Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Whackamolee - 6:00 am-30-11-1111 - Questions:

Whackamolee (4:30 am 30-11-1111)

Whackamolee Q: @Huy if you can keep the discussion on ideas, then we can continue. I want to make something abundantly clear. I do not condemn the use of dictionaries. After all I use it. I '''do''' encourage everyone to trust in their judgment and make translations meaningful for the readers

Whackamolee : I don't think jumping through hoops, distort and contort the translations to fit the English constructs into at times unnatural Vietnamese constructs is a good thing. I believe we ought to be proud of our language, and serve us first and foremost.

Whackamolee : Years ago, Mr. Phan Nhật Nam made the same observation in "Dấu Binh Lửa" which I find to be true and biting, "a mark of shame when we throw away our self-determination, politically and now linguistically" (his words). It is simply a view to which I prescribe

Whackamolee : I don't believe in telling the youngsters here that there is "a correct translation" somewhere out there. I don't think that is such a terrible thing to advocate -- That you are free to think, and within your rights to be right or wrong, and through that be better

Whackamolee : A beautiful Vietnamese sentence conveying faithfully ideas by the writer is, to me, always much more valuable than one faithful to a foreign structure that is contorted and painful when read in Vietnamese. Simple as that.

Huyle : There is correct and incorrect translation. for example: spirit = linh hồn, not tâm thần. regardless, most "incorrect translation" in this forum results from pơor Vietnamese skill. Lots of people don't understand the words his/her mother spoke.

Whackamolee : You see things more clear-cut in black and white. I see things more gray. Spirit will depend on context - tinh thần, linh hồn, tâm linh. Even tâm thần is OK with "He went crazy because of the spiritual dismemberment he endured with the loss of his wife"

Whackamolee : Ông ta phát khùng vì bải hoải tâm linh hay tâm thần vỡ vụn khi vợ ông ấy mất? My take is that the translator will decide, and I will defer and respect that decision. Debates, sure? But the final choice is for that translator to make.

Whackamolee : Translation is an art, not a science. In arts, one is free to make choices, and it is essential that one does so and be encouraged to do so. Therein lies the richness of humanity. True artists exercise talents with proper courage & discretion. Hallelujah!

PigPoker : Hallelujah indeed. Ngủ chút đi bác :)

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