Another Theory

'Translation is a subject that everyone always makes exactly the same points about. You can't translate anything exactly. Approximate and inaccurate translations are often closer to the original than literal ones. There is an irreducible core of the original work. Yet translation has a vitality of its own.

And then they always, always, quote the absurd French translation of Finnegans Wake.'

Well, that's my doctorate judged, weighed, filleted and abandoned, then. I didn't even get to mention French translations of Joyce. The whole review I take these sentences from is here.

In other news:

'I was wildly in love with the Countess of ***; I was twenty years old and I was naive; she betrayed me; I lost my temper; she dropped me. I was naive, I missed her; I was twenty years old, she forgave me, and because I was twenty years old, because I was naive, still betrayed, but no longer dropped, I thought myself the most beloved of lovers, the happiest of men.'

Problems (a non-exhaustive list):
1. translating 'ingénu' as 'naive' is really swapping one French word for another different French word.
2. 'j'avais vingt ans' is OK the first time as 'I was twenty years old', but the more natural English is to say 'I was twenty' in subsequent repetitions. Which means they are no longer repetitions.
3. 'elle me quitta': more natural to say 'she left me'. But then, how do you deal with 'plus quitté' later on? 'No longer left' doesn't work.
4. I kept on wanting to use inappropriate idioms - she cheated on me, she dumped me. But I think this is just because they fit more easily in with the repetitions: she dumped me, no longer dumped.

Oh it's difficult. You can't translate anything exactly. Maybe an approximate and inaccurate translation would be closer to the original than a literal one. Of course, there is an irreducible core of the original work. Yet translation has a vitality of its own...

Toute choses sont dites déjà, mais comme personne n’écoute, il faut toujours recommencer. As André Gide said.