Most of the artists in this project do not speak Damiá (yet). This means that they began their work by formulating their ideas in a language other than Damiá (though there were exceptions. Jen wrote part of her song directly into Damiá using the online dictionary) and then those ideas were translated. Translation, therefore, has been a key part of this project.

It is important to remember what translation is, and what translation isn’t, which also means considering what a language is and what a language isn’t.

It is tempting to consider a language to be a cataloguing system whereby we attach simple labels to objects that exist in reality. This is, of course, sometimes true. ‘Book’ is a word that we can attach to an object that exists. In this reality, it is a very simple job to switch the label of the object for a different label. So ‘book’ becomes calta (or ‘libro’ or ‘كتاب’ or ‘መጽሐፍ’ or ‘書’). Easy. In this reality, translating from one language to another is a simple mathematical process of switching labels.

Of course, it’s not this simple. For a start, not all languages agree on where words end (for a simple example, is ‘football’ one word or two?) and languages have different word orders and grammatical structures. English tends to put the doer of the verb first (S), then the verb (V), then the thing the verb most affects (O) at the end. It’s a so-called SVO language. Damiá is a VSO language. Turkish and Japanese are SOV languages:

S
the goat

V
en co sie o
‘it is eating it’

S
山羊は
‘goat’

V
eats

S
iacen ze
‘goat’

O
フットボールを
‘football’

O
the football

O
ieer coi
‘football’

V
食べる
‘eats’

This could also be solved by an algorithm, right? To a degree. But often the algorithm gets very complex. Anyone who has learned German knows that it takes around three years of study to work out exactly where the verb goes.

Things get more complicated when one language requires information that another language does not. In the example above, English requires the word ‘the’ or ‘a’ before a lot of nouns. Neither Damiá or Japanese do:

the goat

=

iacen

=

山羊

but both Japanese and Damiá do require a little particle after some words that explain the function of a word in a sentence (i.e. whether they are S or O, for example), which English does not:

the goat

=

iacen ze

=

山羊は

It is very easy just to leave something out in the target language that doesn’t need to be there, but it starts getting difficult when we have to add information that isn’t present in the source language. A single word in one language can correspond to more than one word in another. As a simple example, there are two words for ‘dog’ in Damiá and two words for ‘red’:

avan
horo

=
=

a sight hound
any other kind of dog

harma  
ores

=
=

‘dry’ orange red
‘wet’ purple red

and the word ‘sie’ in Damiá can be translated into no less than 13 words in English:

sie

=

they / them / their
it / its
she / her / hers 
he / him / his
one / one’s       

Although context and grammar give us clues as to which word might or might not be the right choice, how can you know which is the correct choice without any further information from the writer?

There are also words that refer to concepts that are culturally or context specific. Words that require an entire paragraph of explanation, or which evoke a particular feeling or a shared experience. There are words we use that don’t mean a lot (some speakers tend to use more or fewer words to say the same thing — ‘Do you mind if I just interrupt here to maybe ask a hopefully simple question?’ vs. ‘May I ask a question?’) or words that show we are polite or impolite. Sometimes we don’t want to be clear.

All of this adds up to a very complex equation indeed and a reality that is very far from switching labels on objects.

In short, languages are self-contained (or interlocking) systems of transmitting meaning. They are also systems for generating meaning, hiding meaning, obfuscating, clarifying, confusing. They create ugliness and beauty. They are tools and weapons. A language is a multi-layered thing. There is a surface layer of words over a skin of grammatical rules which hold together a way of caring about what is said and not said which underpin assumptions about shared values and experiences. A language may have more in common with a language it has a close relationship to — a neighbour, a family member, a friend — but it is never identical.

Language is a way of saying.

It is always possible to say what you wish to say in every language, but the process of getting there can be very different. Translation is the practice of retracing the steps back in one language, and then tracing them out again in another.

All the translations in this project, therefore, are approximate and products of the person who translated them and the moment they were translated. Another translator might well make different choices, or even think the translation is wrong. There is always a middle step between English and Damiá where the ideas are translated before the language is. Damiá and English are not very similar, either grammatically, or in the way they express ideas.

et bos sibé molt asesi nan
I was looking for a territory in myself
I searched for a territory within myself
I found a place in myself

ten ie sapec mie haa nan
And we will be free within it
That we could be free in
Where we could free ourselves

en col mcé cor nan vo vai t-ho
I’m / we’re coming back home by the external path
I / we return to you at home on the way of the outside
I’m coming home by the outside way

ten ie sam mné non nan
And I / we will dance with you in the flat-bottomed valley
So I / we can dance with you in the valley
To dance with you in the valley

A language is much more than a cataloguing system for an objective, concrete world. It is also a world in itself. Somewhere to be. We look forward to seeing you there.


^{*A further conversation between Aslan and Kit Gee about the process of translating the poem Lieb-Cob is included in the printed book Expanded Liner Notes with Additional Letters, Essays, & Studio Visits with the Artists to Accompany the Extended Play Record Homecoming — Greatest Hits!}