Using the Programme Guide of the World
Science Fiction Convention in Helsinki Finland in August 2017 (to which I will
be unable to go (until I retire from education)), I will jump off, jump on,
rail against, and shamelessly agree with the BRIEF DESCRIPTION given in the pdf
copy of the Programme Guide. The link is provided below…
Loses Something in the Translation:
Conveying Humor, Idioms, and Cultural Concepts Across Languages
The challenge in translating fiction from
one language to another is not just in the words themselves but also the
emotions, concepts, and inferences unique to the original culture. How does one
convey a concept in one culture that has no ready equivalent in another? What
are some of the special challenges found in particular languages? Our panelists
discuss the challenges in translating SF/F fiction.
Dirk van den Boom
– author of Science Fiction and Alternative History and works as a translator
Gili Bar-Hillel – translator
and publisher from Israel, specializing in fantasy and classics for YA and MG
readers; translated into Hebrew Harry Potter books, "The Wizard of
Oz", "Peter Pan", and books by Diana Wynne Jones.
Shaoyan Hu – writer/translator
for speculative fictions; won a gold award for the best new writer and a silver
award for the best novella of Chinese Nebula Award; translated into Chinese: A
Song of Ice and Fire series, The City & The City; a blog contributor for Amazing
Stories Magazine
Elena Pavlova – Bulgarian
SF&F writer and translator, winner of national literary awards, including
the illustrated The Ring of the Nibelung series YA fantasy novels; member Horror
Writers Club LAZARUS
Mirka Sillanpää – Finnish
editor, teacher, journalist, communication professional
My first thought
on reading this – and not being able to see or hear the discussion – is that
humor might not only be lost in the translation between languages, but can be
lost in the translation between cultures, demographics, age groups, and even
between neighborhoods.
An illustration of
this came clear to me when my wife and I went to see BLACK PANTHER last week.
Both of us have worked
in schools where the predominant racial group is black. Friends of ours came
with us and as they don’t have children, they’ve also had little experience
working in racially diverse schools.
Their take on the
movie was that it was “entertaining”.
My wife and I? There
were undertones, nuances, and outright dialogue that was startling, stirring,
and ultimately uplifting.
The majority of
the people at the screening were black and I will say that I have rarely heard
a theater so nearly silent as this one. Absolutely there was laughter – the first
thing that comes to mind was when the leader of the sixth tribe of Wakanda, M’Baku
is listening to the plea of T’Challa’s family to join them in fighting against
Erik Killmonger Stevens: “…he howled ‘Are you done?’ at [them]. Iconic.”
In the theater,
there was a stunned silence; then uproarious laughter.
I’m not sure how
significant those three words were to people who aren’t in that community – or those
of us who work alongside that community. I laughed, but I can’t tell you
exactly WHY. I can hint at it because I’ve worked with Black students and
teachers and administrators: A leader “begs” for help from a former enemy with
the complete understanding that the enemy AGREES with him. It’s an incredibly tense
moment. The leader expects capitulation. The former enemy knows this, knows that
he agrees and expects that he will help.
He breaks the
tension by shouting, “Are you done yet?” Everyone laughs because they know that
the former enemy HAS to help.
I’ve seen this
happen in my office. A black student who doesn’t know me very well comes in and
asks me for a granola bar. I spin around in my chair and snarl, “No! Absolutely
not!”
There’s a startled
look, then I say, “Of course you can!”
Almost without
exception, my Black kids bust out laughing. I toss them a bar and they say,
jokingly formal, “Thank you, Mister Stewart.” Then they laugh.
Kids from other ethnic
and race groups look puzzled, take the bar and thank me politely.
It’s only my
observation and inference and deduction, but it seems to explain that response.
I’m confident others who work alongside ethnic and race groups other than the
one(s) they belong to might observe this. I think that that was where the response
to the line from BLACK PANTHER came from.
Certainly other people
can find it humorous without understanding or working with black students. I am
an OBSERVER only.
Watching BLACK
PANTHER though, maybe “getting” some of the humor, makes me think that the
people on this panel faced tremendous obstacles when translating “funny” from
one language; from one culture; to another.
I think I get the
challenge, though I haven’t been able to communicate it. I wrote a short story
called “Small Battles” that pitted two comics from two entirely different
species (who were incipient enemies) to make an audience that was both mixed
and divided – laugh.
Here’s the final
scene, the “humorous dialogue” competition:
“Ten minutes
later, the master of ceremonies gave them the signal to wrap it up. They’d only
reached Newton’s Second Law as Martin said in mock horror, ‘I thought you’d
forgotten about that!’
‘Forgot about it?
That’s one of the best times we ever spent together!’
“She’d skipped a
line and Martin immediately saw why. The timing on this had to be perfect; the
Human band across the floor was ready to drum roll the end. Martin rushed on, ‘The
hill...’
‘You started
accelerating...’
‘Faster than I
ever wanted to run.’
‘And I saw that
patch of sand on the street at the foot of the hill,’ she paused to let the
WheetAh timber groan at the standard WheetAh ‘slipping on loose sand’ joke.
“Martin said, ‘I
couldn’t stop. And there was a huge tray of water –a koi pond – on the other
side of the street.’ The Humans started to laugh. Martin sighed, ‘You’re right.
It was purely Newton’s Second Law of Motion...’
‘The band’s
drummer obliged with a rim shot, and the band roared to life behind her as
Groan and Martin took a bow to cacophonous WheetAh triple hoots and thunderous
Human applause, as well as an abundance of wolf whistles from both – because it
meant the same thing to both kingdoms.”
I wish you could
read the whole thing…I have work to do on it. You can read my analysis of why it
doesn’t work here: http://faithandsciencefiction.blogspot.com/2017/05/writing-advice-can-this-story-be-saved.html
Image: https://i.pinimg.com/736x/b3/04/73/b304738564757033b8b05cd4b95a76df--black-panthers-the-panthers.jpg
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