Why Is It Impossible To Translate A Book? - Walter Benjamin and the Task of the Translator

As a certified translator, Benjamin's essay is one of the most interesting approaches I've ever seen and that's why I'm writing my thesis about it applied to a comparison of several Spanish translations of Poe's short story William Wilson.

In my country, the publishing industry of translated fiction is.. well, it leaves much to be desired. So much, in fact, that I began translating novellas for my Mom myself. And it was honestly a mindblowing experience, because, contrary to my expectations, the hardest part of translating a piece of fiction wasn't encountering unfamiliar words and trying to define their meaning, but adapting the text coherently while trying to maintain its pace, style and the overall.. well, 'vibe'. Before that, I never really thought about how the same word in a another language can mean a slightly different thing, which can mess with the style of the entire scene. It's like you said, even the word "Mama", written in the same way, can be perceived differently in another tongue. Translating is such an incredibly fascinating process!🖤

I've always looked at this as translation vs interpretation. There are so many situations where only a bilingual native of both languages (or someone of equivalent experience with the languages) would be able to accurately convey the original feeling orchestrated by the author to a native in the target language. Translation is not only limited by the number of equivalent words but also by the culture differences between the native speakers of the two. Also, in some cases the languages are fundamentally different where there is no way to just replace words and get coherent sentences, such as Japanese and English (which is why historically google translate has been so terrible at translating between them). This is also why, as a speaker of both Japanese and English, I'd gravitate towards Japanese translations for original works in Chinese or Korean, whereas I'd choose an English translation of works in German and Spanish. The reason being that I won't have to trust in the skill of the translator nearly as much as the languages are closer to each other and require significantly less interpretation.

it`s fascinating how this year I entered the university where I will dig more deeply into English and other languages, as well as into "the skill of being a translator", and how I learn that the deeper knowledge of a language turns out to be less required, than the knowledge of stylistic features. it`s just every time I used to read a translated book I haven`t even thought about it, for me being in "a camp of purists" was the most right thing to do.

This video comes just when I start my “Translation and culture” classes. I read Benjamin’s essay a few days ago and your description helped even more. Keep going!

I just read The Stranger for the second time, alongside The Myth of Sisyphus for a presentation. I like the direction you're going for in this video (but Freud is always invited if Maman is at the party 😉)

“The limits of my language mean the limits of my world.” ~Ludwig Wittgenstein

Still remember reading that line for the first time and it still hits you so hard. Thanks for this first recommendation you gave me! I have fallen in love with Camus.

I loved this video so much. Felt like a translation itself. You conveyed the feeling of importance and impact of a thoughtfully crafted translation.

I have always been a big reader since i was young, always enjoyed it. But I suddenly had an epiphany while doing my german homework when i was 14 and realising a word translated from german to french (my language) didn’t have the same implications and half of it was « lost in translation ». The staggering realisation that i was missing out on the original content of the books i was reading started my journey through languages and particularly reading in other languages. My language goal is always to be able to read books in their original language.

Every upload feels like a holiday and I've only been around for a few weeks! Thank you so much for this video because I found myself nodding furiously and laughing in relief at some of the ways that you describes translation. My bachelors dissertation involved translating a Turkish short story collection - I got stuck on the title! It was wonderful! I also got lucky enough to take a translation module in final year and so much of what I learned and explored fed the translation and essay writing process. It felt transformative. Feels good to find digestible and interesting videos by someone who loves words and all that can be done with them <3

Great work here - and Waldun nails the difference between translation and interpretation.

Your video just came out when I was finished reading "The task of the translator"! But not only did I enjoy this selfish contingency, but also appreciated, as usual, your insight, the aesthetic work done with the video, and the case study of "The Stranger". Thank you so much for sharing it with us!

this was a fantastic video! keep up the good work robin

We appreciate your for sharing your personal insights and advices on this channel. May God bless you always.

What an amazing video. I experienced this first hand when I was talking about Oscar Wilde 's The Importance of being Earnest (I'm a native Spanish speaker) with people who read the translation. The word earnest in Spanish doesn't carry the same double meaning like it does in English so the WHOLE POINT OF THE PLAY IS LOST. I found a new translation where the name was changed and they went "oh! Now I get it!"

I'm late to replying to this video but if you see my comment PLEASE read Babel by R.F. Kuang.  it's actually the book that brought me to your video. Very similar questions being asked. And the writing/plot/characters are phenomenal.

This video is so helpful. I'm in a grad level Literature in Translation class and one of the pieces comes from Benjamin. Which, for me, a little dense - but still thoroughly engaging. I use videos to supplement my understanding and this one hit the spot. Thank you.

Love the camerawork and the editing!!

As someone who is doing her Master's in Translatology, I absolutely love this video. I think it's a great example of the concepts of "equivalence" vs. "adequateness" and the role they play in a "good" translation.