Cultural enrichment through translation and adaptation : a study of Maltese Lenten and Easter hymns

Abstract

This study analyses how cultural enrichment can occur through translation and adaptation, an idea which is advocated in Post-Translation Studies (Nergaard and Arduini 2011; Gentzler 2017), applied to a selection of translated and adapted Maltese Lenten and Easter hymns. In order to explore the different processes as well as the perceptions of hymn translation and adaptation by people who use or produce hymns in Malta and Gozo, a series of interviews were carried out with nine musicians, singers, priests, translators or writers of hymns based on four key topics: Hymn Awareness and Appreciation, Hymn Translation and Music, Translation and Adaptation, and Translation as a means of Cultural Enrichment. These interviews form the basis of Chapter 4. A close analysis of three Lenten and three Easter hymns, applying Low’s (2005) pentathlon principle of sense, naturalness, rhyme, rhythm and singability is the basis of Chapter 5. In addition, Low’s (2013) later distinction between translation, adaptation and replacement text is applied to each hymn. The analysis tends toward the skopos of singability. The interviews were instrumental in providing insight into the different processes as well as the perceptions of hymn translation and adaptation by select musicians, singers, priests, translators or writers of hymns. The consensus was that translated or adapted hymns are indeed an effective means of cultural enrichment, as long as Maltese hymns are not supplanted. The subsequent analysis of six Lenten and Easter hymns showed the breadth of imported material that the Maltese repertoire has introduced over the years to expand its hymn repertoire, as well as the different translation methods that were used and which did or did not contribute to singability. As a consequence of the study, one of the ways that cultural enrichment can be made more visible is to have more information included in the paratext, including but not limited to hymnals. Thus, hymn books and other paratextual material should acknowledge the composer, writer and translator of all the hymns wherever possible in order to increase the awareness and appreciation of the general public of the cultural enrichment that has taken place through the translation and adaptation of hymns. In this way, the post-translation effects discussed by Gentzler (2017) and others will be clear. This work is accompanied by numerous visuals and copious appendices.