La passion de traduire

The polysemy of the word passion implies suffering, obsession, addiction. And as it takes at least four to play the game, the translator, the reader, the source language and the target language, we could count on a dozen basic considerations. But since it is convenient to start the discourse from the origin, let’s talk about the condition of the translator. We could dream – with nostalgia or discomfort? – of the good old times twelve centuries ago when Xuanzang and his disciples had dozens of aides at their disposal, not to mention the numerous public taking part in the debate on the translation of Buddhist terms. A more recent example of collective travails are the anonymous translation groups in the PRC. Today however, the solitary translator has become the norm. He keeps his suffering to himself before inflicting it eventually on the reader. Why does he suffer? If fidelity, the hideous twin sister of exactitude, is his principle preoccupation, the translator from Latin into French would certainly be less unhappy than the one who has taken to Japanese. The latter’s role, given his unwillingness to collate the text too much, is limited to that of a guide through the language of departure. Or else he may be tempted to bend the language of departure to the convenience of the language of arrival. Either way, he will only produce a more or less deformed variation on a given theme. He also suffers from mediocre, i.e. lacunary, editions. And this is not the last of his malheurs: In French, the literary style is rather close to that of Latin. In China however, stylistic beauty demands concision. Here, the translator has to choose between fidelity and beauty in each particular case and endure the absence of perfect solutions. In addition, there are texts whose opacity or density can make the translator desperate, and yet the average reader will be unable to appreciate the merits of his tenacity. Translations apparently have to meet demands that could never be asked of the intangible original. Finally, the evolution of the language and the changing tastes of the public would seem to make periodic translations desirable. If the translator accommodates to his unhappy condition, it is because he acquires an addiction that enables him to forget it. To be sure, there are different types of translators, but in order to fulfil their chosen servile task, they must multiply their personalities and be content to patiently follow in the steps of the text of departure. From then on, the drug will work and enforce the teleological sentiment of a progression towards a final end that one can hope to see, even several times, in one’s lifetime. J.K