The Danger in Translation 

Translations: 

#1:As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect.

• Lack of punctuation
• Longer sentence with added adjectives
• "As" makes it sound less harsh...eases the reader into what is about to occur
• Use of transformed- gives an image of a complete and drastic change also has positive connotations
• Use of "awoke"- more formal

#2:Gregory Samsa woke from uneasy dreams one morning to find himself changed into a giant bug.

• Noun at the front of the sentence introduces character to the audience in an abrupt fashion
• woke/awoke- the use of "woke" makes the mood less uptight and formal
• Use of "changed"- sounds odd to the reader...alters the flow of the sentence
• "bug"- less specific, gets the audience questioning what type of bug. However, it still provides a similar image within the minds of the audience while not being as focused as the first
• bug vs. insect- "bug" has more negative connotations than insect

#3:When Gregor Samsa awoke from troubled dreams one morning he found he had been transformed in his bed into an enormous bug.

• Gregor/Gregory- Gregor sounds like more of a foreign name vs. Gregory which is a typical name in America
• "Troubled"- this has more negative connotations that uneasy
• With the use of  the phrase "he had found" it makes it sound like more of a surprise
• Enormous- provides imagery for the audience

#4:One morning, upon awakening from agitated dreams, Gregor Samsa found himself, in his bed, transformed into a monstrous vermin.

• "One morning"- The beginnings of a fairytale or fable, makes the reader believe the story will begin in a positive manner
• "agitated dreams"- doesn't have the same negative connotations as the rest of the adjectives used to describe the dreams he had
• Use of punctuation- alters the readers pace/more choppy/ overuse of punctuation creates lengthy sentence...more drawn out
• "monstrous"- roots word: monster: negative connotations
• vermin- completely different meaning from the translations above....more of a negative connotation. 
• Intense imagery created

By evaluating each of the translated texts, it is clear that syntax, diction, punctuation, etc, largely impact the meaning as it alters the imagery, and overall tone and mood. There was a complete lack of punctuation in the first three translations which created a steady cadence for the reader, as well as sped up the overall rhythm which ultimately leaves the audience more surprised or caught off guard as a result of finding out that Samsa turned into a bug. In addition, by having no punctuation, there isn't a sense of suspense created which ultimately takes away from the drama of the sentence. Furthermore, word choice played a great part in the creation of meaning which could be shown by evaluating the four texts. Specifically the adjectives used to describe the type of dream Samsa had reveal a lot about tone as well as mood. For example, "uneasy dream" sounds a lot less serious than "troubled dream". The difference then allows the audience to feel more sympathy towards a character who had a "troubled" dream thus impacting the mood and setting a much darker tone 

Personally, I feel as though translation #4 is the most effective as it combines strong word choice, syntax, and imagery. By beginning the sentence with "One morning" and a comma,  it seem as though this story is a mere fairytale or that it will begin in a light and uplifting manor considering all the audience initially reads is this phrase before taking a pause. This irony is one of the reasons that this sentence is the best as it caused the mood to be abruptly shifted from hopeful and optimistic to surprised and disgusted. Word choice was also key in this sentence as the use of the phrase "monstrous vermin" created the most foul image within the audience's minds in relation to the other sentences. While there is a slight change in meaning from insect or bug to vermin, I think that vermin holds a lot more negative connotations than the other two nouns used which helps to add to the repulsive nature of the text. 

When reading each translated sentence, there are definitely dangers in translation as the overall message might have been similar in all four, but the tone and mood is drastically different. Specifically speaking, text 2 is immensely different from text 4, as 2 seems a lot more lighthearted considering the character only had "uneasy" dreams and turned into a "giant bug" versus "troubled dreams" and "monstrous vermin" which have a lot more negative and dark connotations. These differences are substantial and blatantly show the dangers of translation and how the perspective of the translator can greatly impact the the end result and how this end result is perceived from varying audiences.