> The ideal is to write what the original author would have written, if they were writing fluently in the target language. [...] If a pun doesn't work in the target language, a fluent writer would have used a different pun, but how do you know which?
Umberto Eco, in Mouse Or Rat?[1], describes two different approaches to translation, (I'm paraphrasing here) source vs. target. Your example is a good one, but it actually only touches on grammatical differences. There are cultural differences too.
For example, if I'm translating a cricket (the sport)-themed story from Australian English into Japanese, do I retain the cricket references, and have the meaning be unintelligible to Japanese readers with no knowledge of cricket? This is what Eco refers to as source translation, which is closer to a literal translation.
Or I could change the cricket references to baseball, which is more appropriate in a Japanese context, and Eco refers to as target translation. The purpose here is to convey the feeling, more than remaining true to the literal meaning of the original text.
Umberto Eco, in Mouse Or Rat?[1], describes two different approaches to translation, (I'm paraphrasing here) source vs. target. Your example is a good one, but it actually only touches on grammatical differences. There are cultural differences too.
For example, if I'm translating a cricket (the sport)-themed story from Australian English into Japanese, do I retain the cricket references, and have the meaning be unintelligible to Japanese readers with no knowledge of cricket? This is what Eco refers to as source translation, which is closer to a literal translation.
Or I could change the cricket references to baseball, which is more appropriate in a Japanese context, and Eco refers to as target translation. The purpose here is to convey the feeling, more than remaining true to the literal meaning of the original text.
[1]: http://books.google.com.au/books/about/Mouse_Or_Rat.html?id=...