Discussion of “An Analyst Looks at Languages, Cultures, and Translations”

I want to thank Dr. Clemmens for his thought-provoking discussion of Bruno Bettelheim's Freud and Man's Soul (1983). Dr. Clemmens's title is well chosen since in psychoanalysis more so than in any other discipline the communication of ideas, thoughts, and feelings depends solely on the choice of words, on the communicative intent, and on the use of metaphor. Dr. Clemmens is particularly suited to address the subject of psychoanalysis in translation since his fluency in several languages is an asset not shared by many, all the more since this fluency encompasses both the professional and the vernacular use of language.

I am pleased to have been asked by Dr. Clemmens to discuss his paper. Unfortunately, I cannot match his linguistic expertise-1 am reasonably fluent in everyday German, but since most of my own academic and all my professional training took place in this country, my own reading of Freud was based mainly on those very translations that are criticized by both Bettelheim and Clemmens. When I have tried to read Freud in the original German I have, indeed, found it laborious and have invariably turned back to the English translation. In short, my own reactions to both Bettelheim's book and Dr. Clemmens's paper may offer a perspective somewhat more “Americanized” than theirs. At the same time I do consider myself conversant enough with the German language to understand the shadings of meanings discussed by both Bettelheim and Clemmens.

I certainly agree with Dr. Clemmens that translations are not mere transcriptions into another language. Acquaintance with-or to use Dr. Clemmens's term immersion in-the language's culture, its metaphors, the shades and meanings of its words and syntax is absolutely essential to a faithful translation. Take the translation of metaphors-: “carrying coals to New Castle” will make sense only to those who know that New Castle is the coal-mining capital of England. The German equivalent-“bringing owls to Athens”-would leave puzzled fr