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Projects (was "my first translation")

From:Sally Caves <scaves@...>
Date:Thursday, June 3, 1999, 23:05
Irina Rempt-Drijfhout wrote:

> I don't think there's any single piece of writing that *all* of us > would be able to translate comfortably, without culture clash or > having to warp the language irrevocably out of shape. > > But what's wrong with having a collection of translations of > different pieces? Two or three different translations in each > language, out of a set of perhaps a dozen originals (not all in > English), would probably give a good impression of the richness of > our field. Come to think of it we may already be able to come up with > something like that from the translation exercises posted recently > (i.e. since February or so when I re-joined the list); not all of us > did all of those, only those that seemed to fit.
That seems fine; actually, I really think the most innovative idea was your relay translation, the results of which I'm eagerly awaiting. A short poem that would express the different nature of each conlanguage and conculture. I hope we do that frequently, or at least make it a list tradition. When they all get posted on your webpage, that will be a real source for people.
> I have a different reason for not wanting to translate the Bible: > every translation into a language makes the source influence the > shape of the language (and thereby the culture), and I don't want > Valdyan culture influenced by Christianity any more than it already > is because it's built on my own (Christian) ethics and morals.
Well, a lot of the Bible isn't Christian, but I see your point. Not to worry... The Babel translation exercise is pretty much a thing of the past. It's been documented and pored over; I think we should do something different, and your suggestion is a good one. Does it necessarily have to be a translation of something in a natural language? Could we have a sharing of original essays or poems? Sally (btw, Issytra's response to the Charyean dismissal of the Babel story was entirely tongue-in-cheek... she is a tease, and no more inclined to support that translation exercise than you are! and for all the same reasons.)