Five Problems of Literary Translation

Translating literary work is a serious challenge. The translator has to transfer the same text from one language to another while preserving as much as possible as the quality and character, the spirit of the original. Literary translation is different with the other common translation where rapid answer and exact words are important, while the absence of harmoniousness is more forgivable. Literary translation had to be done in a way so that the aura of the story along with the author’s expressive style is preserved completely, as if the translator is the writer himself.

Have you ever read a book and admire how the translator can outstandingly translate the text? The ability to make the script interesting and exciting, and also conserving the original style of the writer, show the translator’s great talent. So, it is obvious that translating literary work is not easy. Here are some problems of literary translation.

The creative translation includes rhythm, punctuation, syntax, mood, and meaning. One of the main problems forgotten by the translator is that those various elements work together in a dialectical relationship within a literary work. This relationship is very important to be kept in order to make the translation resemble the original work.

Secondly, the figurative meaning on the script makes it more difficult to translate. This type of translation doesn’t allow word-per-word interpretation. It should be understood entirely before you even begin to translate. That is why literary translation sometimes becomes a subject of disagreement among translators or even intellectuals.

The third problem of literary translation is idioms and aphorisms. These issues are not as hard as they seem for the first time, but still require wide knowledge and the presence of specialized dictionary. However, these matters are important to be mastered before you translate the literary work.

Forth, it is important to have special skills to manage that play of words as what the author means. Many literary authors play on words and humors, and it is very interesting and challenging at the same time to translate it with the humorous or ironic deductions. It is important to do this perfectly as it is of the keys that make the book alive.

The last problem of literary translation is the abidance of styles, cultures, and eras. It is not easy to translate a text to another language with different culture, different era, and different status quo. However this can be done easily if you understand well the features of both languages.

You also can read related article about Dealing with Quality Issues on the Translation Process