What Does a Poet’s Voiced Performance Contribute to the Process of Translating Poetry?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14456/nvts.2023.4Keywords:
translation, Arabic poetry, acoustic aspects, voiced versionAbstract
This paper investigates what a poet’s voiced performance can contribute to the translation of a poem. I argue that by discussing the acoustic aspects which are inspired by the Tajweed system[1] of teaching non-Arabs how to recite the Holy Qur’an, the poet’s voiced version is found to enable the target reader to experience different layers of feelings. This article provides two illustrations of the Tajweed system and introduces a specially designed colored table for the purpose of analysis of the acoustic content of the poem under investigation. In order to verify the afore-mentioned argument, and in light of relevant translation theory discussed below, I translated Abd al-Rahman al-Abnudi’s Yamna after listening to his voiced version many times. Each time of listening brings about a modification of the first version till I wrote the second version, as referenced by the use of colours and typography corresponding to the Tajweed system. In the second version under appendix B the acoustic aspects, such as rhyme, interjection, intonation and emotions, are illustrated in order to crystallize the illuminating addition the voiced version contributes to the translation. The more the translator listens to the voiced version in the hope of understanding the interstices in a poem, the more fruitful and colorful the target text will be.