Untranslatability
Untranslatability
The importance and effects of retaining foreign words in translated fiction
Emily Baxter
Translated fiction plays an important role in today’s global society by bringing different perspectives, voices and cultures to a wider audience. The decisions translators and editors make can impact how the translated text is received by international readers who want to read a text that is fluent in their own language, so that it seems ‘that the translation is not in fact a translation, but the “original”’. It is important that translations are faithful to the source material, while moving as far from the source language as possible. When reading a translated passage of fiction, the reader has implicit trust in the author, translator and editor of the novel they are reading, as they expect that the meaning and story largely remain the same as the original. This places pressure on translators and editors to ensure that any retention of source-language words and phrases is justified and will not detract from the reader’s experience. This essay will explore a number of the factors that contribute to a translator’s decision not to translate, and how these foreign words are consequently treated in fictional texts. This primer will specifically look at Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan series, as translated by Ann Goldstein, as examples of contemporary Italian literature translated into English.
Translated works—of all genres, including non-fiction and business texts—comprise only three percent of all published material in America each year. Given Australia’s publishing industry reflects America’s, it is reasonable to assume translated works make up a similarly small percentage of the Australian landscape. Issues of diversity and inclusivity are increasingly important to industries around the world (particularly in Western, English-speaking cultures), and publishing is no exception. Translated fiction has the potential to introduce different cultures and voices to new markets, bringing a global perspective to international readers. Translations are, in comparison to the original works, ‘collective creations’ that are influenced and shaped by the translators, editors and publishers involved in their transition into the target language. In translating texts—and editing the translations—it is therefore crucial that publishers and other contributors remain faithful to the original text. Publishers, editors and translators must be careful to maintain the cultural and foreign aspects of the source text throughout the process of translation; they must not remove all the foreignness of the text in order to make it more appealing to their target audience. In translations ‘the English language should not subsume the original, the reader should be made to confront the otherness of the foreign culture’. One way to do so is to retain small instances of the source language throughout.
“It is important that translations are faithful to the source material, while moving as far from the source language as possible.”
Translators may choose to retain source-language words and phrases for a seemingly obvious reason—there is no direct counterpart for that particular word in the language they are translating into. While it is possible to argue that the meaning of every word can be translated, it is often the case that ‘it is impossible to get a neat summary’ of the word or phrase in the target language. Popular examples of untranslatable words in recent years have included schadenfreude and hygge, German and Danish words respectively, that are considered untranslatable for the additional meanings and emotions they encapsulate. In the context of fiction particularly it is important to note the constraints of style and tone in untranslatability. Where a translator may be able to describe the meaning or feel of the original word, the number of words to do so may interrupt the flow of the story itself. In these instances translators may decide that using the source-language word is a better option than elaborating on a detailed translation or selecting a translation with a slightly different meaning. A simple example of untranslatability throughout Ferrante’s Neapolitan series is the translation of food—while a food such as pane has the immediate English counterpart of bread, complex dishes that are specific to an individual location are much more difficult to concisely translate:
… she would cut up the eel, and prepare the insalata di rinforzo, and the chicken broth, and the struffoli.
Goldstein retains here the Italian for the first and third dish, but translates chicken broth, as it is a dish familiar to English speakers. Translators may also choose to retain the original language for particular words and phrases due to their cultural untranslatability. This recognises that words have their own subtext and contextual meanings based on the culture of the language speakers. Cultural identity and language are so closely related that certain words retain layered meanings that cannot always be carried across into other languages. Culturally untranslatable words can be used effectively in novels as literary devices to add emphasis to any number of features—time, setting and characterisation are a few examples. Through the use of the foreign word or phrase, the reader will inevitably be immersed in that particular feature of the text. Goldstein retains the Italian stradone—the literal translation of which is ‘wide road’—throughout the English translations of Ferrante’s novels. The recurring use of the Italian language acts as a literary device in its contribution to the Naples setting that is so vivid throughout the Neapolitan tetralogy; it brings Ferrante’s world to life. Interestingly, it is used only in relation to the neighbourhood the two main characters, Elena and Lila, grow up in. By retaining the original Italian, Goldstein ensures that readers of the English translation will be able to evoke the stradone of the old neighbourhood and place themselves in Elena and Lila’s world. Goldstein could alternatively have chosen to translate stradone into wide avenue, or street, or any similar English word—which would arguably have left readers with a similar understanding—but a crucial sense of location specific to Naples and Italy in general would have been lost. It is important that the original language is retained for its added value where no target-language word is able to adequately demonstrate the concept and culture inferred by the source word or phrase.
Once translators have made the decision to leave a word or phrase in the source language, they must then decide how to include it with the least disruption to the reader. There are a number of ways they can do so: they may define the word either explicitly or implicitly, they may add a footnote or they may trust that the disruption of the foreign word will not negatively affect the reader, and leave it undefined. As per editorial standards, in most instances the source-language word or phrase is denoted in the text through the use of italics, symbolising to readers its foreignness.
Goldstein takes a number of these approaches in her translation of Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend, the first book in the Neapolitan series. In the case of stradone, Goldstein chose to naturally include the English definition the first time it was used: ‘the woman was walking slowly from one side of the stradone, the wide avenue that ran through the neighbourhood, to the other’. Goldstein is then free to use stradone throughout the series, without being concerned about the reader’s unfamiliarity with the word. This can be seen as particularly important in the case of recurring imagery, as the translator would not want to rely on readers translating for themselves, or potentially missing out on the additional meaning and context. In comparison, Goldstein retains cotognata in the following passage without providing an English explanation or translation.
… two others, children poorer than us, with whom Lila and I sometimes played, and who in school and outside always tried to steal our things, a pen, an eraser, the cotognata, so that they went home covered with bruises because we’d hit them.
This is an interesting example, as it is assumed that the reader will be able to translate for themselves in the context of the passage. With this assumption many readers could be forgiven for thinking the cotognata is another form of school stationery; it is in fact quince paste. Given that it is possible many English speakers will incorrectly translate in this instance, the translator and editor may have placed too much responsibility on the reader to translate the word themselves, either by using a dictionary or by looking it up online. The translator and editor must be confident that the reader’s experience of the novel will not be adversely affected if they choose to continue reading without knowing the correct English definition of a word. In the above example, there is no detriment to the reader’s understanding of the situation, as their personal translation—correct or not—may draw on their own experiences in the classroom of having possessions stolen. The overall emotions here are more important than the literal meaning of cotognata.
A target audience’s familiarity, or lack thereof, can contribute to the decisions translators and editors make when translating fictional works into English. Compare salami, provolone, mortadella and prosciutto, with taralli, lupini and cotognata. What do these words have in common? All are Italian foods, although for English-language speakers, it may only be the first four that are easily recognised as such. These can be considered loan words: words that have already been adopted into the English language from another, in this case Italian. Goldstein’s translation of Ferrante’s Neapolitan series follows the guideline above and only italicises the final three, in recognition that these remain foreign to English speakers, while the first have already entered the English lexicon. Translators and editors will often refer to a target-language dictionary to confirm whether a foreign word from the source language is anglicised enough to leave in roman font. Loan words from Italian such as pizza and pasta have been used in common English for so long that it is difficult to imagine a time when editors would have considered it necessary to italicise these.
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Ask the translator why they have retained the source language in each instance.
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Check a dictionary to see if a word has been absorbed into English
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Consider the literary effect of retaining the original language
The role of an editor when working on a translated text can be understood as more complex to the work they undertake on manuscripts in their original language. In addition to the normal requirements of fluency, grammar and style, the editors must work closely with the translator to ensure that their changes do not introduce harm or anglicise the text too greatly. In the case of retaining elements of the source language, editors must discuss with the translator the reasons why a translator has left a word in the source language. Perhaps they can argue that a particular word needs to be italicised, as it is less familiar in English than the translator thought. The editor must instead engage with the text to understand the ways the foreign word contributes to the identity of the original author and their culture, along with the setting, characterisation or any other literary feature of the text.
As the effects of globalisation increase fiction that provides new perspectives and voices from different cultures may become more common. It is therefore important that translated fiction remains as faithful as possible to the original language. If it doesn’t, it risks inadvertently perpetuating stereotypes held by white, English-speaking people in Western countries. Translators and editors should increase their efforts to retain source-language material where appropriate. Editors should consider whether a word can be literally translated, and whether it should be; they must be careful not to translate everything to the possible detriment of the author’s identity and the wider cultural identity the author represents. They should consider this not as a disruption to the fluency of the translated material, but as an opportunity to create a sense of foreignness for the reader, and to increase the reader’s immersion in, and understanding of, the foreign culture and its language.
