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Given the rather large number of Polish Americans, I would think finding people who are fluent in English and Polish wouldn't be all that hard.

scyzoryk_xyz 5y ago
It takes the cultural back-and-forth for that work out, along with a few other factors. Most Polonia (as we call Polish-Americans) are firmly set in the US and usually don’t get higher education in Poland. This means that while they understand the language, they don’t really “get” the temperament and are losing a grip on the culture. I say this from personal experience and upbringing. Polonia also tend to be working-class. As a dilettante/temp Polish/English translator I would also say it really requires a very specific mix of values and circumstances. To pull off a quality translation of a piece of literature one has to put almost as much energy into it as it takes to write to begin with. It’s a huge undertaking, with not that big a payoff and it requires specific values, commitment and education. I’m surprised such people exist, really.
Tade0 5y ago
To add to the sibling comment: I was born abroad myself and I often feel that I lack cultural context. I also have friends and relatives who grew up abroad and while their Polish is perfect in terms of grammar and pronunciation, they use almost no idioms.
p_l 5y ago
The kind of fluency needed to translate doesn't come with memetically bad "Polonia" polish (even if it's a bit of exaggeration). Especially with works that use polish language to its fullest (like Lem) or reference culture and events that are local (infamous example was the first Witcher game, but also Witcher novels - the english translation of the game was much, much weaker content than the polish original which requires familiarity with polish politics 2000-2007). So you need a combo of american poet, fluent polish linguist, and possibly historian and/or anthropologist. Tall order. Sometimes it can be smoothed over by adding considerable appendices (something that accompanied first releases of Harry Potter in Polish, for example, explaining untranslatable puns and reasons for translating things in specific way) but again, not a trivial thing to do.

scyzoryk_xyz 5y ago

It takes the cultural back-and-forth for that work out, along with a few other factors. Most Polonia (as we call Polish-Americans) are firmly set in the US and usually don’t get higher education in Poland. This means that while they understand the language, they don’t really “get” the temperament and are losing a grip on the culture. I say this from personal experience and upbringing. Polonia also tend to be working-class. As a dilettante/temp Polish/English translator I would also say it really requires a very specific mix of values and circumstances. To pull off a quality translation of a piece of literature one has to put almost as much energy into it as it takes to write to begin with. It’s a huge undertaking, with not that big a payoff and it requires specific values, commitment and education. I’m surprised such people exist, really.

Tade0 5y ago

To add to the sibling comment: I was born abroad myself and I often feel that I lack cultural context. I also have friends and relatives who grew up abroad and while their Polish is perfect in terms of grammar and pronunciation, they use almost no idioms.

p_l 5y ago

The kind of fluency needed to translate doesn't come with memetically bad "Polonia" polish (even if it's a bit of exaggeration). Especially with works that use polish language to its fullest (like Lem) or reference culture and events that are local (infamous example was the first Witcher game, but also Witcher novels - the english translation of the game was much, much weaker content than the polish original which requires familiarity with polish politics 2000-2007). So you need a combo of american poet, fluent polish linguist, and possibly historian and/or anthropologist. Tall order. Sometimes it can be smoothed over by adding considerable appendices (something that accompanied first releases of Harry Potter in Polish, for example, explaining untranslatable puns and reasons for translating things in specific way) but again, not a trivial thing to do.