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Poll: Which type of document/text is the most likely to get “lost in translation”?
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simon tanner
simon tanner  Identity Verified
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poetry vs. humour Oct 11, 2011

I was not surprised that so many voted for poetry - I nearly voted for that myself. But maybe it's a bit of a kneejerk reaction. On reflection I don't think poetry is likely to lose so much in translation as humour. Part of this is because many of the themes are universal (whereas humour is much more likely to be culture-based), but the main reason is that published translations of poetry are often done by poets themselves, whose ear for rhyme, rhythm and texture is much more highly trained than... See more
I was not surprised that so many voted for poetry - I nearly voted for that myself. But maybe it's a bit of a kneejerk reaction. On reflection I don't think poetry is likely to lose so much in translation as humour. Part of this is because many of the themes are universal (whereas humour is much more likely to be culture-based), but the main reason is that published translations of poetry are often done by poets themselves, whose ear for rhyme, rhythm and texture is much more highly trained than that of us mere mortals. But even a good, non-poet translator could produce a workable translation.

With humour, meanwhile, there can be so much more that is untranslatable. David's "Jamaica" joke is a classic example. Such plays on words are usually impossible to translate literally, and the translator will often need to invent a new play on words in the target language, sometimes with different points of reference. Humour also often involves references to elements of the source culture which would be unknown in the target culture, to people, events, products etc which constitute shared knowledge and may be central to humorous effect. Transferring this little lot can be quite a challenge. I translate quite a lot of humorous texts, and they are by far the most difficult thing I do (but also the most satisfying) ▲ Collapse
 
Allison Wright (X)
Allison Wright (X)  Identity Verified
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Local time: 11:34
Comedic devices in poetry Oct 11, 2011

seem to me to be the trickiest to find a good solution for. Rabelais, Molière and Shakespeare spring to mind. I voted "humour", mainly because I think it is more difficult to write good humour than good poetry, generally speaking.
 
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Poll: Which type of document/text is the most likely to get “lost in translation”?






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