TRANSLATION
DỊCH
Can A "Modern" Interpretation Of A Legend Still Maintain The Essence Of The Original Author's Message?
PRECEDENT
PAST
“Translation” can be found in written text from one time period to another. The multiple translations of religious texts like the Bible, Torah, or Koran, can be found in different languages and current language forms. For instance, Old Shakespearean English to present-day English or the Grimm fairy tales translated into Disney versions.
PRESENT
Artificial intelligence translates single words and complete phrases from one language to another in real-time. In current media, movies and television come with subtitles or are interpreted for different audiences, like the rising popularity of Chinese science fiction, so it has been translated for English-speaking countries.
FUTURE
There have been attempts to communicate with those lightyears away. For example, NASA placed the Golden Record on the Voyager spacecraft, an artifact intended to communicate with intelligent extraterrestrial life. For those still on Earth, there was a speculative proposal of genetically modified cats being a warning system to the human population 10 thousand years in the future.
It is to translate for an unknown audience.
NASA/JPL - Golden Record Album Cover
DEFINITION
Translation cannot be a direct one-on-one form of communication.
It has no cultural context.
With a one-to-one translation, the nuances within the form of communication would be altered, misleading, or misinterpreted.
Translation needs human input, biases, and all.
Translation cannot be a direct one-on-one form of communication.
It has no cultural context.
With a one-to-one translation, the nuances within the form of communication would be altered, misleading, or misinterpreted.
Translation needs human input, biases, and all.
INTERVIEW
To coincide with the literary research, the designer performed short interviews.
The general takeaways from the interviews were that stories themselves do not hold significance. It is more the experience of being told the folklore, the connection. In addition, discussion of truth within a narrative. The truth depends on the perspective; from one perspective, the story could be happy; from another perspective, the same story can be sad. Finally, stories can be told so many times that people start believing them and become accepted as the truth.
Particular objects held significance in the folklore were, at times, the physical representation of the story.
The general takeaways from the interviews were that stories themselves do not hold significance. It is more the experience of being told the folklore, the connection. In addition, discussion of truth within a narrative. The truth depends on the perspective; from one perspective, the story could be happy; from another perspective, the same story can be sad. Finally, stories can be told so many times that people start believing them and become accepted as the truth.
Particular objects held significance in the folklore were, at times, the physical representation of the story.
EXPERIMENTS
Whisper Down the Lane, Part 01
Taking folklore with cultural significance but not celebrated, the experiment uses one of the legends behind the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival. The initial step of the investigation was to take a children’s book version of the legend and translate it with my limited language skills. Because my exposure to Vietnamese was mainly through spoken word, I had my father read the book for the first part of the translation, and from that recording, I wrote my English translation.
Though there were parts I did not understand, I understood the general essence of folklore. Though specific details were hazy, I understood the main characters and their actions.
Though there were parts I did not understand, I understood the general essence of folklore. Though specific details were hazy, I understood the main characters and their actions.
EXPERIMENTS
Whisper Down the Lane, Part 02
Whisper Down the Lane, Part 02
I took my English text from the second translation and created a graphic representation. “A picture is worth a thousand words,” and with my written text was only 400 words, I wanted to convey the story in a single image.
The translation from written text form to graphic imagery. The distillation of the story to visual elements and the decisions on graphical representation.
The translation from written text form to graphic imagery. The distillation of the story to visual elements and the decisions on graphical representation.
EXPERIMENTS
Whisper Down the Lane, Part 03
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Whisper Down the Lane, Part 03
In this experiment, the last level of translation was sending the image to previous interviewees to ask what story they think is occurring in the picture and what emotions/memories it provokes.
The main takeaways were accuracy - the essence of the narrative, the setting, the characters, relationship with nature - and connections to existing stories - Adam & Eve, Three Bears, Man on the Moon.
The main takeaways were accuracy - the essence of the narrative, the setting, the characters, relationship with nature - and connections to existing stories - Adam & Eve, Three Bears, Man on the Moon.
EVERY TRANSLATION AFFECTS THE READING OF STORY,
THE CURRENT TRANSLATOR IMBUES THEIR PERSPECTIVE.
DESIGNS/OBJECTS CAN FACILITATE FUTURE TRANSLATIONS.
ADDITIONAL EXPERIMENT
Viewing narratives in Augmented Reality
