Are Languages Synonyms of Each Other?

2009-12-31T11:00:00.230-05:00

Earlier this month Tim Lantz posted a Chinese translation of his poem "Antarctica." This is the latest in a series that also includes translations in German, Korean, Engrish, and Braille.

Jack Clemmits: How did this project start?

Tim Lantz: I'd been living in Seoul for only a few months. Strangely, whenever people spoke to me in Korean, I wanted to respond in German. Weird how the brain hears non-English and wants to reply with non-English even when it's not the correct non-English. I decided to practice my German in a non-German-speaking city.

While writing the German translation, I thought there should be a version in the language of the country I was living in, so I asked my friend Charlene Jo to write one.

J. C.: What was the process? Did you discuss the poem with the translators before they set to work?

T. L.: I just gave a copy of the poem to each without saying anything.

J. C.: Are you at all worried, then, that the translators got something wrong?

T. L.: No. There's this great book called The Fluid Text, by John Bryant, that shows that all versions of a text are valid even if they're different from an earlier version. The distances between versions show a culture navigating with/in the text. In fact, I'm excited by the differences Charlene Jo and Hán Yí have made because they contradict and therefore complicate the poem nicely.

For example, in the English version, the speakers hope for destruction and incontinuity to send their letters out of Antarctica. The "we" do something in the event that something else happens: "We place bottled letters in the ice in case there are ever rivers here." In Hán Yí's version, however, the speakers seem worried that water will take away their characters. The last two lines are a question: "Will water come and destroy our work?"

J. C.: What brought about the Engrish version?

T. L.: I found the Engrish generator by accident while doing research on ESL/EFL teaching. My Korean kindergarten students were definitely using an English, but it was one I couldn't always understand, though I recognized the words and much of the grammar. The students understood each other, however, and looked at me like Hey, this is your language. What I like about the Engrish version is that it almost makes sense but also pushes me out of something I should be familiar with. It also reminds me of those students. Maybe I understand this version only because I know what it's supposed to say (if we can use the phrase supposed to for a minute without laughing). What makes up a language? Are languages synonyms of each other?

J. C.: Do you have any more translations planned?

T. L.: I'm not soliciting any right now, but of course I'd love to see more.

A Tour of Home

2006-08-07T11:14:00.000-04:00

Tim Lantz is moving to Normal, Illinois, tomorrow. His Web site is timlantz.com.

Jack Clemmits: What are you doing in this town?

Tim Lantz: My great-grandfather rarely took showers. He would also wear the same pair of long underwear for months at a time. Eventually the pair would start to disintegrate, so he'd just put on a new pair and let the old continue to disintegrate underneath. He did this for most of his adult life.

J. C.: Where did you attend school?

T. L.: My father always let my brother and me do the skies in his paintings.

J. C.: You speak and write German, correct?

T. L.: After a woman had finished writing a check, she put it in her mouth and held up two fingers toward me. When I started double bagging her groceries, she asked, "How did you know I wanted them double bagged?" Why'd she do all that if she didn't think she'd be understood?

J. C.: So you also translate then?

T. L.: The first time I ever wished I knew sign language was when I walked in on my deaf great-aunt using the bathroom.

One Swallow Does Not Make a Summer

Are Languages Synonyms of Each Other?

A Tour of Home