, and not thinking about how it would sound translated. In order to get the real and complete feel of a book, I think it is best to read it in the original language if possible, because that is when it is most authentic. 

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