Poetry Translation

POETRY TRANSLATION

TranslationProcedures of translationMethods of translationPoetry translationFive tips on poetry translation

TRANSLATION

Translation typically has been used to transfer written or spoken texts to equivalent written or spoken texts. In general, the purpose of translation is to reproduce various kinds of texts including religious, literary, scientific, and philosophical texts in another language and thus making them available to wider readers.

TRANSLATION PROCEDURES A- Analysis of the source and target

languages. B- A through study of the source

language text before making attempts translate it.

C- Making judgments of the semantic and syntactic approximations.

METHODS OF TRANSLATION1-Word-for-word translation: the words

translated singly by their most common meanings.

2-Literal translation: the lexical words are again translated singly, out of context.

3-Faithful translation: it attempts to produce the precise contextual meaning of the original.

4-Adaptation :which is the freest form of translation, and is used mainly for plays (comedies) and poetry.

5-Free translation :it produces the text without the style, form, or content of the original.

6-Idiomatic translation : it reproduces the 'message' of the original.

7-Communicative translation : it attempts to render the exact contextual meaning of the original .

“Poetry must be translated by a poet”

Eghishe Charents

POETRY TRANSLATION: Poetry translation may be defined as relaying poetry into another language. Poetry's features can be sound-based, syntactic or structural or pragmatic in nature.

FIVE TIPS ON TRANSLATING

POETRY1-Stay Close to the Poem: Read the poem again

and again until the words become second nature on your tongue.

By doing this, you will be able to feel the rhythm of the poem.

You will recognize the pace, the pauses, the beats, the swirls of energy.

2-Know the poet:

Get to know the person; ask him or her questions about

the poem.

What was the poet thinking when writing the poem? What does the poet think the poem

means?

The more you know about the poet and his or her life, the better able you are to understand the nuances of

the poem.

Be courteous and grateful.

3- Go for Grace:  When you translate a poem,

your job is to stay as close to the meaning as possible.

That said, you also have artistic license to use (not abuse) the meaning to make a clear and graceful translation.

4-Be Wary:  You can use these computer

programs and dictionary translations as a guide.

They may help get to the bones of the poem but your job is to put heart and live language on those bones.  

5-Take a Deep

Breath: When you finish a

translation, sit tight for a few days, maybe even a week, before you go over it.

Take some time to think about something else, in your own language.

Then come back and see where the gaps and the goodies are.

Translating a poem is a lot like

writing a poem yourself. You have to know what you want to say. You have to feel what you want to say. You have to be focused. There are a thousand other jobs that are easier, better paid, and eyesight-saving, but translating has its own glories. Putting poems into another language is one of the best ways to share culture, honor poets, and remind us that we can transcend geography.

EXAMPLE:

SONNET 66Tir'd with all these, for restful death I cry, As, to behold desert a beggar born, And needy nothing trimm'd in jollity, And purest faith unhappily forsworn, And guilded honour shamefully misplaced, And maiden virtue rudely strumpeted, And right perfection wrongfully disgraced,And strength by limping sway disabled, And art made tongue-tied by authority, And folly (doctor-like) controlling skill, And simple truth miscall'd simplicity, And captive good attending captain ill:    Tired with all these, from these would I be gone,   Save that, to die, I leave my love alone.  William Shakespeare

66. SONE

Vazgeçtim bu dünyadan tek ölüm paklar beni,

Değmez bu yangın yeri, avuç açmaya değmez.

Değil mi ki çiğnenmiş inancın en seçkini,

Değil mi ki yoksullar mutluluktan habersiz,

Değil mi ki ayaklar altında insan onuru,

O kızoğlan kız erdem dağlara kaldırılmış,

Ezilmiş, horgörülmüş el emeği, göz nuru,

Ödlekler geçmiş başa, derken mertlik bozulmuş,

Değil mi ki korkudan dili bağlı sanatın,

Değil mi ki çılgınlık sahip çıkmış düzene, Doğruya doğru derken eğriye çıkmış adın, Değil mi ki kötüler kadı olmuş Yemen‘e 

Vazgeçtim bu dünyadan, dünyamdan geçtim ama,

Seni yalnız komak var, o koyuyor adama.

Translated by Can Yücel

Born on June 27, 1872, Paul Laurence Dunbar was one of the first African-American poets to gain national recognition. 

His parents Joshua and Matilda Murphy Dunbar were freed slaves from Kentucky. 

Despite being a fine student, Dunbar was financially unable to attend college and took a job as an elevator operator.

In 1892, a former teacher invited him to read his poems at a meeting of the Western Association of Writers; his work impressed his audience to such a degree that the popular poet James Whitcomb Riley wrote him a letter of encouragement.

In 1893, Dunbar self-published a collection called Oak and Ivy. To help pay the publishing costs, he sold the book for a dollar to people riding in his elevator.

In 1902, and shortly thereafter he suffered a nervous breakdown and a bout of pneumonia. Although ill and drinking too much in attempt to soothe his coughing, Dunbar continued to write poems. His collections from this time include Lyrics of Love and Laughter (1903), Howdy, Howdy, Howdy (1905), and Lyrics of Sunshine and Shadow (1905). 

A GOLDEN DAY I Found you and I lost you, 

All on a gleaming day. The day was filled with sunshine, And the land was full of May.

A golden bird was singing Its melody divine, I found you and I loved you, And all the world was mine.

I found you and I lost you, All on a golden day, But when I dream of you, dear, It is always brimming May. 

Paul Laurence DUNDAR

ALTIN BİR GÜN

Seni buldum ve kaybettim

Parıltılı bir günde

Gün güneş ışıklarıyla dolmuştu

Ve yeryüzü Mayıs ile doluydu.

Bir altın kuş ötüşüyordu

Onun kutsal melodisiyle

Seni buldum ve seni sevdim

Dünyalar benim olmuştu.

Seni buldum ve seni kaybettim

Altın bir günde

Ama senin hayalini kurduğumda sevgilim,

Gün hep Mayıs dolup taşıyor.

‘’Poetry is what gets lost in translation’’ Robert FROST

‘’Poetry translation is like playing a piano sonata on a trombone.’’ Nataly KELLY

‘’Translation is the art of failure.’’

Umberto ECO

BIBLIOGRAPHY

www.writingworld.com www.oxfordhandbooks.com

www.translationdirectory.com

www.translationdirectory.com

www.translationdirectory.com

Prepared by Esra KARAHAN Beyza AKIN Aysel YAŞAROĞLU