LANGUAGE DIVERSITY

Issue 2 :TRANSLATING PICTURIAL WORDS

Human languages have the peculiarity that  they encompass idioms , figurative speeches and the like. This quality enhances poetry and the use of mental pictures while people are speaking.

Such ability of the human brain to convey pictorial messages is a daunting task to the language professional. Plus grammar rules and idioms are language-dependent and there are many  gaps in connection with these parameters.

The headache of the language professional is therefore to mention  these pictures from the source language or at least to allude to them in the target language.

That’s why the translation of poems is somehow more difficult than the translation of prosaic texts for example . As a matter of facts  assuming a French translation of  the following English rime  :

“Create your fate”

_ onlinebuzzy.blogspot.com ,11/11/2014.

A  good translator should be observative  that the first and the last words end with the same suffix that is , “ ate”. Such a pattern enhances the beauty of this short poem and makes it unforgettable to the readers.

The translator should therefore find French words with identical endings that translate the idea of the source poem.. Plus the source poem involves  a pictorial word namely , “ create” that is linked to craftwork .  Then the language professional should find a French word that  are in connection with arts.

An attempt of  a French translation of the poem under study is :

“Créez votre destin”. In this example the first word starts with a “c” exactly as in the source poem . Additionally the translated word is etymologically the meaning of “ create”

Yet this translation  does not feature the pattern of the source poem , hence its beauty of the source poem is blurred in such a way that the  French reader can not love it just like the English reader does it. Then it is faulty .

Another attempt is the following rime:

“Faites the dessin

 De votre destin”

In this case it can be noticed that the source poem rime is somehow repeated with the suffix “ in” at the endings of both rimes .  Moreover the French word “ dessin” is linked to the arts of painting and drawing .

Nonetheless the reading of this poem is lengthier than its reading in the source language for the translated poem entails six words and two rimes . That is the double of the words in the source language . Therefore the overall pattern of the source poem is not respected in the translated poem.  Its reading may become burdensome. It can likely  be said that this attempt too is faulty .

Thus  the right translation should abide by the message of the source poem , It should be respectful of its overall pattern as well .The translator should also be careful about the phonetic beauty of his end –text.

The right translation is therefore this rime  :

“Dessinez votre destinée”.

Comparing these two rimes under study reveals these facts . They both display:

 -the same pattern that is, both rimes encompass three words with like-tone at the end of their first and last words.

-the same message namely that of an encouragement to struggle for a living

-like-words that are in connection with craftworks.

Translating pictorial words is a far more challenging task.

Thanks for reading.

-

-