Blog 13

The American Dream 

I picture the American Dream as a middle class family with two or three kids living in an average sized home in the suburbs. Both parents have stable office jobs and one drives a mini van. They also have a pet golden retriever and tabby cat. They have family movie and pizza night once a week, and alternate vacations between Disney World and the Bahamas. Essentially, the American Dream is a life of family, stable finances, and fireworks on fourth of July. (they also love to take family photos)

In my opinion wealth is having not only the essentials but a little more. For example, a house with an extra bedroom, a Mercedes rather than a civic, a vacation in Jamaica instead of Wilmington, first class instead of coach, lobster instead of tuna. Wealth is having enough for a little excess here and there, and extreme wealth is having enough for excess in every aspect of your life. 

Americans feel that wealth is norm rather than the exception. We are all living in the pursuit of wealth as if it is easily achievable. This perspective, while optimistic, is also very naive.  Wealth is reserved for only a small percentage of the U.S. population and an even smaller percentage of the world population. Likewise, we view poverty extremely disproportionately. Poverty is viewed as something that doesn't happen here, and when it does, well, that's obviously a unique case with unique circumstances. 

I definitely find myself caught up in the unrealistic mindset that I described above. However, I feel like both poverty and wealth come from a combination of circumstance, opportunity, and luck. While, I think its great to aspire to wealth, I think that you also have to acknowledge that there is a lot more to living a happy and inspired life than having money. 

Blog 12

Original: Als Gregor Samsa eines Morgens aus unruhigen Träumen erwachte, fand er sich in seinem Bett zu einem ungeheuren Ungeziefer verwandelt. 

#1:As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect.

• Diction: the word transformed has stronger meaning than the word changed, transform makes me think of something becoming completely different, the word gigantic is also stronger than the word giant but in my opinion has a connotation of being a word mostly used for exaggeration rather than relaying accurate information 
• Syntax: I think this translation has the best flow using the words as and awoke and found but this also makes it less abrupt and shocking of a statement, it sounds more like a metaphor than a literal description of events
• Imagery/Details: the words transform and gigantic have strong visual meaning 
• Structure: there are no commas so the sentence flows without really emphasizing and particular words

#2:Gregory Samsa woke from uneasy dreams one morning to find himself changed into a giant bug.

• Diction: the words woke, giant, and bug are much shorter and more abrupt than in translation #1, changed is also more subjective because a change can be either small or large 
• Syntax: starting with the characters name emphasizes it more 
• Imagery/Details: giant bug is more subjective than gigantic insect, I feel like the lack of specific details opens it up to interpretation 
• Structure: the lack of commas again in this translation creates a lack of emphasis on any particular word 

#3:When Gregor Samsa awoke from troubled dreams one morning he found he had been transformed in his bed into an enormous bug.

• Diction: troubled has a more negative connotation than uneasy, the word when is also a more definite time than in the last two translations, enormous is stronger than giant (I would picture an enormous beetle much larger than a giant beetle) 
• Syntax: starting with the word when creates emphasis on the time period rather than the character's name 
• Imagery/Details: this translation gives me the strongest imagery because of the word enormous and troubled which are stronger in my opinion than the words used in other translations 
• Structure:still no commas but the structure is very similar to the first translation 

#4:One morning, upon awakening from agitated dreams, Gregor Samsa found himself, in his bed, transformed into a monstrous vermin.

• Diction: the words monstrous and vermin are very different from giant bug, they are much stronger, upon awakening and agitated also create a very different mood 
• Syntax: the order of details makes this translation very striking, it sticks the most with the reader in my opinion 
• Imagery/Details: monstrous vermin makes me picture a rat or mouse rather than an insect, however this is the most detailed translation which I think really draws in the reader, it also brings in the imagery of a bed  
• Structure: there are a lot of commas which breaks apart the thought and emphasizes the time period, the character, the location, and the even that has occurred 

How does the word choice, syntax, punctuation, and imagery shift in each affect meaning? Is one more effective than another? Why? What does this exercise bring up about the difficulty of reading translated texts? How do different translations effect the tone of the sentence? 

As I was going through each translation, I noticed that even the smallest changes in wording and structure made me think differently about the scene that the author was describing. It also made me focus on or not focus on certain details. In my opinion, the effectiveness of each translation depends on what the author is trying to achieve. For example, is it trying to be shocking or abrupt etc. If the author wanted to shock the audience I think the fourth translation is the best, but if the author was trying to be abrupt, I think the second translation is the best.

 This definitely makes me question translated texts. I never really realized how much the smallest changes in punctuation could affect meaning. However, I think overall the text has the same message. For example, I understand from all four translations that Gregor Samsa had bad dreams and then woke up as a large bug, even though this is communicated very differently from each translation. I think the tone was most effected by each translation because the imagery and the message stayed relatively similar but my interpretation of the tone changed a lot from each one. I felt very differently based on the words used in each translation.