The French expression \u201cavoir du pain sur la planche\u201d translates literally to \u201chaving bread on a board\u201d and can be equated to the English phrase \u201cto have a lot on one\u2019s plate.\u201d French teacher Laura Lizundia, however, finds that the English analogue doesn\u2019t do the original expression justice.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s something lost in translation of the choices of using the comparison of bread and the board because bread-making is a difficult task,\u201d she said. \u201cYou have a larger appreciation for the derivation of the expression if you know the literal meaning as well as what the expression figuratively means.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another example of a phrase that loses its richness when translated is the Vietnamese saying \u201cl\u00e1 l\u00e0nh d\u00f9m l\u00e1 r\u00e1ch,\u201d which translates to \u201cgood leaf shelters torn leaf.\u201d The expression has become a resounding message of empathy and solidarity among Vietnamese people, according to Vietnamese Culture Club Vice President sophomore Chilton Chau.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe actual meaning of this is that good people will support and protect those who are vulnerable or in need,\u201d he said. \u201cThe more fortunate people should try to help everybody else out, especially those less fortunate.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vietnam\u2019s largely agricultural and rice-dependent culture imbues this saying with additional meaning, since popular rice dishes consumed during holidays like T?t are wrapped in tree leaves and steamed. When torn leaves are reinforced with whole leaves, the rice cakes inside will not crack. This imagery advises people to lend a compassionate helping hand, an aspect those unfamiliar with Vietnamese culture may not catch.<\/p>\n
Chau also believes that a reliance on nature most distinguishes Vietnamese sayings from English ones.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you see Vietnam, there\u2019s a lot of trees, and it\u2019s tropical and warm,\u201d Chau said. \u201cBecause Vietnamese people have always been surrounded by nature and trees, I think that\u2019s where these phrases come from \u2014 living as one with the environment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanings lost in translation also pose an issue when it comes to internationally best-selling novels that have found their way into the Western market, including Fyodor Dostoevsky\u2019s \u201cCrime and Punishment.\u201d Cultural differences can sometimes be muddled in pursuit of a \u201cpure\u201d translation, challenging not only translators of these texts but also their readers.<\/p>\n
For instance, when English teacher Diane Ichikawa tried to describe protagonist Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov\u2019s giddy nature to a Russian-speaking friend, she found that a one-word characterization in Russian took at least a sentence or two in English.<\/p>\n
\u201cCulture and language are intertwined inextricably,\u201d Ichikawa said. \u201cThere\u2019s no way to be able to translate from one very different culture to another different culture with ease and facility.\u201d<\/p>\n
That said, Ichikawa believes that technological advancements have weakened, if not removed, the barrier of cultural differences.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the 1970s and 80s, there was this explosion of multicultural literature,\u201d she said. \u201cYou had people who were trying to write about their cultural experiences in English but they would do this thing where they would say something in, for example, Chinese and then in parentheses next to it, translate it into English. Now, I think the trend is that \u2014 especially because we have search engines at the tips of our fingers \u2014 if we read something in another language and we don\u2019t quite get it, if we are that invested in it, we have the ability to look it up.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The French expression \u201cavoir du pain sur la planche\u201d translates literally to \u201chaving bread on a board\u201d and can be equated to the English phrase \u201cto have a lot on one\u2019s plate.\u201d French teacher Laura Lizundia, however, finds that the English analogue doesn\u2019t do the original expression justice. \u201cThere\u2019s something lost in translation of the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":163,"featured_media":27037,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[278,1],"tags":[1098,604490646,604493782],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunnoracle.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27019"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunnoracle.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunnoracle.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunnoracle.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/163"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunnoracle.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27019"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/gunnoracle.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27019\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27219,"href":"https:\/\/gunnoracle.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27019\/revisions\/27219"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunnoracle.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunnoracle.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunnoracle.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunnoracle.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}