Decoupage

Timothy Barnard talks about a lot of artists and filmmakers and their interpretation as well as English translation of the French word decoupage, however no one, has gotten the translation exactly correct.  This has caused the word to have several different interpretations in the American film industry. Barnard has decided that “decoupage” cannot and should not be translated from French to English.  Andre Bazin, who is as an influential French film critic, worked with and explained decoupage, however when it was translated into English, it was translated to editing, which it is not.

I agree with Barnard that when a word is being translated, one has to be vary cautious of not changing its meaning. However, a word needs to be describable as well as have synonyms in order for it to be used and understood. One of the main problems is that decoupage was translated to the word “editing,” and they are completely different. A language barrier should not be a reason for a country to loose insight on another countries film techniques. They need to find a way to communicate their intentions and build off each other, instead of creating and assuming definitions.