Cowed boys & Indians
Translation is often referred to as the second oldest profession, and not always without reason, unfortunately. Its history and the social rank of its practitioners have varied considerably from one culture to the next, from unpopular mediators between the rulers and the people, men of influence to merely traitors who sold their fellows up the river.
Indeed, at that time translation was meant to conquer.
– Nietzche, The Gay Science
In most ancient cultures, the need for translation and interpreting arose from a desire to trade with or conquer another gang, and it was not until the 18th century that people began to believe that all languages had equal merit, translation not a tool for embellishing the empire or personal glorification, and that the style and content of the original text should be faithfully rendered.
The history of translation in Canada began with a kidnapping. While exploring the Gulf of the St. Lawrence in 1534, the French navigator Jacques Cartier came into contact with several Indian tribes. In order to communicate with them, he had to resort to sign language. Before setting sail once again, Cartier unceremoniously ‘recruited’ the two sons of Iroquois chief of Stadacona (present-day Quebec City) and took them to France where he taught them the rudiments of the French language. These two natives became the country’s first interpreters.
– Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies
Later, when they began to plot against Cartier, he shipped them back to France where they collaborated on two Iroquois-French lexicons – the first Canadian contribution to lexicography.
(Apologies here to fellow Canadians for whom the name Cartier recalls unbearably dull history classes – for which 1867 or Pierre Berton was the answer to every question – but a reminder that our nation’s history was infinitely more cruel and fascinating than the whitewash version we were fed.)
In Canada, the first interpreters were generally natives who were used as guides and negotiators and
At the beginning of the seventeenth century, Champlain created an institution of resident interpreters in the new colony. He placed young French adventurers with the allied tribes and gave them the task of defending the interest of the merchants… they lived among the natives, dressed like Indians, slept in tents hunted, fished and took part in the feasts, dances and rites that made up the everyday life of their hosts…
So expert they were that they earned the nicknames ‘double man’ and ‘two times a man.’
Then came the missionaries whose attempts to bring the word of God to the New World would make a great sitcom (that probably only I would watch, but never mind), but which, in all fairness, did lead to the creation of written texts, grammars and dictionaries.
Then came the British who, thanks to superior cash flow, took the imperial upper hand which created a need for French-English translation of all things legal and administrative that hasn’t let up since.
Canada has been a bilingual country pretty much from the start (1867) – with all the richness and conflict that it invariably entails – the Official Languages Act of 1969 firmly sealing the deal (and Bill 101 that served as justification for the removal of giant apostrophes with a crane, but let’s not get into that).
The work done by the federal and Quebec governments – and the OLF in particular – is recognized worldwide as exemplary (even though I was once under scrutiny by the Language Police for 6 months because some old crank in Chicoutimi found my catalogue translations “occasionally suggestive”).
The early history of translation in the United States is similar, although it is interesting that a number of historians have suggested that linguistic efforts made by the French in Canada were key to reducing the bloodshed, and led to largely peaceful negotiations. Although I suppose it’s legitimate to debate whether any virtue lies in screwing people with words rather than violence.
The first English language book in North America was in fact a translation, The Whole Booke of Psalmes (1640)… a very literal rendering of the Hebrew text, and since it was intended for singing, the translation was cast in ballad meter. In a preface, translator John Cotton (1584-1682) explained that the literal strategy conformed to a Puritan aesthetic: ‘If therefore the verses are not always so smoothe and elegant as some may desire or expect, let them consider that God’s altar needs not our polishings.’
Autre stuff:
– Algonquin words– Round table discussion on the effects of translation on other cultures’ understanding of the Declaration of Independence.
– The University of Ottawa’s CD on the history of translation.
– A letter written by Captain William Parker of the North West Mounted Police, giving his perspective on Treaty Six Negotiations in 1876.
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