Translation Mutation

The four translations of Als Gregor Samsa eines Morgens aus unruhigen Träumen erwachte, fand er sich in seinem Bett zu einem ungeheuren Ungeziefer verwandelt.

Translation 1: As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect.

Of all of the translations, this one seems the most 'incorrect'.  It is odd to say out loud because the syntax is rather unusual.  This translation could use a few commas or have the sentence split into two.  The language here is rather childish and seems as if it were to be said by a middle school student.  The use of "gigantic insect" seems immature and is something my little sister would say.

Translation 2: Gregory Samsa woke from uneasy dreams one morning to find himself changed into a giant bug.

This translation seems like it would be from a doctor's notebook because the sentence is simple and to the point.  There is not a lot of detail included here, just enough to describe the necessary points and it is easy to say out loud.  This sentence is recalling an event rather than telling it as it happened.

Translation 3: When Gregor Samsa awoke from troubled dreams one morning he found he had been transformed in his bed into an enormous bug.

This translation is like the first in that it is very long and awkward to say aloud.  It seems like it could have been split into two sentences after "one morning".  This translation is quite descriptive and has a word choice that is more descriptive than the second translation.  This translation seems like something you would find from a young adult or youth chapter book because it is complex, but not over the top.

Translation 4: One morning, upon awakening from agitated dreams, Gregor Samsa found himself, in his bed, transformed into a monstrous vermin.

Of all the translations, this is my favorite because I think it sounds the best.  The use of commas help for the reader to make sense of this translation because it breaks of all of the ideas.  The vocabulary here is the best of all the translations and the sentence is very descriptive.  I also think the sentence sounds better when Gregor Samsa's name is mentioned in the middle of the sentence and not in the beginning.

Word choice, syntax, punctuation, and imagery shift in each translation affects the meaning quite a lot.  From all four translations we get the basic message that Gregor woke up and found that he was a bug.  But by using different words and different syntax each translation has it's own effect, giving the reader a different image about what is going on with Gregor.  I think that syntax is the most effective at changing meaning of a sentence.  At first I thought it would be word choice, but word choice only really changes context surrounding the sentence.  Changing the format of a sentence is the most effective because it can change the sequence of events and how things happen.

This exercise brings up a few very important points about the difficulty of reading translated texts.  For one, the word choice of the author cannot be analyzed as much and an English text because one word can be translated many different ways.  Another point is that reading one translation of a text can have a completely different effect on a reader compared to another translation.  Different translations effect the tone of a sentence by either changing it or enforcing it.  If the translator does not understand the tone of the author, they could change the tone which ultimately effects how a reader interprets a text.  Translation is very important especially in The Stranger because the first sentence, which is often argued about, has a big effect on the entire text.  The first sentence of a text layouts a tone for the whole work, so it is important to get it right.