Poetry Translating as Expert Action Processes, priorities and networks

Chapter 6. Translating rhyme and rhythm 

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Draft 1 Draft 2 Draft 3

Average macro-sequence length (tape-units)

Francis

"toen wij"

Francis

"Krik

Figure 50. Average macro-sequence length per draft: Toen wij vs. Krik

With Toen wij, I spent significantly more time on Line 1 than on other Lines

(Figure 38: p. 246). With Krik, however, no single Line presented unique chal-

lenges or dominated translating time^6. This reflects how, of the two highly chal-

lenging types of poetry translation problem identified in these chapters, reacti-

vated idioms (as in Toen wij) tend to be local, whereas fixed rhyme and rhythm (as

presented in Krik) are distributed across the whole poem.

6.3.5 Micro-sequences, foci and creativity

6.3.5.1 Comparing profiles

Average strategic micro-sequence length, at about 1m, does not differ significantly

between the two poems^7. Hence managing detailed translation processes also ap-

pears unaffected by poem type.

Figure 51 shows the relative time spent on the various micro-sequence foci

across the two poems. The two profiles correlate significantly and quite strongly,

6. Shapiro-Wilk statistic 0.95, p 0.81: not significant.


7. Toen wij 11.1tu, Krik 13.0tu: paired t 1.04, p 0.33.