When Adam bit the apple he did it because he trusted Eve. Because he loved her. Adam bit into the apple because the woman he loved told him to, no matter what God said. No matter the rules of heaven. What's heaven to a woman's love anyway? What's God to your wife? The first sins of humanity, were trusting others. Eve trusted a snake, Adam trusted Eve, and I trust you. Maybe that's a sin, just like the first couple. Maybe everyone's right about us and we're sinners and we offend God. But like I said, what's God to a woman's love anyway? What has heaven got that I can't find sitting next to you on a cool autumn morning?
People complaining about gay characters and swearing making new Star Trek less family friendly, like the old shows didn't constantly reference people going on vacation to Paradise Fuck Planet to get absolutely railed by strangers
Things Added in Translation - Brief thoughts on On Earth We Are Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
Foreword: This a very nerdy thing I thought about as I started reading this book, these are mostly my preliminary thoughts and opinions and is in not actually academic facts.
So this book has been in my to be read pile for approximately over 4 years ever since I found out about it and saw quotes floating around the internet. However, it took me until new years two years ago when I saw the Vietnamese translated hardcover edition at a book fair - which is still cheaper than the English version by the way - to actually get it. I had an idea to read this book in both versions, English (the original language it was written in), and in Vietnamese (the language that is Vuong’s heritage and his “mother’s tongue”).
It’s mostly curiosity because I wanted to see how writings written by a Vietnamese American author could be translated, specifically one that is - from my current understanding - to be letters from poet/author son to his Vietnamese immigrant, illiterate mother, and the stories of a Vietnamese upbringing in a foreign country (disclaimer: i know there's A LOT more to this book but alas I haven't finished reading it).
The key reason for this intrigue is that there are nuances in the Vietnamese language that are so very difficult to translate into English (and vice versa). For example, Vietnamese pronouns are highly contextual based on age, familial relationships and relative relations via mutual connections. What choice of pronouns you use will set a different mood for the people in a conversation and third parties gazing into that conversation – this is a point I will delve into later.
I think it’s safe to say that anyone who is at least bilingual knows you have a different identity for every language you speak. And while I don’t assume to know or understand how 2nd gen immigrant kids would feel towards their mother tongue and English in general, I thought it would be interesting to see Vuong's words as written in his voice might sound like if it were actually given to his mother in a language she understands.
FYI disclaimer, I am not a translator or a linguist expert. This is what I understand about both languages in general.
The focus of this analysis is the first two lines of Vuong’s novel.
Let me begin again.
Dear Ma,
In Vietnamese (translated by Khanh Nguyen), it is translated as:
Để con bắt đầu lại.
Mẹ ơi,
As mentioned, Vietnamese pronouns are highly contextual. Vuong uses “me” in the first line, translated to “con” (also meaning child), the Vietnamese equivalent of I/me but specifically used when you are speaking to people who you may consider parents, aunt/uncles, grandparents and teachers. If you want to be very very strict and technical, you might even be able to say that "con" is exclusive to parental-child relationships, because the pronouns are so highly contextual, it also carries a sense of ownership. I often joke with my coworkers, Tôi muốn làm con ba mẹ - I want to be my parents’ child. The punchline here is I want to be unemployed and be supported by my parents. But con ba mẹ literally means dad and mom’s child. To be someone’s con is exclusive to the father/mother noun. To use con means to give higher level of respect to the person you’re speaking to, and it’s even higher than level of respect you would owe your friends or siblings. It takes you two sentences in English, whereas it take you one sentence in Vietnamese to establish a definite power imbalance between the narrator and the person he is speaking to. The Vietnamese translation can already provide hints about his relationship with this person before we even know who he is talking to.
Again, this is why I believe you have different identities in every language. Pronouns play a very role in any works translated into Vietnamese and it actually has on multiple occasions misconstrued my understanding of certain novels just because I read it in Vietnamese, and the work was subject to the constraints of Vietnamese language conventions, therefore added meaning where the original work doesn’t have it. But in this case, I think there’s an added cultural nuance about Vuong’s Vietnamese heritage that cannot be provided by the English language, which brings further depth into the narrator’s voice as a whole.
In the second line, Vuong writes “Dear Ma.” It is translated to “Mẹ ơi” - “Mẹ” being mum. In the same way that the English language has mom and mum, we have regional words for mothers in Vietnamese. What is interesting here is that Vuong’s family are southern Vietnamese (as far as I’ve researched and understood). In southern Vienamese dialect, they use Má instead of Mẹ. Which was why when I saw the line in English, I didn’t think of it as just ma like mama, but má in the way that I thought Vuong would actually call his mother as per the southern dialect. I almost thought it might have been intentional on Vuong's part to use "Ma" instead of the conventional mom because it sounded very very similar to má. As to whether or not Vuong was consulted when the Vietnamese translation was done, I don't know, but I do think it’s a strange choice that the translator would choose the northern Vietnamese equivalent mẹ. It could also very well be that his family does use the northern dialect of the word because it was passed on like that - I do know some families who use different mixes of dialect - but I somewhat feel like the choice of dialect here might have fallen short in hinting Vuong’s background.
This line in general is actually a little difficult to translate because of the nuances of affection and respect in it. “Dear” is a classic and common way to address someone in letters. The most accurate translation I think should be Thưa mẹ. Thưa, being a non-translatable word used to preface that you are beginning a conversation with someone with deep respect, in the same way Dear acts to preface the letter as being written to his mother. However, “dear” implies a sort of affection that thưa doesn’t always quite deliver. There are many other ways to say dear, such as thân mến/kính mến/yêu, but the choice in the translation is “ơi”, which though has been used for letters, is a word that is very colloquial. You use ơi to call someone regardless of their age, and it implies affection and closeness, which I guess was why it was preferred to thưa. “Ơi” has an added depth that “Dear” doesn’t carry as it is used both to call for and answer someone, like the start of a verbal conversation between two people who are in each other’s presence. So where “Dear Ma” is the beginning of a letter that is not necessarily involving the presence of both parties in a conversation, “Mẹ ơi” is Ma, I am talking to you almost seemingly with expectations to be answered. I also find it particularly poignant that this line wherein Vuong is addressing his mother is written out. I do not know if Vuong’s mother is Vietnamese literate, but regardless of the language in which the words are delivered, it is in the written medium, and as Vuong points out, “each word I put down is one word further from where you are.” It is the need to speak the words aloud with the yearning that “Mẹ ơi” evokes that it might be able to reach his mother's understanding.
But anyhow, that's my take on the first two lines of this translation. I think it’s a privilege to be able to read this in both languages because I’ve heard great things about Ocean Vuong’s prose so I'm sure a lot of the good proses will be lost in translation later down the line. But the first two lines were very thought provoking for me, though slight disclaimer cuz I am struggling to literate in both languages lol. I'm sure the translator did their best with the translation because it is very difficult to translate into Vietnamese, and it is already incredible that I have something like this to read.
PS: Another thing also love how the Vietnamese translation is the title is Một Thoáng Ta Rực Rỡ Ở Nhân Gian, because it translates "Earth" not as the planet or the ground, but it to nhân gian (which comes from the Chinese word 人间), which means "the space of man", the space of our existence and livelihood. It's a smashing translation that captures the essence of the title in my opinion.
“Icemav is canon” I say into the microphone. The crowd boos. I sigh and begin to walk off stage. "She's right" a voice says, I turn and there he is. Val Kilmer.
a hunger like no other - sk osborn, the great, akwaeke emezi, the good fight - ada limón, union of souls - max švabinský, the dedication - edmund leighton, coffin heart? bury me - fatima aamer bilal
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