W2A-009 Translation-0.txt
After F&/einius Farsaidh: Aspects of Translation in Modern Ireland

Seathr&/un C&/eitinn in his History of Ireland describes how F&/einius Farsaigh, King of Scythia and ancestor of the posterity of Gaedheal, wanted to become acquainted with the languages which appeared after the destruction of Nimrod's tower in Babel. With this aim in mind, he sent 72 disciples to various countries on the three continents then known to be inhabited. The disciples were to spend 7 years in their respective country during which time they would acquire a thorough knowledge of that country's language, (thus incidentally, anticipating by millenia the concept of the 'year abroad' in language training and acquisition).

At the end of the seven years, F&/einius went with his disciples to the Plain of Seanair to learn the lingua humana, Hebrew, and set up schools for the teaching of different languages, in the city of Eath&/ena. The principal school was presided over by three sages, F&/einius himself, Gaedheal, son of Eathor of the race of Gomer from Greece and Caoi Caoinbhreathach from Judea. F&/einius remained in charge of the school for twenty years, long enough to allow Ni&/ul his son acquire fluency in a number of languages. It was on his return to Scythia that F&/einius ordered Gaedheal to arrange and regulate the Gaelic language (C&/eitinn, 1908, pp. 3013).
One poet described F&/einius as a: A man renowned, wise, learned In each language.
We will describe here a number of ways in which the posterity of F&/einius have coped and are coping with the polyglot realities of the 20th century.

Translation in the New State

In the earlier part of this century, translation activity was mainly centred around the Irish language. At the first meeting of D&/ail &/Eireann on the 21th 21st January 1919 no translation facilities were provided even though all the proceedings were in Irish. However, the need was soon felt for the services of a translator and the first official translator to the D&/ail, M&/iche&/a /O Loinsigh, was appointed in June 1919. In September 1922 a Standing Order of D&/ail &/Eireann stipulated that the texts of legislation be available both in Irish and in English. This led to the setting up of the Translation Section of D&/ail &/Eireann Ronn&/og an Aistri&/uch&/ain. It was the Rann&/og which translated the constitution in 1922 but not in 1937 when it was translated primarily by M&/iche&/al /O Gr&/iofa (Dalt&/un, 1983, pp.12-17). Apart from its translation work, the Rann&/og was also very active in the area of the simplification and standardisation of Irish grammar and spelling. Tom&/as Page's simplified spelling system <&Irish> Litri&/u na Gaeilge: l&/amhleabhar and chaighde&/ain

appeared in 1945 and S&/eamas Dalt&/un's <&Irish> Gramadach na Gaeilge agus Litri&u na Gaeilge

came out in 1958. Dalt&/un's book was an instant success with the Irish Press at the time headlining "1,200 Grammars Sold on First Day"."

Ireland's membership of the European Community in 1973 required that the relevant treaties be translated into Irish, thus representing a new linguistic challenge for the translators in Rann&/og an Aistri&/uch&/ain. It is not always easy, however, for the translators in the Rann&/og, to deal adequately with the sheer volume of translation work that is generated by D&/ail &/Eireann and the European Community. There are only 11 full-time translators working in the Rann&/og at present and they are already 3-4 years behind in translation of government legislation. In indicating the size of the backlog to an Irish Translators Association seminar on the Translator and the Irish Language, Se&/an &/O S&/e, Assistant Chief Translator in D&/ail &/Eireann, also pointed out the unsatisfactory situation at present in the D&/ail where translators from the Rann&/og are expected to act as interpreters if a TD or a member of the Press Corps require interpretation. Given that it is widely acknowledged that translating and interpreting are two distinct skills, the interpretation requirement would seem to place an unfair burden on the Rann&/og's translators (&/O Murch&/u, 1988 pp. 9-10). The anomalous position of Irish in the European Community where it does not have the status of a working language seriously limits the opportunities available to professional translators in Irish. In terms of the status of Irish language translation and the terminological sophistication resulting from daily contact with other European languages, Irish language translators would stand to benefit greatly from a change in the present situation.

Literary Translation: A Growth Area

The Arts Council in recent years has become more actively involved in the area of translation. In particular, it has favoured translation of literature from the Irish language into English with Bord na Leabhar Gaeilge concentrating on backing the publication of translations in Irish. The Arts Council provides support for translations in two ways: (1) Publication Assistance and (2) The Author's Royalty Scheme. Publication Assistance is the offer of a grant or a loan to assist the publication of a title. The Author's Royalty Scheme is, among other things, a mechanism for helping publishers commission translations (Cassidy, 1988, p.8). Active support for Irish/English literary translation has led to the publication of a number of translations over the last five years. M&/airt&/in &/O Dire&/ain's Selected Poems/Tacar D&/anta translated by the poet Tom&/as Mac S&/iom&/oin and Douglas Sealy was published by Goldsmith Press in 1984. Nuala N&/i Dhomhnaill's Selected Poems/Rogha D&/anta translated by the poet and Michael Hartnett was brought out by Raven Arts Press in 1986, the same year that Raven published An Tonn Gheal/The Bright Wave, a selection of translations by English language poets of poems by writers in Irish. In the area of prose translation Wolfhound Press in 1987 published translations of short stories by Se&/an Mac Math&/una originally written in Irish for his collection Ding agus sc&/ealta eile. These appeared in English under the title The Atheist. Translation activity has not been confined, however, to translation from Irish (Cronin, 1978, p.8).

Two publishers have been very much to the fore in publishing translations from other languages, Dedalus Press and Raven Arts Press. Dedalus Press in 1985 published the Swedish poet Toman Transtromer's The Wild Market Place translated by John F. Deane. In 1987 it brought out Michael Smith's version of poems by Miguel Hernandez in a collection called Unceasing Lightning and versions of poems by the Romanian poet Martin Sorescu by John F. Deane entitled The Youth of Don Quixote. In 1988, translations of selected poems by the Hungarian poet Agnes Names Nay appeared in a collection published by Dedalus in association with Corvina Press in Budapest. Hugh Maxton was the translator and the title of the collection was Between. Raven Arts Press have published translations from German and Dutch; 65 Poems, selected poems of Paul Celan translated by Brian Lynch and Peter Jankowski (1986) and Hidden Weddings, selected poems of Gerrit Achterbert translated by Michael O'Loughlin (1987).

As well as translation into English there are translations of work into Irish mainly published by An G&/um and smaller publishers such as Coisc&/eim and Cl&/o Iar-Chonnachta. A comprehensive listing of these translations in recent years but an example of the variety of such translation can be seen in some of the titles published in 1987: <&Irish> Taisce an Oile&/an (Cl&/o Iar-Chonnachta)

by Laurent Escudie and Yann Fanch Jacq, translated from Breton by Uaith&/ear Mac Gearailt, <&Irish> Saibhreas Chnoic Chaspair (An G&/um)

by J. Selwyn Lloyd, translated from Welsh by Liam Mac C&/oil and <&Irish> Sneachta (Coisc&/eim)

again by a Welsh author, Mair Wynn Hughes and translated by M&/aire Nic Mhaol&/ain. A relatively new development in literary translation in Ireland has been the translation of works by modern writers in Irish into languages other than English. In 1984, the French publisher Calligrammes published  Une Ile et d'autres iles.

This collection contained French translations by &/Eamon &/O Cios&/ain of poems by M&/airt&/in Dire&/ain, P&/adraig Mac Piarais, Se&/an &/O R&/iord&/ain, Eoghan &/O Turaisc, M&/aire Mhac and tSaoi and Caitl&/in Maude. Italian translations of poems by P&/adraig &/O Snodaigh appeared under the title <&Italian> Solitudine e Compagnia (Edizioni del Sud, 1987).

The translations were by Rosangela Barone and G. Lendaro Camiless.

Given the level of activity in literary translation in Ireland as present and the likelihood of this increasing with greater European integration, there is a need for a coordinated policy with respect to translation from Irish and English into other languages or vice versa. The European Community has already committed itself to a major translation project which will ultimately involve a number of translations from Irish into other European languages each year. The project is at present under consideration by the Arts Council, the Department of the Taoiseach and the Irish Translators Association and is evidence of the increasing internationalisation of literary translation in Ireland. There are obvious advantages as a result of this development; increased prestige for Irish writing in both languages abroad, particularly important in the case of Irish which will have more opportunities to see itself in languages other than English. In addition, translation translation often represents a useful source of income and a valuable training for creative writers.

Literary Translation: Problems and Possible Solutions

A policy that would seek to address the difficulties faced by literary translators in Ireland would have to begin with the vexed questions of lack of proper training and poor rates of pay. There are a number of ways in which these problems might be tackled.

1. Literary Translation Programmes. The University of Dusseldorf runs a training programme for literary translators which involves an obligatory stay at the European Translators College in Straelen on the German-Dutch border. The
<french>
Ecole Sup&/erieur de Traducteurs-Interpretes Lucien Cooremans (ESTI)

in Brussels has started a two year postgraduate course in literary translation for literary translators working into French. It would seem both desirable and feasible for Irish universities to follow the German and Belgian examples and institute specific courses for those wishing to work in the area of literary translation. The active involvement of experienced literary translators would be crucial to the success of such courses.

2. Translators Colleges. The aforementioned Translators College in Straelen has 20 apartments and library which contains over 20,000 books including 2,000 dictionaries and encyclopedias. These are at the disposal of literary translators who may stay at the College free of charge. In 1987
<french>
"Le College international des traducteurs litt&/eraires"

was set up in Arles and there are plans to establish a
<spanish>
"Casa del Traductor"

in Tarrogon (Spain) and a similar college in Viterbo (Italy). The setting up of a Translators College or Centre in Ireland along the lines of the College in Straelen would be a major boost to literary translation in Ireland. It would give literacy translators a place to work, an access to dictionaries and other reference material and a valuable chance to meet other people working in the same area. Such a project would seem timely in the light of Dublin's taking on the mantle of the Cultural Capital of Europe of 1991.

3. Low Rates of Pay. One eminent French specialist of Pushkin complained bitterly that he received approximately 50p per poem for translation that cost him years of work. The story is not untypical of the low rates offered by literary publishers for translations. The usual practice is for the translator to be paid a lump sum for a translation but they very rarely receive any royalties. Thus, even if the book is a bestseller, which can in part be attributed to the quality of the translation, the translator will not receive any further payment. As well as putting pressure on publishers to offer better rates to translators, translators'associations in Ireland and abroad have argued for the institution of translators royalties thus ensuring that translators benefit from the commercial success of a translated work.

4. Translation Prizes and Bursaries. Helmut Scheffel, translator and editor of the
<german>
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

pointed out at a symposium on European culture in Paris that literary translation prizes and bursaries are generally awarded to distinguished or eminent translators often towards the end of their career in recognition of work done. Scheffel suggested that bursaries in particular might just as well usefully be awarded to young translators with well defined translation projects (Scheffel, 1988, pp. 285-89). If such bursaries were to exist in Ireland, they would be an important inventive for young translators to get involved in literary translation, thereby securing continuity and quality for the profession.
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