What should translators be looking to preserve when they translate an existing work into Esperanto? Believe it or not, this is one of the first major issues Zamenhof tackled when he invented Esperanto. He painstakingly translated the Old Testament from Latin in hopes of capturing the beauty he perceived in it, while remaining faithful (no pun intended) to the meaning of the text.
By looking at Zamenhof’s project, I think we can summarize the goals that any good translation should try to encompass:
1) Accuracy (Akurateco)
2) Structure (Strukturo)
3) Beauty (Beleco)
When I say “accuracy,” I refer to the general direction that the text leads its audiences. If the story being translated is about dogs chasing a fox, then the translation had better be the same thing!
Capturing the “structure” of a work is a bit more difficult to explain. When an author or poet creates a work, the words are laid out in a specific order, and moreover, the words used are carefully chosen. For example, think of the difference between the following two sentences: “The cars collided.” “The cars smashed into each other.” For the most part, the two sentences are synonymous; however, each one conveys a different connotation. A good Esperanto translation should try to capture the structure of the sentences it translates, since the language lends itself rather well to such things.
Lastly, the beauty of the original work should be preserved. If you have ever read a poem or a novel that was originally in a different language, there is always the sense that something is lost in translation. Perhaps words do not rhyme in English when they do in Spanish, or perhaps a pun disappears when a new language is used. It might be challenging to do, but the best translations manage to keep things like rhyme, puns, and alliteration.
For a great example that (I believe) captures these three elements, I recommend reading Odd Tangerud’s marvelous translation of Henrik Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House.” The title is translated as “Puphejmo,” which literally means “A Doll’s House.” Think of how different the title would sound if it had been “Hejmo de Pupo.” The selection is not incorrect, but it feels different!
Take a look at the translation here.
