Blog Post 12: Nothing Really Mattress(?): Kafka, Camus, and Importance of Translations

#4:One morning, upon awakening from agitated dreams, Gregor Samsa found himself, in his bed, transformed into a monstrous vermin.


I chose to focus more on translation #4 because I think that it is definitely an interesting translation compared to the rest.  

• First, looking at diction: the words used show more of what the author seems to think.  By using "vermin" instead of "bug" or "insect," the audience can see how Kafka thinks of a bug as a "vermin."  By also using the adjective "monstrous," suddenly the vermin gets big, gross, and scary, which is interesting.
• Syntax and Punctuation: this sentence is almost hard to follow because there are so many pauses that the reader has to take due to the use of commas.
• Structure: The structure of this sentence shows more of a story.  In between the commas it tells us the when, what he was doing, the main event of the sentence, the where, and the effect of the main event.  The translation is also very descriptive, so just with the once sentence, many can know what is going on.

Each translation gives such a different effect that it is amazing that all of those sentences are about the same exact thing, just moved around and slightly different words are used.  The diction, syntax, punctuation, and structure changes what the audience takes away from the passage, and changes the meaning behind underlying opinions.  For me, translation #2 and #3 were very similar, being that they both used the words "bug" at the end.  "Bug" is such a younger term to me (being that we call my 18 month old sister "Bug").  I feel that when translation #1 uses "insect,"Kafka seems a little more disconnected and casual because he is just giving more of a scientific name.  I chose translation #4 because its punctuation, syntax, and structure stood out among the others.  It is a very long sentence with lots of description and pauses.  The others seemed to flow pretty nicely and get the point across swiftly, while translation #4 was more dramatic because it didn't get to the point for a while.
As for which is more effective, I think it depends on whether Kafka was trying to remain detached from his writing, or if he wanted some of his own views in his novels.  I think that #1 did a pretty good job in translating the German into English because it seems like that is how the sentence is supposed to be written.  All of the others sound wrong in some way due to their syntax, structure, etc. Translation #1 is good at being an ordinary sentence, unlike #4.  The sentence sounds casual, as if one could be saying it to a friend.  By using "gigantic" instead of using "monstrous," and by using "insect" instead of "bug" or "vermin," it shows more of a formal tone, said in a casual way.  I know that sounds weird, but he used such formal, scientific words, and then made the sentence casual by the structure and syntax.  
I think that translations are definitely something that is so minor, yet they can change the whole outcome of the book to an audience.