While browsing the internet, I came across this poem:
...and I got curious. I know an okay amount about poetry in other languages (I regret heavily not being able to read Dante in the original Italian) and how translations can never really get the nuances across.
When I tried to translate the above poem, I was told that it contained "impossible" to translate wordplay, on top of some seriously weird grammar. Also, in the translator's words:
But, if you are curious, we made our best effort and came with the following solution/translations:
tallrik = plate (for food)And so the final result of this travel came to be the following, probably horribly butchered, poem:
tall = pine tree
rik = rich
talrik = plentiful
I couldn't make this poem really work in translation, even with the aid of someone who speaks Swedish as a (admittedly third) language. I shudder to think how difficult it must be for non-Nordic languages.
I love wordplay like this. I think we sometimes overlook it in English. It's a lot easier to notice learning a new language: "Wait, truth also means where?"
ReplyDeleteI can totally see where the humor/playfulness would be in the original language, but it's utterly lost in the translation. Some things just shouldn't be translated I suppose. Perhaps it's better simply to explain the humor rather than "englishify" it.