The task of translation is to preserve and transmit meaning between different cultures and so foster communion. In the Assumption that means helping different parts of the Congregation know and understand – and therefore value – the diverse realities in which we live and the many ways we work to bring about the Kingdom. This makes concrete Marie Éugenie’s desire that the sisters would have a faith which was open to the world.
Context is vital. Many of us have had the experience of knowing that identical words spoken at different times or in different contexts will not always have the same meaning. Or it might be the perspective of the speaker which changes everything. For example, in the Assumption we speak of the ‘periphery’. A secular translation could give you : margin, edge, border, fringe, boundary, among others. Yet we have a worldview which needs that word to stay as ‘periphery’ in whatever language it is being translated into if the reader is to understand fully what is being said. This puts a great duty on the translator to be as aware as possible of the beliefs and ideas which have formed what is being said.
As someone who translates from French to English, I also have to be aware of the different readers. Some will use US English, others will use British English. They are not the same. You can have the same word, but different meanings; the same meaning but you need different words. I have to try and find something that will be understood by both groups of readers. If the work of translation is true to its purpose, enabling different people to have the same understanding is a vital apostolic work. We live in a world which is marked by so many divisions, some of which appear because people think they are saying the same thing when in fact they are not. A bad translation will make things worse, a good translation can be an important moment of cross-cultural understanding.
Evangelisation has always had to wrestle with this. Right at the beginning St Paul had to translate words, concepts and practices from a Jewish context to a Gentile one, from a Hebrew world view to a Greek one. St Jerome had to translate the whole bible into Latin, because by then that was the common language. There are many examples of missionaries translating the Good News into new forms, the Jesuits in China and Japan, for instance. And because language changes over time, new translations are needed – the Archives team re-translating the works of Marie Éugenie is an example.
The photo with this article is what I see when I look out of my window. Now the leaves are turning yellow with autumn. Like language, the trees change over time. They are both immensely strong, but also fragile, again like language. Our Assumption work is to nurture the roots of belief and understanding so that change can mean growth and not decay. Translation is a small, but important contribution to that.
Sister Catherine Cowley
Europe Province