Experiences in Translation

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by Umberto Eco,

Translated by Alastair McEven

University of Toronto Press

Due/Published January 2001, 112 pages, cloth

ISBN 0802035337

Eco draws on his substantial practical experience to identify and discuss some of the central problems of translation. Translation is not about comparing two languages, he argues, but about the interpretation of a text in two different languages, which involves a shift between cultures. Depicting translation as a semiotic task, he uses a wide range of source materials as illustration--the translations of his own and other novels, translations of the dialogue of American films into Italian, and various versions of the Bible--and demonstrates that a translation can express an evident deep sense of a text even when violating both lexical and referential faithfulness. In the second part of his study, he deals with translation theories proposed by Jakobson, Steiner, Peirce, and others. Overall, he identifies the different types of interpretive acts that count as translation. What emerges is a new typology, based on Eco's insistence on a common-sense approach and the necessity of taking a critical stance.

"Eco remarks at the outset that he doesn't offer a theoretical approach to translation, but a common sense approach. Common sense there is in Eco, given his experience with translation. And that is what he offers in enticing fashion. . . . Then he gives us enough theory to satisfy the most demanding readers."--Floyd Merrell, Purdue University

Review

"Translations are not about linguistic types but rather about linguistic tokens. Translations do not concern a comparison between two languages but the interpretation of two texts in two different languages." -- Umberto Eco

Few figures have had as much experience with the subtleties and problems of translation as Umberto Eco: not only has he translated several French literary texts into Italian, his novels and works of criticism have been translated into several other languages as well. Eco confidently engages the issues surrounding connotation, denotation, and referentiality, but his overall approach to issues of translation is based on commonsense and his own practical experiences. Eco argues that the role of the translator extends beyond strict denotative translation of individual words and sentences and requires additionally, a sensitivity to the totality of the text and the culture and time from which it was created. Thus for Eco, a translation can express a "deep sense" of the text even when both lexically and referentially unfaithful. He engages these issues through a variety of examples ranging from translations of the bible to translations of American films into Italian. Eco's ideas are accessible, clear, and provocative even when delving into such complex issues as the linguistic theories of Jakobson, Peirce, Steiner, and others. Eco has convincingly made the subject of translation relevant not only to linguists and those concerned with the exchange of ideas and literature across cultures.

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