Poetry: meaning or form

Translating a poem and unsure what to sacrifice.

Prompt

First decide what the text does: inform, persuade or process. The same sentence translates differently. You translate function, not words.

Task: Translating a poem and unsure what to sacrifice.

[Before you start, do three things]
1. Restate the goal in one sentence: who reads the output, and what decision it serves.
2. If I have not given you the following, ask me. Do not assume:
   - formal features: metre, line breaks
   - target reader
   - purpose
   - annotations allowed
3. Say how you plan to do it (at most 5 steps) and wait for my go-ahead.

[Go through each of these]
- state the strategy: meaning, form, or compromise
- two versions and what each gives up
- mark what cannot be carried over
- annotate or adapt, and why

[Process]
1. Confirm purpose, audience, venue
2. Fix terminology and proper nouns
3. Restructure per target-language habit
4. Flag what cannot be translated literally and needs the author
5. Check numbers, units, names

[Output]
Translation, glossary, list of uncertainties.

[Do not]
- No word-for-word rendering
- Never smooth away facts or qualifiers
- No inconsistent invented terminology
- Never present guesses as fact

What to state before it starts

Leave these unsaid and the model fills them with an assumption. Most 'wrong answers' start here.

formal features: metre, line breaks
target reader
purpose
annotations allowed

Go through each of these

Where this kind of work most often goes wrong. Already in the prompt, so you do not have to remember it.

state the strategy: meaning, form, or compromise
two versions and what each gives up
mark what cannot be carried over
annotate or adapt, and why

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