Self-translation is a

translation Translation is the communication of the semantics, meaning of a #Source and target languages, source-language text by means of an Dynamic and formal equivalence, equivalent #Source and target languages, target-language text. The English la ...

of a

source text A source text is a text (sometimes oral) from which information or ideas are derived. In translation, a source text is the original text that is to be translated into another language. More generally, source material or symbolic sources are ob ...

into a target text by the writer of the source text. Self-translation occurs in various writing situations. Since research on self-translation largely focuses on ''literary'' self-translation, this article will tend to have a similar focus. The practice of self-translation has attracted critical attention especially since the beginning of this century, in the wake of intensive investigation into the field of non-authorial translation in the twentieth century. Literary self-translation has been recognized as a special branch of translation studies at least since the publication of the first edition of the Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies in 1998.

Research

Within the study of translation, literary self-translation has been one of the most neglected practices. Until recently, very little research has been done in this area. Many studies focus on single authors, most of them on

Samuel Beckett Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish writer of novels, plays, short stories, and poems. Writing in both English and French, his literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal, and Tragicomedy, tra ...

.Alan Warren Friedman, Charles Rossman, Dina Sherzer(Eds.) (1987): ''Beckett Translating/Translating Beckett''. Pennsylvania State University Press. Research topics are the reasons for self-translation, the methods of self-translation and the textual relation between both texts.

Types of self-translation

Self-translation may result either from a regular activity of the author or from a merely sporadic experience, which may be due to a variety of reasons. The latter case is represented, for example, by

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (born James Augusta Joyce; 2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influentia ...

's self-translation into Italian of two passages from his "Work in Progress" (later entitled "Finnegans Wake"). Other relevant cases are the self-translations of

Stefan George Stefan Anton George (; 12 July 18684 December 1933) was a German symbolist poet and a translator of Dante Alighieri, William Shakespeare, Hesiod, and Charles Baudelaire. He is also known for his role as leader of the highly influential liter ...

and

Rainer Maria Rilke René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke (4 December 1875 – 29 December 1926), known as Rainer Maria Rilke, was an Austrian poet and novelist. Acclaimed as an Idiosyncrasy, idiosyncratic and expressive poet, he is widely recognized as ...

.—Self-translation may result from a process in which either the mother tongue or an acquired tongue is the source language, so that the target language varies accordingly. The latter case is represented by a few Belgian poets of the period between the two World Wars (among them Roger Avermaete and Camille Melloy), who self-translated their texts into Flemish shortly after completing the originals in the acquired yet fully mastered French language.—Self-translation may occur either some time after the original has been completed or during the process of creation, so that the two versions develop almost simultaneously and inevitably influence each other. These two types are sometimes referred to as ''consecutive self-translation'' and ''simultaneous self-translation''.—Self-translation may even involve more than one target language, whether native or acquired. This is the case with authors like

Fausto Cercignani Fausto Cercignani (; born March 21, 1941) is an Italian scholar, essayist and poet. Biography Born to Tuscan parents, Fausto Cercignani studied in Milan, where he graduated in foreign languages and literatures with a dissertation dealing with ...

, Alejandro Saravia, and Luigi Donato Ventura.

Factors that encourage self-translation

The elitarian character of a specific language may encourage self-translation from this to a local language, for example from Latin to vernacular in medieval and early modern times. The cultural dominance of a specific language in a multilingual society may encourage self-translation from a minority language to the dominant one. The cultural dominance of the national language may encourage self-translation from a local dialect. The cultural dominance of a specific language in the international context may encourage self-translation from a national language to an internationally recognized language like English. But English as a target language is more common in cases where the author migrates to an English-speaking country. Perfect or almost perfect bilingualism may encourage self-translation in either direction, irrespective of market-related considerations. Dissatisfaction with existing translations or distrust of translators may encourage self-translation, irrespective of market-related considerations.

Self-translation versus non-authorial translation

Irrespective of the intrinsic qualities of the secondary text, self-translations are often regarded as superior to non-authorial translations. This is because "the writer-translator is no doubt felt to have been in a better position to recapture the intentions of the author of the original than any ordinary translator". If not based on the intrinsic qualities of the secondary text, arguments against self-translation may reflect specific socio-cultural considerations or a desire to criticize dubious editorial practices.

History

To date, the most comprehensive overview of the history of self-translation is given by Jan Hokenson and Marcella Munson in their study ''The Bilingual Text: History and Theory of Literary Self-Translation''.Hokenson, Jan & Marcella Munson (2007): ''The Bilingual Text: History and Theory of Literary Self-Translation''. St. Jerome Pub. Some of the prominent self-translators are

Chaucer Geoffrey Chaucer ( ; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for '' The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He ...

Thomas More Sir Thomas More (7 February 1478 – 6 July 1535), venerated in the Catholic Church as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, judge, social philosopher, author, statesman, theologian, and noted Renaissance humanist. He also served Henry VII ...

Vladimir Nabokov Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov ( ; 2 July 1977), also known by the pen name Vladimir Sirin (), was a Russian and American novelist, poet, translator, and entomologist. Born in Imperial Russia in 1899, Nabokov wrote his first nine novels in Rus ...

,Jane Grayson (1977): ''Nabokov Translated: A Comparison of Nabokov's Russian and English Prose''. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.

Karen Blixen Baroness Karen Christentze von Blixen-Finecke (born Dinesen; 17 April 1885 – 7 September 1962) was a Danish author who wrote in Danish and English. She is also known under her pen names Isak Dinesen, used in English-speaking countries; Ta ...

, Chinghiz Aitmatov and Julien Green. According to Julio-César Santoyo the history of self-translation can be traced back to the Middle Ages.

Self-translators

Countries where literary self-translation is predominantly seen are

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

, China, France,Oustinoff, Michaël (2001): ''Bilinguisme d'écriture et auto-traduction: Julien Green, Samuel Beckett, Vladimir Nabokov''. Paris: L'Harmattan. India,Trivedi, Harish (2000): "Modern Indian Languages." In: ''The Oxford Guide to Literature in English Translation''. Ed. Peter France. Oxford: OUP. Spain, and the United States.

Africa

Some of the prominent self-translators in Africa are

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o (; born James Ngugi; 5January 193828May 2025) was a Kenyan author and academic, who has been described as East Africa's leading novelist and an important figure in modern African literature. Ngũgĩ wrote primarily in Eng ...

Kenya in Translation. An Interview with Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o
/ref> in Kenya and

André Brink André Philippus Brink (29 May 1935 – 6 February 2015) was a South African novelist, essayist and poet. He wrote in both Afrikaans and English and taught English at the University of Cape Town. In the 1960s Brink, Ingrid Jonker, Etienne Lerou ...

and Antjie Krog in South Africa.

writes in Gĩkũyũ and English.

and Antjie Krog are both writing in

Afrikaans Afrikaans is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and also Argentina where there is a group in Sarmiento, Chubut, Sarmiento that speaks the Pat ...

and English. Algerian self-translators include Rachid Bouudjedra, Assia Djebbar and Mohammed Sari, who translated their works from French into Arabic or vice versa.

Canada

Canada has two official languages, English and French, and the national literature includes work in both languages. Nancy Huston, Antonio D'Alfonso, and other authors self-translate in both languages.

China

Lin Yutang (1895–1976) is one of the earliest self-translators from China. Another prominent self-translator is Eileen Chang, who translated some of her books into English.

France

Self-translators in France are mainly immigrant writers like Nancy Huston (French-English),Nancy Huston: A view from both sides
/ref> Vassilis Alexakis (French-Greek)Bessy, Marianne (2011): ''Vassilis Alexakis: Exorciser L'exil''. Rodopi. and Anne Weber (French-German)

India

Some of the prominent self-translators from India are Manoj Das,

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Thakur (; anglicised as Rabindranath Tagore ; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengalis, Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer, and painter of the Bengal Renai ...

Girish Karnad Girish Karnad (19 May 1938 – 10 June 2019) was an Indian playwright, actor, film director, Kannada writer, and a Jnanpith awardee, who predominantly worked in Kannada, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Marathi films. His rise as a playwr ...

, Kamala Das, Qurratulain Hyder.

Italy

Self-translations by Italian writers have been offered, at various times, by

Italo Calvino Italo Calvino (, ; ;. RAI (circa 1970), retrieved 25 October 2012. 15 October 1923 – 19 September 1985) was an Italian novelist and short story writer. His best-known works include the ''Our Ancestors'' trilogy (1952–1959), the '' Cosm ...

, Beppe Fenoglio,

Carlo Goldoni Carlo Osvaldo Goldoni (, also , ; 25 February 1707 – 6 February 1793) was an Italian playwright and librettist from the Republic of Venice. His works include some of Italy's most famous and best-loved plays. Audiences have admired the plays ...

Luigi Pirandello Luigi Pirandello (; ; 28 June 1867 – 10 December 1936) was an Italians, Italian dramatist, novelist, poet, and short story writer whose greatest contributions were his plays. He was awarded the 1934 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his bold and ...

, Giuseppe Ungaretti, and others.

Nepal

Prominent self-translators from

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

are Laxmi Prasad Devkota (1909-1959) and

Suman Pokhrel Suman Pokhrel (; born 21 September 1967) is a Nepali people, Nepali poet, lyricist, playwright, translator and artist. Universities in Nepal and India have included his poetry in their syllabi. Pokhrel is the only writer to have received the SAA ...

(1967- ) among others.

Spain

Self-translation is prominent amongst Catalan, GalicianDasilva, Xosé Manuel (2009): "Autotraducirse en Galicia". ''Quaderns'' 16, pp.143-156. (in Spanish)
/ref> and Basque writers. The most well known self-translators are Carme Riera (Catalan-Spanish), Manuel Rivas (Galician-Spanish) and Bernardo Atxaga (Basque-Spanish).

United Kingdom

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic (, ; Endonym and exonym, endonym: ), also known as Scots Gaelic or simply Gaelic, is a Celtic language native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a member of the Goidelic language, Goidelic branch of Celtic, Scottish Gaelic, alongs ...

poet Sorley MacLean is mostly known for his self-translations into English.

United States

Some of the prominent self-translators in the USA are Raymond Federman (English-French),

Rosario Ferré Rosario Ferré Ramírez de Arellano (September 28, 1938 – February 18, 2016) was a Puerto Rican writer, poet, and essayist.

(Spanish-English), Rolando Hinojosa-Smith (Spanish-English) and

Ariel Dorfman Vladimiro Ariel Dorfman (born May 6, 1942) is an Argentine-Chilean- American novelist, playwright, essayist, academic and human rights activist. A citizen of the United States since 2004, he has been a professor of literature and Latin American s ...

(Spanish-English).

In music

The song cycles "there..." and "Sing, Poetry" on the 2011 contemporary classical album Troika consist of musical settings of Russian poems with their English self-translations by

Joseph Brodsky Iosif Aleksandrovich Brodsky (; ; 24 May 1940 – 28 January 1996) was a Russian and American poet and essayist. Born in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) in the Soviet Union, Brodsky ran afoul of Soviet authorities and was expelled ("strongly ...

and

, respectively."Troika: Russia's westerly poetry in three orchestral song cycles"
Rideau Rouge Records, ASIN: B005USB24A, 2011.

References

External links

Bibliography on self-translation based on the bibliography published by Julio-César Santoyo in 2006. Partially archived.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Self-translation Translation studies