Article,
Scaling Untranslatability: Evaluating Poetic Translation from the Reader's Perspective
Translation Watch Quarterly, (2007)
Abstract
This paper attempts to launch a scaling system for the translations of poetry based on readers’ responses. It brings together three problematic and uneasy areas, namely the translation of poetry, translation quality assessment and reader response. The aim is to establish an objective scaling model of the quality of poetic translation(s) that is based on readers' responses. The most recurrent key words in the responses of (25) proficient speakers of English (with multicultural backgrounds) to three different translations of the renowned Iraqi poet Badr Shakir As-Sayyab's 'Song of Rain' are be elicited, catalogued and used to form an evaluative scale.
