WHEN TRANSLATORS TRIP.

Cromwell Argus, Volume XLIII, Issue 2283, 5 February 1912, Page 7

WHEN TRANSLATORS TRIP.

LINGUISTIC PITFALLS FOR THE UNWARY. The way of translators is hard. A missionary recently j returned from the wilds of Central Africa translated, shortly after his first arrival there, some of the best-known English hymns for the benefit of his little congregation. One particular favourite was, ‘Lord dismiss us with 'Khy blessing.’ It was only when the translator knew the language better that he realised that what he had encouraged his coloured flock to sing so fervently was, "Lord kick us out softly, softly." One of the funniest of translators’ blunders was that perpetrated in a recent Italian edition of Shakespeare, In "Hamlet," the Queen, watching a duel, drinks accidentally of some poisoned wine, and dies. The King ex claims, "She swoons to see them bleed I" The Queen cries out, "No, no I The drink —the drink ! Oh, my dear Hamlet, the drink ! I am poisoned 1” The Italian translator, who had evidently made a closer study of modern conversational English than of Shakespeare’s, rendered the Queen’s explanation of her faintness as, “It is my love of liquor, my dear Hamlet—it is my love of liquor ! And I assure you that this is poieonons 1” Some of the most grotesque mistranslations occur when the halfeducated Hindu tries to adopt our mother-tongue to his, o r vice-versa. It was a babu translator who, wishing to give his native dialect a better version of "Rock of Ages” than the one which already existed, began with a couplet that may be literally translated as, "Oh, dilapidated bit of stone, bisected to suit my taste, have the goodness to allow ma to make you my headquarters I” Even perhaps more remarkable was the case of the Japanese student who translated the proverb, "Out of sight out of mind,” as "The invisible is insane f" Toole, the great comedian, was once greatly tickled at finding in a French provincial town a poster announcing a translation of "Walker, j London," the farce which he himself I had made famous. The adapter had translated the title as, "Londres qui se promene,” or "London which goes out for walks." S. R. Crocket’s book, "The Stickit Minister," suffered badly at the hands of its French translator—at any rate, as regards the title. A "sticket” minister Is, of course, a divinity student who has failed to pass his examinations. The trans- ' lator thought its equivalent was, "The Murdered Minister " 1 Victor Hugo, though he had a fair knowledge of English, always insisted! that "The Firth of Forth" was best translated by the French equivalent for "The First of the Fourth.” And It was a nephew of his who published an edition of Shakespeare whose accuracy was marred only by a ludicrous mistranslation of one short phrase. "In "Out, out, brief candle !”—‘"brief,” of course, refers to a candle’s short life. The younger Hugo did not see that and ho was evidently unacquainted with the English use of out, as applied to flames, for the literal meaning of his version is, "Get out of that I Get out of that, you stumpy candle I” Probably the most delightful of all translators* trips was that of the French playwright who turned that fine title, "Love’s Last Shift,” into "La Dernlere Chemise d’Amour,” otherwise, "Love’s Last Shirt." It was another French play adapter who, translating the title "Hit or Miss," got the first two words correctly, but turned the last one into "Mademoiselle," Letters poured into the management demanding to know what this insane title really meant, hut it was stuck to as a good advertisement. A former Bishop of Sodor and Man used to prize a letter which he received on one occasion from a Lyons manufacturer. It was ■ addressed to the Bishop de Syphon d’ Homme, or the Bishop of Man’s Soda-water, Dozens of similar instances are on record, but enough has been said to show that the path of the translator is strewn with many pitfalls.