Local translators in a recent meeting refuted the harsh criticism directed at some of their colleagues for their blunders, which have created quite a stir among local readers and undermined their trust in translators, by stressing that it’s impossible to produce flawless translated versions, as translating is a process in which translators contemplate and convey the original author’ s ideas through their own lens.

The latest blunders by reputable translators include “bo mat vi ung thu tu cung” (Dad died from uterus cancer) in Cao Viet Dung’s translated version of the “Les Particules élémentaires” (The Elementary Particles), a novel by French author Michel Houellebecq.

Up to 264 errors of various types and levels of seriousness were also detected in Dung’s translation of “L'Ignorance” (The Ignorance) by Milan Kundera. Here Dung, who studied his postgraduate course in France, translated “philtre” (love-potion) into “cai phin” (coffee filter).

Dung’s translation of “La Carte et le Territoire” (The Map and the Territory) by Michel Houellebecq was also reclaimed early last year due to prevalent translation errors.

He ‘earned’ last year’s “Trai Coc Xanh” (Green Amberella), a ‘prize’ given away by Tuoi Tre Cuoi for outrageous art works and events.

Similarly, Tran Tien Cao Dang’s translation of “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien also fell into ‘translation traps’ numerous times. An example is his translation of “Dr. Scholl foot powder” (which means the foot powder branded Dr. Scholl) into “Dr. Scholl’s foot powder”.

Even monkeys fall from trees sometimes

However, the translators attending the meeting uninamously agreed that translating is a tough, stressful job and it takes skill, knowledge, and refined, personal appreciation of the originals, which varies from person to person, especially for literary translations from foreign languages into Vietnamese.

Le Hong Sam, a veteran translator of French literature, said the translators of her generation, who are in their 80s now, also make tolerable errors.

“With limited numbers of printed copies available in the past, we spent three or four years on one work, so no wonder errors were fewer,” Sam explained.

Trinh Lu, whose translation of “Life of Pi”, a best-selling novel by Canadian author Yann Martel, was a huge success, is also the target for criticism regarding his translating the term ‘great Gatsby’ differently from the previous translations of “ The Great Gatsby”, a classic novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Lu pointed out that exact translations should be adopted for administrative and legal documents, or archive materials, not for literary works.

According to translator Pham Viem Phuong, good translators are supposed to make sure that their translations are as close as possible to the originals in terms of lexis and grammar as well as the author’s ideology, emotions and style. This alone has been a daunting obsession for generations of translators.

“We often have to sacrifice and do without a little of one of them, usually style. A smooth translation which doesn’t strictly keep to the original is more easily welcomed by readers, while those with due respect to the original author’s style are usually negatively cricitized for not sounding Vietnamese,” Phuong noted.

“Translating a literary work is, in fact, rewriting it in another language based on the translator’s interpretation and appreciation of the work. Writing abilities vary from writer to writer, even professional writers sometimes can’t fully express what they mean, let alone translators. Therefore there are no perfect translators or translations,” shared writer-translator Ly Lan, whose translations of the “Harry Potter” series are enthusiastically embraced.

Phuong elaborated that another weakness of translators, something that is considered their Achilles heel, is dealing with jargon. Tran Tien Cao Dang, in his translation of “The Things They Carried”, mistook ‘trip flares’ for ‘flashlight’, probably due to his inadequate knowledge of English weaponry terms.

Critics of translated works wanted

The translators at the meeting also lamented the serious shortage of constructive, well-meaning critics, saying that those with limited knowledge just keep jumping in and relentlessly ‘attacking’ the translators who make mistakes.

“Today’s readers come from many walks of life, so mixed opinions, including harsh criticism, are inevitable. We translators should work with caution but shouldn’t fret over it. That’s why we’re in dire need of a true criticism art,” Lu noted.