Antonio Pau is Spain’s biggest expert in the figure of Hölderlin, the eighteenth-century German poet who reached lyrical greatness in a life full of duress. In a January 2022 conference, Pau quoted Rainer Maria Rilke –I think– as saying that no poetry can be properly translated, not even the bad ones. Things were different with prose, he thought, allowing for lower quality stuff to travel unscathed between languages.
With this in mind –and I am yet to check it–, the other day I think I found a material translation error. In Michael Ignatieff’s Fire and Ashes political memoirs.
I had mistakenly bought a Spanish language version, translated by Francisco Beltrán. In chapter two –Ambition– Ignatieff expresses great admiration for former Liberal Party leader and Canadian ex-Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. And for his message combining a forceful rejection of placating regional nationalist sentiment with a passionate commitment to placing the Québécois people at the center of national life.
What I go out on a limb saying is that the original, English-language book uses the work placating –i.e. making someone less angry or hostile especially by concessions, as in appeasing–. For this makes sense contextually. Trudeau was not for buying peace, and paid the political consequences of his stance, sometimes in the form of enduring aggression in his native French-speaking territory.
The Spanish word orthographically most similar to placate is aplacar. And, indeed, this is the word that I found as I read the translation. However, I believe it was a wrong choice. In Spanish the meaning does not imply concessions. It is closer to denoting confrontation instead.
So, using the work aplacar in the context of its rejection, actually means something very different from not wanting to buy peace by giving Quebecois nationalists part of what they wanted. In fact, it portrays Trudeau’s position as the diametrical opposite: as if he did not want to confront them, letting them be kings in their castle. If I am right, apaciguar would have been a better choice.
All this long intro to write a few lines about a recently deceased friend, Mike Fichardt. Mike, a South African, was a truly exceptional person I met at Singularity University in 2015. Incredibly kind, always willing to help everyone in whatever he could. He was very brave too, unafraid of following his gut in a constant search for fulfilment and meaning. We last met in Cape Town, during the 2019 Christmas holiday, before the Covid-19 pandemic upended the world.
With Mike there were no translation errors. He was so pristine, so good-natured, his humor so wholesome, that nothing about him could ever be interpreted duplicitously or in a bad light. A curious mind with a huge heart, he leaves so many of us filled with grief, but also with contentment for having had the privilege of being some part of his life, albeit a small one. I will miss you dearly, Mike!
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