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"Bridging the Russian–English Language Gap" |
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Robert Benchley once remarked that "Defining and analyzing humor is a pastime of humorlous people." Hence, without further ado we offer the reader a collection of anecdotes from the lives of translators and interpreters the world over. Submit it here! Search this page for anecdotes using the "Search" feature on your browser! Press Ctrl+F and type in a keyword, then press "Enter". Bismarck An American woman visiting Berlin - intent on hearing Bismarck speak - obtained two tickets for the Reichstag visitors' gallery and enlisted an interpreter to accompany her. Soon after their arrival, Bismarck rose and began to speak. The interpreter, however, simply sat listening with intense concentration. The woman, anxious for him to begin translating, nudged and budged him, to no avail. Finally, unable to control herself any longer, the woman burst out: "What is he saying!?" "Patience, madam," the interpreter replied. "I am waiting for the verb." Bismarck, Prince Otto Eduard Leopold von ["the Iron Chancellor"] (1815-1898) Prussian-born German statesman, first chancellor of the German Empire (1871-1890) [noted for his key role in the victory over Austria (1866) and the creation of the North German Confederation (1867), for his sweeping social reforms, and for his attempt to limit the growth of German socialism] [Sources: C. Craig, The Germans] (On pleasing the difficult client:) Pope's Iliad Shortly after Alexander Pope had completed his translation of Homer's Iliad, he was invited by Charles Montagu (the Earl of Halifax) to give a public reading at his elegant home. While Pope was delighted by the invitation, he was rather dismayed by Montagu's suggestion that certain passages could use more work. On the advice of fellow poet Samuel Garth, Pope waited several months before revisiting Halifax. The poet then thanked him for his perceptive remarks and read him the corrected lines. Halifax was delighted and showered Pope with congratulations. Little did he realize that the "corrected" lines were precisely the same as the original passages. Pope, Alexander (1688-1744) English poet, satirist, and translator [noted for for his Pastorals (1709); for such satirical works as The Rape of the Lock (1712), "Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot" (1735), and The Dunciad (his satire on contemporary writers, 1728, 1729, 1743); for his translations of Homer's Iliad (1720) and Odyssey (1725-26); and for such philosophical works as his Essay on Criticism (1711); An Essay on Man (1733-34) and Moral Essays (1731-35)] [Sources: Bob Fenster, Duh! 2003 Block Calendar: The Stupid History of the Human Race] (On the importance of translation quality:) Michael Connelly: Give me Five Michael Connelly once received an email from an Italian translator in his employ. The man signed off not with 'Cheers' or 'Best regards' but with 'So give me five.' Shortly thereafter Connelly had the man replaced; Italian sales promptly soared. Connelly, Michael (?- ) American writer [noted for various books] [Sources: GQ, Nov. 2003, p. 204] Slippery Translation Cinderella's glass slipper has been called "the most horrendous mistranslation in literary history". The original French phrase describing the fated shoe was "pantoufle en vair" (a slipper of fur). However, the term "vair" had fallen into disuse by the time Charles Perrault's tale was widely translated and the "pantoufle en vair" became "pantoufle en verre" - a glass slipper. [Trivia: According to Catherine Orenstein, author of Little Red Riding Hood Uncloaked, an early version of "Little Red Riding Hood" (1697) warned of the lecherous noblemen in the court of France's Sun King, Louis XIV, at Versailles. "In 17th-century slang," Orenstein explained, "to see the wolf... meant to lose your virginity. And it's a metaphor that we actually preserve today, that's why we call men who chase women or seduce women, wolves."] Perrault, Charles (1628-1703) French fairy tale writer [noted for his Contes de ma Mere l'Oye which includes such gems as "Tom Thumb" and "Sleeping Beauty" (c. 1697)] [Sources: The Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins] (For those of us who are tempted to neglect our families in favor of our work...) Morel's Wife While engaged in a translation of Libanius one day, the French scholar Federic Morel was interrupted by a messenger. His wife, the man explained, was seriously ill. "I have only two or three passages left to translate," Morel replied, without glancing up. "I shall then come directly." Some time later, a second messenger arrived with news that Madame Morel was approaching the end. "Just two more words," the scholar cried, "and I shall be there!" At last a third messenger was dispatched with news that his wife had in fact died. "I am grieved indeed - she was a good woman," he announced with a sigh - and promptly returned to his work. [A similar tale is told of the mathematician Karl Friedrich Gauss.] Morel, Federic (1552-1630) French scholar and printer [Sources: A. de Morgan, Encyclopedia of Eccentrics] (Beware of interpreting based on context...) Kanguru? "In 1770, Captain Cook's ship Endeavour ran aground on the coast of Queensland, Australia. While some of his men made repairs, Cook led an exploration party and met the aboriginal people. "One of the sailors pointed to the animals that hopped around with their young riding in pouches and asked an aborigine what they were called. The aborigine replied, 'Kanguru.' From then on Cook and his sailors referred to the animals by this word. It wasn't until later that they learned that it meant 'What did you say?'" [Alas the story is almost certainly apocryphal.] Cook, James (1728-1821) English sea captain and explorer [Sources: Ted Chiang, "Story of Your Life," in Starlight 2, pg. 266] (... and a warning to omit nothing when translating:) Akhui di Yeshua While excavating in Jerusalem in 1960, the British archaeologist John Marco Allegro unearthed a 2,000-year-old, 20-inch limestone ossuary (a box used to contain bones). Over the years, the ossuary passed through a series of antiques markets and collectors in Jerusalem. Then, one day in October, 2002, Andri Lemaire, a scholar in Aramaic at the Sorbonne in Paris, translated an ancient Aramaic inscription on the box: "Ya'akov bar Yosef akhui di Yeshua." Lemaire's translation? "James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus." [Lemaire concluded that it was "very probable" that the inscription referred to Jesus of Nazareth. Analyses of the "Jesus Box" have led experts to conclude that the box is indeed genuine.] Lemaire, Andri (?- ) French scholar and professor [Sources: ananova.com, 18th April 2003; Discovery Channel] (Beware of translations fraught with danger...) Burton's Wife Isabel Arundell, who had long hoped to marry Richard Burton, was naturally overjoyed when he finally proposed. Awaiting Burton's return from various travels, Isabel prepared for her marriage by learning to milk cows, groom and ride horses - and fence. When she sought out a highly regarded swordsman to instruct her, he asked her why she wished to learn, and was greatly amused by her reply: "So that I can defend Richard when he is attacked." [After Burton's death his widow, afraid that his memory would be marred by his scandalous writings, burned all of his journals and diaries.] [Burton was the first to translate the Kama Sutra.] Burton, Sir Richard Francis (1821-1890) British explorer [noted for his journey to the forbidden cities of Mecca and Medina (disguised as a Pathan, 1853), for his unsuccessfully search for the source of the Nile (1858), and for his translations of such oriental classics as The Perfumed Garden and The Arabian Nights (1885–1888)] [Sources: L. Blanch, The Wilder Shores of Love] (Try not to deserve this type of politeness.) Mistranslation During a state visit to Poland in 1977, President Jimmy Carter delivered an address at Warsaw Airport. His speech was translated by a certain S. Seymour, whose grasp of Polish was sadly lacking. When Carter spoke of his "desires for the future," Seymour relayed the phrase as "lusts for the future." And when Carter mentioned his safe arrival in Poland, Seymour inadvertently explained that the president had "left America, never to return." ["I had to grit my teeth from time to time," Poland's President Gierek remarked, "but one must not be rude to ladies or interpreters."] Carter, Jimmy [born James Earl, Jr.] (1924- ) American politician, governor of Georgia (1970-1974), 39th president of the United States (1977-1981) [noted for his role in negotiating the Panama Canal treaties (1978) and the Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt (1979); and for attempts to institute social reforms and energy-conservation measures during the recession which plagued the latter portion of his presidency] [Sources: Stephen Pile, The Book of Heroic Failures] (Never get caught doing this...) Bruno Maddox: Italian Antics The writer Bruno Maddox was often amused by Italian resourcefulness. "The Italian translation of my novel [My Little Blue Dress] came out about a year before I'd finished the English version," he once recalled. "Don't ask me how they did it. I certainly haven't asked." Maddox, Bruno (?- ) American writer [noted for various books] [Sources: Details, May 2001, p. 88] (You know you've attained immortality as a translator when...) Blood and Dust Robert Fitzgerald, who often worried that his translations of such ancient classics as Homer's Iliad and Odyssey were of little interest to younger readers, was heartened one day not long before his death by an incident related to him by his wife: Two young women were wheeling their bicycles ahead of her through a college campus when, just before they left the path, one turned to the other. "You know what I said to him?" she asked. "I said, 'You know that scene where Hector got dragged by his ankles through the blood and the dust? 'Well,' I said, 'I hope that happens to you!'" Fitzgerald, Robert (1911-1985) American poet and translator [Sources: The New Yorker, February 5, 1985] (The importance of dialect...) Yahoo During the 2001 Major League Soccer awards banquet, American star Clint Mathis (who was born and raised in the southern States) apologized to the bilingual Spanish-English audience - for not bringing "my Redneck-to-English translator". [Trivia: Though the United States scored just one goal and finished dead last in the 1998 World Cup, Mathis, with typical swagger, predicted an American victory in 2002.] Mathis, Clint (?- ) American soccer player [noted for his performance with America's World Cup team, and for his intensity (scolding referees, yelling at errant teammates, and mercilessly tackling opponents) and showmanship (playing to the stadium crowd and celebrating goals with... grand gestures)] [Sources: New York Times magazine, 2002/05/26] Kamasutra "Sex was clearly in the head of Richard F. Burton, the Victorian adventurer, translator of such oriental exotica as The Arabian Nights and The Perfumed Garden, also a bold and successful liar, when he, along with his friend F F Arbuthnot, set up a bogus publishing company called the Kama Shastra Society of London and Benares. "In 1883, he brought out the first translation of the Kamasutra [...] He and Arbuthnot inserted in the English version, among other radical changes, the Sanskrit terms lingam and yoni, which denoted the sexual organs that the third-century ascetic creator of the Kamasutra, Vatsyayana, had mostly subtly implied in the original text. The unfamiliar words were meant to dodge the charge of obscenity in England." Burton, Sir Richard Francis (1821-1890) British explorer [noted for his journey to the forbidden cities of Mecca and Medina (disguised as a Pathan, 1853), for his unsuccessfully search for the source of the Nile (1858), and for his translations of such oriental classics as The Perfumed Garden and The Arabian Nights (1885–1888)] [Sources: New Statesman, June 3, 2002; Kamasutra] No God but Allah "We were a community," Elizabeth Kolbert once recalled of the reporters at the New York Times, "bound in no small part by the countless stories that would never - could never - make it into the paper. A favorite concerned an Arabic phrase that the Times, relying on a clerk who happened to be Muslim, had rendered 'There is no God but Allah' but which actually meant 'National Bank of Kuwait.'" Kolbert, Elizabeth (?- ) American reporter and writer [noted for her work with the New York Times and the New Yorker] [Sources: The New Yorker, June 30, 2003] (The perils of translating poetry:) Oscar Wilde & Alexander Pope Oscar Wilde was no great fan of Alexander Pope. "There are two ways of disliking poetry," he once remarked. "One way is to dislike it; the other is to read Pope." Pope, Alexander (1688-1744) English poet, satirist, and translator [noted for for his Pastorals (1709); for such satirical works as The Rape of the Lock (1712), "Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot" (1735), and The Dunciad (his satire on contemporary writers, 1728, 1729, 1743); for his translations of Homer's Iliad (1720) and Odyssey (1725-26); and for such philosophical works as his Essay on Criticism (1711); An Essay on Man (1733-34) and Moral Essays (1731-35)] (The translator in the translation:) Homerun? Alexander Pope's translations of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey were not universally well-received. Of the former, the classical scholar Richard Bentley once declared: "It is a pretty poem, Mr. Pope, but you must not call it Homer." [Modern critics tend to agree.] Pope, Alexander (1688-1744) English poet, satirist, and translator [noted for for his Pastorals (1709); for such satirical works as The Rape of the Lock (1712), "Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot" (1735), and The Dunciad (his satire on contemporary writers, 1728, 1729, 1743); for his translations of Homer's Iliad (1720) and Odyssey (1725-26); and for such philosophical works as his Essay on Criticism (1711); An Essay on Man (1733-34) and Moral Essays (1731-35)] [Sources: S. Johnson, Lives of the Poets] (No more contraversial trade...) Gosse & Eliot The work of critic and translator Edmund Gosse was not universally appreciated. "I cannot conceive," T. S. Eliot once remarked, "of a future society in which Sir Edmund Gosse would be possible." Gosse, Sir Edmund (1849-1928) British critic and translator [noted for his studies of poetry and history; and for his biographies of Congreve (1888), Donne (1899), Jeremy Taylor (1904), Sir Thomas Browne (1905), Ibsen (1908), and Swinburne (1917); and for his translations of Ibsen's plays] [Sources: The New Yorker, Oct. 6, 2003, p. 53] (Interpreter Rescues President!) Ronald Reagan: Parlous Situation One evening Ronald Reagan attended a formal state dinner in honor of French President Francois Mitterrand: "He [Mitterrand] and his wife and Nancy and I finished the receiving line," Reagan later recalled, "and the four of us walked from the East Room into the State Dining Room. As was customary, everyone in the room was to stand until Nancy led Francois to her table and I led Mrs. Mitterrand to my table at the opposite side of the room. "Nancy and Francois headed for their table, but Mrs. Mitterrand stood frozen, even after a butler motioned at her that she was to walk toward our table. I whispered, 'We're supposed to go over there to the other side.' But she wouldn't move. She said something to me very quietly in French, which I didn't understand. Then she repeated it, and I shook my head. I still didn't know what she was saying; suddenly an interpreter ran up to us and said, 'She's telling you that you're standing on her gown!'" Reagan, Ronald (1911-2004) American actor and politician, governor of California (1967-75), and 40th President of the United States (1981-1989) [noted for his administration's stewardship of economic recovery; its military involvement in Grenada, Central America, Lebanon, and Libya; and its improved relations with the Soviet Union] [Sources: Ronald Reagan, AN AMERICAN LIFE] (Romance Of A Busy Interpreter) Marquis While working on Madame Sans-Gene in Paris in 1925, Gloria Swanson fell in love with her interpreter, the Marquis Henri de la Falaise de Coudray. When Gloria's mother learned that she had taken a marquis as her third husband, she hastily telephoned her lawyer. "What's a marquee?" she asked. "It's one of those things," he explained, "that you hang in front of the theatre to keep the rain off the customers." "My God!" she exclaimed, "Gloria married one this morning!" Swanson [born Svensson], Gloria May Josephine (1899-1983) American actress [noted for her roles in various films] [Sources: Bennett Cerf, Try and Stop Me] (Winston Churchill practices proper etiquette in working through a translator:) Desire for Peace One day during the Yalta Conference following World War II (in 1945), Winston Churchill proposed a toast to his Soviet counterpart: "To Premier Stalin, whose foreign policy manifests a desire for peace," Churchill began before turning away from the interpreter and continuing in a low whisper: "A piece of Poland, a piece of Hungary, a piece of Romania..." Churchill, Winston Leonard Spenser (1874-1965) British politician and writer, First Lord of the Admiralty (1911-15, 1939-), prime minister (from 1940), Nobel Prize recipient (Literature, 1953) [noted for his remarkable eloquence and leadership ability; for his memoirs and letters; and for such works as The Second World War, The Great Republic : A History of America and My Early Life] (Embarassing moment for the interpreter:) Hannes Schneider: Austrian Skimeister "There is a story about a party given for [legendary Austrian skier and instructor Hannes Schneider] at the Harvard Club of Boston when he was here in 1936 on a brief visit. Somebody had brought along photographs of the White Mountain ski country — Mount Cranmore, Mount Washington, the dizzy headwall of Tuckerman Ravine. Schneider looked at them politely, then spoke to his interpreter. 'He wants to know,' the interpreter said, 'where the mountains are.'" Schneider, Hannes (1891-?) Austrian skier and instructor [noted for his development of the Arlberg technique (or deep-crouch method) and his perfection of the equally revolutionary "stem-christiania" turn (which superseded the old-fashioned Telemark turn)] [Sources: C. Lester Walker, The New Yorker, 1942-02-28] (Always charge extra to translate handwriting!) Griffonage New York Tribune founder Horace Greeley, famed for his illegible handwriting, once scribbled a note to a member of his staff, dismissing him for gross incompetence and neglect of duty. The staffer, encountering Greeley many years later, thanked his former boss for the illegible note. "I took it with me," he explained. "Nobody could read it, so I declared it a letter of recommendation, gave it my own interpretation, and obtained several first-class situations by it. I am really very much obliged to you." [Illegible handwriting is called 'griffonage.'] Greeley, Horace (1811-1872) American journalist and politician, founder and editor (1846-1872) of The New York Tribune [noted for his controversial advocacy of universal amnesty in the Reconstruction period after the Civil War] [Sources: Botkin, Treasury of American Anecdotes] (The importance of register:) Vernacular Duke Borso once sent a letter in Latin to the mayor of an outlying village ordering him to catch a sparrowhawk (accipetrem) and send it to Ferrara in a sack to prevent it from escaping. When the letter was delivered, it caused considerable consternation; the villagers interpreted it as a demand for the surrender of their popular archpriest (arciprete). Though surprised by the duke's demand, they dared not disobey it and the hapless cleric, protesting his innocence, was popped into a sack and hauled off to Ferrara. When the package arrived at the ducal palace, the receiving official was completely perplexed until the letter was produced and the mistake revealed. Borso, keen to save the villagers from embarrassment, sent the priest home with a message explaining that he had changed his mind. Thereafter the duke was careful to correspond with his subjects in the vernacular. Este, Borso d' (1413-1471) Italian duke, Duke of Modena and Reggio, Duke of Ferrara [Sources: Little, Brown Book of Anecdotes] (Celestial disappointment:) Intifada Farce In 2002, the German scholar Christoph Luxenberg published a remarkable book entitled, Die Syro-Aramaische Lesart des Koran (sadly available only in German). Among his major claims? That promises made by Islamic Jihadis to would-be suicide bombers of "72 virgins in Paradise" had been based on a mistranslation of the Koran. The proper interpretation? Upon arrival in Paradise, Luxenberg explained, martyrs could expect to be lavished with... "white raisins" of "crystal clarity." Luxenberg, Christoph (?- ) German scholar [Sources: The Guardian, January 12, 2002] (More punctuation...) Comman Prisoner? Czar Alexander III once decreed that a certain prisoner be sent to the Siberian gulag. "Pardon impossible," he wrote in a letter, "to be sent to Siberia." The czarina Maria Fedorovna, famed for her philanthropic nature, altered her husband's missive and secured the man's freedom. The new reading? "Pardon, impossible to be sent to Siberia." [The man was soon released.] Fedorovna, Maria (1847-1928) Russian empress, wife of Czar Alexander III (1745-94), daughter of King Christian IX of Denmark [Sources: A Wallace, The Book of Lists] Trivia Query: could this technically be considered a translation? In September 2003, some 50 German Evangelical Church translators began translating the Bible using feminist language, rewriting passages containing sexist language. Such gender-biased forms of address as "Lord" and "Our Father" would be omitted and the term "disciple" changed to "disciples and disciplesses." Translators, mind your punctuation In 1850, Michigan's state constitution contained a line inadvertently legalizing slavery as punishment for a crime: "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, unless for the punishment of a crime, shall ever be tolerated in this state." Not until 1963 was the typo corrected and the first comma moved to its intended position (after the word slavery). |
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