ShmoopTube

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We speak student!

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Beowulf a la Shmoop

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Translation

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So, translation is something that assaults ritual

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literary work even today in various forms.

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Translating from Old English

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to Modern English - you lose something.

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You must, just by --

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Almost by definition of how translations work.

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But talk us through what's going on here.

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Why is translating Beowulf so difficult?

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Other than, you know, the basically Klingon that it was written in.

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The first thing to think about is,

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like you said, we're going from Old English

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to Modern English.

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And English did not go straight

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from Old English to Modern English.

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It went through tons and tons of variations.

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For example, you've probably read Shakespeare.

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Pick up Shakespeare - it doesn't sound

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like Old English and it doesn't sound like Modern English.

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So we're not just translating from,

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you know, one language -

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one type of English to another.

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We're translating - skipping over so many changes

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that came about.

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So that's the first reason it's tough.

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And even if you just look at the characters,

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it really is a completely different language.

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But translation in general is a big issue.

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When you're reading something like Beowulf,

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you have to remember that you are not

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reading what was originally written.

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Any translator is 100 percent biased.

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You can not read a translation without

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getting a sense for what that translator

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thought of the book.

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So, a few things that a translator might do -

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One is they might try to create a specific mood or tone

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with their writing.

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You know, someone might try and turn Beowulf

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into a super crazy adventure fighting story,

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and another might try to

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make Beowulf a super sympathetic character.

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Or even make Grendel a sympathetic character.

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So the words that are chosen

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to translate the Old English --

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And, you know, you have a bunch of options.

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Say, someone might translate the word "glory" as "prowess"

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or "courage" or "bravery." So, heroism.

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So you have so many choices of what word to use

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to translate a specific Old English word

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that you just get a totally different

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mood or tone depending on

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what words you choose.

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Other things to remember -

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Translators have to decide

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do they want to make the language

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sound like it sounded?

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So, Old English is a very alliterative language,

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which means there's a lot of repeated consonants.

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Lots of words might start with "T" in a row,

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or something like that.

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Does the English translator want to maintain that?

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Or are they more worried about maintaining the meaning?

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And it's very hard to do both.

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So usually a translator will choose one or the other -

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sound or meaning.

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And then the final question that translators often ask

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is about authenticity.

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Do they want to translate

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into concepts that modern readers can understand?

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If there's, say, a concept

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that existed in the fifth century or the eight century

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when it was told, but doesn't exist anymore,

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do they wanna kind of translate

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that culturally into something that

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we can understand?

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Or do they wanna use the Old English concept?

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We might not understand what it means,

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but it's more authentic that way.

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And that can be anything from, you know,

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a specific tool that Hrothgar is using

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that we wouldn't know what the word meant,

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but it would be more authentic if they used that exact same thing.

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So, anyway, tons of stuff at play here when thinking about translations.

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Wow, brutal.

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Okay, that's about all we know about translating Beowulf.

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Why would Beowulf be difficult to translate?

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Why is it important to keep in mind that a work is translated while you're reading it?

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What could potentially be lost or gained in a translation?

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You lose something. You must.

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