TAY-TINA'S COLLAB-VLOG

Hey there bloggers! For our very last blog post Christina and I decided that we had to go out with a bang... Vlog style. Enjoy our reflection of senior year and our Top Ten Tips for rising IB Seniors!
Without any further ado, TayTina's Collab-Vlog!
#3peat #3rdtimesthecharm #TayTina #itwascollabtastic

Thanks to our loyal followers who have been with us all this way!

Don't forget to like and subscribe! Comment below your favorite tip or another you'd like to share with the rising IB Seniors!

One Picture is Worth Ten Thousand Words....

I chose to do a Wordless blog post so that is why it is formatted in such a manner, with only snap shots and images to describe my observations.  

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Yikes I'm cheating...using words... (consider this as a translation) but here are brief descriptions of my thoughts in case you are confused with the pictures. 

1- At a first glance, I noticed the old physical appearance of Whitman's book. It appears very used and old.
2- When looking at this entry in his book, I noticed that he uses this to jot his thoughts and notes down. After reading the captions, it explained Whitman's connection to Abe Lincoln, the War, and the White House.
3- The blank page shows how Whitman left a blank page in between his last entry before this one. I don't really understand why he chose to do this.
4- First seeing this snapshot of his writing, it is very unorganized and seems like just scribbles to me. He also references God.
5- When analyzing the pictures, I have concluded Whitman was very intelligent.
6- It is revealed that Whitman is "mind-blowing". His work seems to "blow the minds" of his readers.
7- Additionally, it's revealed that Whitman centers his writing around the idea of realism.
8- In addition to realism, Whitman focuses on Transcendentalism.

Works Consulted 

“Disunion: Inside Walt Whitman’s Notebook.” The New York Times, The New York Times, www.nytimes.com/interactive/projects/documents/walt-whitman-and-abraham-lincoln.

“Google Images.” Google Images, Google, images.google.com/.

Tay-Tina’s Collab-blog part 2

The moment you’ve all been waiting for… another Tay-Tina Collab-blog. You’re welcome.

Thanks to our loyal followers, you keep us going. Xoxo, T & C

#2peat

Some guiding questions we decided to further explore:

1. How would you describe the “American Dream?”

Ahh yes, the American Dream. I would describe the “American Dream” as the 1920s if I were

asked to classify it as a time period. If I were asked in a more general sense, I would say the

American Dream is an ideology in the minds of Americans in which they wish for a more

prosperous future. In the context of the 1920s and The Great Gatsby, this idea of the American

Dream can be seen through the upward social mobility for the American citizens in the book. In

the 1920s, America had just got out of WW1, so there was a huge economic boom. This

allowed people to work hard and move their status economically or socially if desired. The

culture in America revolved around materialistic things because citizens had more money to

spend, which is representative of the social values of materialistic, physical things at this time.

Socially, wealth was highly valued and looked highly upon. The stereotypical ideal of the

American dream consists of white picket fences and a big house with a large family, however

this is not the case for many. As time has gone on there is a new perception of the American

Dream and it is more individually based these days. For example, my personal American Dream

includes my success later in life with a great job and a family, but to others it may be more

nationalistic and literal to America or others may have different personal goals. In relation to

The Great Gatsby, the American Dream relates to the riches and personal affairs that the rich

had. The parties and tangible objects that the people of the 1920s desired were what they

saw as the American Dream.

2. What is your definition of wealth?

My definition of wealth is more so success based rather than materialistic like literal paper

money wealth. I view wealth more like how successful you are, rather than how wealthy you

are. When I hear the word “wealth”, yes, I think of money, but it also makes me think of

happiness. You can have a wealth of happiness and be extremely happy without an abundance

of physical things like money. :) When thinking of wealth in regards to The Great Gatsby, money

seems to be a central motivating factor in the characters’ relationships, motivations, and overall

outcomes. So in contrast to my definition of wealth, I believe that wealth is more so money

related when applied in the context of The Great Gatsby, rather than success obtained. When I

first hear the word “wealth” I think about physical money and riches that one has, but this is not

the only meaning. Although this is the case that the word is most commonly used in, wealth

may also measure intangible accomplishments. As Taylor said above, these accomplishments

may include happiness or success. In the 1920s and in The Great Gatsby “wealth” was mainly

perceived as tangible money wealth. The social classes were such a huge factor in the lives of

those in the 20s that when they discussed wealth they meant money and tangible items, not

success or happiness. They measured their success through their money and the amount of

items they owned, not their personal accomplishments.

3. What are Americans’ attitudes toward wealth and poverty?

This is a very broad generalization, but, in my opinion, most Americans’ attitudes towards wealth

and poverty is based on power and social status. When one has a higher level of power in

society or a higher status socially/economically, they tend to have more wealth. But those who

have lower amounts of power or are in a lower social class, they are more likely to be less wealthy

and live in poverty. That being said, Americans attitude towards wealth and poverty is dependent

on their status because wealth and poverty can be seen as a way to measures success.

Unfortunately, many Americans are very negative when it comes to perceptions about the poor

and the wealthy. Especially in the 1920s, when The Great Gatsby was written, the division of social

classes was very important in many people’s lives. The wealthy only wanted to be associated with

the wealthy and the poor were servants or not invited to prestigious events. There was quite a

facade over the social classes because the wealthy gave off the impression that all was well and

happy within their group, but mostly they were attempting to keep up appearances and maintain

their status. Today, many people still look down on those who are in poverty or even those who

are not as wealthy as others. Although the social classes are not as outwardly divided as in the

1920s when there were parties and great negligence between the classes, there are still

boundaries put up between people.

4. What is your attitude toward wealth and poverty?

My attitude towards wealth and poverty is very complicated. I believe that it is very difficult for

someone who was born into poverty to get out due to how they grew up, where they live, and what has

happened in their life. However, I am a firm believer in working hard to become successful, so I do not

like when people think that they have no chance of getting out of a bad situation. This also applies to

those who are physically wealthy because I think that just because someone is very fortunate does not

mean that they should not also work hard to get what they have. I believe that if we were in the 1920s

there would be many people with similar views and beliefs as me but to a more extreme extent.

Throughout the 20s people were not accepting to those who were of a lower class. Additionally, in the

1920s social status had much to do with the ability to rise up in economic class as well, it was very

difficult to move up especially in one was born into their class. Finally, I believe that people should be

humble about their wealth especially around those who do not have much. Personally, one of my

pet-peeves is when people talk about how they are more wealthy than others. This was very apparent

in The Great Gatsby because the wealthy put on huge parties to showcase that they had greater riches

than those around them. RB!!! (re-blog… like retweet… ok I’ll stop now) My personal attitude towards

wealth and poverty is quite similar to Christina’s. I think that most people strive to achieve wealth rather

than poverty. More people want to be wealthy because in society I feel that having wealth is looked at

as a great thing and our culture in America really values wealth. On the other hand, poverty is not

typically what people chose to live in. Like Christina said, I think that it can be very hard to move up

from what class you are born into. More specifically, if you are born into poverty it takes a lot of hard

work and the right mindset to increase your wealth in regards to money. When relating this idea of

changing social classes to The Great Gatsby, there were two groups of wealthy people. There were

the “New Rich” and the “Old Rich”. In the book, the New Rich are the people who are suddenly gaining

wealth due to the 1920s post war economic boom and the Old Rich are the people who were wealthy

prior to and throughout the war. The Old Rich who had wealth before the New Rich were not as

accepting of the people with the newly acquired wealth because they were becoming like them and

moving to their level socially.

Don’t forget to like and subscribe ;) Comment how you would describe your American Dream and

maybe we’ll do more collab-blogs for our fans...

Works Consulted

Fitzgerald, F.Scott. The Great Gatsby. Penguin Books, 1950.

IOC post

freebie :)

Tay-Tina's collab-blog

As you read the following blog post, you should know Taylor and Christina grinded out extremely hard together and created a true work of art.

Translations:

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

When observing this translation, I notice the difference in diction of the word, “uneasy” as opposed to in #2 for example when the dreams are described as “troubled” or #4 with the word “agitated”. These differences may seem insignificant at a first glance, but when deeply analyzing them, it changes the way the reader perceives the dreams. After glancing at the other translations, I have discovered that this one in particular has the shortest syntax of all of them. This keeps it short and to the point, with diction that is easy to read and maintains the reader’s attention. Not only is the sentence short, the individual words chosen are short and simple, despite the possibility of using longer, more advanced synonyms. However, due to this short sentence structure and diction, there was a lack of details that would have provided imagery to the audience.
#2:When Gregor Samsa awoke from troubled dreams one morning he found he had been transformed in his bed into an enormous bug.

The word choice of the word “troubled” allows the reader to envision the extent of how hard the dream may have been for Gregor to handle. This also allows for the assumption that he awoke from the dream due to the degree of troubleness. In addition, the imagery in this translation seems to be apparent because this translator describes the bug with details words such as “enormous”. This forms a good image in my mind of what the bug’s size is. After reading other translations, I have concluded that imagery is a tactic used frequently, but in different ways. This is interesting because when translating something, you can choose how you want to describe something or someone.

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

The word uneasy gives off the connotation of churning and unsettledness, similar to that of an uneasy stomach, giving a visual that the audience can relate to. On top of this visual, it is also more descriptive when it comes to the word “insect” due to this narrowing down the type of bug that Gregor turned into, which gives the audience another visual to help them understand the sentence better. The structure in this translation seems to be of some significance because the translator chose to structure this sentence so that commas and other forms of punctuation were not necessary. I feel like this does not fully embody the original translation since the original has a comma in the middle, breaking the sentence up.
#4:One morning, upon awakening from agitated dreams, Gregor Samsa found himself, in his bed, transformed into a monstrous vermin.

This translation is interesting because this translator chose to use a different type of syntax. In this translation, the sentence is longer and thus has been broken up more with the use of commas. Longer syntax can make me conclude that this translation was probably concerned with having things be “lost in translation” so they included as many words or parts of the original as possible. The use of “a monstrous vermin” gives off a different message than the other translations because the others discuss Gregor as turning into a bug or insect, where this one talks about a vermin which is a vague description of a small yet harmful mammal.
Original: Als Gregor Samsa eines Morgens aus unruhigen Träumen erwachte, fand er sich in seinem Bett zu einem ungeheuren Ungeziefer verwandelt.
This diction used in the original is not something I can read soo yeah…

I don’t even know what language this is.

Our well developed responses:

How does the word choice, syntax, punctuation, and imagery shift in each affect meaning? Is one more effective than another? Why?

Overall, word use is very important in these translations because each translator got the same generic message across, but chose different words to do so. I think it is interesting the different words that have been used to represent the same thing. For example, the translations had different words to describe the dreams and bugs. Some have positive connotative meanings and others are more negative connotative meanings. To be specific, the use of “a monstrous vermin” provides a much more negative and scarier connotative meaning than “giant bug” which seems more light hearted in comparison. In regards to the descriptions of dreams, the words “uneasy” makes the reader perceive one thing, while “troubled” or “agitated” may spark a different thing within the reader when describing a dream. Personally, the use of the word “agitated” would make it seem like the dream was abruptly stopped almost as if it was a nightmare. While on the other hand, the use of the word “uneasy” makes me associate the dream with an uneasy and queasy stomach. The shifts in imagery from one translation to another was subtle, but did make a difference in the meanings. Translation #3 was more effective than that of the others due to the use of the words “uneasy” and “insect”. These words may seem like they do not have much imagery behind them, but within the sentence as a whole and in comparison to the other sentences these two simple words allow for the audience to better see and understand the situation. The syntax of each sentence was very similar in the ways that they were all about the same length and none of them had longer length words than the others, but there were slight shifts in descriptive words from one to the next. These subtle changes allowed for more imagery and a lack of ambiguity of what the author wanted to portray.

What does this exercise bring up about the difficulty of reading translated texts?

The difficulties with reading different translations of texts includes that not all translations turn out to have the same meaning and the same wording. This lack of similarities may cause for misinterpretations of the original text. For example, while reading the translations above it is interesting how subtle changes from one to another can change the interpretation of the meanings of the sentences. Although translated texts are necessary to reach a wider variety of audiences, they may cause for issues when comparing the original to the translations depending on how closely to the original meaning it was translated to. I think that this exercise definitely shows just how different translations can be when stemming from the same original text. It also displays how differently the same thing can be interpreted. These different translations provide the same general thing, but in the eyes of the original writer, it may be completely off of the message originally meant to be given. From personal experience, I think I can attest to the difficulty of reading translated texts because when taking a foreign language, things do not have the same meaning when translated. So you cannot just translate something word for word, you have to read a sentence and get its overall message and then translate it. I guess when using my method of translation, it can pose some difficulties since some words may not have an exact match in a different language. So the person translating has to make decisions as to which word best represents whichever word lacks an exact match in that language.

How do different translations affect the tone of the sentence?

When things have been translated they can entirely change the tone of the sentence. I feel like it is really hard to translate fiction because not only do you have to understand the text in the original language, but also an additional language. In addition, fiction is not something with direct sentence structure like in non-fiction. So the translator has more freedom in that they can choose how to construct a sentence and structure the entirety of the text. I think that with  fiction being translated like the novella we’re reading The Stranger the tone of sentences can easily be changed or altered significantly from the original unintentionally. Personally, when I was reading the book I didn’t realize it was a translation until I was about a fourth of the way through. I began to notice that the sentence structure and some of the things said were strange and not very typical of things I would normally hear, so I put it together that it wasn’t originally written in english. The tone of sentences drastically changes with a translation due to not only the words that are used, but the cultures in which they are originally written. Continuing to use The Stranger as an example, this novella was originally written in French in France, which has a different culture leading to a different way of speaking and writing. The tones that we as English readers may gain from the sentences may be different than the original tones that were meant to be displayed by Albert Camus. I think that the overall tone of the story is changed more drastically than that of individual sentences, however. Although there may be slight changes in tone of the individual sentences (for example the ones above), translation is more impactful on whole paragraphs or even the text as a whole when it comes to tone because not every sentence has a change in tone when it is translated to another language, but generally the overall message and tone is slightly different.

If you liked our post don’t forget to like and subscribe ;) comment your favorite translation and maybe we’ll do more collab-blogs for our fans ….

Works Consulted

Camus, Albert, et al. The Stranger: Albert Camus. Spark Pub., 2002.