The Trouble with Translation

Stylistic aspects are the most difficult in rendering while translating. The core of the problem lies in structural and semantic differences between languages. The words of one language seldom mean the same as the words of another. A translation, at best, conveys something similar to the original language. It tries to transfer meanings from one language to another. A translation doesn't usually take the same form as the original. Sometimes a noun can be translated by a noun, and a phrase can be translated by a phrase. As we can see, the idea of only one correct translation leads to problems.” It is both a matter of choice and a matter of style. Much depends on the circumstances—for example, whether the words were used in a formal or informal way.Some difficulties in translation may be connected with stylistic devices used in the original text. Some are connected with cultural differences.

" Make practical stylistic tasks

Many literary texts have a strong cultural background. Note the method of translating the fallowing realia

 

knocker - дверной молоток, дверное кольцо, которым стучат в дверь the flag of sculls and bones - флаг с черепом и перекрещенными костьми (пиратский флаг) scalps - скальпы

drawers - кальсоны (нижнее белье мужчины-аристократа XIX века) pinafore - передник (слюнявчик) wrap - шаль, плед (одежда, которую носят феи, маскируясь под цветы) skins of bears - шкуры медведей (в них одеты потерянные мальчишки)

asks grammar - спрашивать грамматику (т.е. правила построения английской речи) did not know A from Z - не умел отличить А от Z (А от Я) (А от Б) (т.е. первую букву от последней / от второй)

Queen Mab - королева Маб (в английском фольклоре и поэзии – повелительница фей, царица фантазии). Brownie - Брауни (традиционными героями шотландских народных преданий были сказочные существа – brownies; любознательные и добрые, они собирали урожай больному фермеру, молотили зерно, сбивали масло и пр., любили всяческие проделки)

" Make practical stylistic tasks

Stylistic value of the text often courses problems in translation. Comment on the way of preserving stylistic value of the original text in translation.

 

The sun descending in the west, The evening star does shine; The birds are silent in their nest, And I must seek for mine.	Заходит солнце, и звезда Сияет в вышине. Не слышно песен из гнезда. Пора уснуть и мне.
How sweet is the Shepherd’s sweet lot! From the morn to the evening he strays; He shall follow his sheep all the day, And his tongue shall be filled with praise	Как завиден удел твой, пастух. Ты встаешь, когда солнце встает, Гонишь кроткое стадо на луг И свирель твоя славу поет.
My mother bore me in the southern wild And I am black, but O! My soul is white White as an angel is the English But I am black, as if bereav’d of light («Негритенок»)	Там, где рожден я, - солнце и песок, И черен я, одна душа бела. Английский мальчик – белый ангелок, А негритянский – черная смола.
And all must love the human form, In heathen, Turk, or Jew Where Mercy, Love, and Pity There God is dwelling too. («По образу и подобию»)	И нехристь - тоже человек, И в том любви залог: Где Мир, Смиренье и Любовь, - Там, ведомо, сам Бог. («По образу и подобию»)
Merry, merry sparrow! Under leaves so green A happy blossom Sees you, swift as arrow Seek your cradle narrow Near my bosom.   Pretty, pretty robin! Under leaves so green, A happy blossom Hears you sobbing, sobbing, Pretty, pretty robin, Near my bosom.	Стриж! Цветы прозрели. Видит нас цветок. Так лети же Ты, стрела без цели, К тесной колыбели, К сердцу ближе.   Милая касатка! Слышит нас цветок. Так лети же Плакать сладко-сладко, Милая касатка, К сердцу ближе.
The sun descending in the west, The evening star does shine; The birds are silent in their nest, And I must seek for mine. The moon, like a flower, In heaven’s high bower, With silent delight Sits and smiles on the night.	Заходит солнце, и звезда Сияет в вышине. Не слышно песен из гнезда. Пора уснуть и мне. Луна цветком чудесным В своем саду небесном Глядит на мир, одетый в тьму, И улыбается ему.

" Make practical stylistic tasks

Evaluate this translation for stylistic colour of vocabulary. Offer your variants.

 

My dogs was pooped out. – Копыта мои отказали, skinner – шофер, screwy things - чудные штуки, for ducks – просто так, sling the bull – почесать язык, the broad – девка, trap – пасть, to hit the sun – жариться на солнце, to nut – раздолбать, lifer - отбывающий пожизненное заключение, jake – самогон, to make her – охмурить ее, workin’ up a kick in the pants - зарабатывает взбучку, to go stir-bugs – свихнуться в тюрьме, my jeans plumb fulla jack – штаны, набитые деньгами, in the tank – в тюрьме, I’d get canned – Меня уволят, sure as cowflops – наверняка.

" Make practical stylistic tasks

These puns pose a serious problem in translation. Analyze the mechanism of making a pun and offer a variant of translation.

J

The dairy’s sign

Hung from a beam—

“You can’t beat our milk,

But you can whip our cream.”

 

She wore her stockings inside out

All through the summer heat.

She said it cooled her off to turn

The hose upon her feet.

J

Jack laughed all through his operation,

Which made the doctor shake his head.

At last he called for an explanation.

“You’ve got me in stitches, ” Jack said.

J

She said, “My work is never through.

I feed the ducks, I milk the cows,

And when there’s nothing else to &

I sit and knit my brows.”

J

It is dog’s delight to bark and bite

And little bird’s to sing,

And if you sit on a red-hot brick

It’s a sign of an early spring.

J

We’re not what we seam,

But that’s all right, ”

Said the sewing machine

To the needle one night.

J

Is the baby king in our family?

You ask and want the details.

Well, no, the baby is surely not king—

He’s just the Prince of Wails.

¿ Collect data on other stylistic aspects

Take a popular translation and look at it from a critical point of view. Offer improvement.

 

J Material for independent study

This portion of the book is collected thanks to students’ creative work and research. You can continue it, making similar tasks on various stylistic topics:

J Make cribs to remember the terms of stylistics:

Personification,	or personification anthropomorphism is a figure of speech that gives non-humans and objects human traits and qualities.
Zeugma	(from the Greek word " ζ ε ύ γ μ α ", meaning " yoke" ) is a figure of speech describing the joining of two or more parts of a sentence with a common verb or noun.
An oxymoron	(plural oxymora) is a figure of speech that combines two normally contradictory terms.
A pun	(also known as paronomasia) is a figure of speech which consists of a deliberate confusion of similar words within a phrase or phrases for rhetorical effect, whether humorous or serious.
Hyperbole	is a figure of speech in which statements are exaggerated.

 

J Make a cross puzzle to remember the terms of stylistics:

 

9.

R

Y

 

HORISONTAL

1. One of the stylistic devices which is based on change of meaning in phraseological context. Here 2 word combinations with common element are combined to produce the combination of members and different meanings. 6 letters

4. One of the stylistic devises which give birth to drama and it demonstrated animals and their names in order to produce comedies about contemporary life were used. 6 letters

5. What style occupies 60% of vocabulary consists of words without any stylistic meaning. But in real speech they can occupy 100%. 6 letters

8. What kind of songs turned to lyrical, spoke about emotions and inner life of a person? 6 letters

9. Combination of several songs about single event. 4 letters

10. Turn of speech? In which new meaning arise from the combination of opposite in meaning words (For example: alive corpse, terrible beauty) 8 letters

Vertical

2. One of the stylistic devises which create the authors view of particular object or phenomena. 7 letters

3. One of the stylistic devises sponsored by church and demonstrated Biblical sins, or abstract sins.8 letters

6. First, it was a professional language, now sometimes it connected with criminal language. 6 letters

7 Fixed word combinations. 7 letters

HORISONTAL 1. (Zeugma) 4 (Satire) 5 (Neutral) 8. (Erotic) 9. (Saga) 10. (Oxymoron)

Vertical 2. (Epithet) 3. (Allegory) 6. (Jargon) 7 (Cliché s)

 

J Make a thorough report on a minor stylistic topic:

The Epithet

The epithet is a stylistic device based on the interplay of emotive and logical meaning in an attributive word, phrase or even sentence used to characterize an object and pointing out to the reader, and frequently imposing on him, some of the properties of the features of the object with the aim of giving an individual perception an evaluation of these features or properties. It is sometimes difficult to draw a clear line of demarkation between epithet and logical attribute.

Epithet is markedly subjective and evaluative. The logical attribute is purely objective, non-evaluating. It is descriptive and indicates an inherent or prominent feature of the thing or phenomenon in question. Thus, in 'green meadows', 'white snow', 'round table', 'blue skies', 'pale complexion', 'lofty mountains' and the like, the adjectives are more logical attributes than epithets. They indicate those qualities of the objects which may be regarded as generally recognized. But in 'wild wind', 'loud ocean', 'remorseless dash of billows', 'formidable waves', 'heart-burning smile', the adjectives do not point to inherent qualities of the objects described. They are subjectively evaluative. The epithet makes a strong impact on the reader, so much so, that he unwittingly begins to see and evaluate things as the writer wants him to. Epithet has remained over the centuries the most widely used SD, which is understandable-it offers ample opportunities of qualifying every object from the author's partial and subjective viewpoint, which is indispensable in creative prose, publicist style, and everyday speech.

The structure and semantics of epithets are extremely variable which is explained by their long and wide use. Epithets may be classified from different standpoints: semantic and structural. Semantically, epithets may be divided into two groups: those associated with the noun following and those unassociated with it.

Associated epithets are those which point to a feature which is essential to the objects they describe: the idea expressed in the epithet is to a certain extent inherent in the concept of the object. The associated epithet immediately refers the mind to the concept in question due to some actual quality of the object it is attached to, for instance, 'dark forest', 'dreary midnight', 'careful attention', 'unwearying research', 'indefatigable assiduity', 'fantastic terrors', etc.

Unassociated epithets are attributes used to characterize the object by adding a feature not inherent in it, i.e. a feature which may be so unexpected as to strike the reader by its novelty, as, for instance, 'heartburning smile', 'bootless cries', 'sullen earth', 'voiceless sands', etc. The adjectives here do not indicate any property inherent in the objects in question. They impose, as it were, a property on them which is fitting only in the given circumstances. It may seem strange, unusual, or even accidental. There are combinations in which the ties between the attribute and the noun defined are very close, and the whole combination is viewed as a linguistic whole. Combinations of this type appear as a result of the frequent use of certain definite epithets with definite nouns. They become stable word-combinations. Examples are: 'bright face', 'valuable connections', 'sweet smile', 'unearthly beauty', 'pitch darkness', 'thirsty deserts', 'deep feeling', 'classic example', 'powerful influence', 'sweet perfume' and the like. The predictability of such epithets is very great.

The function of epithets of this kind remains basically the same: to show the evaluating, subjective attitude of the writer towards the thing described. But for this purpose the author does not create his own, new, unexpected epithets; he uses ones that have become traditional, and may be termed " language epithets" as they belong to the language-as-a system. Thus epithets may be divided into language epithets and speech epithets . Examples of speech epithets are: 'slavish knees', 'sleepless bay'.

The process of strengthening the connection between the epithet and the noun may sometimes go so far as to build a specific unit which does not lose its poetic flavour. Such epithets are called fixed and are mostly used in ballads and folk songs. Here are some examples of fixed epithets: 'true love', 'dark forest', 'sweet Sir', 'green wood', 'good ship', 'brave cavaliers'.

Structurally, epithets can be viewed from the angle of a) composition and b) distribution.

From the point of view of their compositional structure epithets may be divided into simple, compound, phrase and sentence epithets. Simple epithets are ordinary adjectives. Examples have been given above. Compound epithets are built like compound adjectives. Examples are: 'heart-burning sigh’, 'sylph-like figures’, ’...curly-headed good-for-nothing, and mischief-making monkey from his birth.’ (Byron)

The tendency to cram into one language unit as much information as possible has led to new compositional models for epithets which we shall call phrase epithets . A phrase and even a whole sentence may become an epithet if the main formal requirement of the epithet is maintained, viz. its attributive use. But unlike simple and compound epithets, which may have pre- or post-position, phrase epithets are always placed before the nouns they refer to.

Here are some examples of phrase epithets:

" It is this do-it-yourself, go-it-alone attitude that has thus far held back real development of the Middle East's river resources."

" Personally I detest her (Gioconda's) smug, mystery-making, come-hither-but-go-away-again-because-butter-wouldn't-melt-in-my-mouth expression."

Another structural variety of the epithet is the one which we shall term reversed. The reversed epithet is composed of two nouns linked in an of-phrase. The subjective, evaluating, emotional element is embodied not in the noun attribute but in the noun structurally described, for example:

" the shadow of a smile"; " a devil of a job" (Maugham); "...he smiled brightly, neatly, efficiently, a military abbreviation of a smile" (Graham Green); " A devil of a sea rolls in that bay" (Byron); " A little Flying Dutchman of a cab" (Galsworthy); "...a dog of a fellow" (Dickens); " her brute of a brother" (Galsworthy); "...a long nightshirt of a mackintosh..." (Cronin)

It will be observed that such epithets are metaphorical. The noun to be assessed is contained in the of-phrase and the noun it qualifies is a metaphor (shadow, devil, military abbreviation, Flying Dutchman, dog). The grammatical aspect, viz. attributive relation between the members of the combination shows that the SD here is an epithet. From the point of view of the distribution of the epithets in the sentence, the first model to be pointed out is the string of epithets . In his depiction of New York, 0.Henry gives the following string of epithets:

" Such was the background of the wonderful, cruel, enchanting, bewildering, fatal, great city; "

Other examples are: a plump, rosy-cheeked, wholesome apple-faced young woman (Dickens); " a well-matched, fairly-balanced give-and-take couple." (Dickens)

As in any enumeration, the string of epithets gives a many-sided depiction of the object. But in this many-sidedness there is always a suggestion of an ascending order of emotive elements. This can easily be observed in the intonation pattern of a string of epithets. There is generally an ascending scale which culminates in the last epithet; if the last epithet is a language epithet (great), or not an epithet (young), the culminating point is the last genuine epithet. The culminating point in the above examples is at fatal, apple-faced, and give-and-take. Another distributional model is the transferred epithet. Transferred epithets are ordinary logical attributes generally describing the state of a human being, but made to refer to an inanimate object, for example: sick chamber, sleepless pillow, restless pace, breathless eagerness, unbreakfasted morning, merry hours, a disapproving finger, Isabel shrugged an indifferent shoulder. It remains only to say that the epithet is a direct and straightforward way of showing the author's attitude towards the things described, whereas other stylistic devices, even image-bearing ones, will reveal the author's evaluation of the object only indirectly.

 

J Find examples of a certain stylistic device in speech and out of it:

Popular oxymora

A Fine Mess A just war A little big a little pregnant A new classic absolutely unsure

abundant poverty advanced beginner alone in a crowd almost totally alone together awfully good awfully nice

Awfully pretty baby giant beyond infinity big baby born dead calm storm

Hyperbole

" My sister uses so much makeup,...

" she broke a chisel trying to get it off last night! " Johnny, from Prescott Middle School, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA

" she bought out Mary Kay just to have enough makeup for one day! " Andrea, from somewhere in South Dakota

" Marilyn Manson freaked out when he saw her! " Nizam, from Bukit Panjang Gov't H. S., Singapore

" when she takes it off, my mom doesn't recognize her." Ashley, from Knoxville, Tennessee

" she has to use a sandblaster to get it off at night." Margaret

" that I haven't seen her real face for years..." Nivedita

" when she smiles her cheeks fall off." Ed

" she leaves a colour trail behind her when she walks! " Grant K.

" you can't tell where the face begins and ends! " Cara K.

" when she smiles, cracks the size of the Grand Canyon form in the surface." Ashley Brosseau

" by the time she gets it all on, it's time to take it off! " Josh W.

" she weighs 50 pounds more when she's done! " Alex

" at night she has to get the paint scraper to take it off." Beth Atkins

" when she takes it off she loses 30 pounds! " Benny H.

" she could pass as a clown at the circus." Adriene T.

" the artist formerly known as Prince gets ideas from her." Ashley Christine

" you could scrape off just the outer layer and put it on five other girls." Scott J.

" she looks like my

Zeugma

Here thou, great Anna! whom three realms obey,

Dost sometimes counsel take - and sometimes tea.

Alexander Pope, The Rape of the Lock (Pope was speaking of Queen Anne and Kensington Palace; it should be born in mind that in Pope's time, " tea" was pronounced " tay" and thus rhymed with " obey." )

He carried a strobe light and the responsibility for the lives of his men.

Tim O'Brien, The Things They Carried

Syllepsis can be used with idiomatic phrases to achieve a similar result:

If we don't hang together, we shall hang separately. Benjamin Franklin

You held your breath and the door for me. Alanis Morissette, Head over Feet

I took her hand and then an aspirin in the morning,

I took her hand and took her home. Eve 6, " Girl Eyes"

" Oh, flowers are as common here, Miss Fairfax, as people are in London." (from The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde) Cecily is making a catty remark to Miss Fairfax, a Londoner, by using " common" in two senses, namely " numerous" and " vulgar".

" The Russian grandees came to Elizabeth's court dropping pearls and vermin." Macaulay tells us here in one short phrase a great deal about the Russian grandees.

" Are you getting fit or having one? " (from the television program M*A*S*H)

" You are free to execute your laws, and your citizens, as you see fit." (from the television program Star Trek: The Next Generation)

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1. Ex.10. Discuss the principles of translation the technical texts.
2. F. The organization is in trouble. Match the departments with their problems (1-8).
3. Find in the text modal verbs or their equivalents, define their meaning in the sentence, give possible variants for their translations.
4. Find in the text verbs in the Passive Voice, define the tense and aspect of the verbs, give possible variants for their translations.