CASA Translation - A new generation of Americans - JF Kennedy [Presidential Inaugural, 20th January 1961]

Abstract

This speech by John F Kennedy was made in a very different nation and time fromour own. Nevertheless, many of his calls resonate today, both in the increasinglyinter-connected world, and here, in South Africa: the call for unity, and notdomination; the emphasis on liberty and the fight against ‘tyranny, poverty, diseaseand war itself’ — four evils terribly present in our wider African community, aswell as our own. Reading this speech here, today, demonstrates that Kennedy wasright to say that ‘All this will not be finished in the first 100 days. Nor will it befinished in the first 1,000 days, nor in the life of this Administration, nor evenperhaps in our lifetime on this planet’. The final call, of ‘Ask not what yourcountry can do for you — ask what you can do for your country’ is one that needsto be heard in South Africa today — where we are faced with such enormouschallenges in education, health and economics that often the response of the nationto this feeling of helplessness is an attack on our government, which so often hasfailed to provide. Indeed, such attacks are regularly justified. But the call found inthis speech is to recognise the role that we play in the struggle against theseimmense difficulties, and to take responsibility for our own country. This is whythis speech was chosen.The intention behind this translation exercise was to practice writingCiceronian Latin, and, while much of the content in Kennedy’s speech is alien toCicero’s Rome, many of the ideas are not, and his style is undoubtedly Ciceronian.The challenge in translation is mostly found in the need to transform Englishabstracts into Latin concretes, as well as in the attempt to find the right Latinequivalent for specific English terms — naturally a political party becomes afactio, but others are not so clear. I have called the Communists Communistae,since there is no Roman equivalent, and indeed the term is already rooted in Latin.A final challenge was to use Ciceronian word order leading to rhetorical devicessuch as chiasmus, anaphora, alliteration and emphatic positioning, while stillkeeping the meaning clear. Overall it is remarkable how easily a few passagesfitted into a Latin idiom, which in itself reflects the profound influence Latin hashad on English rhetoric and style.