The Other Language...

Elly Petrides for the past thirty-five years has been living and working in Greece as a translator, mostly in Greek cinema. She shares stories with Theo Angelopoulos, this unique profession of a translator and more.  

When and how you first met Theo Angelopoulos? How this relationship evolved over the years?

My association with Theo Angelopoulos began in 1984, a little after I began working as a translator in Greek films, when I was called upon to do the English subtitles of his film “Voyage to Cythera”.

In the years that followed our collaboration grew to include not only the subtitles to his films but the original scripts that preceded them, interviews both oral and written, letters, acceptance speeches for honorary distinctions and I think it’s fair to say almost any important thing he wanted to express in English.  He had absolute faith in the accuracy of my translations and I should add that he had enough English to be able to understand the language.  I think he was also comfortable with the fact that I really was his “English” voice in that I conveyed that which he wanted to convey – in other words pure Angelopoulos. 

How was as a character, what traits of him you admired?

I remember years ago when I was given a synopsis for “Eternity and a Day”, as always a superlative piece of writing that soared.  I was so carried away by the prose that I must have added a few of my own embellishments in the translation.  When I sent it to him for approval I remember he returned it to me with the comment “That’s Elly, not Angelopoulos”.  I learnt my lesson. You don’t mess with the master!

But my work as his interpreter was also rewarding.  Angelopoulos spoke the way he filmed – with the right pauses (some of them as long as his takes!), the right words.  No wonder he has been called the Poet of Greek Cinema.  From television studios, to film festivals to one-on-one interviews, from Los Angeles, to Berlin, to London, to Cannes, I look back on the experience of having known him and worked with him with such great affection.  He was a perfectionist and I labored right alongside with him. 

I can recall you mentioned you translated his latest script over 100 times…?

Yes, indeed, we did 100 rewrites of “The Other Sea”, the film he was working on when he was killed.  I really do believe that if he were to have chosen the way he would “cross the other sea” that’s how he would have done it - while making a film.  I feel privileged that he considered me his friend and I shall always cherish my “Angelopoulos years”.

How it feels to work as translator, how easy or difficult is to dive into a person’s story/idea/concept and change it into a different language? What are the difficulties?

The ease or difficulty of working as a translator depends on the source material. I think it is fair to say that some writing flows so effortlessly that it almost translates itself and does not sound like a translation at all.  Languages are never totally equivalent and it is obvious that every language is bound to a particular culture with its own specific concepts which are revealed in the linguistic ways of expressing things.

So what do you do with something that is “culture specific”.  Should you “naturalize it?” 

Sometimes you have to otherwise it doesn’t make sense to the reader.  Information loss or the necessity of adding information is a well-known problem of translations and not just literary ones but it is something that is I think particularly acute when doing subtitles.  The viewer has to see the film not just read subtitles.   You have to convey the content and meaning of the dialogue with an economy of words that are not necessarily your first choice.  Of course there are some directors who want you to include every single thing that is said and trying to convince them otherwise is an uphill battle. 

When working with directors the feedback you get is often very productive and in talking you get fresh insight into characters and situations.  Also, in the case of slang, especially in films by young directors, you are faced with the eternal problem of whether to use British or American slang.  American English is more familiar to non-native English speakers – probably because of the widespread influence of American cinema and television.  Another problem in translating slang is the fact that slang easily becomes dated.  That’s why I try to use what I call “classical” slang, i.e. words that have stood the test of time – slang we used when I was growing up in the sixties and that is still used today.  I also think there is a fine line between representing informal register and getting too cute! 

In other words I believe subtitles should convey the dialogue as closely as possible to the source language as regards dialect, tone, etc. without drawing attention to itself.  The best compliment I ever received was from someone who said after seeing a film that I had subtitled that she forgot she had been reading subtitles! 

The translator is also faced with another important issue: literality versus free translation – a crucial and controversial point.  On the one hand stand the advocates of literal translation who believe that translation should cover up the original as little as possible.  On the other hand stand proponents of free translation who aim to make the result more fluent and thus more accessible to readers than a literal translation could ever be.  It is a challenge to view translation not only as the translation from one language to another but also as mediation between cultures.  The translator then becomes a cultural and linguistic mediator who needs to know specific cultural concepts reflected in both languages: the source and the target language of the translation. 

I believe you have worked with almost all Greek directors. Who are they? What you kept from your relationship with them?

Theo Angelopoulos, Michael Cacoyannis, Pantelis Voulgaris, Nikos Nikolaidis, Costas Ferris, Nikos Panayotopoulos, Alexis Damianos, Nikos Koundouros, Tonia Marketaki, Frieda Liappa… to name but a few.  So many memories, so many magical moments.  Translating, interpreting, being at their side in festivals, retrospectives, tributes.  Doing the simultaneous translation for the Greek Films at the Thessaloniki Film Festival or for representatives of major film festivals in Athens to see the latest Greek films, in the days before electronic subtitles and videocassettes. 

Based on your reply about the directors, have you ever considered to write a book/diary writing about your experiences with all these people?

Perhaps one day I will sit down and write a book about my experiences.  At the moment I revel in the fact that I can sit on my balcony with my two dogs and just do nothing.  After a lifetime of deadlines and stress – which I have to admit is often very invigorating and gets the creative juices flowing – I can finally take it easy.  My retirement has opened a new chapter in my life.  I can now pick and choose the stories I want to translate and do so at my own pace, well, more or less! 

Interview by Alexandra Belegrati 

Photos: Elly Petrides and Elly Petrides with Theo Angelopoulos, Venice Film Festival

 * ELLY PETRIDES was born in Alexandria, Egypt of Greek-Scottish parents and spent her early childhood in Egypt.  She was educated at English schools in Alexandria and later on in England where she also studied photography.  The family moved to the United States in the early sixties and she worked in advertising and television in New York City.  She has translated many scripts by leading Greek filmmakers and scriptwriters, thirty of which were approved for support by the European Script Fund, EURIMAGES and other initiatives of the EU’s Media Programme. 

She has also done the subtitles for hundreds of films by such luminaries of the Greek cinema as Theo Angelopoulos, Pantelis Voulgaris and others, many of which have won awards at major international film festivals.  She was Yannis Ritsos’ interpreter on the BBC programme “Bookmark” marking the poet’s eightieth birthday and also for Theo Angelopoulos on the Channel Four documentary on the director.  In 2001 she was entrusted by the office of the Prime Minister to do the translation of the book entitled “Maximos Mansion”, a history of the building that houses the prime ministerial offices.

 She has also translated the following books:

“Churches in the islands of the Aegean”, photographs by Emmanuela de Nora, text by Leonidas Ermilios, Tria Phylla, Athens, 1989

“The Old Curiosity Shop” by Costoula Mitropoulou, Kedros Pub., Athens, 1996

“Photographs for ever”  by Katia Mitropoulou, Govostis Pub., Athens

“Moving Landscapes: Film images of the Greek environment” by Chrysanthe Sotiropoulou.  Metechmio Pub. 2001