austraLasia #2685
'ad gentes' from a translator's perspective
MELBOURNE: 3 August 2010 -- To be fair, this is not a theological reflection on missio ad gentes, or perhaps, in a roundabout and even important way it could be just that! It is a middle position I would like to state between translation ad verbum (literal, formal equivalence) and translation ad sensum (translating the idea rather than the words). I am proposing that in a global Congregation such as the SDBs, a bit more thought needs to be given, by those who produce the texts as well as by those who translate them, to what the gentes, the people, are saying.
If you want to get a snapshot of what the Salesian gentes are saying right at this moment, you need a slice of representative Salesian language in 2009-2010 from across the world. One way to do this could be to study the language of Provincial Chapters. This, after all, is the gentes speaking about themes that are common to Salesians of every race and colour. While the Rector Major and his Council will have their own specific purposes in examining the content of such documents (which come in 5 languages essentially - Italian, Spanish, English, French, Portuguese) a translator will be interested in what is his greatest responsibility - getting the source text into a faithful target text.
What 'faithful' means here of course is an open question. Fortunately the penalty for 'infidelity' now in this area doesn't compare to the decade 1536-46 when three translators met their end, one tortured and burnt at the stake in Paris for adding three extra words and a few more besides 'in the interest of clarity'; the second was strangled, then burned, in Antwerp; the third, well, he died of natural causes, but as we know, a good part of Europe would have happily seen him impaled on a stake - Martin Luther!
The snapshot I have referred to has begun, and it is already raising interesting questions. Let's take the material in English only, for now. Straightforward lexical analysis with free software (AntConc) provides all kinds of valuable information. Let me just highlight a couple of issues:
In discussion on 'vocation', common to just about every Provincial Chapter, the gentes are showing a decided preference for 'vocation ministry' over 'vocation promotion', and 'vocation animation' comes in a poor third. There is good reason for the third place in English, at least, since 'animation' simply does not work for us. We all know what animazione implies in the broader and very rich history of the concept in 'italiano salesiano', but this is simply not good enough reason to go for formal equivalence, as happens too often, and translate it as 'animation'. That term in English does not readily translate very much of the rich history referred to above. It doesn't matter whether you have vocation, mission, community or any other noun in front of it. The problem remains.
As for second place, 'promotion', it is interesting how varied the gentes were in dealing with this: in terms of verbs we find foster, recruit, work for, follow up, encourage, nurture, accompany, attract, cater to, cherish, develop, discern, get, guide, invite, propose, seek - and by the way, those are listed in order of frequency; 'foster' is way out front. When it came to nominal forms, 'ministry' was first, as already indicated, but we find recruitment, discernment of, care of, animation...., and as for the person who might hold this responsibility in a Province, well, he never got called a 'Vocation Minister' but Director, Promoter, Coordinator, Animator (again in order of frequency).
These might set you thinking. There are other issues emerging: the use of 'integral' (obviously from Italian 'integrale'). Does it work? Not for the gentes it seems. They prefer 'complete', 'all-rounded', 'holistic'. In fact you could ask what 'integral' really means in English. It probably means 'complete'! There's another interesting one, 'Mission procure'. It is not the preferred option of the gentes. The preferred option seems to be 'Office'. Another (but worse than 'procure' IMHO) is 'Mission Procure Office'. It's either one or the other and since a 'procure' does not exist in English, normally (it is a verb, not a noun), 'Office' seems the right way to go.
We are a global Congregation and today the world has learned much from studies of globalisation, internationalisation, localisation and translation (which comes together as GILT). GILT would suggest that great care be given to the preparation of source texts to ensure that they are more internationalised and therefore easier to localise. A tantalising thought! We've a way to go.
_________________
AustraLasia is an email service for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific. It also functions as an agency for ANS based in Rome. For queries please contact admin@bosconet.aust.com . Use Bosconet-wiki to be interactive. RSS feeds - just go to Bosconet, click on austraLasia 2009 in the sidebar. You will see the RSS orange icon in your browser address bar - add it from there. Or be interactive with the EAO blog Cetera Tolle. Avail yourself of the Salesian Digital Library at http://sdl.sdb.org
'ad gentes' from a translator's perspective
MELBOURNE: 3 August 2010 -- To be fair, this is not a theological reflection on missio ad gentes, or perhaps, in a roundabout and even important way it could be just that! It is a middle position I would like to state between translation ad verbum (literal, formal equivalence) and translation ad sensum (translating the idea rather than the words). I am proposing that in a global Congregation such as the SDBs, a bit more thought needs to be given, by those who produce the texts as well as by those who translate them, to what the gentes, the people, are saying.
If you want to get a snapshot of what the Salesian gentes are saying right at this moment, you need a slice of representative Salesian language in 2009-2010 from across the world. One way to do this could be to study the language of Provincial Chapters. This, after all, is the gentes speaking about themes that are common to Salesians of every race and colour. While the Rector Major and his Council will have their own specific purposes in examining the content of such documents (which come in 5 languages essentially - Italian, Spanish, English, French, Portuguese) a translator will be interested in what is his greatest responsibility - getting the source text into a faithful target text.
What 'faithful' means here of course is an open question. Fortunately the penalty for 'infidelity' now in this area doesn't compare to the decade 1536-46 when three translators met their end, one tortured and burnt at the stake in Paris for adding three extra words and a few more besides 'in the interest of clarity'; the second was strangled, then burned, in Antwerp; the third, well, he died of natural causes, but as we know, a good part of Europe would have happily seen him impaled on a stake - Martin Luther!
The snapshot I have referred to has begun, and it is already raising interesting questions. Let's take the material in English only, for now. Straightforward lexical analysis with free software (AntConc) provides all kinds of valuable information. Let me just highlight a couple of issues:
In discussion on 'vocation', common to just about every Provincial Chapter, the gentes are showing a decided preference for 'vocation ministry' over 'vocation promotion', and 'vocation animation' comes in a poor third. There is good reason for the third place in English, at least, since 'animation' simply does not work for us. We all know what animazione implies in the broader and very rich history of the concept in 'italiano salesiano', but this is simply not good enough reason to go for formal equivalence, as happens too often, and translate it as 'animation'. That term in English does not readily translate very much of the rich history referred to above. It doesn't matter whether you have vocation, mission, community or any other noun in front of it. The problem remains.
As for second place, 'promotion', it is interesting how varied the gentes were in dealing with this: in terms of verbs we find foster, recruit, work for, follow up, encourage, nurture, accompany, attract, cater to, cherish, develop, discern, get, guide, invite, propose, seek - and by the way, those are listed in order of frequency; 'foster' is way out front. When it came to nominal forms, 'ministry' was first, as already indicated, but we find recruitment, discernment of, care of, animation...., and as for the person who might hold this responsibility in a Province, well, he never got called a 'Vocation Minister' but Director, Promoter, Coordinator, Animator (again in order of frequency).
These might set you thinking. There are other issues emerging: the use of 'integral' (obviously from Italian 'integrale'). Does it work? Not for the gentes it seems. They prefer 'complete', 'all-rounded', 'holistic'. In fact you could ask what 'integral' really means in English. It probably means 'complete'! There's another interesting one, 'Mission procure'. It is not the preferred option of the gentes. The preferred option seems to be 'Office'. Another (but worse than 'procure' IMHO) is 'Mission Procure Office'. It's either one or the other and since a 'procure' does not exist in English, normally (it is a verb, not a noun), 'Office' seems the right way to go.
We are a global Congregation and today the world has learned much from studies of globalisation, internationalisation, localisation and translation (which comes together as GILT). GILT would suggest that great care be given to the preparation of source texts to ensure that they are more internationalised and therefore easier to localise. A tantalising thought! We've a way to go.
_________________
AustraLasia is an email service for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific. It also functions as an agency for ANS based in Rome. For queries please contact admin@bosconet.aust.com . Use Bosconet-wiki to be interactive. RSS feeds - just go to Bosconet, click on austraLasia 2009 in the sidebar. You will see the RSS orange icon in your browser address bar - add it from there. Or be interactive with the EAO blog Cetera Tolle. Avail yourself of the Salesian Digital Library at http://sdl.sdb.org
