Bananas Lost In Translation
POLONIUS
What are you reading, your highness?
HAMLET
Words, words, words.
In my training as a translator I was taught that words matter and that you have to account for the meaning of every word in a sentence. This instuction did not mean that you had to translate word for word. It meant you had to convey as much as possible all the bits of infomation implied or expressed by the words within the given text. Irene Duffy grappled with some unique challenges in translating into Irish Amongst Women by John McGahern. On the back cover of the Irish version Idir Mhná we are told that the translator is simply translating McGahern’s English back into Irish from which it originated (...tá sí ag aistriú ‘ar ais’ go dtí an teanga dhúchais ónar síolraíodh é.) Faced with metaphors in a literary text the task of the translator is usually to try and find like-for-like metaphors or failing that to use a simile or reduce the metaphor to its sense. But in Amongst Women McGahern and his characters talk English with a heavy Irish influence which often results in quirky English sentences or expressions but these same sentences when translated ‘back’ into Irish turn out to be just everyday Irish idioms or an Irish way of saying things.
Here are some examples from the novel Amongst Women/Idir Mhná :
Moran (Main character) - ‘I’d throw it in their teeth,’ is Moran’s angry reaction to the suggestion that he could still claim an IRA pension. In English we usually throw something in someone’s ‘face’ rather than their ‘teeth’ so this utterance might strike mother tongue English speakers as a strange or novel expression. But Moran is just translating word-for-word the Irish expression ‘chaithfinn sé suas lena bhfiacla é’ ( I’d throw it up to their teeth).
Moran - ‘... it’s time for me to beat away’. Here you can see Moran has muddled into his English usage the translation of the Irish verb ‘Buail‘ (beat, hit, strike, etc) which is often used in the context of ‘Buail an bóthar’ ‘to hit the road’ . In Idir Mhná the translator simply ‘corrects’ the original and interprets ‘to beat away’ as meaning ‘to leave’ : ‘tá sé in am dom bheith ag imeacht liom’.
Other characters in the book show the same tendencies to transfer Irish expressions and words into their English usage.
Maggie - ‘They say she’s wild after him,’ ‘Deirtear go bhfuil sí splanctha ina dhiadh.
Rose’s mother - ‘They say he’s no ornament,’ ‘Deirtear nach aon mhaise é siud’
Moran’s brother -’I got broke down.’ Theip ar an ngluaisteán’
‘You’ll have to shape up, Daddy.’
‘Chaithfidh tú feabhas a chur ort féin. a Dhaidí’
Here the translator could have used the same expression in Irish:
cruth a chur ort, to shape up
It's never a dull task but always a difficult one for a translator to find ways and words to deal with metaphors. Here are a couple of sayings from Amongst Women/Idir Mhná :
‘all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy’,
becomes in the Irish version:
‘Is iomaí lá ag an uaigh orainn.’ p. 113, p.76 (Lit. We'll be many a day in the grave')
'nick of time', becomes 'ar an nóiméad tráthúil' (the opportune moment)
'live and let live' - 'ceart dom ceart duit' (You're right, I'm right)
McGahern's narrative throughout the book is also influenced by the Irish language and his English often hints at non-native usage:
'black with people' is a literal translation from the Irish of 'dubh le daoine' but for some reason the translator ignores this and goes instead with 'plodaithe le daoine' (crowded with people)
and again:
English speakers might 'put out' a fire but would more likely 'make' or 'light' a fire.
The translator opted once again to ignore a chance to do a word-for-word translation and rendered it as 'Las Róise tine mhór. (Rose lit a big fire) p.124
'Ceapaim go bhfuil sé sin seafóideach' (I think that's nonsense/silly)
I enjoyed reading Amongst Women years ago and am grateful to Irene Duffy for the opportunity she gave me to enjoy once again Idir Mhná in her excellent translation.
