The Art Of Translation

The Art Of Translation
by Rick Kleffel

All Things Considered, November 22, 2008 ·

Living in America, it's easy to forget that most of the world does not speak English; and that much of the world's literature is not written in English. In order for us to read the best of what the rest of the world writes — and in order for the rest of the world to experience our best literature — skilled writers must work in the art of translation.
But it's not as straightforward as you might think. A good translation needs to be true to the original and able to stand on its own for a new audience.
Bea Basso, who came from Italy to the United States in 2000 to study and work in theater, has done a lot of translating from Italian to English. She says that the choice of a single word can determine the arc of an entire work.
"There is no such thing as a literal translation, by nature of choosing one word or another, you influence the next step," she says.
But word choice is just the beginning. Sound also plays an integral part in transmitting meaning, especially when it comes to translating poetry. And regional linguistic differences can factor into a work, too — which is why Basso (who's from Venice) found it odd when she was asked to translate plays by Neapolitan author Eduardo De Filippo.
"Every region in Italy is so dramatically different ... the dialect, the customs, the food," says Basso. "Eduardo De Filippo uses an old dialect [from] the late 50s, so not even my Neapolitan friends would always know, they would have to ask their grandmothers. That happened several times."
Sometimes translators are challenged by those who have come before. When Julie Rose took on Victor Hugo's Les Miserables, two previous English translations dominated bookstore shelves. The first was by a contemporary and friend of Hugo in 1862; more than a hundred years later, the novel was translated by Norman Denny. Both versions were edited, leaving out large portions of the narrative.
Rose consulted Denny's text only after she began work on her own translation and was amazed by what she calls Denny's "contempt" for Hugo. She found herself sympathetic not just to the work, but to the writer himself, who she sometimes felt she was channeling.
"I was very worried about losing my hair and becoming fat which Hugo did, you know, by the time he was writing it," says Rose. "You almost go into a trance-like state to be able to sustain [Les Miserables]."
Burton Raffel has worked for decades in more than a dozen languages and has translated Beowulf, Don Quijote and most recently Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. He has a straightforward and strict policy about translating books already available in English:
"I will not do a translation if in my opinion one of the extant translations is a good one," says Raffel. "I don't want to do the 150th recording of Beethoven's Third Piano Concerto. If there are 149, that's enough."
And there are still plenty of great works in other languages that have never been translated. Basso was asked to translate a comedy by the renowned 18th-century Italian playwright Carlo Goldoni into English for the first time, introducing his words and culture to an American audience.
"All of a sudden I was a translator of gestures, traditions, customs, ways of behaving even — how many kisses do you give to people when you enter a room," says Basso.
The differences between cultures can be a challenge. When working on Gargantua and Pantagruel, Raffel translated Middle French into modern English. Written in the 16th century, the novel was set in a time of filth and squalor. Raffel found he had to overcome the limits of the English language.
"Rabelais, the author of this very strange book, ends the chapter with a sputtering iteration. I believe it's something like 43 different words in French for s- - -," says Raffel. "My problem was finding 43 different words because English is not so plentiful in these things."

Η μεταφραστική περιπέτεια ενός Ρωμαίου αξιωματούχου

Η μεταφραστική περιπέτεια ενός Ρωμαίου αξιωματούχου

Μυστήριο εποχής και σύγχρονο δράμα
Του ΣΤΑΘΗ ΣΤΑΥΡΟΠΟΥΛΟΥ


Υπάρχουν πολλοί αναγνώστες (και ίσως όχι λίγες αναγνώστριες) που τα τελευταία χρόνια απολαμβάνουν τις περιπέτειες του Δέκιου Καικίλιου Μέτελλου που γράφει με κέφι και φινέτσα ο Τζων Μάντοξ Ρόμπερτς. Πρόκειται για ιστορίες μυστηρίου «εποχής», καθώς λέγεται, όταν το δράμα εκτυλίσσεται μέσα σε ένα δοσμένο ιστορικό πλαίσιο· όπου φανταστικοί χαρακτήρες συμπλέκονται τεχνηέντως με πραγματικά πρόσωπα και γεγονότα σε ένα λεπτοδουλεμένο κέντημα, ιστορημένο με τόση μαεστρία, ώστε ο φίλος του αστυνομικού μυθιστορήματος να μετέχει ταυτοχρόνως στις χάρες της ιστορικής λογοτεχνίας. Είναι ένα χαρίεν είδος που ακμάζει τα τελευταία χρόνια παγκοσμίως και οπωσδήποτε έχει πολλούς αναγνώστες. Ειρήσθω εν παρόδω, ότι προσφάτως η «Ελευθεροτυπία» διένειμε ένα λαμπρό δείγμα του είδους, τις περιπέτειες του «Δικαστή Τι».
Εν προκειμένω, οι περιπέτειες του παιχνιδιάρη, ρηξικέλευθου κι εντελώς Ρωμαίου Δέκιου Μέτελλου ξετυλίγονται την εποχή της ύστερης Δημοκρατίας στην αγαπημένη του Πόλη, και περιγράφουν με αξιοθαύμαστη ενάργεια την πολιτική της εποχής, τις κοινωνικές κι ανθρώπινες σχέσεις, ζωντανεύοντας μπρος στα μάτια μας τον ελληνορωμαϊκό κόσμο, αλλά και τη διαχρονία των ανθρώπινων.Εως τώρα είχαν εκδοθεί οκτώ τίτλοι (από τις εκδόσεις «Περίπλους») με πολύ προσεγμένες μεταφράσεις, ώστε ο αναγνώστης να μυείται στην εποχή και να ξεκλειδώνει τη σημαντική της.

Στον ένατο τίτλο, ατυχήσαμε. Αλλάζοντας εκδότη η σειρά (την ανέλαβαν οι εκδόσεις Intto Books) άλλαξε ο μεταφραστής και της άλλαξε τα φώτα (ο μεταφραστής της μετάφρασης).Αγνοώντας τελείως την εποχή ο νέος μεταφραστής, όχι μόνον δεν καταβάλλει κάποιαν προσπάθεια να την εννοήσει, αλλά με τον πιο χοντροκομμένο τρόπο μας πετάει κατακέφαλα το αποτέλεσμα της ήσσονος προσπάθειάς του.

Μεταφράζει Γερουσιαστής αντί Συγκλητικός με αποτέλεσμα το περίφημο «η Σύγκλητος και ο Λαός της Ρώμης» (SPQR), σήμα κατατεθέν της τότε άγριας εξουσίας, να μεταφράζεται σε ένα κακομοίρικο «Γερουσία και Λαός της Ρώμης» (σελ. 91) αποστερημένο απ' τη φορτισμένη σημειωτική του.Στη σελ. 64 ο μεταφραστής δηλώνει ότι ο τάδε «ήταν ύπατος στα ανατολικά». Ομως στις επαρχίες πήγαιναν ως ανθύπατοι αυτοί που είχαν χρηματίσει Υπατοι στη Ρώμη. Στη σελ. 97 αναφέρεται σε «Προσυγκλητικούς»- άγνωστον τι εννοεί! Αλλά εκεί που αρχίζει να πλησιάζει το τέλειο είναι όταν (σελ. 181) αρχίζει να λέει «Οι Ρωμαίοι έφιπποι» εννοώντας τους «ιππείς», την τάξη των ιππέων δηλαδή που, όπως και στην Αθήνα, ήταν οι αστοί, οι έμποροι, οι τραπεζίτες, οι εφοπλιστές, όλοι οι λεφτάδες που δεν αρύονταν τον πλούτο τους απ' τη γαιοκτησία. «Η τάξη των εφίππων» επιμένει όμως να δηλώνει φαρδειά πλατειά (σελ. 227) ο μεταφραστής μας.Κάνοντας την ανάγνωση αφόρητη, λέει «Σύμβουλος» (σελ. 229) και εννοεί ή τον Δήμαρχο ή τον Πραίτορα, διότι ταυτοχρόνως αναφέρεται στο δικαίωμα της αρνησικυρίας. Γενικώς (σελ. 275, σελ. 343) μπερδεύει τις σκούπες με τις βούρτσες εν σχέσει με το τι είναι ο καθένας κι ενίοτε επινοεί δικούς του όρους, κάτι σαν σκουποβούρτσες, όπως η «προπραιτοριανή διοίκηση»! (σελ. 413)Εκεί όμως που υπερβαίνει τον εαυτόν του είναι όταν στη σελ. 284 γράφει ανερυθριάστως: «Ενας Νομοθέτης των Πληβείων επ' ονόματι Τρεμπόνιος καταράστηκε με φρικτό οιωνό τον Κράσσο». Τριβούνος είναι ο... Δήμαρχος των Πληβείων, δεν είναι... όνομα! -άκου Τρεμπόνιος! Εκτός όμως της ταύτισης του αξιώματος Νομοθέτης των Πληβείων (Δήμαρχος) με το όνομα Τρεμπόνιος (πάλι Δήμαρχος, τριβούνος), αν είχε μπει στον κόπο να διαβάσει τι μεταφράζει ο απερίγραπτος μεταφραστής μας, θα είχε διαπιστώσει ότι ο εν λόγω «Τρεμπόνιος» είχε όνομα και πρωταγωνιστούσε στην ακριβώς προηγούμενη περιπέτεια του Δέκιου.Ασε που δεν «καταριέται» κανείς με... «οιωνό» (ως άνω). Πράγμα που φαίνεται όμως να πιστεύει ακράδαντα ο μεταφραστής μας διότι επιμένει: «η δύσφημη κατάρα του νομοθέτη» (σελ. 284)...
Ούτε όμως με τα ελληνικά φαίνεται να τα πηγαίνει καλά ο άνθρωπος. Ιστορικός δεν είναι -φάνηκε! Αν είναι φιλόλογος, τη βάψαμε!Γράφει: «άπλετη λιακάδα» (σελ. 80), μάλλον θα έχει κάτι ακούσει για άπλετο φως. «Η Φλάβια ανέστειλε κάθε σκέψη» (σελ. 190). «Τον ευχαρίστησα αφειδώς» (σελ. 255). «Φέρεσθε υψηλόβαθμα, στρατηγέ» (σελ. 215) «Οι οδυρμοί είχαν σιγάσει» (σελ. 256). Κεντάει!
Αλλά εκτός απ' την Ιστορία και τα ελληνικά, ο άμουσος ρέκτης μας ξεσχίζει και τη Γεωγραφία κάνοντας την ανάγνωση ακατάληπτη (εκτός από βασανιστική).«Οι Πάρθιοι» αποφαίνεται αντί οι Πάρθοι (σελ. 61 και άλλες) ενώ στη σελ. 284 διορθώνεται, και το διορθώνει στο σωστό Πάρθοι. «Οι Σκύθοι» (σελ. 386) αντί οι Σκύθες. «Στα σύρια» (σελ. 107) αντί στα συριακά (αν εννοεί τ' αραμαϊκά). «Τη Σούσα» (σελ. 248) αντί τα Σούσα!«Τιγκρανακέρτ» (σελ. 249) τα Τιγρανόκερτα, και ουκ έστιν τέλος! Αναφέρεται στις ακατάληπτες πόλεις «Μποβίλη», «Ριάτ» και «Μπάια» (σελ. 289, 290) ενώ δεν παραλείπει να... κτίσει το Κολοσσαίο, 130 χρόνια πριν να χτιστεί: «αρματοδρόμοι στο Κολοσσαίο» (σελ. 261 και σελ. 286) εννοεί τον Ιππόδρομο- το Κολοσσαίο χτίστηκε πολύ αργότερα απ' την εποχή του Δέκιου.Στη σελ. 61 ο μεταφραστής μας διαπιστώνει τον θάνατο «ενός αξιωματικού που σκοτώθηκε στην τουρκική πόλη Αράν», εξακόσια χρόνια πριν εμφανιστούν οι Τούρκοι στη Μικρασία! Στη σελ. 76 γράφει «μοβ μπορντούρα» εννοώντας την πορφύρα, διότι όπως ατάραχος εξηγεί στη συνέχεια (σελ. 77) «πρόκειται για το άλικο μοβ (!) της Τύρου»!!
Στη σελ. 73 «περνάει τους ναύτες από συνέντευξη» (!) εννοώντας τη ναυτολόγηση, ενώ στη σελ. 78 κάνει «προσφορά ένα εμπόρευμα καλού κρασιού» εννοώντας ένα φορτίο καλού κρασιού. Λεπτομέρειες· και προς τούτο στη σελ. 71 και 73 χαρακτηρίζει «βάζα» τους αμφορείς μεταφορών, ενώ, αδίστακτος, στη σελ. 104 βάζει μια σερβιτόρα να «κουβαλάει βαριές κανάτες και κιούπια όλη μέρα». Γενικώς με τα αντικείμενα τα κάνει μπάχαλο όσον και με τους χώρους. Λέει καναπέδες τα ανάκλιντρα (σελ. 361), σάουνα (!) τα λουτρά (σελ. 51) και τραπεζαρία (σελ. 51) το τρίκλινο. Τούτων ένεκεν «στέλνει τις απολογίες του» (σελ. 369) αντί του ζητάει συγγνώμη, καταφεύγοντας σε αυτόν τον ακαλαίσθητο αγγλισμό με την ίδια άνεση που λέει «πεντηκότηρων» (σελ. 67 και 382) αντί πεντηκοντόρων, «Λαϊκό Νομεθετικό Συμβούλιο» αντί Συνέλευση των Πληβείων (σελ. 390), Κλώντια αντί Κλαυδία (ή Κλωδία) (σελ. 179), Ιωσιφίδης (!!!) αντί Ιώσηπος -εβραϊκό εξελληνισμένο όνομα- κι άλλα ων ουκ έστιν αριθμός, διανθισμένα με αγραμματοσύνες: «ατιμώνοντας» (σελ. 394) αντί ατιμάζοντας, «να διεξάγω» (σελ. 418), «να διεξάγουμε» (σελ. 98), «τα σχοινικά των πλοίων» (σελ. 71 και αλλού) -μάλλον θα εννοεί τις εξαρτύσεις. Χάος.Την «Ευδαίμονα Αραβία» μεταφράζει σε Υεμένη κι έτσι αμέσως αποτυγχάνει το λογοπαίγνιο που επιχειρεί ο συγγραφέας αναφερόμενος στην «ευδαιμονία» στην ίδια φράση.
Αξιοθρήνητα άσχετος βάζει τους ήρωές του να μιλούν στον πληθυντικό, πράγμα άγνωστο στους αρχαίους, ονομάζει την ιδιομορφία των τοπικών λατρειών «αίρεση» (!) κι άλλα για τα οποία θα χρειαζόμασταν άλλον τόσο χώρο περιγράφοντάς τα. Λακωνιστί.Φροντίζει πάντως ο ανύποπτος για τον εαυτόν του αυτός άνθρωπος να κάνει λαμπρή έξοδο απ' τη μετάφρασή του ακριβώς στην τελευταία σελίδα του βιβλίου, καταρρακώνοντας το γνωστό «από Κτίσεως Ρώμης και επί της Υπατείας του Τάδε» σε: «το έτος 703 της Πόλης της Ρώμης (!) κατά τη διάρκεια της επικράτειας (!!) του Τάδε». Σώσον, Κύριε...

Υ.Γ.: Στο «Γλωσσάρι» που παρατίθεται στο τέλος της έκδοσης η αρλούμπα αποθεώνεται. Μόνον στα Ελευσίνια Μυστήρια, για παράδειγμα, διαπιστώνεται ότι «η τελετή συμπεριλάμβανε την ανάσταση και την αναγέννηση». Ναι! η τελετή.

ΕΛΕΥΘΕΡΟΤΥΠΙΑ - 21/11/2008

Foreign subtitles scramble moviegoers' minds

Cheap subtitling from countries like Malaysia is ruining the nuances of English language films abroad, resulting in gaffes like David Attenborough being referred to as Sherlock Holmes ...


by Danny Leigh Tuesday 20 March 2007


Outsourcing has been accused of having any of number of disastrous consequences for the global labour market - but only now has it emerged that it may also be helping scramble the minds of the world's moviegoers.
According to disgruntled British translators, the problem is that the studios' preference for cheap subtitles produced in India and Malaysia is making a nonsense of English language films abroad.
Frustrated at seeing what are already low wages forced down still further, native subtitlers have begun compiling examples of the errors littering British and American movies released in foreign markets. And from their research, there certainly seems no shortage of cases where literal-minded or just plain odd translations have rendered Hollywood movies incomprehensible (or, if we're going to be honest about this, more incomprehensible).
In Taiwan, for example, audiences enjoying My Super Ex-Girlfriend (the Ivan Reitman comedy starring Uma Thurman) had a line describing a zero-tolerance policy on sexual harassment relayed to them as "We hold the highest standards for sexual harassment". Elsewhere, Chinese Anne Hathaway fans taking in The Princess Diaries 2 will have been given a strange insight into western culture, when a mention of David Attenborough was subtitled as Sherlock Holmes (something I find only becomes more puzzling the longer I think about it). Vietnam vets have become veterinarians from Vietnam; spaceships in sci-fi films have been warned of the hazards of looming fields of steroids.
All of which does seem to prove the translators' point that a proper job of subtitling needs a degree of cultural context and linguistic nuance, something which the studios' cost cutting seems ill-equipped to provide. Quite apart from issues of fair wages, there's also the fact that foreign audiences surely deserve to see movies the way they were intended to be seen. At the climax of a high-octane thriller, the difference between "Stop! He's got a gun!" and "Stop! He's got some gum" could, you might imagine, be of no small importance.
Perhaps we need to throw our weight firmly behind Britain's subtitlers, not out of patriotism, but simply as cinephiles. After all, would you want the pivotal line of Francis Ford Coppola's meditation on war, Apocalypse Now, to have been given to you as "I love the smell of napalm in the morning - smells like Viscounts"? Or seen Some Like It Hot end with Jack Lemmon being told by his amorous suitor: "You nobody! You are a prefect?" And, as for Silence of the Lambs, surely no audience deserves to have Hannibal Lecter terrify Clarice Starling with the revelation that: "A census taker once tried to test me. I ate some liver with him and then we had ice cream"? As Ronnie Barker would have no doubt agreed, it is, and always will be, all in the worms.

Just for fun:Sign Language

a link from Eleni http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/picturegalleries/3371844/Sign-language-week-23.html?image=4 a sign from a golf course in Canada!
More signs from all over the world in the same page from Telegraph!

Londoners are the UK's best regional punctuators. Can you spot the mistakes in our signs?

Tuesday, 11 November 2008

THE apostrophe is the punctuation mark which causes most problems, an independent poll has revealed - but Londoners can cope with it the best.Nearly 2,000 UK adults sat a test set by the SpinVox speech technology company - but nearly half were unable to use the apostrophe properly. Londoners came out on top as Britain's best regional punctuators, getting 78% of the answers right. The most common mistake was not knowing how to punctuate a possessive plural. The test revealed 46% of those who sat it thought that, in the context set, "people's choice" was wrong - whereas it is correct. The adults were also asked which mistake most annoyed good punctuators.
Replacement of "they're" with "their" was the most irritating, followed by the use of an apostrophe to denote a plural - as in the use of the incorrect "boy's" instead of correct "boys'." Joint third was using "its" instead of "it's" and "it's" instead of "its" - the confusion between a plural possessive and abbreviation of the phrase "it is." Top UK English language expert, Professor Christopher Mulvey, from the Museum of the English Language at Winchester University, said: "The problems people have with apostrophes arise from the hopeless state of English punctuation and spelling. The situation is so confusing that people panic and hypercorrect. "To get it right, you need to look up the rules every time you think an apostrophe might be needed - and do this for the next six months in order to 'internalise' the rules." Teachers came top of the class in the poll as the sector which punctuates the best, with more than 80% getting full marks in the punctuation test. Journalists and those working in public relations people came second - with workers in the transport and distribution coming bottom. Women not only scored higher marks in the test on average than men, they also claimed to care more about incorrect punctuation. People in the the 55 years plus age bracket came bottom of the age ranges - with 25-34 year olds averaging 78%.

Translation tool may help police

Monday, 15 September 2008

A wristwatch-based translation device invented by a graduate from the University of Derby is being trialled by Lincolnshire Police.
Iraqi-born Amin Ismail originally designed the device to help British soldiers overcome language barriers in high-risk situations.
Police in Lincolnshire will now try the device to translate languages such as Polish and Latvian.
The idea was first shown at a degree show last year.
Mr Ismail is originally from Baghdad but fled Iraq in 2002.
The device contains questions translated in to 12 languages which can be selected by inputting a number.
The questions are phrased in a way that a demonstrative reply can be given such as a nod of the head.

Challenging project
Mr Ismail said: "We've been working very hard with Lincolnshire Police trying to make the translation device practical so they can use it on a daily basis.
"It's been a real challenge but I'm so happy it's come to reality - it's like a dream come true."
Insp Shaun West said the device will be of great help.
"We've been very active in this in terms of looking at it being rolled out and also using it as a pilot," he said.
"Lincoln is very much a cultural city and we recognise that language can be a barrier. We've always been keen to explore how we can use this sort of device.
"It's an ideal device, it's very, very good and it's very easy to use."

Market lingo

from Time Out, issue 1994, p.37, "Stall Crawl" by Dan Jones

Market lingo

"Got a couple of ladies burning a hole in your sky rocket?" Learn the lingo:

1 pound= Maggie
2 pounds= Double nugget
5 pounds= Lady Godiva
10 pounds= Cock'n'hen
20 pounds= Score
25 pounds= Pony
50 pounds= Bullseye
100 pounds= Ton
500 pounds= Monkey
1.000 pounds= Grand

Welsh road sign: I'm out of the office

Ben Quinn, The Guardian, Saturday November 1 2008

(don't laugh, this can happen to all of us!)

A council put up a Welsh language road sign reading "I am out of the office at the moment" when it should have said "No entry for heavy goods vehicles".
Swansea council contacted its in-house translation service when designing the bilingual sign. The seeds of confusion were sown when officials received an automated email response in Welsh from an absent translator, saying: "I am not in the office at the moment. Please send any work to be translated."
Unaware of its real meaning, officials had it printed on the sign. The council took down the sign after Welsh speakers spotted the mistake.

(see the photo @http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2008/nov/01/5)

He Counts Your Words (Even Those Pronouns)

By JESSICA WAPNER
Published: October 13, 2008 @ The New York Times

James W. Pennebaker’s interest in word counting began more than 20 years ago, when he did several studies suggesting that people who talked about traumatic experiences tended to be physically healthier than those who kept such experiences secret. He wondered how much could be learned by looking at every single word people used — even the tiny ones, the I’s and you’s, a’s and the’s.
That led Dr. Pennebaker, a professor of psychology at the University of Texas, down a winding path that has taken him from Beatles lyrics (John Lennon’s songs have more “negative emotion” words than Paul McCartney’s) all the way to terrorist communications. By counting the different kinds of words a person says, he is breaking new linguistic ground and leading a resurgent interest in text analysis.
Take Dr. Pennebaker’s recent study of Al Qaeda communications — videotapes, interviews, letters. At the request of the F.B.I., he tallied the number of words in various categories — pronouns, articles and adjectives, among others.
He found, for example, that Osama bin Laden’s use of first-person pronouns (I, me, my, mine) remained fairly constant over several years. By contrast, his second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahri, used such words more and more often.
“This dramatic increase suggests greater insecurity, feelings of threat, and perhaps a shift in his relationship with bin Laden,” Dr. Pennebaker wrote in his report , which was published in The Content Analysis Reader (Sage Publications, July 2008).
Kimberly A. Neuendorf, a professor of communications at Cleveland State University who has extensively studied content analysis, agreed with that assessment. Mr. Zawahri, she said, “is clearly repositioning himself to provide a singular platform for his opinion” and “reaffirming his status as an important individual in the dynamic.”
Because it is hard for the human brain to count and compare all the I’s, a’s and the’s in a sample of speech or writing, Dr. Pennebaker had to invent a software program to do it. The program, Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC, pronounced luke), contains a vast dictionary, with each word assigned to one or more categories.
There are social words (talk, they), biological words (cheek, hands, spit), “insight” words (think, know, consider) and dozens of other groupings. LIWC compares a text sample to its dictionary and, within seconds, provides a readout of how many words appear in each category.
To test-drive the program, Dr. Pennebaker, a pioneer in the field of therapeutic writing, asked a group of people recovering from serious illness or other trauma to engage in a series of writing exercises. The word tallies showed that those whose health was improving tended to decrease their use of first-person pronouns through the course of the study.
Health improvements were also seen among people whose use of causal words — because, cause, effect — increased. Simply ruminating about an experience without trying to understand the causes is less likely to lead to psychological growth, he explained; the subjects who used causal words “were changing the way they were thinking about things.”
Dr. Pennebaker, 58, has conducted numerous studies since then, all of them demonstrating that it’s not just what we say that matters but how we say it. Where traditional linguistics “is really more interested in context, how sentences are put together and what a meaningful phrase is,” he said, “our approach is simply counting words.”
In study after study, the articles and pronouns, which text analysts often call “junk words,” have proved crucial.
For example, Dr. Pennebaker has found that men tend to use more articles (a, the) and women tend to use more pronouns (he, she, they). The difference, he says, may suggest that men are more prone to concrete thinking and women are more likely to see things from other perspectives.
Jeffrey T. Hancock, an associate professor of communication at Cornell, uses word counting to study language and deception, particularly on the Internet.
Liars, he says, use more “negative emotion” words (hurt, ugly, nasty) and fewer first-person singulars. “These very simple dimensions have emerged again and again,” he said, “despite the fact that there were 40 years of research before this.”
Dr. Pennebaker says that because speech patterns are akin to a personal signature, his software might be used to identify authors of anonymous blogs and e-mail messages, and as supporting evidence in legal testimony. But he acknowledges that it cannot be definitive; too much depends on probability.
“In the language world, everything is probability,” Dr. Pennebaker said. “But in our legal system, we have real problems with understanding probability. Everyone has problems with probability.”
Still, the technique is drawing attention from a variety of sectors. Dr. Pennebaker has received a grant from the Army Research Institute to study the language of social dynamics, particularly how leaders use language. Joseph Psotka, a research psychologist at the institute, said that over time, this kind of study “could be very helpful for training and leadership development, but precisely how we don’t know yet.”
Dr. Pennebaker’s program has been translated into several languages, with an Arabic version in the works; Dr. Pennebaker notes that his Qaeda analysis was constrained by its reliance on English translations.
“Function words vary between one language and another and reveal a lot about another culture,” he said.
Dr. Psotka said counting and categorizing the words used by a foreign speaker could provide clues about “the subtle attitudes, not just the meaning of the words — to get a sense of whether or not negotiation or discussion is going smoothly.”
Dr. Pennebaker has also turned his word-counting machinery toward the presidential campaign (at wordwatchers.wordpress.com), and he likes to look at age-old questions like whether Shakespeare had a co-playwright, who wrote the Federalist Papers and even whether a couple will stay together.
“The more similar they are in terms of language,” Dr. Pennebaker said, “the more likely they are to be together several months later.”