Hello! The programme you're about to listen to was originally broadcast in October 2015 on the BBC Learning English website. We hope you enjoy it. 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English dot com. Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English.
I'm Finn. And I'm Neil, hello. Today, we are talking about Shakespeare. Oh, yes, to be or not to be, that is the question. Whether 'tis nobler... Yeah. OK, thank you. Thank you very much, Finn. But what does that famous Shakespeare line actually mean, Finn? Yeah, well, it's quite hard to explain actually. The English in Shakespeare's work
is quite difficult. Well, a Shakespeare festival in Oregon
in the United States wants to change all of that. They want to pay writers — they want to 'commission' what they call
'translations' of Shakespeare's plays. Now, we usually use the word
'translation', of course, to talk about changing words and sentences from one language to another. But these writers have been commissioned to translate Shakespearean English
into plain English. So, Shakespeare in easy, plain English. You know, I'm not sure
I really like that idea. Well, you're not the only one, Finn. We will talk about that in a moment,
but first, as usual, we have our quiz question and
it's about Shakespeare and translation. What was the first language that
Shakespeare's plays were translated into? Was it a) French? b) German? Or c) Portuguese? What do you think? You know, I really have no idea
on this one. I'm going to say b) German. We'll see if you're right
at the end of the programme. But now we're going to hear from two
Shakespeare experts speaking to the BBC. First, Andrew Dickinson. He's the author of Worlds Elsewhere:
Journeys Around Shakespeare's Globe. In his travels around the world,
around the globe, did he find many translations
of Shakespeare? Someone's translated Hamlet into Klingon. You know, he exists in all of these
different places and all of these different forms
and I suppose that what really struck me when I was working on my book
and travelling around the world talking to people about Shakespeare
is that he is so multifarious — he exists in all of these places. It feels sometimes
that we in the English-speaking world are only just catching up with this. Shakespeare expert Andrew Dickinson, who
has travelled the world for his new book and knows about many translations,
even one from out of this world! Yes, he says someone has even translated
Hamlet into 'Klingon'. Now, that's the language
spoken by aliens in Star Trek, which is of course a science fiction
TV series, it's not a real language. Let's get back to the real world, Neil. Andrew Dickinson says that what really
impressed him — what really 'struck' him — while working on his new book and travelling around the world
talking about Shakespeare is that Shakespeare is so 'multifarious'. Multifarious —
that's quite a difficult word. Yes, it is. Well, in plain English, it
means that there are many different types, there are many different translations,
many different kinds of Shakespeare. He's multifarious. Finn, we're using plain English
in this programme, like the people in Oregon who want to
translate Shakespeare into plain English. That will make his plays
easier to understand. And that's a good thing. But there has also been strong criticism
about this from academics who study Shakespeare
as well as from people on social media — on Facebook and Twitter —
they think it's a bad idea. Our next Shakespeare expert is Greg Doran. He's the Artistic Director
of the Royal Shakespeare Company. He's done productions outside Britain. Where did he do a production of
the Shakespeare play, Merchant Of Venice? Here he is talking about
the difficulty of translation. I think the difficulty with a translation
is that it simply translates the sense and there's a lot more going on
in the language of Shakespeare's plays. I remember once doing a production
of Merchant Of Venice in Japan and I was asked — we were having
a new translation done — and I was asked
if I wanted the translation for meaning, for pace, or for poetry -
and that's the difficulty. You've got to find all three
somehow together. Greg Doran, Artistic Director
of the Royal Shakespeare Company. He was doing a Shakespeare production
in Japan. He says that the difficulty
with translation is that it only translates the 'sense' —
it's only the general meaning. But he says that there's more than that. Yes, they were having a translation done and he was asked if he wanted the
translation for meaning or for 'pace' — now, that's about the speed of the lines
in the play — or was the poetry of the words important? And his answer was that you've got to find
all three somehow together. It's not just one thing. He says that there is a lot 'going on' —
there is a lot happening — in the language of Shakespeare's plays. And so a simple translation
of the words into plain English isn't really Shakespeare. And I think it's time
to answer our quiz question. Yes, if you remember,
it's about translations of Shakespeare. What was the first language that
Shakespeare's plays were translated into? Was it a) French? b) German?
c) Portuguese? I said b) German,
which I'll admit was a guess. — And that is the right answer.
— Fantastic! Apparently, Shakespeare's plays
were translated into German as early as the first decade
of the 17th century. And that's all for now. Please do
join us again for 6 Minute English. To be or not to be. Yes, OK, thanks, Finn. — Thank you, goodbye.
— Goodbye. 6 Minute English. From the BBC.