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DON QUIXOTE (Page 1) "One of the things
that should give most satisfaction to a virtuous and eminent man is
to see his good name spread abroad during his own lifetime, by means of
the printing press, through translations into the languages of the
various peoples." |
The words above, spoken by Don Quixote in Cervantes' early seventeenth-century novel, are both humorous and accurate: in fact translations of Don Quixote from the original Spanish began to appear in "the languages of the various peoples" almost as soon as the work was published. The first English translation, by Thomas Shelton, was published in 1612, seven years after the first part of the novel appeared, and a translation of the second part appeared in 1620, only five years after the second part was published. In the four centuries since its original publication, Cervantes' work has been one of the most widely read and most frequently translated of all literary works. In the English language, there have been at least six major translations made within the past fifty years.
Since Don Quixote is a novel and is written in prose (the language of common, everyday speech), it might seem easier to translate than a work written in poetic form such as The Iliad or The Divine Comedy. But in fact Cervantes' prose style is extremely complex and difficult to translate; the translator must skillfully balance the competing demands of accuracy, sense, and sound.
ACCURACY means following the original writing as closely as possible and not changing the original meaning. This is often difficult to do when translating Don Quixote because many of the words used in the novel have meanings that can't be translated literally. As an example, let's look at the first sentence of Don Quixote, in its original form and my own literal translation. I've highlighted one word that's particularly difficult to translate.
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ORIGINAL |
LITERAL In a village of la Mancha, the name of which I don't wish to recall, there lived not long ago a gentleman of those who always have a lance in the rack, an aged shield, a worn-out horse, and a greyhound for running. |
Like most translators, I've used the word gentleman to translate Cervantes' word hidalgo. The problem, though, is that gentleman has a generalized meaning in modern English; it's used as a polite way of referring to any man. On the other hand, hidalgo has a precise meaning in Spanish; it refers to a nobleman, someone in the upper class of Spanish society. A modern English reader can easily miss the point being made here: that Don Quixote is descended from a noble family although, as the details in the rest of the sentence suggest, his family has greatly declined. Nevertheless, English translations almost always use the word gentleman because it's the best of the choices available.
The second sentence of the novel, which describes the foods that Don Quixote typically ate, contains a different type of problem for the translator. Below you can see the original version and a literal translation; I've left untranslated the problematic words.
| ORIGINAL Una olla de algo más vaca que carnero, salpicón las más noches, duelos y quebrantos los sábados, lantejas los viernes, algún palomino de añadidura los domingos, consumían las tres partes de su hacienda. |
LITERAL An olla of something more beef than mutton: salpicon on most nights, duelos y quebrantos on Saturdays, lentils on Fridays, and some pigeon de añadidura on Sundays, consumed three fourths of his income. |
The purpose of this sentence is to show that
although Don Quixote was born a nobleman, he really doesn't have much money; the foods described cost very little to
prepare. However, since foods are very different in each culture, the names of
these foods don't have equivalents in English. And in fact, translators aren't
even sure what some of these names -- for example, duelos y quebrantos --
actually referred to in Cervantes' time. So, most translators substitute the names of
foods familiar to their own readers, hoping that these are also reasonably close
to what Cervantes meant.
In the boxes below, you can see
how four modern translators -- Samuel Putnam, J.M. Cohen, Joseph R. Jones/
Kenneth Douglas, and Burton Raffel -- have translated this sentence. After you've
read these translations, the exercise below will ask you to compare their
differences -- and to give your own ideas about what Don Quixote might
eat.
| SAMUEL
PUTNAM A stew with more beef than mutton in it, chopped meat for his evening meal, scraps for a Saturday, lentils on Friday, and a young pigeon as a special delicacy for Sunday went to account for three-quarters of his income. |
J. M. COHEN |
| EDITH
GROSSMAN An occasional stew, beef more often than lamb, hash most nights, eggs and abstinence on Saturdays, lentils on Fridays, sometimes squab as a treat on Sundays -- these consumed three-fourths of his income. |
BURTON
RAFFEL Three quarters of his income went into his pot of stew (which contained a good deal more cow than sheep), the cold salt beef he ate most nights, Friday's beans and lentils and Saturday's leftover scraps, and sometimes a slender young pigeon for Sunday. |
EXERCISE A.
This exercise has two parts. Please do both parts.
1. You've just read four translations -- by Samuel Putnam, J.M. Cohen, Edith Grossman, and Burton Raffel -- of the second sentence of Don Quixote. In the left-hand boxes below, I've written five groups of words from the Samuel Putnam translation. Next to them, you should write in the words used by Cohen, Jones/ Rogers, and Raffel to express the same ideas. CLICK ON THE LINKS AT THE TOP OF EACH BOX TO REVIEW EACH TRANSLATION.
I've done the first one for you
so you can see how it should be done.
| a stew with more beef than
mutton in it
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a stew, more beef than mutton | an occasional stew, beef more often than lamb | his pot of stew (which contained a good deal more cow than sheep) |
| chopped meat for his evening
meal
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| scraps for a Saturday
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| lentils on Friday
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| a young pigeon as a special
delicacy for Sunday
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2. Now write a few sentences giving your own version of the types of food that someone like Don Quixote -- i.e., someone living on a limited income -- might eat if he were living today. There's no right or wrong answer for this, so don't hesitate to be imaginative or humorous.
When you've finished the exercises, go to Page 2.
comments to: vpoulakis@nvcc.edu
04/30/07