Blog Post #12

#1: As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect.

-        -This translation uses very strong words to make its point. “Uneasy” and “gigantic” are evidence of this.

-        -This almost sounds like a run-on sentence; it is meant to sound jumbled, as there is no use of commas.

-        -There is strong imagery in this translation. “Uneasy dreams” and “gigantic insect” paint a vivid image of the situation.

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#2: Gregory Samsa woke from uneasy dreams one morning to find himself changed into a giant bug.

-        -The difference in diction that occurs in this translation is that it is stated that Samsa has “changed into a giant bug” instead of having transformed. This difference could hint that the change that occurred could be more metaphorical than physical.

-        -This translation’s use of syntax causes it to seem more coherent than the previous. It does not sound like a run-on sentence, and communicates the same information more concisely.

-        -There is not as strong of imagery in this translation as the previous. Instead of stating that the bug was “gigantic”, the bug is said to be “giant”. This effect diminishes the size of the bug in the reader’s mind.

#3: When Gregor Samsa awoke from troubled dreams one morning he found he had been transformed in his bed into an enormous bug.

-        -An interesting note on the diction of this translation is that Samsa’s dreams are described to be “troubled” as opposed to the “uneasy dreams” the previous two translations have stated. This could mean that Kafka wants to communicate that there was a specific issue plaguing Samsa instead of a simple emotion that had overcome him.

-        -The syntax of this translation is similar to that of the first.

-        -The imagery in this translation is mainly just commenting on the “enormous bug”, which uses a different adjective to describe the size of it than the previous two.

#4: One morning, upon awakening from agitated dreams, Gregor Samsa found himself, in his bed, transformed into a monstrous vermin.

-        -The diction used in this translation is very unlike the first two. “Agitated dreams” and “monstrous vermin” are used, which is different from the previous ones. “Monstrous vermin” seems like less of a commentary of the size of Samsa, and more of the quality of how he looks.

-        -The arrangement of this sentence is different in this translation than the previous. The sentence starts off with describing the state of the dream Samsa had been awoken from instead of stating Gregor Samsa’s name.

-        -The imagery in this translation is much different than the previous quotes. The image of the transformation that Samsa has undertaken causes the reader not to think that he has been turned into a large bug, but rather a vermin that looks like a monster.

How does the word choice, syntax, punctuation, and imagery shift in each affect meaning? Is one more effective than another? Why? What does this exercise bring up about the difficulty of reading translated texts? How do different translations effect the tone of the sentence?

Shifts in diction, syntax, punctuation, and imagery can have great effects on the way that the reader perceives the meaning of a text. When the syntax of these translation is changed, it does not have much of an impact of the information that is being communicated. It has a greater impact on the coherence of the translation because it can cause some of them to sound jumbled. Diction was perhaps the most important aspect in changing the meaning of these translations. When the diction was changed between translations in these texts, it sometimes caused the image that the reader was meant to see. In example, the first translation stated that Samsa had been transformed into a “giant insect”, while the fourth stated that the being he had been transformed into was a “monstrous vermin”. This is a significant change because when the first translation states that Samsa was now a “giant insect”, this sounds literal, but when the fourth says that he was a “monstrous vermin” this sounds like more of a metaphorical comparison that speaks to the character of Samsa.

This exercise highlights the difficulties that can be associated with reading translated texts. The reason that the difficulties can exist is because when a text is translated, there is no perfect way to convey the message that the author intended perfectly into another language. Therefore, it is up to the translator to make assumptions about the authors purpose in order to convey it to their audience. This is why discrepancies can exist among different translations; every translator can interpret the authors text in their own way. Translations one and two do little to change the tone of the sentence. They both speak of “uneasy dreams” and use similar words to describe the bug. Translation three changes the tone of the sentence by speaking of “troubled dreams”, which makes the audience think that there is a specific reason the dreams Samsa was having were bad. Translation four does the most to change the tone of the passage. This is done by describing Samsa as a “monstrous vermin” which makes him appear to be more of an evil person than a physically changed being.