Poetry Question

[raminio05]

I was wondering if any of you guys know anything about the translation of poems from farsi to other Languages. I have a edition of Rubaiyat khayyam that is accompanied by a french and an english translation along with the original farsi text.

The problem is, neither the french translation nor the english one match the original poem, and whats even wierder is that the french translation doesn't match the english one either.

I thought that this was because it would lose its poetic value if it was translated directly, but i did a quick comparison, and even the general ideas don't match. I'm very confused right now on how they actually go about translating these poems.

Any ideas?

 

[Payandeh Iran]

When it comes to Khayyam I heard Fitzgerald's translation is the best. Try these two links:

http://www.therubaiyat.com/fitzgerald.htm

http://www.okonlife.com/poems/page1.htm

 

[masoudA]

I have yet to come across ANY non Iranians who could understand poetry of Iranian Erfanists such as Molana, Hafez, Saadi,....... Heck I have come across very few Iranians who get it !!!
Poetry of Khayam is a bit easier to undesrtand - hence there has been attempts by non-Iranians to translate it - however, they have generaly done a very poor job for two reasons:
1- they did not get the tashbihs. Tashbih is when for examplay earth is called Charkh in Khayam poems,......
2- They could not find the equal words in the other language. For example how do you translate the famous Hafez poem:

Dare meykhaneh bebastand Khodaya mapasand,
Keh dare khaneh Tazvir o Ria bogshayand.

You see - before anyone tries to understand and translate thsi poem they must know the history of the Hafez era. Hafez lived in an era when something like an Islamic Revolution happend in Shiraz - an ISlamist king (I think his name was Shah Shoja) took the throne and his first order was to close all meykhaneh (bars). Of-course Islamists took all governmental positions and started doing some of the similar stuff akhoonds are doing today. As you can tell - the general population of Iran related akhoonds to "Tazvir & Ria" even at the time of Hafez, some 7 centuries ago.

 

[raminio05]

When it comes to Khayyam I heard Fitzgerald's translation is the best. Try these two links:

http://www.therubaiyat.com/fitzgerald.htm

http://www.okonlife.com/poems/page1.htm

nope, i have read this one too.
if you have the Rubaiyat at home, take a look and compare it to the Fitzgerald translation and you'll see what i mean.

the translation is entirely a different poem.

I have yet to come across ANY non Iranians who could understand poetry of Iranian Erfanists such as Molana, Hafez, Saadi,....... Heck I have come across very few Iranians who get it !!!
Poetry of Khayam is a bit easier to undesrtand - hence there has been attempts by non-Iranians to translate it - however, they have generaly done a very poor job for two reasons:
1- they did not get the tashbihs. Tashbih is when for examplay earth is called Charkh in Khayam poems,......
2- They could not find the equal words in the other language. For example how do you translate the famous Hafez poem:

Dare meykhaneh bebastand Khodaya mapasand,
Keh dare khaneh Tazvir o Ria bogshayand.

You see - before anyone tries to understand and translate thsi poem they must know the history of the Hafez era. Hafez lived in an era when something like an Islamic Revolution happend in Shiraz - an ISlamist king (I think his name was Shah Shoja) took the throne and his first order was to close all meykhaneh (bars). Of-course Islamists took all governmental positions and started doing some of the similar stuff akhoonds are doing today. As you can tell - the general population of Iran related akhoonds to "Tazvir & Ria" even at the time of Hafez, some 7 centuries ago.

Thanks for all of the info Masoud Jaan,

I don't think that the discrepency has anything to do with the hidden meanings in words. Like i told PI, the poems don't match at all. It seems as if the translator has decided to write a new poem entirely.

If you get a chance, check out the links that PI provided and compare it to the poem in farsi and you'll see what i mean.

 

[Iranian]

"A translation is like a woman; either faithful or beautiful !"

French proverb

 

[raminio05]

lol

 

[mashtnaghi]

Best translations come from bilingual poets. We have a few around. I have also come to like the work of Niloufar Talebi and The Translation Project: http://www.thetranslationproject.org/the-project/
The presentations are artistic which adds an edge. They are in San Fran and so are you, if I am not mistaken.