Difference in association. About bridging the cultural gap when translating Ibsen's En folkefiende

Anne Lande Peters

doi:10.7557/13.3351

Abstract

Ibsen-In-Translation aims at translating Ibsen’s work simultaneously into the languages of: Classic Arabic, Chinese, Egyptian, English, Hindi, Japanese, Russian and Spanish. During the translation of En Folkefiende the group met twice to discuss problems and help eachother’s understanding of the play. This article aims at pointing out some of the common translation-problems the eight translators encountered, and to mention specific problems I encountered in the process of translating the play into Japanese.During our two meetings, I saw that some problems were language-specific, and that some were common to more of us. We also discovered that some words and expressions are so rooted in the Norwegian culture and that a literal translation of such words and expressions create different associations in the target language. Among the problems we had in common, there seemed to be two main categories. 1: Concepts related to Christian values, and 2: Concepts related to the Norwegian societal organization of the time. Christian values-related problems consisted of translating swearwords, translating the concepts and the associations related to the words ”temperance”, ”atheism” and ”openmindedness”. As for the problems relating to societal organization and political ideology in Norway of the time, concepts relating to the term ”borger” was a challenge for many of us. As for me specifically, I also had the added challenge of fitting the relatively democratic language of Ibsen into the Japanese hierarchical language system.

Highlights

Introduction of project In IbsenIn-Translation, eight translators work simultaneously on translating the same play into their target-languages of Classic Arabic, Chinese, Egyptian, English, Hindi, Japanese, Russian and Spanish
This article aims at pointing out some of the common translation-problems the eight translators encountered, and to mention specific problems I encountered in the process of translating the play into Japanese
We discovered that some words and expressions are so rooted in the Norwegian culture and that a literal translation of such words and expressions create different associations in the target language

Summary

Introduction

In-Translation, eight translators work simultaneously on translating the same play into their target-languages of Classic Arabic, Chinese, Egyptian, English, Hindi, Japanese, Russian and Spanish. During the translation of En Folkefiende, the group met twice to discuss problems and help eachother’s understanding of the play. It intrigued me to see that very often more of us were struggling with the translation of the same word or concept. To me, this said something about Ibsen and the Norwegian culture, and about the culture into which we were translating. I would like to bring forward some of the issues we encountered.

Objectives

Conclusion