War is over (if you want it)

“Tá cogadh déanta (má’s mian leat é)

When a translation isn’t wrong (lines written backward, or a translation that actually means “The war is over” or “The war will be over”, or an outright contradiction of the original), it’s often tone-deaf. Would-be translators—amateurs and professionals alike— often forget one of the cardinal rules: translate the meaning, not the words.

The posters look cool. Actually, the whole thing reminds me of someone getting a tattoo in a non-Latin language because it looks nifty, without realizing it actually reads cooking oil.

In late 1969, John Lennon and Yoko Ono rented billboards in cities around the world (including New York City, Los Angeles, London, Tokyo, Rome, Athens, Amsterdam, Paris, Berlin, and Toronto) that read:  “WAR IS OVER! (If You Want It) Happy Christmas from John & Yoko.”  These billboards served as a protest of the then- ongoing Vietnam War.  The message was, as John Lennon explained, “We’re selling it (peace) like soap.  And you’ve got to sell, and sell, until the housewife thinks, ‘Oh, well, there’s peace or war.  Those are the two products.’”  

Thirty years later, I propose we this revisit this paean for peace.  

The wars in both Afghanistan and Iraq that President Obama inherited are raging as I write this.  Concurrently, the anti- war movement in this country seems to have been largely lulled to inaction since his inauguration.  Certainly the American people writ large have had no discernible voice on these matters.  

I’d like to see that change. 

The idea is simple:  Go to http://war-is-over-if-you-want-it.blogspot.com and download the “WAR IS OVER!” image.  Then, go to Google and type in “Poster Printing” and the name of your town.  Find a local print shop, take the image there, and ask them to print up a poster sizable enough for your front window.  Display your new poster proudly for your friends, neighbors, letter carriers, etc.  (This same idea could be applied to t- shirts or bumper stickers.)  

Remember, the guiding principle is to advertise peace– just like advertising soap.  Also, a nice ancillary benefit is that you are doing a little part for your local economy.

Make no mistake about it, this idea is directly influenced by Shepard Fairey’s iconic Barack Obama/ “Hope” poster and the viral phenomenon that it became.  It is indisputable that that image– the original of which now hangs in the Smithsonian Museum’s National Portrait Gallery– became a cultural touchstone, cementing intangible yet resonant themes about then- candidate Obama, galvanizing voters in the process.  

Cynics will say that such galvanization comes store- bought and commodified, and they’re not entirely wrong.  That is no matter.  Barack Obama won handily in the 2008 election, due largely in part to this amorphous and ever- evolving advertisement– and the narrative that went with it– for “hope” and “change.”  

Moreover, iconography matters, regardless of its accompanying commercialization.  It is my dream that the “WAR IS OVER!” image will be emblazoned on telephone poles, car bumpers, in storefront windows and in people’s homes not just in San Francisco and New York City but in Anchorage, and Montpelier, and Tucson, and Atlanta, and that its personification of the anti- war movement be once and for all as universally recognized as the pink ribbon has become for breast cancer awareness.  

Perhaps then our leaders in Washington will finally put a vivid face to the until- now timid voice of disapproval that the American public feels towards both wars (over 50% in each case).  The nature of mainstream politics and our news media today would certainly have to finally recognize such sentiment– that it’s not just the most strident leftists among us who are against the wars and willing to say so, but Americans from all walks of life– were this idea to take off.  And maybe then this grassroots pressure could begin to provide the political cover necessary to allow our brave servicemen and women to come home.  

Mr. Lennon and Ms. Ono were cultural revolutionaries, way ahead of their time.  A similar revolution is needed today.  With the ease the internet provides, there is absolutely no reason that one who shares their sentiment– and mine– could not take an afternoon and make their voice heard.  For all we are saying, of course, is give peace a chance. 

~lee.

P.S. Additionally, I’ve started a Facebook page that I invite any and all to join: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=wall&ref=nf&gid=179882080924. Thanks and be well.

I saw the same thing in the move “Gamer” where the name “Cable” was spelled backwards on the Egyptian pyramid. Seriously? Is it that hard to know some languages are right-to-left? Don’t get me wrong- I’m not so much worked up over it than amused and surprised.

It juxtaposed John Lennon’s “Imagine” with Megadeth’s “Peace Sells but Who’s Buying?” – claiming that although John Lennon’s tune has decent artistic merits and what not, it is grossly overrated for what it actually is: an unrealistically aloof song with the intentions more along the lines of a larger-than-life artist masturbating his blown ego.

I love the Beatles as much as the next person, and I enjoy Lennon… but I do agree with my friend that the way the song is perceived as gospel is a pretty silly.

The following three:
LA GUERRE EST FINIE! SI VOUS LE VOULEZ
DER KRIEG EST AUS! WENN DU ES WILLST
E FINITA LA GUERRA! SE VOI LE VOLETE
were the exact wordings of the European billboards approved by the Lennons and famously posted in Paris, Berlin and Rome in 1969.
Although they may have translational inaccuracy, they are historically authentic.
I’m sure you would agree in these three cases, it would seem inappropriate to now retranslate what the Lennons originally approved at the time.

The remaining posters on Flickr are by no means final.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/yokoonoofficial/sets/72157622834909233/
They are being continually updated at the kind suggestions of the many contributors. This will continue as the project grows.

We would love to hear from the cunning linguists on your translation mailing list.
If they haven’t already, they can email us or comment on the Flickr pages. The discussion generated will refine the most appropriate meaning and the posters will be amended until the very best meaning is reached.

This is an ambitious and creative endeavour.
The crowd-sourcing is deliberate: to promote involvement and refinement.
We knew we would start with some inaccuracies – it happens in all creative endeavours. We come together by getting better together.
And that’s really the message, isn’t it? We can work it out.
War is over if you want it.

The power of John and Yoko’s “War is Over” is, in my mind, that one can’t look at the poster and agree with it. No, war is not over. It’s painful not to be able to celebrate this, it seems insulting to try. And then we see the small print.

One of the things translators like myself battle daily is the perception that what we do is somehow easy or automatic. It is not. And when people wish to convey a message in a language they do not speak without giving the form and traditions of that language due respect come out as foolish as, well, any of those “Egrish” translations you see on popular websites.

veS
‘oH
ghoSta’!

chugh SoH neH ‘oH!

Quch QISmaS vo’ John ‘ej Yoko

The Japanese one says the same thing. And this project is run by YOKO ONO.

No, actually, no I wouldn’t. The Lennons weren’t fluent in these languages. Their “approval” is a historical datum, but I’m sure they would have used a better translation if they had known about it.

Always makes me think
We can all do more
We should all do more

peace

But I don’t think the translation means what Ono and Lennon meant. I would translate to Swedish as “Krigen är slut — när du bestämmer det”. Which Google Translate translate back to English, kind of correct, as “The wars are over – when you decide (it)” (my paranteses around “it”).

Like this:
Raw si revo.

Except instead of saying “War is over, if you want it, Merry Christmas from John & Yoko”, it says “the war is over”, rather than the entire concept of war. And the “if you want it section” implies that the object of desire is the war, not the termination of war.

Oh, and it wishes the reader a happy Chanuka, which is quite misplaced, considering the fact that Chanuka celebrates war (a successful uprising in a province of the Roman empire, dedicated to keeping all things western and modern OUT of the lives of the hereditary elite, and squash all Greek and Roman practices among the illiterate plebes (oops).) The war didn’t end too well (see: Masada.)

Other than the season of the celebration and the initial letter when the Hebrew is properly transcribed, Christmas and Chanuka have nothing in common.

FWIW, you can certainly wish people a merry Christmas in Hebrew: ×—×’ מולד שמח would be the correct phrasing. I’m not sure about “War is over”, though. Maybe you’d want to riff on the foundational statement of Modern Hebrew, אם תרצו אין זו אגדה – and say אם תרצו, ×–×” הקץ למלחמה? I don’t know. It’s kind of a hard concept to imagine in that language. Straight translation would not fly, in any event. (And the backwards-spelled one is good enough for using as street-cred for another language. No one is reading it for content, are they?)

The best thing in this particular instance, I think, is not to try to force the original phrasing, and just say something like המלחמה תסתיים, which is “War will end”.

Or something.