Taming the 'Devil's Advocate' (Part 1 of 2)
Once, over dinner in my favorite Indian restaurant in Cambridge, a good friend shared his experience. An interpreter — whom his organization hired in Jakarta — rendered Devil's Advocate as 'Advokat Setan' (a literal translation), and he is not too happy about it. "What is the correct Indonesian word for 'Devil's Advocate'?", he asked. I do not recall what my answer was, because at that time we immediately had a good laugh together. Why? In Indonesian 'Advokat Setan' also means 'Devil's Avocado'. Besides, I was enjoying my hot and spicy lamb kheema dosa (Indian crepe stuffed with minced lamb) too much. My tongue was burning like hell, dosa coincidentally means sin in Indonesian, and the term contains the word 'devil'. Hence my devil-may-care attitude on how to render 'Devil's Advocate' properly in Indonesian. See no (d)evil, hear no (d)evil, interpret no (d)evil…
Or so, I thought. The term came up again last month, though this time it was in a translation assignment. First, let's understand and analyze its meaning. 'Devil's Advocate' is actually a 16th century Roman Catholic term. But even when I was still a Catholic (before converting to Agnosticism about ten years ago), I was not too familiar with it. Obviously I was not a good Catholic. Only about five years ago, upon reading an article in The New Yorker, I came to fully understand its meaning.
Historically, the phrase derives from the canonization process utilized by the Roman Catholic Church. The Devil's Advocate (Latin: advocatus diaboli), was a canon lawyer appointed by Vatican authorities to argue against the canonization of a candidate. His job is to take a skeptical view of the candidate's character, to look for weaknesses, holes in the evidence, and so on. Naturally, the Devil's Advocate opposed the God's Advocate (Latin: advocatus Dei), whose task was to make the argument in favor of canonization. The office was established in 1587 by Pope Sixtus V, and partially disbanded in 1983 by Pope John Paul II.
In secular and common parlance, a Devil's Advocate is someone who, given a certain argument, takes an opposite position (that he/she does not necessarily agree with) just for the sake of debate or to validate a particular argument. A lawyer in a law firm for example, may be appointed to play the Devil's Advocate in order to sharpen an argument.
In any case, the literal translation of 'Devil's Advocate' in Indonesian, Advokat Setan, sounds awkward and its meaning will not be immediately understood. Its other meaning ('devil's avocado') could even be distracting and corrupt the target audience's understanding. Thus, only a contextual translation will fit the bill.
[To be continued.]
Johannes Tan, English <> Indonesian Translator & Conference Interpreter
Or so, I thought. The term came up again last month, though this time it was in a translation assignment. First, let's understand and analyze its meaning. 'Devil's Advocate' is actually a 16th century Roman Catholic term. But even when I was still a Catholic (before converting to Agnosticism about ten years ago), I was not too familiar with it. Obviously I was not a good Catholic. Only about five years ago, upon reading an article in The New Yorker, I came to fully understand its meaning.
Historically, the phrase derives from the canonization process utilized by the Roman Catholic Church. The Devil's Advocate (Latin: advocatus diaboli), was a canon lawyer appointed by Vatican authorities to argue against the canonization of a candidate. His job is to take a skeptical view of the candidate's character, to look for weaknesses, holes in the evidence, and so on. Naturally, the Devil's Advocate opposed the God's Advocate (Latin: advocatus Dei), whose task was to make the argument in favor of canonization. The office was established in 1587 by Pope Sixtus V, and partially disbanded in 1983 by Pope John Paul II.
In secular and common parlance, a Devil's Advocate is someone who, given a certain argument, takes an opposite position (that he/she does not necessarily agree with) just for the sake of debate or to validate a particular argument. A lawyer in a law firm for example, may be appointed to play the Devil's Advocate in order to sharpen an argument.
In any case, the literal translation of 'Devil's Advocate' in Indonesian, Advokat Setan, sounds awkward and its meaning will not be immediately understood. Its other meaning ('devil's avocado') could even be distracting and corrupt the target audience's understanding. Thus, only a contextual translation will fit the bill.
[To be continued.]
Johannes Tan, English <> Indonesian Translator & Conference Interpreter
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