…to carry a text from one language into another, aiming at equivalence of meaning, but also to express an idea or an emotion through words or art, or even to manifest a state or a relationship in concrete form.
(Le Petit Robert)
I was asked to write an article on translation. This comes at just the right time and is of great interest to me, since, in fact, before entering Religious Life I spent three years of study to become a qualified Interpreter and Translator.
Grammar troubles: Upon my arrival in Mexico, 54 years ago, I already had to relearn Spanish — not only in a different context but also with different sentence structures and verb conjugations. At first, I could not understand why, when speaking with several people we addressed with the familiar “tú,” instead of saying “vous” (you), people used “they” (ellos, ellas, ellos…). All of this came from the old usage of the expression “Your Grace” — which, of course, fits perfectly with expressions such as: “Your Grace, would you like some coffee?”
A Colombian colleague who had arrived in Mexico a few years earlier addressed me in this same way: “Does Your Grace need anything?” She, too, had to adapt and eventually simplified “Vuestra Merced” into “Usted” — the current abbreviation.
The search for the right word: During a General Chapter, our translation team was working on a text of great importance for the entire congregation. We needed to find a word that could express at once the ideas of discerning, glimpsing the horizon, scanning the future… The image of a boat on the horizon immediately came to me. I expressed it aloud, and right away someone suggested the Spanish term: otear.
False friends: In Spanish, the word “comprometerse” is a noble term: a “persona comprometida” is someone who is engaged in favor of a person, a reality, or a cause. However, in French, “compromis” has a very different connotation. Thus, when someone thinks they understand Spanish… the entire conversation can go astray.
Comic turns of phrase: To say “it’s your turn to wash the dishes,” in Spanish one translates it as: “Te toca lavar los platos” — literally, “it touches you to wash the dishes.” The person concerned may not feel quite so “touched” by what has fallen upon them…
Historical mistakes: When speaking of “Indians” in Mexico, we are referring to the native peoples — the cultures that existed before the arrival of Christopher Columbus. He was convinced (at least at first) that he had found a new route to the Indies. Yet today, using the word “Indian” to refer to a pre-Columbian culture is considered derogatory, even insulting. One must instead use another term, such as naming the specific culture or ethnic group. The word is so pejorative that in Mexico people sometimes hesitate to call the inhabitants of India Indians, and even go so far as to call them Hindus, confusing religion and nationality.
An explanation: Translation is not simply writing the equivalent of each word one after another. It is constantly asking: how does this sound in another language? One must focus on the meaning, even if the words do not correspond exactly or are not in the same place as in the original text — and sometimes even change nouns into verbs or verbs into nouns. Some Spanish texts contain long paragraphs where French would make two or three sentences.
These examples clearly demonstrate that moving a text from one culture into another requires more than being bilingual: it requires belonging to two cultures and knowing their cultural, historical, and grammatical particularities. Translation is therefore a real challenge! It links people and cultures and makes it possible to communicate so many events, near and far, that bring nations and continents closer together.
I was delighted to discover in the letters of St. Marie Eugénie that she speaks of translation on more than sixty occasions: Latin-French, English-French, German-French — and in both directions. Only for Spanish does she ask for help. Knowing all that was already required of her as Foundress and Superior General, I can admire even more her intelligence, her tireless work, and her dedication to service. And she was also capable of pointing out a poor translation. This inspires me to approach my future translations with renewed confidence!
Translation is not only about words… Translation is also about expressing, revealing attitudes, emotions, feelings, messages. The Rule of Life of the Religious of the Assumption, when speaking of the Virgin Mary, invites the Sisters to imitate her, saying: “At the Visitation, at Cana, and throughout her life, she knew how to translate into human gestures, and to communicate through all her words, the charity of the Holy Spirit that had come upon her.”
And can we not also say that each of the four Gospels is a translation of the message of the Kingdom of God? Each author interiorized this message in order to transmit it to a particular community. Hence the diversity and the variations — which, remarkably, complement one another.
Here we enter another register of translation, one that means transmission; it involves the whole person and connects us with all human resources in order to convey the desired message. Translation is therefore communication — better still, connection, attentiveness to others, to what they live, and to what they need.
And now, let us consider the perfect Translator: Jesus. He is the Translator of the Father par excellence. He teaches us to call Him by name: Abba. He shares the words of His own experience in the Our Father. He reveals the heart that beats with joy when from afar it recognizes the hungry son returning home. Jesus is also the Translator of the Spirit. First, He awakens in us the desire to know and to experience Him. He translates the Spirit into an image: the Wind, whose origin and destination remain unknown. And above all, He promises that the Spirit will continue to make known — in the depths of the hearts and lives of the Apostles and of each one of us — all that Jesus did and said while He was among us.
Finally, I would say that I have translated many texts in my life — in season and out of season, as St. Paul said — most often in perfect discretion, for the author of a text is always rightly mentioned, but the translator far less often. And I am happy to know that we translators also have our Feast Day! I did not know this happy news, nor that we have our own patron saint: St. Jerome. I thank artificial intelligence for letting me know this, with its global perspective on the immense task of peace and development.
“Translator’s Day” refers to International Translation Day, celebrated every year on September 30 in honor of St. Jerome, the patron saint of translators. This day was established by the UN in 2017 to recognize the essential role of translators in peace, understanding, and global development.
So, a joyful feast to all translators! May St. Jerome help us to live our service fully in the cause of peace and a more just world… and may Jesus Christ make of us artisans of fraternity and sorority (Fratelli tutti) on a global scale.
References
To look into the distance (otear)
RV 55
John 14:25–26
John 3:8
John 16:12–13
Sr. Brigitte Coulon Province of Ecuador – Mexico