FOOD FOR THE
N.R.F.
671
the Anglo-Saxon, illogical but eager for know-how even while shak–
ing hands.
One aspect, certainly, of international communication is far
from a joke. It is to find and train high-grade translators. At a time
when some nine hundred and fifty world organizations are trying
to tie threads of discourse instead of snapping them, we should be
seeing the rise of an ethics of translation, or at least a set of first
principles by which to gauge competence. We see nothing of the
kind, but rather an increase (by volume) of irresponsible practices.
I have had occasion to read quite closely two of the quarterlies--one
private, the other official- that publish in more than one language.
Both of them are edited by conscientious people who do their best
to produce valid reading matter. But the available translators are
simply not equal to the task or not willing to discharge it honestly.
From one issue that I read in copy fonn,
it
was clear that the French
translators had barely revised their first typed draft. Each page con–
tained dozens of errors of the grossest kind- not only misrepresenta–
tions of the meaning, but errors in French, as if a foreign author
scarcely deserved to appear in decent style. I was assured that all
these paid perverters were completely
bi-lingues;
all
one could reply
was that
if
so their speech was the new
bilinguesgate)
a reproach to
the users and to their upbringing.
In the other, the official quarterly, a greater effort is made to
understand each author and recast his thought in idiomatic fonn.
Yet a comparison of original and translation (which are printed side
by side) usually shows how frequently main points escape the hasty
converter. In an article by Mr. Peter Ustinov, precisely on transla–
tions for the stage, the well-known playwright refers to the strength
a writer wields when "entrenched in the sinews of his native lang–
uage." The key phrase which is perhaps strained but not unreason–
able in its metaphor becomes in French: "entering the sinuosities."
Mr. Ustinov goes on: "The French language seems to me the very
antithesis of the English. It is accurate, hard, polished, although it
contrives, by the very beauty of its music, to cement the sparkling
sentences with words of sensuous languor." In translation, the last
clause reads: "even though it compels you, for the sake of beauty, to
cement, etc."-which is sheer nonsense.
The theater being a popular and socially responsive art, it should
