Translating TC - the first hurdles
I'm planning to devote some of the journal space to solving problems with translating The Charioteer. It's gonna be a long process so please don't ask me how much I still have to do. All of it. A year may not be enough.
Please help me if you can.
The first questions:
1. Which EDITION should I choose to translate? The 53 edition is the original, ( Read more... )
Please help me if you can.
The first questions:
1. Which EDITION should I choose to translate? The 53 edition is the original, ( Read more... )
During the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the potato (originally from South America) became a staple of the Irish economy, and the principal food eaten by the peasant farmers. It was the potato blight, which destroyed the crop and led to famine, which resulted in the mass emigration of hundreds of thousands of poor Irish people to North America in the mid to late nineteenth century.
Because the Irish ate potatoes (and poor Irish ate little else), potatoes became strongly associated with Ireland.
Spud-the slang term for potato-therefore became a common nickname for people who were Irish, or part Irish, or seen as having some connection with Ireland.
Now, in Laurie's case, he's half Irish. (His father is clearly an Irishman from the way he speaks. Irish Catholic, actually.)
Of course, the people at school never met his father; but then the name Odell should have had-or maybe once had, or at least might have once had-the common Irish spelling with an apostrophe in it, i.e. the spelling "O'Dell". (No thwackings, dear. You're right.)
Hence the bit in the second chapter when we are told that Laurie went through a phase of spelling it that way. His mother was thinking of remarrying, so Laurie was identifying with his Irish father-and spelling his name the more usual Irish way as a gesture of solidarity.
As for the red hair: there are red-haired people who are not from Ireland, and there are plenty of Irish who don't have red hair. But there is no doubt that, per capita, the proportion of the population who is red-haired is higher in Ireland than anywhere else in the world.
There are different shades of red, from reddish tinted blonde through orangy ginger to reddish brown-and Laurie comes in at the dark end of the spectrum. His hair (like mine) was red-gold in infancy, darkened to copper through his school years, and faded to reddish brown by adulthood. However, it is quite possible that people still called him a redhead even as an adult. It depends on the exact shade: I get called "red", my mother-whose hair faded further-is simply considered to have had light brown hair.
Having said that, though, I should point out that the adult Laurie is never described as red-haired in the book. The most you get is Ralph (at the party) saying that the red tints were brought out when Laurie was very white-faced from blood loss.
Reply
Still I have no idea how to put "Spud" in translation. I might leave it as it is and provide a footnote, or use another slang word for "Irish". I'd really hate to give the character a name which is different from what MR had impeccably chosen, but this is the drawback of most translated texts...
Being red-haired myself and speaking Engish with an accent I am often taken for Irish by strangers =)
Reply
In fact, that's part of the joke-that someone who really has nothing Irish about him (except the coincidence of an Irish-sounding surname and reddish hair) still got the "Irish" nickname.
If there really is a Russian slang term for "Irishman" (especially if it's something that would be used as a nickname), then that probably would be the most appropriate translation.
Reply
The best variand I could find is "Sidhe" - celtic burial mounds and the spirits inhabiting them. In russian it sounds like [sid] and is close to "spud" even phonetically, and has strong associations with Ireland. The only thing is that the associations are more celtic than 20th century Ireland.
So I'm still in two minds, choosing between Sidhe and leaving Spud as it is, with a footnote. The problem is that [spad] in Russian means "decline"
Reply
"Sidhe" certainly has the Celtic connection, and also a phonetic similarity with "Spud". The problem, as I see it, is the ghost/burial mound association: quite different from the earthy sensible normality of the potato. As greenlady2 said:It makes me think of someone brown, friendly, dependable and familiar. A combination of appearance and character.
It's very plebeian nickname, "Spud" is. One that you would find at least as often among the working classes. One thing Renault probably intended by giving Laurie that particular nickname was to bring him down to earth, as a contrast to his love of ballet and classical music, so that the reader would identify him with the common man, rather than seeing him as effete. For example, it's hard to imagine a "Spud" affecting the sort of mannerisms that Sandy put on for the party. There's nothing spiritual about "Spud". It's as common as the potato.
However, I do see your problem about "decline". There is nothing dwindling about our Laurie!
Reply
That's true and stops me from altering it with Sidhe right away.
*pacing about* I need something Irish and common, Irish and common... but not the jig and ale!
Ah well, for now I'll carry on translating with leaving Spud as is. Maybe some better idea will occur as I proceed.
Reply
Leave a comment