walking dictionaries, nor machines that swallow words in one language then spit them out whole in another. • “Translators are language professionals. They are applied linguists, competent writers, diplomats, and educated amateurs. Like linguists, translators have to be capable of discerning subtleties and nuances in their languages, researching terminology and colloquialisms, and handling new developments in their languages. Like writers, translators have to be accustomed to working long hours alone on a subject which interests few people and with a language that few people around them know. Like diplomats, translators have to be sensitive to the cultural and social differences which exist in their languages and be capable of addressing these issues when translating. And like educated amateurs, translators have to know the basics and some of the details about the subjects they deal with… • …The fundamental rule when you’re not sure of a term or phrase is ask. An important part of the translator’s role is to communicate with the client -- and a good translator knows when to ask questions.” • Excerpt from "The Translation Profession" by Roger Chriss Kako čitati prevod? • Blago promašeni • Vodenica na Flosi/Oliver Tvist – Kliše - karakteristike viktorijanskog romana – Svečana rečenica, epiteti, vrline – Osobine piščevog stila zanemarene • Narcisoidni (prevodilac kao pisac) • Orkanski visovi/Ka svetioniku – Zanemareno je ko govori – ton, leksika, ritam rečenice • Kratkovidi/dalekovidi prevodi – Prevod prati priču – G. Grin – Pesnik prevodi poeziju – W.H Auden • Mehanički prevodi – Iain Banks, Wasp Factory • Zlodela u prevođenju – The Hours. M. Cunningham • He put the stub of the fat cigar he had been smoking under the cold tap, turned the water on for a second while the brown stump sizzled and died, then threw the sodden remnant in the bin. I put my things down on the big table and sat down, shrugging. My father turned up the ring on the cooker under the soup-pan, looking beneath the lid into the warming mixture and then turning back to look at me. • There was a layer of grey-blue smoke in the room at about shoulder level, and a big wave in it, probably produced by me as I came in through the double doors of the back porch. The wave rose slowly between us while my father stared at me. I fidgeted, then looked down, toying with the wrist-rest of the black catapult. It crossed my mind that my father looked worried, but he was good at acting and perhaps that was just what he wanted me to think, so deep down I remained unconvinced. • Iain Banks, The Wasp Factory • Stavio je opušak debele cigare koju je pušio ispod slavine sa hladnom vodom, odvrnuo je za trenutak dok je braon krnjetak crvčao i gasio se, zatim bacio raskvašeni otpadak u kantu. Spustio sam stvari na sto i seo, sležući ramenima. Otac je pojačao ringlu na šporetu ispod šerpe sa supom, pogledao ispod poklopca u smešu koja se podgrevala, a zatim se okrenuo i pogledao mene. • Otprilike u visini ramena, u sobi je lebdela zavesa sivoplavičastog dima, sa velikim talasom u njoj, koji sam verovatno ja napravio kad sam ušao kroz dvokrilna vrata zadnjeg trema. Talas se podigao polako između, dok je otac zurio u mene. Vrpoljio sam se, a onda oborio pogled poigravajući se drškom crne praćke. Proletelo mi je kroz glavu da otac izgleda zabrinuto, ali on je bio dobar u glumi i možda je hteo da ja baš to pomislim, tako da sam duboko u sebi ostao neubeđen. How to achieve equivalence? • There are (theoretically) two ways to achieve equivalence:
• literal translation: this is basically word-for-word translation in
which the translator opts for formal equivalence – the consequence is that a lot of the content of the source text might not make it into the target text
• free translation: basically meaning-for-meaning translation in which
the translator aims at getting the meaning of the source text completely across even if it means radical formal differences between the source text and the target text (a.k.a. functional equivalence) – the consequence here is that intended formal features of the source text might not make it into the target text. Questions to ask • Equivalence does not only apply at the level of words and sentences, but also at text level. The translator must take (at least) the following textual features into account: – semantics: the sense or meaning of each unit (words, phrases, sentences etc.) in the source text and the meaning of the text as a whole, which is typically more than just the sum of meanings of the combined units – communicative value of the text: the intended purpose of the text – place in time and space of the text – social context of the text: the sender and the intended recipient and the social relations between them • What? What is the message of the text? What is its propositional content? What is its basic content? • Why? What's the intention of the sender? What is the purpose of the text? What's the illocutionary force of the text? • When? When is the time of communication? • How? What is the manner of delivery? What's the tone of the text? What's the register? What's the level of formality? • What's the channel, or medium, of communication? • Where? What is the spatial location of the text? • Who? Who is the sender? Who is the recipient? What is the social relation between them? • The factors addressed in these questions, most of which relate to the context of the text, influence the text in terms of style, tone, register etc., and these aspects of the source text should also be, if possible, transferred onto the target text; basically, they determine the writer's choice of forms. Consequently, they should also determine the translator's choice of forms, style, register etc. in the target language, so stylistic equivalence is also retained. The translator and the good translation • Tytler's standards are based on the notion of the extreme forms of translation: – Embellishing translation: where the translator makes use of free translation to actually make a target text which is a better or improved version of the source text – “Copy-cat” translation: in which the translator seeks to preserve every aspect of the source text (even including mistakes)
• Tytler's rules of translation basically place the good translation
somewhere in the middle between these two extremes. – The target text should represent all of the content of the source text – The style of the target should be equivalent to that of the source – The target should be structured/composed like the source (and it should be as easy to read as the source) The scale – Methods, Newmark 45-48 • ”Copycat” translation • • communicative translation: aims at • • word-for-word translation: preservation reproducing the exact message of the source of word order and as literal translation as text content-wise and context-wise but with emphasis on naturalness and possible of individual words, including acceptability/comprehensiveness to the cultural words target text readership. • • literal translation: apart from as literal • • idiomatic translation: makes use of idioms as possible translation of individual words, and colloquialisms that are not present in grammatical structures are converted into the source text. the nearest target language equivalents • • free translation: focuses on the content of • • faithful translation: stays, if possible, the target text rather than the form, which within the constraints of the grammatical means that the same content is expressed in structures of the target text, but draws on the target text but with very different certain contextual factors grammatical structures if need be • • semantic translation: more emphasis on • • adaptation: the freest form of translation naturalness than in faithful translation, and more of a target language/culture based and translation of certain cultural words interpretation of the source text than a into neutral equivalents in the TL translation as such • Embellishing translation Translation procedures • Literal translation • Cultural equivalent: translating a culturally rooted word in the source • Transference: transferal of a text/language with a roughly word or expression from the equivalent culturally rooted word of the target language/text source language/text directly into • Functional equivalent: translating a the target text without word in the source language/text translating it at all with a functionally equivalent target language word (i.e. a word which has • Naturalization: basically the same meaning) transference in which you apply • Descriptive equivalent: translating a source language/text word using a target language spelling and description of the concept it refers to morphology (and pronunciation) in the target language to the expression or word in • (Near) synonymy: translating a question source language/text word or expression with a target language expression that is nearly, but not completely, functionally equivalent • Through translation: literal translation of • Translation label: provisional target collocations and combinations language translation of a source language • Shift/transposition: translation of a source term that does not have any conventional language/text expression into a target translation in the target language language expression which involves change • Compensation: making up for the loss of in grammatical structure, such that a something in the source text, by adding specific target language structure is used something else in the target text • Modulation: change of viewpoint or • Componential analysis: splitting up a substantial conceptual concept in the lexical unit into meaning atoms translation, for instance, using the name of • Reduction/expansion: adding or removing a category for a specific member of the elements in translation (essentially a type category, using a part for the whole (and of shift) vice versa), active for passive etc. • Paraphrase: amplification or explanation • Recognized translation: using a well-known of meaning in target text accepted target language translation for a specific source language institutional term