There’s a related phenomenon called Exophony, a term coined by Susan Arndt, Dirk Naguschewski and Robert Stockhammer (afaik). It consists in authors writing in languages other than their mothertongues, which is a very common thing actually. It sometimes involves people with double nationality, native to a country, but descending from another, with foreign parents, e.g..

I know that Fernando Pessoa, a Portuguese writer who also spoke perfect English and French, used to write in English and French in addition to Portuguese and even translate from those languages into his native tongue.

Similar cases are Vladimir Nabokov, originally from Russian, moved to the States and started writing in English more often than in Russian, and Samuel Beckett, who was Irish-French and wrote both in English and in French.

I can’t really tell you about their approaches to the task, but I can talk about myself. Nowadays I write mostly in English and quite rarely I translate some of my texts into Portuguese (mainly scholarly works, but I’m also currently writing a short story). I consider the texts very closely related in terms of semantics although I do have to make adaptations here and there to make the text more meaningful in Portuguese. As for direct citations, for instance, I keep them in the original language and offer footnote translations. I’ve never tried to write them simultaneously nor do I believe that’d result in any advantage, because when I write in English I think in English, and when I write in Portuguese, I think in Portuguese. Writing them together could only lead to confusion I reckon.

There’s a related phenomenon called Exophony, a term coined by Susan Arndt, Dirk Naguschewski and Robert Stockhammer (afaik). It consists in authors writing in languages other than their mothertongues, which is a very common thing actually. It sometimes involves people with double nationality, native to a country, but descending from another, with foreign parents, e.g..

I know that Fernando Pessoa, a Portuguese writer who also spoke perfect English and French, used to write in English and French in addition to Portuguese and even translate from those languages into his native tongue.

Similar cases are Vladimir Nabokov, originally from Russian, moved to the States and started writing in English more often than in Russian, and Samuel Beckett, who was Irish-French and wrote both in English and in French.

I can’t really tell you about their approaches to the task, but I can talk about myself. Nowadays I write mostly in English and quite rarely I translate some of my texts into Portuguese (mainly scholarly works, but I’m also currently writing a short story). I consider the texts very closely related in terms of semantics although I do have to make adaptations here and there to make the text more meaningful in Portuguese. As for direct citations, for instance, I keep them in the original language and offer footnote translations. I’ve never tried to write them simultaneously nor do I believe that’d result in any advantage, because when I write in English I think in English, and when I write in Portuguese, I think in Portuguese. Writing them together could only lead to confusion I reckon.

Michael Uebel , Israel A. C. Noletto Actually for the kind of case I had in mind, the order of acquisition may not matter. The first language can be the language of the first publication. The case I was wondering about concerns a book (say nonfiction, to avoid certain red herrings) published first in Language-X and then, a couple of years later, in an English version. Possibly the author wrote the first book in his first-acquired language or else in the language he was most comfortable or fluent in, but it's also possible that academic politics or marketing issues were at play. Anyway, I was wondering about the thought processes (e.g. translation vs interpretation, cognitive dissonance) involved in producing two versions in different languages and how the two versions might conceivably differ.

Like an author translating his own work you mean? I think it would be more of a re-production than a translation. Rendering the text in another language, especially after a time laps of producing the first version, would open to the author other possibilities of thought since language is like a screen or filter that loosely channels ideas into certain directions. Of course the writer's intention plays a role here, but how many authors would resist the temptation of emerging alternatives offered by code switching and change in one's ideas?

Philadelphia, PA

Dear Pfeifer & readers,

Interesting question; and you already have several interesting replies.

I can easily imagine two alternatives: translation and translational paraphrase. Both could have their uses. This might depend, for instance, on whether a book in language #1 had become an object of elaborate discussion and/or debate. Faithfulness to the original and accuracy of translation would then be more important in providing the same book rendered in language #2. It might seem misleading to readers if a book under translation muddied the waters of on-going discussion and debate by departing from strictures of faithfulness and accuracy to the original publication.

On the other hand, an author might surely take the opportunity of translating a prior work to elaborate or clarify what was written in language #1. One might think of such a project as more an adaptation to readers in language #2 --and to an on-going discussion?

The issues of faithfulness and accuracy take on greater significance, when someone is translating a work written by someone else --where the original text has appeared in language #1 or is available to readers of language #1. No doubt, the process of studying a text rendered in two different languages can be revealing of strengths and weaknesses of the original. But taking note of this will more reasonably appear, say, in a translator's commentary or Introduction. One expects, for instance, translations of "classic" texts to aim for faithfulness and accuracy, so far as possible --given the resources of language #2.

"Translation" is often given greater leeway for departures from an original regarding works of fiction primarily designed for entertainment; and publishers often expect that sort of adaptation to readers of language #2. Partly in consequence, more sophisticated readers, native to language #2 may prefer to read the original though it is not their native language.

H.G. Callaway

Karl Pfeifer

A couple of years ago, I examined a thesis on the textual differences between the Arabic version of Girls of Riyadh, by the Saudi novelist Rajaa Alsanea and its English version. Though it wasn’t strictly a case of auto-translation since there was a co- translator, the many differences between the two versions make one inclined to think that the English text was a rewriting of the novel more than a translation as though the novelist seized the opportunity to modify, add and delete as she chose. I remember the researcher cited many resources on auto- translation and especially in reference to Samuel Beckett’s translations of his own plays, which must be available online.

There is an emerging subfield of translation studies called “self-translation studies,” and there are a lot of studies already done on this topic. Eva Gentes has compiled a bibliography on self-translation.  You'll find a number of projects on self-translation on RG as well.

I myself have published articles on the topic. In my view, self-translation is “rewriting,” ”reworking,” “re-creation,” and “translation of the self.” Please see: e.g.,

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/331638087_Autobiographical_Self-translation_-_Translator_as_the_Author_Narrator_and_Protagonist

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/338715946_Self-translation_as_Translation_of_the_Self_-_Translating_the_Hybrid_Self

Karl Pfeifer Oh yes, from the South Asian context, I could give you the example of Premchand, who wrote in both Urdu and Hindi and was more competent in the former. But when he witnessed the declining literary marketplace, he made a slow, difficult, and painstaking journey to Hindi even though most of his works are available in both the languages.

Please read the introduction and chapter by Prof. M. Asaduddin in the book that I have attached below. And definitely read Prof. Harish Trivedi's chapter to find out how the version in the other language is not just a plain act of translation but as you put it, 'loose interpretation', or creative translation where the themes are determined also by the different cultural contexts that both Hindi and Urdu readers can easily identify with.

Also, please purchase the following: https://www.amazon.in/Complete-Short-Stories-Vol/dp/0143441280/ref=pd_lpo_14_t_0/259-8045829-1673009?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0143441280&pd_rd_r=d192b5f3-ca07-487b-ad5c-3d34cf2e81ec&pd_rd_w=G7Z8X&pd_rd_wg=Yt5jZ&pf_rd_p=5a903e39-3cff-40f0-9a69-33552e242181&pf_rd_r=ZTVZ4XTX6Y00HYAWFH8C&psc=1&refRID=ZTVZ4XTX6Y00HYAWFH8C

Read the introduction and preface by the two scholars mentioned above in order to figure out how the thematic configurations, plot endings, and behavioral or identity-based aspects of characters change at times the moment the story is made available by Premchand in the other language. Hope this helps!!

Shailendra Singh Thank you for your suggestions. As I read your posting, I immediately thought of Rabindranath Tagore, who is a very important figure in self-translation studies.

I do this all the time - mostly in German and English, on a daily basis, though I could also do it, with a little bit of help with grammar and style, in two more languages ... (The most fascination aspect is that one can say things in one language that can't be said in another language.)

Many authors nowadays who translate their books into other languages are not actually portraying bilingualism but rather I think it's a method of branding their products so as to gain a high market standing I however believe an author could be considered as being bilingual if he actually wrote the book and it's translation simultaneously before publication.

Tomoko Takahashi Absolutely! And I see someone mentioned Beckett and Nabokov so I guess we could add Milan Kundera as well to that coveted list!!

Samue Becket did this I think for several works. Google him.

Shailendra Singh and Raymond Cormier Most definitely! Tagore, Becket, and Nabokov are classics in self-translation studies. And, yes, Kundera and Conrad, too. Let's add Nancy Huston as well.

Philadelphia, PA

Dear Takahashi & readers,

Can you say more about Kundera in particular? I was very impressed with his writings and read just about all of them at one go after they appeared in English.

The accuracy and faithfulness of the self-translation seem particularly important for Kundera (though I do not know that he did the English translations). There is a matter of faithfulness and accuracy in his account of the developments within Czechoslovakia of those times. Kundera who left for Paris is easily contrasted with Vaclav Havel who stayed on --ultimately becoming President of the post-communist republic. There are often very serious debates in such contrasts. Having read Kundera, I was fascinated and gratified to read Havel.

One might say that the "unbearable lightness" did not overcome Havel; and of course, he became something of a European political hero. Does self-translation reflect on related issues and questions?

Thanks for your kind attention.

H.G. Callaway

H.G. Callaway There are a good number of studies on Kundera. As an example, I would recommend an article by Aurelia Klimkiewicz in Cordingley, Anthony. Self-Translation: Brokering Originality in Hybrid Culture (Bloomsbury Studies in Translation), which is BTW a great anthology on self-translation. Klimkiewicz wrote: [...] self-translation as a process of bilingual ‘co-enunciation’ makes the vocalization of silent speech even more complex, since the result is the ‘twin work’ produced in two different languages (Harel 153). This mental activity is located in a specific space where ties with the mother tongue are loosened or broken. Such a condition is very often provoked by exile, geographical and linguistic displacement; this was the case with Vladimir Nabokov and Milan Kundera, both of whom escaped the historical chaos in their respective countries. (p. 192)

Kindly check https://www.researchgate.net/publication/324573287_Translation_and_Bilingual_Language_Use_Two_Subtypes_of_Bilingual_Communication

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/322752899_Codes_across_languages_On_the_translation_of_literary_code-switching

I normally read and write in italian and english. English has become for me the second language before for my job and later only for a personal interest in international news and books writing. When i write a book I normally do not translate a text, but I write directly both in Italian and English. I translate only when I write for instance in English but do not remember any more the equivalent in my mother tongue, Italian. This is a very strange phenomenon but it is not rare. It is like my brain was tuned on English and does not remember any more the equivalent word in the language that is supposed to be more familiar to me.

I hope to have made a useful contribution to your discussion.

greetings

Hi everyone, I would say that translation studies can be helped with stylometric analyses, such as collocation and keyword ones. There are also more sophisticated methods that will show how close the original and the translation are to each other (e.g., the MFW analysis). This way, a difference can be measured between a faithful translation and a loose one.

Samuel Beckett-- French and English

George Steiner - French English and Italian. I seem to remember that Scaliger and Lipsius - founders of the university of Leiden - mastered something like ten languages each.

Each language has a 'feeling' all of its own. German is full of martial metaphors (Stellung beziehen, in die Parade fahren, querschiessen, auf verlorenen Posten sich befinden), Dutch full of nautical ones: aan lager wal raken, over een ander boeg gooien, het loopt de spuigaten uit. English full of accretions from a farflung empire. Afrikaans full of animal metaphors. (Don't bite a lion in its tail, jy maak droog ...) I'm sure every language has this, and it's a source of unending fascination, exploring these. Hebrew seems to have the most fascinating ones of all, because of its anciennity. Then of course there's Greek and Latin, India, the Far East. Wish I knew more languages. (Conversely: the monolingually challenged have no idea how impoverished they are ...) Oh, and the idea of a one-to-one translation is a nerdy illusion doing a lot of damage ...

Scaliger?

Thank you. Correction. Much appreciated ...

I haven't any information