I had often believed that when important articles, vital reports, flowery speeches and political rhetoric were translated from one language into another, they would evoke similar images, promote similar feelings and have the same impact on a multinational audience.
For years I boasted about my ability to comprehend the words and expressions with which political analysts and international reporters influence their audience, sales persons lure customers into buying goods they do not need, bureaucrats complicate matters, skilful journalists inform or misinform their readers, spin doctors push thorny issues and complex problems under thick carpets, managers cover a mess that grows under their much praised “supervision”, directors conceal a corruption that blossoms under their “wise leadership”, charlatans lead the gullible to believe the unbelievable and influential leaders promote nationalism, mobilize mobs, rally public opinion behind them, or in support of a worthwhile or a worthless cause.
For years I was pleased with my ability to understand, speak, read and write the language of Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Mark Twain and Nathaniel Hawthorne. I had wrongly thought that my fluency in English and my mastery of my mother tongue would allow me to translate words and expressions from English into Arabic, and vice versa, without sacrificing the original meaning. I was sure that my multicultural, multiethnic dictionaries would come to my rescue whenever I felt lost for words or lost in words.
You can imagine my disappointment when I discovered all on a sudden that the language of Shakespeare I had spent a good part of my life learning has undergone a process of metamorphosis and that a number of words I learned in English schools and used in English-speaking countries have acquired new meanings, or have shades of meanings unknown to me. You will appreciate my embarrassment when I realized that part of my English vocabulary has grown “archaic” and that I am probably no better than a foreign student in an intermediate English language class, who translates “far from sight, far from mind” as “an invisible idiot”
Last week a dear friend of mine asked if I could help her decipher an important circular in English, signed by her boss. Although I could understand each and every word, I could not make head or tail of the strict instructions embedded in twenty lines. With great difficulty and much deep thought I managed to decipher the last sentence, which contained a serious warning. I immediately informed my disturbed friend that a failure to follow her boss’ “instructions” would land her in deep trouble and might pave the way for her dismissal.
Alas! Words and expressions are as unreliable, unpredictable and as difficult to explain and understand as Homo sapiens. They have a deceptive nature and a face that alters with time. They could mean one thing today and another tomorrow. They can promote harmony, build friendships and heal psychological wounds. They can threaten, deceive, create confusion, ruin trust, tell lies, complicate issues, promote discord and give rise to conflicts and wars. The same words and the same expressions will convey one message to one person and a different one to another, depending on the time and place where they are used and the people who use them.
For instance, “ladyfinger” will get you a vegetable in Britain and a dessert in USA and if you are invited to a meal at an American friend’s home and you enjoy the delicious dishes his better half prepares for your delicate palate, your friend would not be flattered if you tell him, “ You have a homely wife”. If the tasty meal is consumed at a British friend’s, you will be thanked and considered an obliging gentleman for using the self-same words.
If simple words have more than one meaning and simple expressions can be understood in a variety of ways, is it wise to assume that different societies interpret complex terms in the same way? Can terms such as “independence” and “human rights” evoke similar emotions and create identical images in different hearts and different minds? Can the word “freedom” promote feelings of security and stability and create a positive social and political climate whenever, wherever and by whoever it is used? Is it “democratic”, morally just and linguistically correct to insist on one single definition for the term democracy: “a one-size garment made in the West to fit peoples everywhere, regardless of cultural background and religious belief”?
