Ideology and Patterns in Translation Error

Eutopia - A Lay Journal of Catholic Thought ^ | May/June 1999 | William J. Sullivan

[Maximilian]

Here is a very interesting article on the vernacular translation of the New Mass that was first presented at a secular linguistics conference. He analyzes scientifically the implications of the massive number of errors, although sometimes he does interject a bit of editorial or theological commentary.

Very interesting that according to the author's analysis, the Polish vernacular has no corresponding translation errors, unlike the over 100 translation errors that he found in an analysis of just 30% of the English version. Perhaps the pope just has no clue what the New Mass is like in other countries if he is judging by the standard of Poland.

[Judith Anne]

Very good article, thank you for posting it.

[SergiusAthanasius]

Traditional (Tridentine) Catholics have known of these astounding and quite heretical errors for many years. The unbelievers are incharge. Pope John Paul II will not reform the Mass significantly. Neither will the next Pope I am afraid. I was baptized in 1961 when the Church still held to sound doctrine and a Holy Mass. I will never attend another Mass other than the Tridentine Mass other than for weddings, funerals, and baptisims, out of respect for the participants. The New Mass (Novus Ordo Missa of Paul VI) is a fraud.

[polemikos]

Q. E. D. indeed, and sadly so.

[saradippity]

I think it likely that the Pope familiar with the translation (that he probably was instrumental in accomplishing) has little idea of how far some have strayed.

There are times when I think our Pope may be too holy and good for the greater good of the Church.

As I get older and wiser I recognize that people who don't steal find it far harder to believe that someone they know does. Whereas a thief is far more likely to believe everyone does.Perhaps the Pope doesn't lie?It takes a lot more observing to spot who is lying coming from that place.Maybe that's why changes are slow in coming.

[dsc]

"Pope John Paul II will not reform the Mass significantly."

Well, the Vatican did reject the previous translation by the ICEL, and their present effort is said to be much better--translating "ut cum spiritum tuum" as "And with your spirit," etc.

My working hypothesis is that things were much worse than even the pessimists thought, and the Holy Father things fixing things very gradually is better than plunging the Church into a crisis such as now afflicts the Anglicans.

[livius]

Excellent article. I am a translator, and when I translate documents, much depends on the type of document. Translating a set of colloquial e-mails between business coworkers requires a freer hand and more "functional equivalence" than translating a contract or a legal opinion, for example.

One thing that has always been apparent to me in the English translation of the Novus Order is that the translators had no respect for the original as being one of those texts for which utter fidelity is required. They basically regarded themselves as being in charge of the text, free to shape it in any way they wanted - something that goes beyond "functional equivalence" and all the way into paraphrase and - dare I say it - intentional manipulation of the text.

[ninenot]

This is not news, but it IS timely-presented.

The English is now being reworked, extensively. The termites of ICEL have been bludgeoned (although not executed, which would have been proper and fitting.)

You will shortly hear/see a new translation which ACTUALLY reflects the Latin in the Ordinary of the Mass.

And a few years later, you will see/hear a translation which ACTUALLY reflects the Latin in the Orations and the Lectionary.

Of course, nobody will precisely identify the reason for 30+ years of slop, theologoumenon, and "PC,"--because naming people like Rembert Weakland, longtime chair of BCL, would be impolitic.

[Piers-the-Ploughman]

You may have already seen it but The Wanderer has a weekly column devoted to "What does the Prayer Really Say". Each week, the author contrasts the Latin to ICEL to a more traditional translation.

Part of this may be difference of opinion, but the Collect translations of ICEL IMHO are in particular very disappointing when compared to the original Latin.

Our faith in part is being formed by our liturgical experience; the language should be particularly edifying and uplifting as opposed to being put to lowest common denominator. the ICEL translations for me are like writing thank you notes and prayer requests to God on scratch paper when He knows full well we've got perfumed and embossed stationary we don't want to use even though it's right at hand.

[ultima ratio]

Fine analysis--as far as it goes. But this is merely about a part of the problem. It does not analyze the problems of the Latin original--which are at least as egregious. Nor does it deal with the rubrics instituted by American bishops to deliberately undermine the belief of Catholics. The intention of the American liturgists and hierarchy is clear--to blur the line of distinction between Catholic and Protestant and to hide the dogmas of the Catholic faith to further this amalgamation. Is it any wonder traditional Catholics prefer the Mass celebrated by the SSPX to this abomination?

As for the Pope--who can doubt he is part of the problem? He has known about all this for decades, just as traditionalist Catholics have known. If he hasn't, he has been seriously derelict. But this would be hard to believe. Traditionalists have written and complained for decades, all to no avail. His response has been uniformly ineffectual--he has for the most part caved-in to these outrages--and compounded them by his own indifference to liturgical abuses at papal Masses. It is a little late in his pontificate to start looking at these things with a more jaundiced eye as he now appears to be doing.

[Maximilian]

You may have already seen it but The Wanderer has a weekly column devoted to "What does the Prayer Really Say". Each week, the author contrasts the Latin to ICEL to a more traditional translation.

Excellent point. The article posted above is examining only a small part of the "ordinary," the part that is the same for every Mass. But the "propers," the prayers that are different each day, are even worse than the ordinary. As The Wanderer has amply demonstrated, there is usually only a vague relationship, if any at all, between the original Latin and the English translation. And let's remember that both are the New Mass. We are not even speaking of comparing it with the prayers of the traditional Latin Mass.

[Maximilian]

It is a little late in his pontificate to start looking at these things with a more jaundiced eye as he now appears to be doing.

Better late than never. Better a death-bed conversion than an eternity in Hell.

[sobieski]

I am not a translator, but I do know that "Credo" is not "We believe". That's enough to tell me about the rest.

[SergiusAthanasius]

I do not consider it (the Novus Ordo) a part of the religion that I was baptized into. I don't attend the Novus Ordo because it is meaningless to me.

[Cicero]

I don't think there's much doubt that the ICEL had an agenda. For instance, they assiduously avoid the word "spirit." The most familiar instance is translating "Et cum spirito tuo" as "And also with you." It's as if they want people to forget that human beings have souls.

I don't think any of the mistranslations are so bad that they risk invalidating the liturgy. The one exception, which comes perilously close, is the translation of "et pro multis effundetur" as Christ's blood "poured out for all." Some Catholic traditionalists argue that that invalidates the words of consecration. I don't think so, or the Pope would have corrected it long since, but it's certainly a very risky and peculiar mistranslation.

In almost every instance the result of these mistranslations is to make the liturgy more banal, pedestrian, and emptied out of a sense of the sacred. For that reason there's not much doubt in my mind that there was a malicious purpose on the part of at least some of the translators.

[Guelph4ever]

Then why bother at all?-seriously

From what I know about the Latin Mass, I would infinitely prefer that it was still the rule rather than the exception. Hell, I'm pretty much up there with Kaiser Franz saying "no innovations of any kind"-period. If it were up to me nothing would ever change.

However, I am at least 100 miles from the nearest Latin Mass, Tridentine or otherwise (having only been around post-V2 I'm not up on that). For me to believe what you believe would be to cease being a Catholic almost as soon as I started.

If the new Mass is heretical, then the Church would be commanding people to commit heresy, the Pope, the Vicar of Christ, would be a heretic, that would mean the Holy Spirit did not guard the election process, it would mean all of the saints created and clergy ordained are invalid, that error has crept into the very fabric of the Church and that the gates of Hell have indeed prevailed against the word of Christ, against His very body. As much as I prefer the style and reverence of the Tridentine Mass, I cannot believe that.

The Church has made many, many mistakes over 2,000 years, but never has it commanded people, and Mass is an obligation, on pain of their eternal soul to engage in heretical activities. If I thought that, the whole idea of the Church's special protection, the authority of the heirarchy, apastolic succession, and the very words of Christ, would all come crashing down.

Although he's too far above my pay grade to judge, I happen to believe John Paul II is a good man, who is doing his best and who has to deal with problems and responsibilities that none of us can scarcely imagine. He was validly elected, he is the Vicar of Christ, and as many early Churchmen before Boniface VIII wrote, I do believe it is essential for salvation that we be subject to him. There have been much, much worse men than John Paul II who gained the Throne of St Peter, and the Holy Spirit always protected them from teaching error, from Vigilius to Alexander VI--none ever commanded the faithful to do something that would condemn them.

I came into the Church because I knew, in my heart, that I would be doomed if I did not. Yet, if you are correct, it would seem my situation has not improved--cause to lapse...

[Dajjal]

Quomodo reddatur, tamen esse Novus Ordo remanet.