A Real-Life Example

The first question one should ask oneself before starting to translate is: how do I know whether I can translate?

I had a stroke of luck. An experienced translator accidentally noticed that I had the skills necessary to become a translator. The same person gave me poems and short stories to translate into German, then corrected my translations. There were lots of mistakes, though with each new translation I believed that I had finally got it right.

This experience taught me a lot of different things. I realised that translating poetry is an excellent way to learn about the qualities and idiosyncrasies of a language. At its best, a good poem can demonstrate not only how the source language works, but how the translator’s native language works too.

At the outset of my career, I learned just how important it is to have another trusted reader to whom you can show your translations. Another pair of eyes will help to form a picture of the strengths and weaknesses of a translation. My first such reader always found mistakes. I began to wonder when I would ever be able to translate by myself, fluently and without making mistakes. Sometimes I thought this would never happen.

I have been translating by myself now for many years. So it is possible after all. I have also learned that, regardless of how careful you are, mistakes are unavoidable. They still annoy me, but they are nothing to be ashamed of. Making mistakes helps me learn more and educate myself.

The Translator’s Instinct

At first I made a lot of mistakes with idioms. I didn’t recognise phraseology patterns, I didn’t properly understand sayings, and so on. Of course it was a bit embarrassing at first; in a short story I once translated the phrase ‘mies iski naisen’ as ‘the man hit the woman’, when in fact it should have been 'the man hit on the woman' .

Naturally, I also encountered a great many unfamiliar words, not to mention unfamiliar meanings of familiar words. In a crime novel, the murderer was hitting a crippled man with a ‘keksi’. It seemed rather strange, but ‘keksi’ was a word I knew and I concluded that the murderer must be taunting the man with a biscuit.

Unsurprisingly, this was not the case. The word ‘keksi’ has another, quintessentially Finnish meaning that I didn’t know. Have a look in the dictionary. That’s what I should have done too.

This experience taught me that translators have to develop their instincts. You can’t know everything. What’s important is to know when you don’t know. Instinct can also help you guess at the meanings of sayings and idioms.

Instincts, however, cannot develop without a constantly widening perspective. For translators, this consists of wide general knowledge and, above all, a solid understanding of literature. Being a translator means being an avid reader. At best, translators follow both literature in their own language and the Finnish literature scene, as well as reading lots of other kinds of literature, such as non-fiction, newspapers, etc.

Once you’ve got started, the next important question is: what does translating literature mean? In short it means that the translator creates literature without actually being an author.

How is this possible? It’s possible when you’re working on a good text with an authority all of its own. Such texts help translators find solutions that they didn’t even realise they were capable of.

This is only possible if the translator is aware of their own abilities, their own language, their own knowledge of literature. The key to this is knowing yourself.

Throughout their careers, translators must be aware of what kind of translator they are. How do they react to different kinds of texts, what styles and registers can they reproduce, what are their strengths and weaknesses? And throughout their careers, translators must continually educate themselves.

Where can I find work?

After I had been translating for about three years, I realised that I had reached something of a critical stage. Translation demanded so much of my time that I either had to stop doing it or make it my profession. I decided to continue. Immediately I found myself facing another key question: how and where will I find enough work? In other words: how can I convince German publishers that I know which Finnish books are good, and that I’m the one who will translate them best. These publishers didn’t know me, and they didn’t know of my abilities. On top of that they were very sceptical about Finnish literature.

So what did I do? I contacted different publishers, though crossing this threshold was very difficult and I often felt rather awkward. I sent them faxes (we still used fax machines in those days). I presented myself as an expert on Finnish literature and offered (or rather, asked) to meet them at the Frankfurt Book Fair. Many of them never answered, but I did eventually meet some of them. Some of them didn’t really listen to me, but a few seemed genuinely interested. I took them as my starting point.

I tried to suggest Finnish novels that, in my opinion, fitted the profile of their catalogues. I presented them with a lot of information and tried to establish links between the Finnish and German publishers.

Little by little I was sent books to read, and I wrote reports on them. Writing reports is tricky, because it is very time-consuming and doesn’t pay very well. It does however open up many possibilities. A well written report, which the publisher can use to make publishing decisions, sticks in people’s minds. What’s more, the writer of report is sent more books to read. If, after some time, publishers realise that the translator will not recommend just any book – simply because s/he is looking for work – but strives to give a realistic picture of the work as a whole, a relationship of trust is gradually established. This, in turn, increases the translator’s chances of being employed.

Translators need to present themselves as reliable professionals. And the translations also need to be good, or your career will end fairly quickly. But that, of course, goes without saying.

Finally, one last key question: is there such a thing as a translator's identity?

My personal opinion is that the answer is: no. I don’t believe in the claim that translators come from a particularly different mould. For me, it’s important to understand the translation of literature as a profession for which you need certain gifts, abilities and knowledge. With this comes a great deal of responsibility. As translators we are responsible for how the art of the writers whose texts we translate are received by the target language audience. Literature translators must create literature – this is the art of words.

Translated by David Hackston

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