Can two worlds exist at the same time without
invalidating the other one? When two worlds try to come together in order to
understand the other are they really helping each other or are they committing
ethnosuicide? Trying to understand two worlds through a form of translation can
cause crash. Rabassa believes that it is a form of suicide because when one
tries to translate one world into the other world it makes it seem that the way
that world is being portrayed is not correct. This kills the beauty of the
other world. Why should one have to explain what that world is? What purpose
does it serve to the other world? Would it change the way people view it or
think about it. Rabassa does not think it would. Rabassa challenges us to think
as to why people are so intrigued to bring someone else’s world into their own
world. Is it necessary to bring that world into your world? For example, when
one translates languages, why do we do it? Rabassa believes that when we
translate languages that can sometimes be transmitted as that language is not
good enough because it is not being understood by all. Worlds cannot come
together because coming together can mean that a group of individuals are being
exotified at the expense of the desire of someone else’s hunger to not be seen
as ignorant to those subjects. Rabassa writes, “Translation will obviously
continue as a practice, but we would recognize that translations also move from
Europe to non-Europe, and that what actually happens in that process cannot be translated
back to a European lingo without incurring an infinite progression. Again, this
process of translation into non-Europe would not merely consist of translating
European texts-for example, the Christian doctrinas into Nahuatl- but of
reflecting in Nahuatl categories on such terms as dios (god), Ia
trinidad (the trinity), Ia gracia (grace), or el diablo (the
devil)” ( 203). When translation happens it creates hierarchies among
languages, which then can create hierarchies among people and cultures. However,
will ever be possible to stop it from happening? Rabassa writes that it may not
be inevitable to stop it from happening but that does not mean we should not be
aware and conscious that this is happening. We have to be careful with the
dangers that can arise when trying to bring different worlds together. Rabassa,
challenges to think about what happens or why it is even necessary to bring
worlds together. Let’s inhale what Rabassa is trying to tell us and question
the questions we ask.
I’ve definitely been thinking lately about what it means to “translate” someone’s words, not just in terms of putting someone else’s words into my language but also what it means to try to put my words into their language. Way back in the day when we read Survival This Way, I remember Dr. Gomez saying that we need to “keep this text close.” When folks would start to use language that wasn’t in the poem, she would say that we “don’t know her that well yet.” After reading your post I’ve started thinking that rather than trying to “translate,” we should operate more in the forms of “listening,” “getting to know,” and “retelling.” I really like how you say “inhale what Rabassa is trying to tell us” because instead of just reading and thinking about it, we keep it and it changes us. We can listen and get to know Rabassa, and instead of putting his words into our language, we retell them in his language.
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