The Linguist is a languages magazine for professional linguists, translators, interpreters, language professionals, language teachers, trainers, students and academics with articles on translation, interpreting, business, government, technology
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Actors interpret, and acting may have profound lessons for interpreters and translators 16 The Linguist Vol/55 No/6 2016 www.ciol.org.uk FEATURES Valerie Pellatt explains why training graduates through the translation of drama helps not just the students themselves but also wider society I n The Linguist 55,4, Boyd Tonkin writes: "It is rare for fiction imported from beyond the English language to sparkle in the limelight in this country", but that the phenomenon is becoming less rare. The same is true of imported drama: we may revel in the 37 different Shakespeares performed at the Globe, and we all love our lives to be spiced by a bit of Molière, Chekhov and Ibsen. The advent of new drama in translation, however, is a slow process. The tendency is for dominant Western material to be translated and exported, and for the traditional and established to dominate over the new. At Newcastle University, we are endeavouring, in a small way, to redress the balance through the introduction of 21st-century plays from China, performed in English. Since 2013, a group of translation and interpreting students have translated five new plays, subsequently performed by the student translators themselves at Northern Stage, a leading theatre in the north of England. Our motives are multiple and mixed. The drama module for students of interpreting and translation was originally designed to enhance ability in the use of register, since spoken drama provides varied colloquial registers. The aims have broadened out to include expansion of vocabulary, refinement of grammar, voice production and projection, articulation, and appropriate body language. The achievements have been unexpected: improved personal interaction developed through collaborative translation, management and audiovisual skills derived from the staging process, and confidence and knowledge acquired during the performance process. From an academic point of view, this work with Chinese students is crafting new pedagogical approaches to the teaching and learning of translation and interpreting. While audience numbers are limited, the spin-off has been inspiring in our adoption and adaptation of cutting-edge Chinese drama. We are not alone in our effort to bring Chinese drama to the British stage. The University of Leeds has a thriving programme of collaboration with China, and the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) staged The Orphan of Zhao, in English, in 2012-13. The emphasis in both cases is on the traditional. Some companies, however, have focused on contemporary drama. The National Theatre of Scotland brought a series of new short plays from China to Glasgow in 2014, and a few smaller companies, such as Yellow Earth, are working more broadly with British- Asian drama. At Newcastle, alongside our pedagogical motives, we aim to break the stereotype of the traditional Chinese opera, seen as quaint, romantic and exotic. Contemporary plays show China as it is: Chinese people as they are, their needs and wants and the rhythm of their modern lives. Above all, the Chinese plays of the 21st century are infused with the music of a modern language which sometimes requires courage to translate and perform. Professional translator vs dramaturge Who translates plays and how are they recognised? The translator provides a 'literal' translation for a dramaturge, director or established playwright to hone to a state of performability. Only in recent years has the translator become more visible, and still is often considered secondary. A play in translated version is more often considered the creative work of the dramaturge, while the 'helpers' who do the groundwork are acknowledged, but not foregrounded. There are talented playwrights who are also translators, like Michael Frayn, who can be trusted to render plays creatively and satisfyingly. There are bilingual theatre workers who can be called upon to advise and assist with the culture-specific elements. Trusted dedicated drama translators are rare, and may be academics, or playwrights like Frayn. There is resistance to professional translators in the world of theatre, where knowledge of how stage and performance work may take precedence over linguistic proficiency. Directors and actors want a script that is crafted to suit their time, place and audience. They need translations that are performable, speakable and playable for theatre purposes, and may regard the work of a professional translator as too literary or too literal. This view does not nowadays reflect reality, for there is increasing discussion and practice in the profession that focuses on translating for the stage rather than the page. A script is speech. A performance space has physical and temporal limitations. As long as professional translators understand the A dramatic lesson