Found in Translation

You May Kiss the #&@* Bride !
When a couple decided to have their vows renewed in the Maldives, they chose to have a
traditional ceremony conducted in the local language, which they did not speak themselves.
Unbeknownst to the couple, the officiant did not recite the traditional romantic vows they had hoped
for. Instead, he spent the entire ceremony making insulting comments about the couple and stating
that their marriage was illegitimate. The entire spectacle was later posted on YouTube—with
subtitles in English.
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Planning a vows-renewal ceremony or destination wedding in a place where
you don’t speak the language? Don’t forget to book an interpreter!
The Language of Love
Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking
a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta.

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Now, read Vladimir Nabokov’s famous introductory lines again. Aloud this
time. Don’t listen to the meaning of the words. Just listen to their rhythm, their
sounds, the way they reverberate even after you’ve finished reading them.
That’s how powerful, persuasive, and sensual language can be. The sound of
every word and every syllable is placed and chosen perfectly. But can prose
this pitch perfectly balanced be translated?
Here’s one rendering:
We can see its similarity, but it’s difficult to evaluate its success without being
able to read Russian—or at least the Cyrillic alphabet. But our Russian friends
tell us that they feel the same kind of shivers and tingle of excitement when
they read it.
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In other words, even such intimate language is translatable. The
passage still sounds erotic, even when translated. (Vladimir Nabokov
originally wrote Lolita in English. He had the privilege of growing up
trilingually in an aristocratic Russian family, and he also personally translated
Lolita into Russian.)
Could the language itself have something to do with the text’s ability to
tantalize its readers? English speakers often say that French is the language of
love. Or perhaps Italian. Maybe even Spanish. There’s just something about
those Romance languages. Russian, too, can sound quite exotic to many
English speakers. But some languages just don’t seem to make us want to fall
in love the way others do. Take this example:
Giselle was totaal hulpeloos in zijn armen, overgeleverd aan de storm van gevoelens die haar
zo onverwacht had overmeesterd. Ze klampte zich vast aan de man die de veroorzaker was
van deze storm, hopend dat ze het zou overleven. Haar lichaam was bezig zich te openen en
alle muren die ze zo zorgvuldig om zich heen had opgetrokken, dreigden af te brokkelen. Het
zou niet lang duren voor deze golf van sensaties vrij spel had.
Pretty hot, right? While they may not seem very romantic at first glance, the
sentences above were carefully crafted with the purpose of making women
swoon. They describe how the romance novel’s main character, Giselle, is
“totally unable to withstand the storm lashing at her, able only to cling to the
man who was the cause of it and praying that she would survive whilst her
body opened all its gateways and let down its barriers to admit the rolling,
roiling ferocity that was now possessing her.”

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You can practically smell the musk of Fabio. If it sounds like the stuff of
Harlequin, that’s because it is. These lines come from the third chapter of the
Reluctant Surrender by Penny Jordan, published in English by Mills and Boon,
which is owned by Harlequin. It also happens to be the work of Peggy van
Mossevelde, a Dutch translator who specializes in the translation of romance
novels.
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The prose of romance novels is notoriously charged with
romanticism and eroticism, something that Peggy admits presents linguistic
challenges: “Dutch is a much more concise and businesslike language, which is
not conducive to being romantic.”
The notion of romantic love is universal, and so, apparently, is the appeal of
hairless pectoral muscles bulging against the backdrop of misty castles. While
the covers—with their images of manly hands grasping unsheathed swords—
no doubt send a message all their own, it’s the stories that seduce the readers.
Harlequin’s books are sold in 107 countries around the world. Its more than
one thousand authors publish about 120 new books per month in twenty-nine
languages, including Dutch. Harlequin routinely obtains more than half its
revenue from outside its home market. Because most of the authors write in
English, the company depends heavily on translation.
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The toughest task for Peggy is adapting the novels both linguistically and
culturally for Dutch-speaking readers. “I once left out a sentence about a
woman being unable to live without a certain man in her life. I don’t know
about other countries, but I felt that Dutch women wouldn’t like such an
extreme degree of surrender—it would be a bit much.” In summary, where
erotic fiction and romance novels are concerned, coming up with the right
words is not really the problem. Crossing cultures presents the most difficult
challenges.