On Some Problems in France with the French Translation
Excerpts from a letter sent by translator Nigel Hornby to
Urantia Foundation President, Thomas Kendall
November 3, 1980
In a letter to Thomas Kendall, President of Urantia Foundation, dated November 3, 1980, Nigel Hornby informs Tom that he is dropping out of the Paris team which Urantia Foundation had formed to create a new French translation. This after only partial work had been completed on ten papers. In this letter, Hornby comments on problems related translation in general and issues related to the Weiss translation. He also comments on Henry Begemann's accusation that the Foundation was in default. In his letter he includes the following comments:
"Preferably translators should be bilingual from childhood. That would not always be possible of course. Nevertheless, anything short of that is unfortunate. The technical value of a translating team is in direct proportion to the extent of its individual members' knowledge of the two languages. We were handicapped by linguistic limitations. I have been living in france for 10 years. That is perhaps a reasonable qualification for a "checker" -- as long as he is still living in the 'target' country. But the translators should also be at ease in the English language, or else the checker has too much work to do.
"One of the debts one has to pay for living in a foreign country for any length of time is the loss of certainty in the use of one's own native tongue. It begins to merge with the language of the foreign country. One loses vocabulary, forgets idiomatic expressions, becomes unsure of style -- one noticesthis especially when writing or translating. The automatic access to the language one used to take for franted is no longer there.
"This is one of my main objections to your plan to use French translators living in the USA. In addition, a language evolves. One can easily lose touch with its evolution. to give you a simple example; the French language has no satisfactory translation for "mind" in all its aspects. Recently, some scientists have been using the word 'le mentale'. But it has also been used 8in connection with esoteric religions. One has to live with the people in order to find out what they really feel about such new terms.
"Linked to this is my conviction that translators should be native-born speakers of the target language. If you employ American translators I think the quality of the French will suffer. It is very difficult for a native english speaker to translate into good French. It generally doesn't sound right. It can be done satisfactorily enough for commercial uses, less so for literary purposes, and even less for tranaslating the Urantia Book -- especially if the translator has not been living in the target country for a time. As I mentioned above, languages evolve. Styles change. I would consider it an essential requirement that a translator live in the target country.
"I realize you are worried about copyright control. But I was thinking maybe you could have an appointed and qualified contact man in the foreign country, who woule act as custodian of the translated texts, checking them and passing them on to you. I am worried that if you disallow all valid translating efforts abroad, then you may see many other irregular developments. Perhaps you could appoint some kind of international commission of trustworthy Urantia Book readers with some experience of translating, who woule go and visit potential translating teams and report on their qualifications and integrity.
"Your question, "What use is being made of the translated material..." -- For the moment, practically none. One or two readers have looked at a few sections, that's all. You need not worry concerning the copyright.
"What do I see as the end result of our efforts? It's difficult to say at the moment. If a new translation, to be done in Paris, became an acceptable solution to our porblem, there would be readers in Paris quite capable of compensating for the deficiencies of our present team. In fact, readers who are more qualified (bilingual, and with professional translating experience). Our present efforts would be sueful for such a team. We have learnt something about the problems, both from a technical and administrative point of view, and the texts we have worked on would serve as starting points. I am sure that an effective team of Parisian Urantia Book readers could be set up.
"You asked, "How long do you estimate it would tak you to complete the Urantia Book?" Apart from Weiss' version, no one has yet translated the Urantia Bok. I have no clear idea how long a good translation would take. It would depend on the availability of the translating team.
"After many conversations with French readers, I have the feeling that renewed efforts to come to terms with Jacques Weiss might well be more fruitful than before. Henry [Begemann's] recent conversations with him suggest that an agreement could be reached which would be satisfactory to the Foundation. The movement for spreading Weiss' "Cosmogonie d 'Urantia" is certainly gaining momentum. As far as we can see, its leaders are very dynamic. In the recent Foundation newsletter was the statement that you had stopped illegal photocopying of the Cosmogonie. This, I'm afraid, is unlikely. What information we manage to get suggests that the contrary is true. I see a grim future for the 5th revelation in France unless you can head off this movement. And I'm not sure anymore that a new translation would achieve this; disunity would continue; the more so if the quality of the French in an American translation would be questionable.
"Henry has suggested to you that the Foundation may be in default. I have discussed this question many times with him and feel he may have something. Though perhaps not "default" in the sense of the Adamic default -- we are not divine beings -- nevertheless, serious mistakes were made some years ago, which permitted this present sad situation to develop in France. That at least is clear. The problem is how to put everything right again. I don't pretend to know. But a new American translation would not necessarily straighten out this mess here. I could be wrong about my feelings about making new approaces to Weiss. There did seem to be some very positive aspects about Henry's recent visits to Mr. Weiss and his wife. His wife, by the way, is a good influence on him, and might be a considerable help to our cause. In any case one thing is certain, if a new approach to Weiss were successful it would resolve a great many thorny problems. The most worrying to me being the unpredictability of a breakaway group, and the lack of unity in France.
"Whatever the solution there, concerning the translations I do remain convinced that the Urantia Book should be translated in the target countries. I don't htink the very difficult technical, and spiritual problems that this work entails could be satisfactorily resolved away from the country which is destined to receive the book. It is unfortunate that the first attempts at translating abroad have been unsatisfactory. But, what is lacking in my opinion is a competent body to nurture, advise and, in liaison with the Foundation, to authorize translating teams."