~ The Great Feast of Translation ~

Not every professional holiday has a symbol – a person that signifies the whole trade. Translation, however, is lucky to have such a token. Translators have a patron Saint Jerome, who translated Bible from Hebrew into Latin (the Vulgate), and his translation became the official Church version.

However, the translation of the Holy Script is not Jerome’s only accomplishment. He contributed to many of translators’ most important questions and practices, such as: How should one translate? Word-for-word (literal) or sense-for-sense (translate the meaning)? What are the criteria and who identifies them? Can there be a “should” when translating?

Jerome himself passionately advocated sense-for-sense translation. In his Letter to Pammachius he refers to Horace’s advice in Ars Poetica that outlined a direct causality between the skill of a translator and the choices made. Both great minds seem to be on the same page, though in different timelines: sense-for-sense translation is the higher form of translation that is worth investing your effort into. The conversation Jerome so passionately led in his writings continued throughout centuries and involved more scholars developing their own formulas and ideas. Nida’s dynamic equivalence, Scopos theory etc. arrived many centuries later and had a significant impact on the development of Translation Studies and on the way one would think of translation as a process in general.  

Hieronymus (Latin) or Jerome has meant a lot to me through all the years of studying for a degree in Linguistics, translating and researching translation, linguistics and comparative literature.  As a scholar I’ve always been fascinated with debates and discussions on different views on translation, its role, its limitations and abundancy of options.  In fact, Jerome’s “appearance” in the introductory course to Translation Studies during my freshman year made a significant impression.

As a practicing translator and an inquisitive student of the past, I can confidently state that all those centuries long conversations about dos and don’ts in translation contributed immensely to my own vision of the often undervalued or misunderstood phenomena of translation. The mere existence of such a discourse sparked curiosity, respect, and awareness of what it takes to translate. It takes choices, some harder than the others. It involves consistency and loyalty to your own sense of decision making. It requires an integration of risk-management and planning. It demands responsibility, respect and an understanding of the original’s paradigm. Translation requires confidence based on knowledge and intuition.

Translation is more than just talent or diligence. It exceeds an automated transfer of words and sentences that any AI is capable of. Only a human can be au bon vivant and use their perception of life experience as a beacon for their translation strategies. Moreover, it takes a style.

If you are an avid reader, as I am, then you know that every writer has their own style. Every creator does. Translating is an act of creation and a reflection of your own conceptual processing of the original author’s language. It entails a “reading” of the text through the lens of your own life filters. Hence, translating is not solely about the words, the rules, transformations, strategies or even the senses. I would say it involves everything in a unique – einzigartig – combination. Sometimes well-balanced, sometimes not.

However, this promise of uniqueness is a promise that your translation will be unlike anyone else’s. This is what makes translation so beautiful to me.

With this post I wish to acknowledge and to express my gratitude to Jerome for inviting scholars, translators, linguists, writers, poets, philosophers etc. to the discussion of how to translate, but also for inspiring a better awareness and understanding of the value and impact of translation.  

Happy International Translation Day!

Der Hl. Hieronymus, 17th century, Bolognesisch, Bavarian State Collection (Alte Pinakothek)