Translation Chapter 1 Of Venuti\'s the Translator\'s

Translation

Chapter 1 of Venuti's The Translator's Invisibility is about why the goal of translation is to be "invisible." The translated text should be as close to the original as possible. In Chapter 1, the author explains the term invisibility and why it applies to the translator's work. The goal is to be faithful to the original author. There should be no evidence that the translator has taken liberties to put something in his or her own words because it sounds good. As Venuti puts it, there should be "the absence of any linguistic or stylistic peculiarities" that would prevent a faithful rendition of the original (1). The translator's role is to transform a text from one language to another without losing anything or adding anything. The translator must therefore grasp exactly what the original author was trying to say, and render that fluently into a modern and easily accessible version of the original. A good translation is a text that stands alone and feels like an original, rather than something that is a proxy. Good translations flow and have textual integrity. Poor translations are ones that avoid using jargon, archaic language, or too many foreign words. The best way to achieve a smooth and effective translated text is to get into the mind of the original writer, and convey exactly what he or she was saying -- in the same way that it is more effective to "think" in a foreign language than it is to translate a sentence word for word. Idioms and other obstacles to a smooth translation should be replaced by finding the core meaning. For example, there is a dish of food called "ropa vieja," which translates literally to English from Spanish as "old clothes." A good translator describes the dish as being shredded meat; a bad translator calls it "old clothes."

Venuti claims that it is ironic that English-language translators need to maintain invisibility. The English literary traditions are typically individualistic, meaning that the identity of the author is very important to the text. A translator deliberately takes the back seat to become invisible in order to render the original text properly. The translator rarely gets credit, and rarely if ever become famous. This means that the work of the translator goes unnoticed, or under-appreciated. The author states that the value of a good translator is becoming increasingly recognized, and that their compensation (financially speaking) has correspondingly risen. This is partly because publishing companies understand the need to have good translations, which will sell more books than translations that do not "speak" to their English-speaking readers.

Translation means being knowledgeable of and sensitive to differences in culture and historical context that impacts the meaning of words, idioms, and entire texts. For example, to translate Homer, or the Bible, the translator must know about ancient Greek or ancient Middle Eastern history. The translator must be able to understand which words were used colloquially and which are to be taken literally. The problem with mis-translation is easily understood in light of the many different translations of Biblical texts. Translation problems can even be the source of major misunderstandings, and cross-cultural communication problems. This is why businesses need to hire translators that are familiar with more than just grammatically perfect language, but also translators that are able to translate values, norms, concepts, and beliefs. The translator needs to read between the lines, so to speak.