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
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