RUC

Translators leaving their mark on their work

By: Eva Lykke Jørgensen, Human Resources and Communication

Translators are influenced by their time and sometimes leave their own personal mark on the texts they translate. So says Lecturer Ebbe Klitgård who on 15 March will defend his doctoral thesis on Danish reception and translation of the British medieval author Geoffrey Chaucer.

Ebbe Klitgård’s defence is on 15 March 2013.
RUC will host a small reception after the defence.

“In the middle ages, it was often monks who copied and translated texts, and when they were bored, they might even include a small poem or the like in their texts. This also happens these days. Translators are often working on long, laborious translations, and if they feel a bit bored, they sometimes add a little spice to their texts,” says Ebbe Klitgård.

During the past ten years, Ebbe Klitgård has conducted research in Danish translations and studies of Chaucer’s works, and he therefore has profound knowledge of these translations and is able to provide many examples of how – in the past – translators put their own personal stamps on their work.

Danish translator Professor T.C. Bruun, for example, included the character “Rasmus Rask” in his translation, that way personalising it. Ebbe Klitgård says that Rasmus Rask was a real person. He was in fact one of T.C. Bruun’s pupils, and the two of them were very close.

“The text says that Rask would have become a professor himself, had he pulled himself together. Bruun has therefore included an internal joke about Rask in his translation as a sort of personal signature,” explains Ebbe Klitgård and adds that Rask later did become a professor and a leading international language researcher.

Klitgård has taken an interest in and conducted research in Chaucer’s works over the past 30 years, and in his thesis he has – in addition to the translations – also studied theses and articles about and encyclopaedia studies of Chaucer. The thesis about Chaucer in Denmark is also used as a case story illustrating the history of the English language in Denmark.

Translation strategy: Ignore, ignore, ignore

Chaucer was not afraid of being blunt and used very straight-forward language, which has proved problematic to some of the translators who have dealt with his works over the years. Ignoring the bold passages in his texts has therefore been a choice the translators have sometimes made.

One of the translators who have chosen to ignore cheerful and rude passages is Vilhelm Møller. Ebbe Klitgård tells an anecdote about him from his research:

“One of Chaucer’s stories depicts a scene with a farmer who is dying, and by his side is his wife and a monk who has managed to cajole him into giving him money several times. He asks the munk to come closer so that he can give him a final gift to be shared with his 15 brothers at the monastery. When the monk is very close, the farmer lets out a big fart. Vilhelm Møller chose, however, to leave out this entire passage from his text in 1901,” says Ebbe Klitgård with a smile and adds:

“Writing about farting in 1901 was problematic. For that particular reason, I also wonder why Vilhelm Møller chose to translate precisely this text,” he says.

Women’s fight for equal rights becoming visible in translations

Louise Westergaard, one of the female translators of Chaucer, was also one of the first women’s rights activists in Denmark. In her translation of Chaucer, her attitude is clear and unambiguous – especially in her translation of the story about Griselda who is very poor:

“In the story, poor Griselda marries a rich duke in Italy. Shortly after the wedding, however, the duke exposes Griselda to many hard trials. He arranges for the kidnapping of their two children, divorces her and marries another woman. Close to the end of the story, he takes her back, stating that he just wanted to test her and her patience,” explains Ebbe Klitgård and stresses that Louise Westergaard’s own opinion was clearly expressed in her translation:

“She is furious and comments directly on his actions in her translation: ‘This is not at all how we understand loving patience’, she writes in her translation,” says Ebbe Klitgård and adds that generally Louise Westergaard focused on accounts of women and that her view on women’s fight for equal rights clearly transpired from her translations of Chaucer.

In general, it is quite clear that translators are influenced by the time they are living in and the various trends in society.