Language-Related Considerations in Film-Making - Essay Example

?A media production company is planning to make an English language film based on a book that was not originally written in English. Discuss the language-related considerations that this raises. English is a widespread language and the literary texts, novels, movies and plays in English language are valued the most as they get a great number of readers and audiences. The social media of a county aims to share the social, religious and national life and culture of that country. When it comes to transferring meanings from one language into another language both written and spoken, it involves considerations not only grammatical, semantic and lexical level but also on contextual and cultural level. Generally, when a writer produces a work, it comes in market in its original form and then it is presented to any other entity with its right and license to translate it to other languages to get it a place on international level. Such translations get feedback comprising of appreciations and loopholes both by the people having command on both original and translated languages which helps later to consider the drawbacks and produce better translations in future (Kovac, M., and Wischenbart, R., 2012). Translation of books into English language was not always appreciated as in Australia many authors did not like the Australian stories translated into English with so many changes in the text and wanted the youth to read original version of the stories (Nick Earls, ABC Premium News, 15 July 2009 i Allington, D., 2012). African writers also prefer to write in their own language and want Africa to be the centre of their literature. By doing this they do not aim to refuse the English stream rather they only wish to see things from African perspective. Ngugi is of the view that the Oral Tradition is important but it cannot replace the Modern African Literature. To remain loyal to the literature is to stick to the history and assimilate and embrace the traditional thoughts and so not losing the roots (Ngugi, 1986, p. 94-5). In the clip we observe South African writers’ reasons behind choosing language as a medium of their writing. Hambidge prefers to write in Afrikaans as it is connected to her identity. Moreover, she can express her thoughts and emotions in her own language in the best possible way. Magona and Ndebele see Afrikaans as the language of oppressed nation. Ndebele opts English for her writings as it is a language of opportunity and fame for its being international language Magona, though, prefers to write in English but she feels that she cannot write like Jane Austen and it involves both conscious and unconscious factors which shape thought language (U214, DVD 3, Clip 20.1, ‘Choosing to write in English’). While translating a language into English, problems may arise at lexical level. There may not be an alternative word available and a set of words express the meanings so it lengthen the sentence. For example in Russian language there is no separate word for ‘cloud’ rather there are words for different kinds of clouds so it makes the translator to interpret the kind of clouds relying on the context and present a different expression from the original sentence. This does not mean that Russian language is richer than English and provide finer details regarding vocabulary. In some other cases, Russian language has no separate word for ‘arm’ or ‘hand’ rather there is a single word ‘ruka’, so every time the translator encounters this word, he faces difficulty in interpreting that whether the writer is talking about ‘arm’ or ‘hand’. These problems are solved by using other words such as ‘fist’, ‘palm’ or ‘from shoulder to fist or wrist’ but it results in comparatively longer sentence. So, such lexical gaps between languages make it difficult to create a perfect translation (Cook, G., 2012). Cook observes the difficulties that become a challenge while translating other languages into English. Referring to the translation of the Chinese film ‘Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles’, Cook says that the translator had to face real challenge while translating both Chinese and Japanese into English, and particularly while translating the regular breakdown of both languages where Chinese and Japanese people communicated with each other. In a French film, ‘The Class’, the teacher teaches French grammar to some poor teenagers and also discusses the linguistic difficulties in the classroom. Here, the translator has to face much difficulty as there is a great difference in the grammars of both languages. For example, the example of the irregular verb which the teacher gives to his students is ‘croire’ the English translation of which is ‘to believe’, and it becomes a regular verb in English. So the translator has to ignore the real translation of the word and has to use another irregular verb i.e. to swim, to convey the sensible meanings. So the semantic meanings of the dialogues are compromised in order to retain the spirit of original French (U214, DVD 3, Clip 22.1, ‘Subtitles in translation’). Translation is traditionally perceived as the transfer of meanings and thus linguistic forms are not considered much, but in some genres like poetry and songs, it becomes essential to carry the sound, rhythm and rhyme to convey the complete message. The brevity and wit used by the poet is also important to be carried to the translated version. It puts the translator in difficulty as he has to transfer the spirit of the work more than the original letter. So the substitute words, such as ‘z’ is used in place of ‘s’, are used to maintain rhythm and wit. Such changes are often made while translating English- language advertisements into other languages (Cook, G., 2012). In the clip Cook points out that while translating a poem into English, rhyme and rhythm are quite difficult to maintain without effecting meanings of the poem. The original poem is more emotional and effective than the translated one as the poet expresses his feelings rhetorically but the translator aims more at the clarity of meaning than the emotional impact that the poem leaves on the minds of the readers. The cultural impact is another dimension which is altered or lost during translating, for example, Russian to English as both of the countries have different cultures (U214, DVD 3 Clip 22.3, ‘Poetry in translation’). The problem of the ability to translate a language is not limited to lexical level. On grammatical level, languages vary a great deal. The verb in Russian language has both perfective form which donates a complete action and imperfective form which donates an ongoing process. For example, Russian ‘to chitat’ is equivalent to English ‘to read’ and it denotes the continuity of the action and for ‘finished reading there is a separate word in Russian language which is ‘prochitat’. So, grammatically, the translation for both actions differs in English language by using different lexical items. Another problem while translating Russian to English is because of separate words being used for male and female as ‘chitala’ and ‘prochitala’ are feminine words whereas ‘chital’ and ‘prochital’ are masculine words. So, while translating in English, the gender of the speaker is also to be mentioned which makes a sentence long (Cook, G., 2012). For the imperfection concerning translation Goethe points that whatever may be said about its inadequacy, translation is the worthiest and the most important regarding the entirety of world affairs (Goethe, 1994, p. 353). As compared to the books, the film industry is largely dominated by America and American English. Hollywood movies are successful all over the world and have proved to be a flourishing export commodity. Many developing nations, particularly India and Nigeria, are producing a great number of films with a variety of languages in order to get economic and social benefits. (Allington, D., 2012). Indian film industry, Bollywood, is flourishing as many films are subtitled or dubbed in many other languages to get a wide range of audience and attain higher proportion of profit (Rai, 2009, p. 34 in Allington, D.). Nigerian film industry, Nollywood, is also making profit by producing low-budget films in many languages which are watched enthusiastically in different countries particularly in Africa. These films may not get a promising profit but still get a hundred of millions of audience (Lobato, 2010). Pointon states that the reason behind Nigeria’s making films in a variety of languages is commercial and it increased as people saw a chance of making money through it and preferring English language is a logical choice now-a-days (U214, DVD 3, Clip 21.3, ‘Interview with Tom Pointon: Nollywood’). While producing a film, the translated content has to be presented with desired expression of emotions and emphasis on the things according to the original text to make it successful at communicational level which involves more than just lexical items and grammatical rules. Here, the term ‘interpreting’ is retained particularly for the spoken text. The best interpretation of a sentence is done in relation to the context in which the sentence is spoken and context is called co-text. For example the mother reprimands her kid “What did I say you?” Here the tone will be harsh as previously she has asked him to stop charging around the house. So the knowledge provides a clear picture of the situation. If the same sentence is said by some elder person to his grandson then it may be taken as a simple question resulting from short memory. So the producer has to be conscious of the context in which the conversation is being held and ask his actors to adopt a tone accordingly (Open University, 2012, U214 p. 135). Intonation plays an important role in imparting the attitudes and emotions to the listener. The meaning of a conversation depends on the gender and age of the participants as well. For example, if someone says “I can’t believe that you can tie your shoelaces” to a small boy then it would be a note of appreciation but if the same sentence is said to some elder person i.e. a colleague, a neighbour or a family member, then it is supposed to be considered as an insult. While producing a film, the director has to keep the setting of the story in consideration based on the activities held in the story where time may not be mentioned but if breakfast is being taken then it is easy to interpret that it is morning. Communication goes wrong when dialogues are misinterpreted during a conversation, which is above its literal and grammatical meanings. Sentences are often perceived wrongly when emphasis is placed improperly. For example, Stewardess asks the pilot about whether he got the telegram from headquarter or not, and the pilot pays attention to the ‘headquarter’ rather than answering about the telegram. So the lack of proper knowledge of a language and emphasis on wrong words give make the speakers talk at cross purposes (Open University, 2012, U214 p. 132). Sometimes, the interpretation of a piece of conversation depends on background knowledge, belief and feelings of the participants. If the speakers have a clear idea of what they are talking about, the conversation goes smooth. Consider the example of a piece of conversation held between the UK Prime Minister Blair and the US President Bush (BBC News, 2006) where Bush thanks Blair for the sweeter and tells that he is sure that the present has been bought by Blair himself and Blair in response exaggerates that he himself knitted it. Now both of the speakers are aware of each other’s position and can joke about the situation which can be easily apprehended by both of them. So background knowledge and feelings, belief and social position of the participants help them to better interpret the conversation (Open University, 2012, U214 p.150). To conclude, English is a widespread language and any work presented in this language gets international exposure. So, while making a film the production company has to keep many things in consideration which mainly include a better translation and interpretation of the story in order to present a work that gains success. References Kovac, M., and Wischenbart, R., (ed) (2012) ‘Translation in best sellers: Reading A: Literary Translation in Current European Book Markets’ Abingdon,Routledge/Milton Keynes, The Open University, p. 248. Nagugi, (1986) ‘The English literary canon and postcolonialism’ in Pegrum, M, (ed) (2012) ‘English Literary Canons’ Abingdon,Routledge/Milton Keynes, The Open University, p. 199. Nick Earls, ABC Premium News, 15 July (2009) ‘The international book trade’ in Allington, D., (ed) 2012, ‘English and Global Media’ Abingdon,Routledge/Milton Keynes, The Open University, p. 225. Cook, G., (ed) (2012) ‘Translation problems: wordplay and realia’: Translation into and out of English’ Abingdon,Routledge/Milton Keynes, The Open University, p. 274. Cook, G., (ed) (2012) ‘What does it mean to ‘translate’: Translation into and out of English’, Abingdon,Routledge/Milton Keynes, The Open University, p. 269-271. Goethe, (1994) ‘Introduction’ in Cook, G., ‘Translation into and out of English’, Abingdon Routledge/Milton Keynes, The Open University, p. 260. Rai, (2009), ‘The movies’ in Allington, D., ‘English and Global Media’ Abingdon Routledge/Milton Keynees, The Open University, p. 235-9. Open University, (2012) U214 Worlds of English, DVD 3, Clip 22.1, ‘Subtitles in translation’, Guy Cook, The Open University. North, S., (2012) U214 ‘What is discourse: English: A Linguistic Toolkit’ The Open University. P. 132-135. North, S., (2012) U214 ‘Doing things with workers: English: A Linguistic Toolkit’ The Open University. p. 150. Open University, (2012) U214 Worlds of English, DVD 3, Clip 20.1, ‘Choosing to write in English’, David Johnson, The Open University. Open University, (2012) U214 Worlds of English, DVD 3, Clip 22.3, ‘Poetry in translation’, Guy Cook, The Open University. Open University, (2012) U214 Worlds o English, DVD 3, Clip 21.3, ‘Interview with Tom Pointon: Nollywood’, Daniel Allington, The Open University. Read More