Lost in Translation: A Life in a New Language (original 1989; edition 1991)

this wasn't a book that i could get into. it's well written and actually parts of it should be quite interesting, but somehow it wasn't. i think a lot of it is that she talks about how she had to develop a distance and detachment from things in order to feel she was a part of her new life, her new self, after immigrating, and so she writes with this detachment about herself. that makes it hard for the reader to get too involved or to care too much. she has some interesting ideas toward the end especially - i really liked what she said about identity in america vs poland - but overall just found it too hard to invest in. ( )

The back of the book describes it as ‘graceful and profound’ and I will say simply that that is far too succinct a summation to be absolutely accurate. While the book does have a lot of interesting things to say about society and language and the complexities of moving between them it lacks a strong thread to bind the whole together. The narrative is a mind-bogglingly featureless one that fails to ever really grasp the reader’s attention. I found my mind wandering every few paragraphs and it was a force of will to actually affix my attention to it long enough to finish. No doubt my failure to find the core of the novel was at least in part due to my inability to read it for more than a few minutes at a time.

Putting aside the book’s merits as a whole, it did still manage to inspire new ideas though these appeared in very small increments primarily in accordance with the maximum attention span of the reader. The author moves from Poland as a young child and has only a tiny introduction to the English language. All of her internal dialog is in Polish and it is interesting to see how this colors the new world she’s living in. It emphasizes strongly the impact that the language in which we’re immersed has on our way of thinking and our way of interacting with others. As time goes on and she acquires more of a North American attitude her words too change both internal and external until her Polish language roots are no longer sufficient to sum up the whole that she has become as a person.

The other small hook in this novel lies in the cultural contrasts. She sums up well the “lostness” of American identify in which everyone seems to be pushing for more and more and more yet still feels they never have enough. While her more European background seems to be more placid, more content with the world as it is without having to constantly put such herculean effort into competing with everyone around you. These two combating viewpoints are a source of constant debate among her Polish friends until she too finally accedes to the American need to push.

So in summation, the book is a lot to digest and defied my expectations upon beginning it. It is a work to be studied and pondered upon rather than enjoyed. There is some small possibility of both, but the reader will be hard pressed to find an appropriate stopping point along the prosy primrose path to ponder the author’s intent since the book boasts three long chapters of 100 pages each and no real breaks anywhere in between where one can take a breath and internalize what has been presented. ( )

“If all therapy is speaking therapy-a talking cure-then perhaps all neurosis is a speech dis-ease”

Eva Hoffman is fascinated by words and fascinated by language and her autobiographical “Lost in Translation” is at times a brilliant thesis on the situation of an exile living abroad. It is also a lively and extremely well written personal account of a Jewish woman coming to terms with her former life in Poland and the new life she has made for herself in America.

Eva’s book is in three parts and the first of these is titled “Paradise” and describes her early life in Poland until as an 11 year old she emigrated to Canada with her parents. Her formative years in Poland takes on a rosy glow as she recounts a very happy childhood, however there is an undercurrent to her memories. Her parents are Jewish and they had fled to the Ukraine to escape the holocaust and now back in Cracow they are outsiders to the mainstream of Polish life. Hoffman creates a feeling of being one step apart from her Polish neighbours through the eyes and thoughts of herself as a child and with the hindsight of an adult, with some seamless writing. Life in Poland is not quite Paradise, but it is comfortably secure in a way that America never is for Eva. The importance of friendships, of family, of an identity and a place in the world comes through, but the other side of this is a recognition that the Jewish community is still under threat and results in the family’s decision to emigrate.

Part two is titled “Exile” and Eva tells of her early teen years in Canada (Vancouver) and her College life at Rice University in Texas and then at Harvard University. She captures perfectly the difficulties of learning a new language and adapting to a new culture. She is a gifted pupil in both literature and music and finds that her peers at school and University are so different that at times she feels like an alien. It is though she is trapped inside herself as the childish behaviour of the young Canadians leaves her bemused. Their values are different and the language and cultural barrier leaves her unable to express herself properly, but her desire to learn and to fit in gets her through. She says:

“But these days, it takes all my will to impose any control on the words that emerge from me. I have to form entire sentences before uttering them; otherwise, I too easily get lost in the middle. My speech I sense, sounds monotonous, deliberate, heavy-an aural mask that doesn't become me or express me at all. This willed self-control is the opposite of real mastery, which comes from a trust in your own verbal powers and leads to a free streaming of speech, for those bursts of spontaneity, the quickness of response that can rise into pleasure and overflow into humour. Laughter is the lightning rod of play, the eroticism of conversation; for now, I’ve lost the ability to make the sparks fly”

Passages like this express perfectly the difficulties and frustrations for immigrants who have to make their way in a country where they need to learn a new language. Hoffman also pins down perfectly the cultural difficulties that appear once progress in the new language has been made; how in conversation with native speakers so many things are 'a given' to them but for the newcomer this is not the case leading to missteps at the least and a comical floundering and even insults at the worst.

Part three “The New World” describes Eva’s adult life and success in America. She finds that she can use her different cultural background to her advantage as well as her new approach to the English language. Her differences can be appealing to others and she forges ahead in a society, whose rules she assiduously learns and uses to her own advantage. It is in this final section of her book that she takes time to reflect on Cultural life in America recognising the differences and the vastness of the country. Life in New York is compared to life in Cracow; Poland and not always to its advantage. As an academic she reflects on cultural differences, on language and the use of words interspersed with snapshots of incidents in her life. The way her writing changes from the real world around her to thoughts on life’s big issues reminded me a little of Robert M Pirsig's wonderful “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance”

As an outsider she considers that she is able to stand back and reflect on American life and a visit back to Poland reinforces her thoughts. She can view herself as two people; one whose life would have been so different had she remained in Poland. She is also able to criticise aspects of American life and finds it rather amusing that she ends up going to see a shrink like so many of her American friends. This leads her to thoughts on loss of identity, not just her own, but also something that is endemic in many of her American friends. Finally she attempts to draw some conclusions:

“No, there’s no returning to the point of origin, no regaining of childhood unity. Experience creates style, and style, in turn creates a new woman…….. Like everybody I am the sum of my languages-the languages of my family and childhood, and education and friendship, and love and the larger changing world-though perhaps I tend to be more aware than most of the fractures between them, and of the building blocks…….”

With its concentration on certain aspects of American society, part three did not have the same impact for me as the previous sections of the book, and this I think is because I could not personally relate to all of the issues raised. Hoffman’s views on the American (New York, academic) way of life, might be viewed as antagonistic by some although they seem to chime with more populist views of America, at least with those of outsiders.

As an Englishman now resident in France and struggling to cope with the language and cultural differences, Eva Hoffman’s book really spoke to me. It was chosen as a next read by my English book club group and I am sure that they will all identify with Hoffman’s insightful thoughts on some of the difficulties facing new immigrants. I have to say I loved this book; there were so many “Oh Yes” moments and it is one that I will certainly want to re-read. Unhesitatingly recommended ( )

Even if you are not an immigrant, this is probably an interesting read, but if you are, it may help you work out a couple of things for yourself.
Here is an excerpt I liked:
"This is not a place where I happen to be, this happens to be the place where I am; this is the only place. How could there be anywhere more real?"
And another:
"But the terms don’t travel across continents. The human mean is located in a different place here, and qualities like adventurousness, or cleverness, or shyness are measured along a different scale and mapped within a different diagram. You can’t transport human meanings whole from one culture to another any more than you can transliterate a text." ( )

A great story of immigration by a Polish-Jewish writer and intellectual. It's simple, lyrical, perceptive and true.