They came, they read, they translated!
🎉Last month, we ran a translation competition in celebration of International Translation Day. 🎉 The competition piece was the world famous poem The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost, which we opened up for translation into Bahasa Melayu, Bahasa Indonesia and Chinese (Simplified). We were delighted to have so many entries this year!
Here’s the original poem:
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I —
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
The winners for this year will walk away with a three-month Babbel language subscription and an Amazon gift card. Our winners are Liani Manta-Khaira for Bahasa Melayu, Brigita Pudjodarminto for Bahasa Indonesia and Lee Yoong Shin for Chinese (Simplified). Thank you to all participants for joining us in this celebration of translation and language, we know that translating a poem can be difficult work!
We caught up with Hazirah, who was our judge for the translations in Bahasa Melayu. Hazirah is a former Malay language teacher and current researcher with a passion for language and culture. She is one half of the Lingua Singapura duo, a community that holds pop-up language exchange events in Singapore to facilitate the sharing of language and culture.
Hi Hazirah, how did you find the judging process?
The process was tough as ‘The Road Not Taken’ is not an easy poem to translate. At first glance, one might interpret it as a profound or philosophical poem about the choices we make in life and the deep impact it has upon us. However, it was widely known that Robert Frost had potentially intended the poem as a sort of joke, or a meditation upon the futility of banal choices, such as which road to take on a walk! I had to screen the entries carefully to choose the translator who best represented the dual nature of this complex poem.
What nuances should one look out for when judging a literary translation, especially a poem?
A work of literature is never divorced from its social context, yet the beauty of poetry is that we each bring our own experience and yearning for meaning to it. This also means that a single poem, or literary work can be read, interpreted and hence translated in a multiplicity of ways — there is no “right” or “wrong” way of interpretation or translation.
The challenge for a translator is to convey a translation that allows for this possibility of a myriad of interpretations to happen — retaining the integrity of the work while at the same time increasing its accessibility to an audience in a different language. That requires a delicate balance, and the translator also needs to be aware of nuances in the work, and how their own biases affect the translation process. However, with every challenge comes potential, and translation plays a key role in introducing the work to a wider audience, and allowing them to partake in ascribing their own meanings onto the work. That I feel, is what makes translating a worthwhile endeavour.
Here are the winning entries:
Bahasa Melayu version, translated by Liani Manta-Khaira.
Jalan yang Tidak Dijejaki
OLEH ROBERT FROST
Dua jalan menyimpang di sebuah hutan menguning itu,
Dan sayangnya ku tidak dapat melewati kedua-duanya
Dan sebagai seorang pengembara, ku berdiri lamanya terpaku
Dan memandang ke bawah sejauh ku mampu
Ke arah ia melingkung di sebalik semak belukar;
Kemudian dengan sama adil, ku mengambil jalan sebelahnya,
Yang malah mungkin lebih menarik hati,
Disebabkan jalan yang berumput dan menyeru agar dipakai guna;
Meskipun setelah melewati terus ke sana
Telah merundukkan rumputnya dengan sama sekali,
Dan kedua-duanya pada pagi itu bersamanya terletak murni
Di dedaun yang dilangkahi tanpa meninggalkan jejak.
Oh, ku menyimpan jalan yang pertama bagi besok hari!
Meskipun mengetahui arah jalan berarah ke jalan nanti,
Ku meragui jika aku harus kembali sama sekali.
Barangkali aku menceritakan ini dengan hempusan nafasku
Di suatu saat berabad-abad ke depannya:
Dua jalan menyimpang di sebuah hutan, dan aku-
Aku memilih jalan yang jarang dilangkau,
Dan itulah yang membezakan segala-galanya.
Bahasa Indonesia version, translated by Brigita Pudjodarminto.
Jalan Yang Tak Terpilih
OLEH ROBERT FROST
Dua jalan menyimpang di hutan kuning,
Dan sayang aku tidak bisa megambil keduanya
Sebagai musafir, lama aku berdiri
Dan melihat ke bawah sejauh pandang
Ke mana membelok di semak-semak;
Kemudian kuputuskan mengambil yang lain, sama baiknya,
Dan mungkin jauh lebih baik,
Karena berumput dan siap dilalui;
Meskipun bagi mereka yang lewat
Keduanya nyaris sama,
Dan pagi itu keduanya sama-sama terhampar
Dalam dedaunan yang tak menghitam oleh langkah.
Oh, bagiku yang pertama untuk lain hari!
Namun tahu menuju ke mana jalan itu,
Aku ragu apakah akan bisa kembali lagi.
Aku harus mengatakannya sambil menghela nafas
Pada suatu tempat bertahun-tahun yang lalu:
Dua jalan menyimpang ke hutan, dan aku
Aku mengambil satu yang jarang dilalui,
Dan hal itu telah membuat semuanya berbeda.
Chinese (Simplified) version, translated by Lee Yoong Shin.
未走过的路
罗伯特 ·弗特著
黄叶林中有两条岔路，
可惜我无法两者皆行
身为旅人，我伫立良久
尽可能远望其一末处
直到它隐没于灌木林；
但我踏上了另一条路，
它碧草萋萋，引人前行，
多像是我向往的旅途；
来往的旅人匆匆赶路
留下几近相同的足迹，
但清晨的落叶铺满两径
金黄，尚未被脚印摧残。
啊，我将原路留待他日行！
然而路径延绵无止境
谁知此路可否能回返？
当时光已滴答地飞过
我将幽幽地把往事述：
林中有两条岔路，而我 —
我择了幽静的路而探索，
从此决定了人生的迥殊。
Once again congratulations to all participants! Check out our official Jala Blog if you need tips on what makes a translation good, or on how to translate the untranslatable! Once again, thank you everyone for participating in our competition and congratulations to all the winners. Until next time!
