Between English

Even those of us who are embarrassingly monolingual, at least in the sense that we cannot habitually make ourselves understood in any but one language, may feel suspended between languages. We may put ourselves into that position. And do we ever, in fact, succeed in making ourselves understood in any language? Living in the suspension may be a response to that problem.

In the common sense, and beyond very specific situations, I can communicate effectively in English and no other language. I would be unable to write this essay, to rewrite the contents of this essay, in Italian, French or Latin. But I have at various times tried to improve my reading of these languages, and working through translations of poetry, translating always into English, has been a different kind of ‘communication’. It plots one, however punily, within the Republic of Letters and puts one into contact with the literary equivalent of a Communion of Saints.

But into what English? Not into my ‘native’ English, although I am a native speaker of English. In translation from Latin or Romance languages it is easy enough to import something of the character or structure of the source language into the English, and still easier to play, more or less freely, with etymologies and verbal kinships. I suppose one could do the same with Germanic languages, and that it becomes harder with those less closely related to English. This is of course not most people’s idea of ‘faithful’ translation, the transfer of content with as little fuss as possible; it is not ...