I Translated My Poem into English

Summary

The author has successfully translated their own poem into English, finding the process easier than anticipated and reflecting on the challenges of preserving poetic beauty in translation.

Abstract

The author shares a personal achievement of translating a poem into English, a task they once considered too difficult. This translation was surprisingly straightforward, and the author believes they maintained the original's meaning, rhythm, and structure. The author references Sugeng Hariyanto's article "Problems in Translating Poetry" to highlight the complexities of translating the rhythm, rhyme, and meter of poetry. The author suggests that translating their own work may have provided an advantage in this process.

Opinions

The author had a preconceived notion that translating poems into English was difficult but overcame this belief by stepping out of their comfort zone.
The author feels a sense of accomplishment and confidence after completing the translation, implying that the task was more approachable than initially thought.
There is an acknowledgment that translating poetry is generally considered difficult due to the need to preserve its rhythm, rhyme, and meter, as discussed by Sugeng Hariyanto.
The author expresses a personal triumph in preserving the poem's beauty in translation, possibly facilitated by the fact that it was their own poem.

It was easier than I thought.

Translating poems into English used to be on my list of things I considered “too difficult to even try”. But I’ve been stepping outside my comfort zone lately. I got a sudden boost of confidence and translated one of my own poems.

It was easier than I thought. Apparently, translating poems is supposed to be difficult.

As Sugeng Hariyanto (2003) explains in his article “Problems in Translating Poetry”, the beauty of a poem comes from the rhythm, rhyme, and meter, not only the choice of words.

How to preserve the beauty of a poem in translation? I think I managed to preserve the meaning, rhythm, and structure of my translated poem. But I’ll admit it probably helped it was my poem!

I Translated My Poem into English

It was easier than I thought.

Jet Planes

A poem