Reading and Translating Foreign Texts

There is often some confusion regarding the acts of reading and translating texts written in a language unknown to the reader. Most of this confusion seems centered on a misunderstanding regarding the nature of “translation” as opposed to the act of “reading.”

Magic users are sometimes of the opinion that casting a single spell that allows them knowledge of a language (Borrow Language, Gift of Letters) ought to allow them to read and translate that language into a known one. While this may be the case with simple texts, it is most certainly not possible with complex texts, especially books of magic.

Reading vs. Translating

When you are reading in your native language, your mind is not translating a language into another language. Instead your mind is translating a language directly into images or other forms in order for your mind to retain this information. If you are a native English speaker, you do not need to pause to consider the difference between “red curtains” and “crimson curtains.” Red is red, crimson is red. The curtains are red.

When you are translating, you are using your knowledge of one language to translate the letters, words, and phrases of that language into another language that you comprehend at a greater level (usually the translator's native tongue). If you are an English speaker who reads or speaks French fluently, you also may not have to pause to consider whether the author means rouge rideau or cramoisi rideau. Rouge is red, cramoisi is red.

Only if the actual word choice might be important does such a dilemma occur – for example, in painting, red and crimson are two very difference shades that are often distinguished. Whether something is red or crimson could matter significantly when describing the painting in words. Similarly, when translating poetry, the choice of word, even its sound, may be of ultimate significance. Works of metaphysics or technical-scientific documents are even more specific with word choice. (When the author wrote “en coulisses” did he literally mean someone was behind the curtains? Probably not; he would likely have used camoisi to signify actual window drapings.)

In casual reading, word choice may not be so important. In accurate translation, it's the most important thing of all.

Translators spend years studying a single language in order to translate it effectively into their native tongue. Professional never stop learning, since language never stops changing. Translators sometimes go out and do additional research in order to determine the intended meaning of a single word or phrase. To be able to effectively and accurately translate unfamiliar and complex texts on sight takes decades of study. Using Borrow Language on a person who has Native fluency does not guarantee enough fluency to translate a text, especially a complex one or one that is written in an older version of the language.

If you want it in a simple dichotomy: there is comprehension of the language in which a text is composed, and then there is comprehension of the text itself. They are interdependent but not the same.

In GURPS terms

Books of magic (i.e. grimoires, spellbooks, etc.) contain highly esoteric and often specialized information. While it is true Thaumatology gives you a major boost in understanding this sort of information, the study of a grimoire is equivalent to the study of a path. You are not going to sit down, read a grimoire, and have even a basic comprehension of its contents. You cannot cast a Borrow Language or Gift of Letters spell and simply read a grimoire – the only way this happens is if part of the grimoire is a diary or narrative (often the case, as magicians sometimes make a record of their own use of the book). Even then, the only that portion of the text will be comprehensible.

Grimoires are sometimes at least partly crafted in a “magical language” or even a specialized “magical alphabet.” They are sometimes even encoded (the infamous cipher manuscripts of the Golden Dawn come to mind). "Magical language" is a broad category that includes some lost languages presumed to be magical as well as languages artificially constructed solely for the purpose of magic. These languages are not translated or translatable through the use of spells, though the words may be transcribed using a known alphabet or other symbol system. One example of such a language is the infamous phrase crafted by Lovecraft:

"Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn"

If that phrase shows up in the middle of a text written in Arabic, you won't be able to translate it, even if it has been transcribed phonetically using Arabic letters. As it stands, we only know what it says because Lovecraft told us what it says. (I'm undecided about whether Gift of Letters/Tongues allows you to comprehend specialized magical languages or unknown languages. I will determine this on a case-by-case basis.)

If you want to know more about magical languages, begin with Enochian and John Dee. Particularly interesting is how Dee created the vocabulary through conversations with angels. There are few other magical languages with as much significance in ceremonial magic.

In conclusion

• Effective translation requires at minimum Native fluency in all languages which compose the text being translated. This fluency can be acquired magically by putting enough energy into Gift of Letters. A text consisting of multiple languages may be partially translated, but this is not considered an effective translation until it is completed.

• Effective translation of all but the most simple documents requires knowledge of the cultural milieu and adequate knowledge of any dialects that may have been used in constructing the text.

• Effective translation of technical documents requires not only fluency in the languages but also sufficient knowledge of the subject matter of the document.

• Enchanted, cursed, sapient, or willful tomes may resist translation. This will depend entirely on the nature of the grimoire.

• You cannot use Speed-Reading with a language you do not know at Native level, and Speed-Reading will not “stack” with temporary magically-learned languages. (Speed-Reading a language is a separate skill from speaking/reading the language. You would have to Borrow Language and Speed-Reading skill from someone who speed-reads that language at Native level.)

• Consider also the difference between written and spoken comprehension. While you don't need to speak the language to comprehend it, there might be instances where the actual pronunciation of a word might matter. For example, there are many words in Arabic which depend entirely on the spoken accent for accurate translation. In Modern Arabic, these instances are indicated with transliteration marks; in classical texts, this is not generally the case. A book of magic, especially one that uses “magical language,” might have a number of words that fall into this area.

• By “effective translation,” I mean a translation that is both accurate and useful. An ineffective or poor translation is one that was done hurriedly, without proper knowledge or reference materials, etc. In mechanical terms, an ineffective or poor translation of a simple text puts you at -3 to understand the translation; all other poorly translated texts are at a minimum -6 to comprehension. The more technical or esoteric a work, the more likely it will be poorly translated and thus poorly comprehended. (Essentially, it is a text that reads like someone with Broken comprehension wrote it. If that person also had no comprehension of the subject matter, the translation would be even worse.)

• Any book of magic or magical work translated poorly will work in unexpected (and probably undesirable) ways, if it works at all. The only actual success in using a poorly translated book will be as the result of a critical success roll.

Examples

• You discover a handwritten diary written in Russian. You can cast Gift of Letters at Accented and read almost all of the diary. Names and places might stump you, and there might be some cultural references you don't grok. At Native, you'd have no problems - only minor factual details of geography or history might be missing. If you had Photographic Memory, you'd retain and comprehend everything you read.

• You discover a printed book, written in Russian, that also contains mathematical formulae and geometric figures. Some of the math symbols are Greek, so they look like Russian. With no knowledge of mathematics or physics, you could cast Gift of Letters at Broken and read enough to determine whether this is a book of physics or geometry (the title alone would tell you that). You can cast Gift of Letters at Native and read some portion, perhaps the majority, of the text, but you would not comprehend most of it without knowledge of Physics/Geometry. (A textbook would be different, of course.)

• You discover a handwritten grimoire, apparently written in Russian. You can cast Gift of Letters at Native and read every Russian word in the book. This may or may not be enough to tell you the type of magic contained in the book - if it's a book of demon-summoning, you'd probably grok that much, but which demons and how to summon them would probably be beyond your comprehension, since those aspects might be in a demonic language unknown to you.

• You decide to throw caution to the wind. You understand the Russian, which is enough to get the ingredients and processes of one of the rituals. If your translation is correct, the ritual will summon a helpful spirit that will increase the Will of everyone within a five yard radius. There are some non-Russian words in there, but they are at least written in Russian letters so you can attempt to pronounce them. The GM computes a success margin for you based on your Thaumatology skill, unless the magic happens to be in a Path you've studied. You try the spell and do not roll a critical success, but you do roll a success. The Will of everyone within a five yard radius is either unchanged or lowered, depending on the margin of failure. A failure would result in lower Will for everyone within five yards and an increased Will in everyone outside that range. A critical failure might result in the magician being possessed by demon - or something even more horrible, depending on the roll against the critical failure table(s).

See also

• Hermeneutics: the art and science of text interpretation.

• Exegesis: a critical explanation or interpretation of a text, especially a religious text.