The Beit Berl English Times 5th Issue 2013 - 2014
The Faculty of Education
English Department
Key Issues in the Translation of intimacy: The Catcher in the Rye as a Case in
Point
Instructor: Omri Asscher
Harel Ben-Sheffer
For an adequate translation, it is not enough to know the words and idioms of the
source and target languages. The translator needs to take into account and consider
various other factors. This is clearly demonstrated with regard to the translation of
Salinger's special, intimate writing style in The Catcher in the Rye.
Salinger's use of colloquial language in this novel and its unique features pose several
challenges for translation, such as: the slang, the generous use of curses, the repetition
of discourse markers and the somewhat incoherent sentences at times.
To be able to arise to these challenges, the translator has to be familiar with the social
and cultural background of the novel. Deep knowledge of the target language culture is
critical, as well as mastery of the target language. In the following, I will discuss the
challenges involved in transferring The Catcher in the Rye from mid-1950's American
colloquialism to today's Hebrew.
Salinger employs several techniques to create intimacy: The register of a 16 years old
boy, not only in dialogue, but also when narrating the story; incoherent sentence
structure at times - Holden digresses a lot; frequent repetition of words and expressions,
which is usually common in spoken language, but less so in writing; Slang, colloquialism
and cursing – quite a lot of that; empty discourse markers, and of-course, narration in
first person, addressing the reader in an unmediated way. All of these features are
repeatedly thrown in, creating a sense of listening to a 16 years old boy who is saying
out loud what he actually thinks. Holden does not seem to try to hold back anything, or
to moderate his language in any way.
To best illustrate some of the points, let us start by looking at a typical Holden remark:
"It took me about an hour to just get her godamm brassiere off. By the time I did get it
off, she was about ready to spit in my eye." Here we have an example of a curse, one
which repeats itself more than a few times in the novel, and an example of an idiom.
Both represent challenges that the translator faces: should I translate the curse “as is”?
The Beit Berl English Times 5th Issue 2013 - 2014
The Faculty of Education
English Department
YES, it is faithful to the source; NO, it will not have the same effect the original curse
had at the time. Do I want it to have the same effect? If so, then I might use curses from
nowadays speech, for instance; however, these may not match the gist of the book, or
the narration, or discourse. Regarding the idiom presented, in Hebrew it is slightly
different. Again – should I translate it word for word? Will it have the same meaning?
Will the reader be able to tell what’s going on if I change it, or would he understand
better if I keep it as is?
Another example is: "Anyway, while I was putting on another clean shirt, I sort of figured
this was my big chance, in a way." When translating the novel, the translator has to
make several fundamental decisions, like whether to stay absolutely faithful to the
original style, and how that would affect the reading experience of the translation;
whether the target language has the idioms and discourse markers similar to the source
language; whether to attempt to duplicate the register employed in the novel’s narration,
or maybe to adjust it to current times.
In the example above, the words "anyway, sort of, in a way" are “empty in meaning”
discourse markers, which make up this 16 years old speech. The main problem here is
to decide whether to keep this mode of speech, change it a bit to fit today’s speech, or
disregard it completely.
We have to take into account not only the accuracy of the translation – the attempt to
pass on to the reader the meaning and experience which we want to be as close as
possible to the original text – but also how the sentence sounds in the target language,
Hebrew in this case. So we might seriously consider dropping off a marker if it sounds
forced or wrong in the L2.
To sum up, a few points has to be taken into consideration. It is important that the
translator knows that saying "goddamn“ (or “bastard” as in “sweating like a bastard”)
was more frowned upon in 1950s America than it is today, so that he can make an
informed decision when translating to Hebrew. It is important to know that the lack of
eloquence is crucial for Salinger in creating that intimacy between the reader and
Holden's character - that is, the translator shouldn't "fix" Holden's sentences and make
them neat and well-organized, etc. The translator needs to have a solid intuition with
regard to what part of the population understands what "be-ramot" or "ptzatzot la-gabot"
means; and, on the other hand, if "bechayay" sounds archaic or not. Without this
knowledge, he wouldn't be able to make an informed decision. In order to represent
substandard language, the translator has to know what counts as standard and what
The Beit Berl English Times 5th Issue 2013 - 2014
The Faculty of Education
English Department
counts as substandard. He needs to know that "ani yagid" in the future tense is
substandard, in order to start debating - should he use it or not.
The above examples serve to demonstrate some of the challenges a translator has to
take into consideration throughout the translation process. I illustrated them by using
Salinger’s intimate and unmediated style, as a case in point.