Brother Durrant's talk wasn't completely isolated, for others were also lost in translation.
I was surprised to hear the entire conference in English, since last October's conference saw the first talks given in native languages from outside of the US. For some, the most simple use of the English language seemed to be a barrier for me as a listener. I feel like the message would have been more clear even by removing me from the speaker with an interpreter. When Elder Viña gave his talk in English, I wasn't bothered as much by his accent, but I did find that his tone seemed condescending and his words harsh. I don't believe this was his intention, but bilinguals will know that sometimes it is just difficult to express yourself clearly in your 2nd language. I really believe that allowing him to express himself in his native language and having a professional worry about the English would have been an advantage for him.
On the other hand, there were a few moments when the English speakers utilized devilries that don't abide well with international audiences. Elder Christofferson quoted Elder Packer's, "idiotsyncrasies," for example. A simple explanation of why this wouldn't work is that the cognate for the word "idiot" in Spanish is a much stronger word and very inappropriate for a #ldsconf setting. A quick fix is to substitute it with an equivalent, maybe "tonto" (dumb). But then you loose the phonetic aspect and the entire play on words. Saying that "dumbysyncracies" just somehow doesn't get the same effect. In the case of "ponderize," the German interpreter decided to forego the smashup of words and used the German word "verinnerlichen," which most closely translates as "internalize." According to my sources, this translation worked fine and sounded beautiful to German speakers, but the sense of one word fulfilling two purposes is still lost to the entire German-speaking, Mormon population.
I noticed that this conference was entirely in English too! To be honest I was kind of disappointed. While in Mexico I really enjoyed listening to native speakers give their talks in Spanish. They often had many aspects that couldn't be accurately portrayed in English, but really resonated with me. The reverse is true also, as you pointed out.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I think 'ponderize' has become a buzz word in the English-speaking part of the church. But I haven't seen near the response from the Spanish-speaking members I know. I thought 'meditarizar' was a great way to translate into Spanish, but maybe making up words doesn't resonate so well with Spanish-speakers.
ReplyDeleteCrossing cultural divides is just plain hard, like you pointed out. It also builds the case for the message of one talk being different in many different languages. Maybe the same general theme will be there, but if words have slightly different meanings or connotations, then over the course of a talk those differences will build up and then you have a different point being driven home.
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