Translations

In the aptly-titled Translations, Friel uses the translation process to expose the ideological barriers between speakers of English and Irish. Though the play is (mostly) written in English and the actors speak English onstage, it is implied that the English- and Irish-speaking characters speak in their respective native tongues. Onstage, the characters are unable to understand each other if one is Irish and the other English (with the notable exception of Hugh and Owen, who are multi-lingual). By failing (or refusing) to learn each other’s languages, the Irish and English widen the cultural barrier that exists between them.

As someone who has already lived through multiple decades of conflict, Hugh is acutely aware of this cultural divide between the Irish and British. For this reason, the theme of preserving one’s heritage in language reoccurs in Hugh’s Irish and Latin lessons, as with the phrase he assigns from the Agricola in Act I: “It’s easier to stamp out learning than to recall it” (15). Though capable of speaking English, he often refuses to translate his words for the benefit of the British soldiers, leaving this work for Owen (whom he appears to view, initially, as a traitor to his homeland). When he does translate his words into English, he remarks that the translation sounds “plebeian” (49) and diminishes the impact of his language. He disdains British literature in favor of “the warm Mediterranean” (50), identifying his struggles as an Irishman with those of tribes living under Roman rule (which is itself a kind of “translation” process). When Lieutenant Yolland extols the merits of Irish language, Hugh explains that they preserve their language (and refuse to translate it into English) because it is all they have: “A rich language. A rich literature. You’ll find, sir, that certain cultures expend on their vocabularies and syntax acquisitive energies and ostentations entirely lacking in their material lives” (51).

Conversely, Owen uses his skills as an Irish-English translator to improve the material conditions of his life, earning money from the British army for his role in communicating with the locals and anglicizing the names on Ordinance Survey maps. Ironically, his British colleague, Lieutenant Yolland, feels more strongly than he does about preserving the legacy of Irish place names in the translation process. Owen defends his ambivalence by explaining just how convoluted the etymologies of these place names really are, using the example of Tobair Vree: the name for a crossroads that derives “Tobair” from a man named Brian, who fell in a well many years ago and has long-since been forgotten (53). Owen thus (initially) approaches language as a simple system that can be remorselessly used to one’s advantage, optimistically telling Yolland that he can learn to “decode” (48) Irish culture. Indeed, he helps to close the barrier between Yolland and Maire with his translation, and they transition from strangers who wave to one another from “across the fields” (59) to romantic partners who discover their own language between their spoken words.