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Re: A question of translation

From: wbutcher <wbutcher~at~netvigator.com>
Date: Thu, 12 May 2011 09:41:58 +0800
To: "'Jules Verne Forum'" <jvf~at~gilead.org.il>

Alex,

 

There are actually many important untranslated texts out there, so I’d
encourage you to persist: the interviews (although many were already in
English, and so just need transcribing); the correspondance, especially with
the family; and Salon de 1857, with ‘Portraits d’artistes: XVIII” -- without
even mentioning the huge mass of critical studies.

 

Bill

http://www.ibiblio.org/julesverne/

1A, Kai Kuk Shue Ha, Luk Keng, North District, NT, HONG KONG

 

  _____

From: owner-jvf~at~Gilead.org.il [mailto:owner-jvf~at~Gilead.org.il] On Behalf Of
Alex Kirstukas
Sent: 11 May 2011 02:16
To: Jules Verne Forum
Subject: Re: A question of translation

 


Hi everyone,

Many thanks for all the helpful input! I'm pretty sure that the "majority
vote" is correct in this case - the context describes the meridians in
relation to the sun, so "noon" does make the most sense. As for passive vs.
active, I could go either way: Verne's talking about the deliberate
establishment of an artificial calendar on a natural phenomenon, so either
interpretation could be supported.

In any case, though, I've just found out that the Meridians text has already
been translated by Jean-Louis Trudel, and will be published with the 1874
play in an upcoming volume of the NAJVS Pallik series. This cuts me to the
quick - I was hoping to make my "translator's debut," so to speak, with
those two texts - but I'm quite willing to leave the job in JL Trudel's
more-than-capable hands. Wouldn't Verne be proud of how so many people are
working to "get the gaps filled"?

Alex


--- On Tue, 5/10/11, Ralf Tauchmann <ralf.tauchmann~at~t-online.de> wrote:


From: Ralf Tauchmann <ralf.tauchmann~at~t-online.de>
Subject: Re: A question of translation
To: "Jules Verne Forum" <jvf~at~Gilead.org.il>
Date: Tuesday, May 10, 2011, 1:20 AM

"Alex Kirstukas" <infernalnonsense~at~yahoo.com> schrieb:
> "s'ils connaissaient le méridien du globe sur
> lequel le midi s'est établi pour la première fois,
> la question serait facilement résolue."

> I had assumed that "sur lequel le midi s'est établi"
> meant simply "on which noon was established,"
> but when I happened, out of curiosity, to feed the
> lecture through Google Translate, this phrase came out
> "on which lunch was prepared."

Dear Alex,

a nice machine mismatch.

By the way, the German word for "meridian" is "Mittagslinie" ("noon line",
literally "mid-day line"). In German, a hungry stomach might well
understand "Mittagslinie" as "lunch line"...

As to the English translation, I'm wondering whether one should replace the
passive voice "on which noon was established" by an intransitive verb (like
"the sun rises"), because Jules Verne uses "se lever" and "s'établir" for
the sun's very first "path" in the sky... and this makes the "sun" a
"self-going system" despite "creation" (so to say : a self-going system
after a creational kick-off).

May be:

"on which noon came to be"
"on which noon established itself"
"on which the sun reached noon"

Just a spontaneous remark, because the passive voice always suggests an
external actor -- although the answer is left open : "noon was established
/ lunch was prepared..." -- "by whom"...

Kind regards,
  
Ralf Tauchmann
Gerhart-Hauptmann-Str. 23
01445 RADEBEUL

Tel: +49-351-8336141
Fax: +49-322-29811799
Mobil: 0178-4320374

eMail: ralf.tauchmann~at~t-online.de
Internet: http://tauchmann.ratau.de



 
Received on Thu 12 May 2011 - 04:42:34 IDT

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