« Biblical Studies Carnival 43 Is Here
Main
King of Saudi Arabia Becomes Pope! »
June 2, 2009
On Translations, Background Knowledge, And Acknowledgement
Benjamin Foster wrote these words in his introductory chapter to Before The Muses: An Anthology Of Akkadian Literature
The standards of scholarly acknowledgement among translators are lower than in other areas of humanistic research . . . Since it is often impractical to determine who first established the meaning of a given line, the custom has grown of acknowledging only deviations from certain standard translations or editions, though this means that often those who have done the most work are acknowledged the least. . . [p. 12]
On this blog, I sometimes indicate that a translation of an Akkadian, Ugaritic or Hebrew passage is mine. And at one level, when I say this, it always is. But with very few exceptions, I am aware of and have read other translations, some similar to mine, some differing. How much do I depend on them? Where does my background knowledge start and specific help from prior translations begin?
I'd guess that a majority of people who learned Akkadian in a formal setting learned summa awīlum, "If a man," very early in their schooling. Most on us know exactly where we learned these words both in terms of the text in which they repeatedly occur and the physical setting in which we learned them. We know who taught us their meaning. Thank you, Loren. But it would be crazy to document that every time we ran across either of them in an Akkadian text. They are part of our background knowledge. But what of vocabulary or grammatical constructions I encountered for the first time an hour ago? When does background knowledge end and new knowledge begin? I'm not sure? Sometimes that seemly new vocabulary or grammatical construction is "state of the art," something I should have known but either forgot or failed to learn in the first place. Is there really ever a "fresh translation" of any text where the translator knows of other translations? Or is a refreshed translation the best we can do? I do know that a fully documented translation would be a very bad read for anyone but a specialist or a student who loves abnormal details.
I'm not sure where all this takes me but it is true that when it comes to translation "often those who have done the most work are acknowledged the least."
Posted by Duane Smith at June 2, 2009 3:55 PM | Read more on Akkadian |
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.telecomtally.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/2894
Comments
I’ll bet this topic gets thought about rather more than it’s talked about. With biblical texts, I’ve found myself writing something like this about my translations: “Translations of texts are my own. However, readers familiar with the NRSV will recognize its influence on my own habitual renderings.”
Posted by: Brooke at June 3, 2009 8:35 AM
Hey Duane, I've had similar thoughts. I'm finalizing my translation of Ludlul and am all too aware that my wording often looks like Lambert's or Foster's or takes an idea from von Soden. I've tried to get at the meaning of each line independently. But when I get stuck, am unsatisfied with my rendering, or have a difficult time creating smooth English, I look to the past translators. And now that I'm finalizing my work, I compare each line with Lambert and Foster to see where I stand. I don't acknowledge everything that may have influence on me. But if there is a line that is strikingly similar to another translator's or I know that I have consciously used one of their turns of phrase, I note it in my score. I doubt that all of these notes make it to publication since the translations in SAACT aren't annotated. But I do it out of habit and respect. BTW, while comparing Lambert and Foster (and von Soden and al-Rawi/George in Tablet I, and Reiner in Tablet II), I see lots of dependence on Lambert's renderings and ideas. He will always be a benchmark. That will be duly noted, I assure you, in my Introduction.
Posted by: Alan Lenzi at June 4, 2009 8:51 PM
Sorry, comments are closed for this post.
Send me an email if it is important.