The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1873-05-30
On Translation.

| answer, Jour Things AD1l1Jy TO WIG
the language into which, and to inter-
pref that from which, the translation is
to be made; an understanding of the
subject discussed; and fourthly, to
know how to translate The possibility
of translation in any adequate manner
varies in different cases, by this general
rule Anything whose substance. e.,
whose thoughts the important part
of it, can be adequately translated, sup
posing the two languages concerned to
be equally cultivated. But in proper
ton as the form in which the thoughts
are conveyed is more and more import
ant, inst SO much is adequate transla-
ton impossible, unless between Ian
guages of the same characteristics. By
this rule, we may expect perfectly sat
isfactory translations of all the litera-
ture of reasoning and narrative, such as
theology, history biography, mathe-
science, travels, criticisms and art. So
we may of much historical fiction But
where novel depends on dialect, it
cannot be translated so as to be equiva-
lieut. to the original in its new dress.
The low German of Reuter-, for in
stance, can absolutely not be translated
phrased. Almost as improbable it
would be to translate a book of French
puns into English; or the contrary
Take the old joke about the old man
who said he had shot thirty-three hal es
that morning, on which somebody ex-
claimed "Thirty- hares you must
have been firing at a wigl" Now trans
late this into French, with lapin and
perruque; you get the following
Thirty-three rabbits you must have
been firing at a peruke !" whioh is not
funny But the case is different with
such wit or humor as is of the thought,
and not of its form merely. The sar-
castle death-bed jest attributed to Ra-
belais, for instance, is equally reckless
and cutting in any language. When a
stupid priest presented him the sacra-
ment, and asked the dying man if he
recognized his Heavenly Master,
eyes," he answered, 81 know him by
the beast that carries him" Now this
contrast in translation between sub
stance and form applies everywhere :;
to the most serious and tender poetry
exactly as much as to jokes and sar-
casms. Puns, if strictly verbal, are
untranslatable. So are dialects and
slangs like Reuten's low German, HUI
! go's Partisan Argot, SCOTS Scotticisms,
or Bret Harte's Californiacisms. So is
onomatopoeia in poetry such as Virgil's
| Quadrupedante line, and the like. You
cannot translate a sound into a Ian
| guage which has not it. Brekekex,
koax, koax," is Aristophanic for frog
! talk. You can transliterate it into Eng
lish but if you try to traslate it you
| get croak, croak, which is not COM
| petent rendering. No more can you
translate "Bang ~ into Greek. Nor
| could. you one single bit better trans
| late Poe's Bells" or Hoods Given
ing has come, and from the dark park
| bark, and so on into Latin or French.
! What ridiculous work you would make
with Gle son DIES cloches, cloches,
cloches p o will not render short.
As we'll paint in blue a copy of a red
| picture. In fact, the more poetical a
poem the less can it be translated. A
translated poem is boiled strawberry.
The effect of poetry depends very great.
ly on an element in the sound annalO-
gous to the color in painting insomuch
that we can use Zone for both" Go
ethics Zigeunerlied, an " extraordinary
sOng," as Mrs Austin Justly calls it, is
an instance of the kind; and that very
skillful and sensible translator said of
it exactly what I have been saying;
she says ga specimen of Goethe's
power over the tones of language. Be
cause it is SO, / cannot attempt trans
lation oft. Where so much depends
on the sound of words, translation can,
rarely answer" Consider one stanza
and it's strange, yelling, hooting cho-
rus
I'm Nebelgeriese, i'm tiefsten schnec,
I'm widen Wald in der Witernacht,
Ioh horte der Wolfe Hungergeheul
Ich horte der Eulen Geschrei
Willie wau wan wau
Willie wa wo!
Now, English and German are so !
much alike that the difficulties are at |
their least; the equivalents can almost |
be made acurate, word for word-deep- |
est snow; wildwood winter night ; |
hunger-howl; owls shrek. Yet the |
German words are harsher, and you will |
try in vain to express the savage pic |
ture with the softer colors of the Eng
lish word-paletie, or the rhythm of the |
German iambic words in English mono
syllables. The refrain you must trans
fer sound for sound and even then, if
you never heard the noise, you will
not read them rightly. To say "hoo p
is not enough for that last syllable; it
must be long boot, with rising and
falling infections the owl gives it.
That was what Goethe heard and would
have recited.
Compare the different translations of
Burgers IIenOre with the original, for
another instance. One is a paraphrase,
equally spirited and impressive, but
ever so far away from the German. An
other is q close translation, and, like
some old-fashioned servant, faithful,
but stupid. Or, take the much more
numerous translations of the awful
Dies irse. They are, without excep-
ton, most miserable. The booming,
massive strength of the dense Latin
vocables finds no equivalent in Eng
fish, because neither has English the
sound, nor the condensed meaning.
All these TRANSACTIONS are like trying to
initiate great organ with tin whistle
[ defy you to find English to match the
heavy, deep sounds of
Tuba mi UNI spargens sonum
Per sepulcra regionum
COget omnes auto thronum."
You can almost hear the earth shak-
ing reverberation of the supernatural
music. Where are your English sounds
for it ? Nowhere.
I could preach book full on this
subiect-a great deal better, too, than
Tytler's, which ran to three editions
eighty years ago. I could give you
such capital illustrations o@ the four
grades of constituting translation, para
phrase and imitation such jolly in
stances OF queer mistakes under some
of these heads, in short, such a wonder
full pile of other peoples sense and
nonsense! But, dear me shall not
convince any of you that you have
translated i'll, or that in declining your
work, I have done well. The founders
of the state of Connecticut knew how
obstinate the Yankees would be in self |
esteem about literature, as well as in
everything else, when they prophe ic-
ally adopted for motto, Qui transtulit |
sustinet. Anybody who has made a
translation will stick to it. B. Per-
kinS.
Olive Logan tells of a nice young
man who waltzed superbly. All the /
girls went for him. Nobody else could |
catch their mace as we'll as he Wbap