MASARYK UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF EDUCATION

Department of English Language and Literature

Translation Analysis of Bohumil Hrabal's Ostře sledované vlaky

Bachelor Thesis Brno 2020

Supervisor: Author: Mgr. Radek Vogel, Ph. D. Vojtěch Pavliska Abstract

The thesis deals with Bohumil Hrabal's novella Ostře sledované vlaky. It focuses on the translation by Edith Pargeter and examines the translation procedures that were used by the English writer. The theoretical part discusses various translation methods and problems that frequently occur in translation. The practical part analyses the translated text and attempts to determine which translation methods were used more frequently than the others and whether the translator managed to keep the original meaning while using several different methods.

Anotace

Tato bakalářská práce se zabývá novelou Bohumila Hrabala s názvem Ostře sledované vlaky. Práce se zaměřuje na překlad Edith Pargeter a zkoumá překladatelské postupy, které byly touto anglickou spisovatelkou použity. Teoretická část projednává různé překladatelské metody a problémy, které se při překladu běžně vyskytují. Praktická část analyzuje přeložený text a snaží se určit, které metody byly použity častěji a zda se překladatelce při používání těchto metod povedlo zachovat původní myšlenku. Key words

Translation, translation methods, analysis, novella, comparison, Bohumil Hrabal

Klíčová slova

Překlad, překladatelské metody, analýza, novela, porovnání, Bohumil Hrabal Declaration

I hereby declare that I worked on my thesis independently and that all sources mentioned and used are listed in the list of references.

Prohlášení

Prohlašuji, že jsem bakalářskou práci vypracoval samostatně, s využitím pouze citovaných literárních pramenů a zdrojů uvedených v seznamu literatury v souladu s Disciplinárním řádem pro studenty Pedagogické fakulty Masarykovy univerzity a se zákonem č. 121/2000 Sb., o právu autorském, o právech souvisejících s právem autorským a o změně některých zákonů (autorský zákon), ve znění pozdějších předpisů.

Brno, duben 2020

Vojtěch Pavli ska Acknowledgement

I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisor Mgr. Radek Vogel, Ph.D. for his kind approach, useful advice and patience during the process of writing. Table of Contents

1 Introduction 7 2 The author and the translator 8 2.1 Bohumil Hrabal 8 2.2 Edith Pargeter 9 3 Translation 10 3.1 Equivalents in translation 11 3.2 Translation methods 12 3.3 Problems in translation 14 3.3.1 Cross-linguistic problems 14 3.3.2 Grammatical problems 15 3.3.3 Cultural problems 17 4 Practical part 19 4.1 Specification 19 4.2. Amplification 22 4.3 Transposition 24 4.4 Reordering 28 4.5 Modulation 32 4.6 Explicitation 35 4.7 Equivalence 37 4.8 Caique 39 5 Conclusions 41 List of references 42 1 Introduction

The thesis deals with a translation of Ostře sledované vlaky, which is a very well-known novella about a young man Miloš Hrma, who works at a train station during the WWII. Hrabal's book was published in 1965 and was adapted into an Oscar-winning film by Jiří Menzel only a year after its publication.

I have known that the topic of my thesis would involve working with translation since the beginning of my studies as I find it fascinating. However, I was not certain how to approach my thesis and which book or film I would like to focus on. It was thanks to my supervisor, who suggested analysing a translation of a Czech book, that I have chosen Hrabal's novella. We are overwhelmed with Czech translations of English texts, which is why I decided to gain different experience. I had not encountered many English translations of Czech texts before choosing this topic, which made me curious and full of expectations. There are a few Czech writers that I was considering, but I finally decided to examine Hrabal's work for his significance in Czech literature as well as for his style of writing.

The thesis is divided into a theoretical and a practical part. The theoretical part informs about the writer and the translator of the work. It talks about various translation methods that were defined by different linguists and about obstacles to a perfect translation. I studied several books which I found interesting and helpful, especially the works of Newmark and Knittlová. The practical part then analyzes methods that were used by the translator and shows examples, which are examined individually. The thesis studies these instances and justifies the translation or attempts to give better suggestions. The methods that are present in the thesis were chosen based on their recurrence and curiosity.

The main goal is to compare the texts and attempt to determine whether the adaption keeps the original meaning. The thesis should also conclude which translation methods were used more frequently and whether the choice of these methods was optional or forced by differences between the Czech and English language.

7 2 The author and the translator

2.1 Bohumil Hrabal Bohumil Hrabal was born as Bohumil František Kilián on 28 March 1914 in Brno- Zidenice, which was then part of Austria-Hungary, today's Czech Republic. Hrabal spent a reasonable amount of time with his grandparents in the early years of his life as they took care of him. However, Marie, Hrabal's mother, married František Hrabal, who later became the manager of a brewery in Nymburk. He accepted Bohumil and treated him as well as his own son Slávek, who was born in 1917. The family moved to Nymburk in 1919. Hrabal attended a local primary school and a grammar school after that. He was not a very successful pupil and struggled throughout his student life. However, he managed to graduate from his law studies in Prague in 1946, after having to wait for 6 years for the school to reopen as it had been shut down because of the Nazi occupation. Even though he studied to become a lawyer, he worked as an industrial worker, a waiter, and a dispatcher in Kostomlaty, which is reflected in his Ostře sledované vlaky (Closely Observed Trains). He was also a travelling salesman, a paper packer and a stagehand at the S. K. Neumann Theatre in Prague ("Bohumil Hrabal," n.d.).

Hrabal worked as a writer from 1963 until his tragical death in 1997 when he fell out of a window. He started to create poetry in his university days. His first collection of lyrical poetry Ztracená ulička was withdrawn because of the communist regime. Some of his verses that were written before the war and influenced by surrealism were only published in 1991 in collections Básnění and Židovský svícen. Hrabal's first published work was Hovory lidí in 1956, which was a supplement in the annual Zprávy spolku českých bibliofilii. His collection of stories Skřivánek na niti was nearly Hrabal's first published book, however, it was dismissed by the communist regime once again. The Czech author finally managed to publish his own book Perlička na dně in 1963, being 49 years old. The book received an immediate acknowledgement, which led to him producing another book Pábitelé only a year later. Hrabal's original style of narrating that is used in these books was developed even more in his following work Taneční hodiny pro starší a pokročilé, where his uncle Pepin talks about his life experience in one sentence. One year after that, Hrabal published Ostře sledované vlaky ("Bohumil Hrabal," 2006).

Hrabal's work is typical of using colloquial Czech, long sentences, irony, humour, and switching between philosophical thoughts and cultural wisdoms or propositions. He had a great

8 influence not only on Czech literature, but also on theatre and film production in the 20 century. However, Hrabal was not allowed to publish any of his works for several years after the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia. Even though he was unable to publish his books, Hrabal wrote some of his famous novels during this period, e.g., Obsluhoval jsem anglického krále and Postřižiny. The writer made a self-critical interview with magazine Tvorba in 1975, which slightly improved his situation and enabled him to publish some of the works ("Bohumil Hrabal," 2020).

2.2 Edith Pargeter Edith Pargeter was an English writer and translator, who was born on 28 September 1913 in Horsehey, England. She was the youngest in the family as she had an older sister Margaret and an older brother Ellis, whose name she used as her penname later in her writing career. Her father, Edmund Valentine Pargeter, worked as a clerk, nonetheless, it was the mother who had a major influence on their children. They were surrounded by music and encouraged to read since their early childhood. Pargeter attended school in Dawley. She was a talented writer from her early days and won first prize for the Wellington area NSPCA writing with her essay Kindness to Animals. The writer then attended Coalbrookdale High School for Girls, where she passed the Oxford local examination and a year later, in 1931, the Oxford Higher examination (Wolfe, 2010).

Pargeter worked as a chemist's assistant at Dawnley, where she was learning about medicines, using the acquired knowledge in her future writing career. Her first novel Hortensius, Friend of Nero was published in 1936, but it was not very successful, which cannot be said about the upcoming book The City Lies Foursquare as it received positive acknowledgement. Pargeter worked in administrative for Women's Royal Navy Service in Liverpool during the Second World War and was awarded with the British Empire Medal for her devotion. She kept publishing new books even during the war, Ordinary People (1941) and She Goes to War (1942). The writer is well known for her famous characters Sergeant George Felse, who first appeared in Fallen Into the Pit in 1951, and Brother Cadfael, whose introduction did not come before 1977 in A Morbid Taste for Bones. Pargeter often used pseudonyms, she is mainly known by Ellis Peters, which is a name that she used in order to divide her mystery stories from her other works. Ellis is a name adopted from her brother and

9 she had a friend from Czechoslovakia, whose name was Petra, which completes the pseudonym ("Edith Pargeter," n.d.).

Edith and her brother became involved and active in the Dawley branch of the Workers' Educational Association (WEA) after the end of the WWII. They visited Czechoslovakia in 1947 for the first time and Edith felt that the people of Czechoslovakia had been failed by their politicians. She started to be interested in the country and visited it many times in the upcoming years. She was fascinated by the culture and language which she proceeded to teach herself, consequently translating prose and poetry into English. She was appreciated by Czech writers and received Czechoslovak Society for International Relations gold medal and ribbon in 1968. However, it was impossible for the writer to visit Czechoslovakia over the next few years as a result of the Soviet invasion (Wolfe, 2010).

3 Translation

Translation is a process that can be approached from different angles. There are several definitions that were uttered by various linguists. J. C. Catford defines translation as "the replacement of textual material in one language (SL) by equivalent textual material in another language (TL)" (1965, p. 20). Peter Newmark defines translation as "rendering the meaning of a text into another language in the way that the author intended the text" (1988, p. 5). This supports the idea that translators should translate the meaning, not the words. Munday states that "the distinction between word for word (literal) and sense for sense (free) translation goes back to Cicero (first century BC) and St Jerome (late fourth century AD) and forms the basis of key writings on translation in centuries nearer to our own" (2001, p. 19). However, it is not always easy to carry the exact meaning from the source language to the target language as there are many factors that make it difficult. Different grammar rules, culture, sense of humour and many other aspects are a hurdle to the perfect translation. Newmark explains that "whilst translation is always possible, it may for various reasons not have the same impact as the original". Even though he admits the impossibility of a flawless translation, he stresses that "the translator cannot afford the luxury of saying that something cannot be translated" (1988, p. 6).

Grygova says that in order to accomplish an adequate translation, the reader should not be able to realize that the text they are reading is a translation. The text should be perceived as an original, written in the mother language of the reader (Knittlova, Grygova & Zehnalova,

10 2010). In order to achieve that, Grygová states that there are many requirements to be met. The most fundamental ones read:

a) The target language text is natural and does not suggest any signs of preceding adjustments. b) The translation has the same impact on the reader as the original had in the source language. The meaning of the text should be as identical as possible. c) The translation should evoke similar emotions to what the original intended. The text should keep the atmosphere (in Knittlová et al., 2010, pp. 14-15).

Grygová adds that these criteria are mostly related to transposition1 and both informative and stylistic equivalence. It is a well-known fact that authors are often disappointed with translations of their works. Translated academic texts tend to be impoverished of their formality, which is not appreciated by the writers (in Knittlová et al., 2010, p. 15).

3.1 Equivalents in translation Linguists have been trying to define various procedures of translation that deal with a problem of a non-existing equivalent in the target language. Canadian authors Vinay and Darbelnet specified several fundamental procedures that are targeted at French and English. Munday notes that even though their work is based only on those two languages, it has affected many other linguists, who then used it as a resource for their work or tried to suggest more distinctions as they did not consider the list complete. Some of the renowned linguists that were influenced by Vinay and Darbelnet's model are Malblanc, Vazquez-Ayora and Garcia Yebra (Munday, 2001, p. 56). The model was also used by Czech linguists such as Poldauf and Bareš. The procedures are:

1. Transcription - using the same word in the target language as in the source language. Transliteration, rewriting words from a language with different alphabet, needs to be taken into account as it might cause a sound distortion, e.g., Mao-tse- tung changes from Imawdzungl to /mawtsetungl. 2. Caique - literal translation (potflower - hrnková květina) 3. Substitution - substituting one language device with another (usually nouns with pronouns and vice versa).

1 Necessary changes in the grammatical structure of the text because of a different language system

11 4. Transposition - necessary changes in the grammatical structure of the text because of a different language system. 5. Modulation - the change of perspective {elbow of a pipe - koleno potrubí). 6. Equivalence - using language devices that differ from the original in style or structure and preserve the meaning. This concerns idioms, sayings and the emotions of the author (my sweet girl - děvenka). 7. Adaptation - substituting the source language situation with a different one in the target language in case there is no equivalent situation in the TL, e.g., when there is a play on words or an absence of such a circumstance in the TL. (Knittlová et al., 2010, p. 19)

Vinay and Darbelnet's work was published in 1958 and revised in 1995. Their division of fundamental procedures was considered incomplete by some other linguists, who tried to add more features of translation. American theorist Vázquez-Ayora introduces terms amplification (text expansion), explicitation (addition of an explanation), omission and compensation. Malone, another American linguist, uses divergence (you - ty/vy), convergence (ty/vy - you), reduction (Here I am - Zde), condensation (s modrým hřbetem - blue-backed), diffusion (tongue-heavy - mít těžký jazyk) and reordering (reordering of words in a sentence) (Knittlová et al., 2010, p. 20). It is very challenging to create a translation that suits everyone as translations can be analysed from various angles and some linguists define more features of translation than others. Pym suggests that "in the end, from the perspective of indeterminism, each individual translator decides. After all, if there is no certainty, how can any theory presume to tell us what to do?" (2014, p. 107).

3.2 Translation methods Translating texts does not only require translators to understand all the words, but also ideas, emotions and humour. Newmark says that:

The central problem of translating has always been whether to translate literally or freely. The argument has been going on since at least the first century BC. Up to the beginning of the nineteenth century, many writers favoured some kind of "free" translation: the spirit, not the letter; the sense not the words; the message rather than the form; the matter not the manner. (1988, p. 45)

12 Newmark's remark suggests that the writers of the past insisted mainly on their ideas being transmitted, rather than being concerned about other features of their works. This has changed and many writers of today are not pleased with the translations of their production.

There are many translation methods that can be used in order to achieve the most satisfactory outcome and ensure a good-quality translation. Peter Newmark (1988) introduces several methods:

1. Word for word translation - translating words one by one, out of context, based on their most common meanings. This is mainly used to understand the mechanics of the SL or make a pre-translation process of a difficult text. 2. Literal translation - the lexical words are translated one by one, out of context. However, the grammatical constructions are converted to the nearest equivalents in the TL. 3. Faithful translation - reproduces the precise contextual meaning from the SL within the constraints of grammatical structures in the TL, transfers cultural words and preserves the degree of grammatical and lexical abnormality in the translation. It is devoted to keep the intentions and text-realisation of the SL writer. 4. Semantic translation - allows the translator to be more flexible. The translator is trusted with their understanding of the text and may compromise the meaning where appropriate, in order to sound more natural. 5. Adaptation - this is the least strict form of translation. It is usually used for translating poetry and plays. The themes, characters and plots are usually preserved however, the text is rewritten and the SL culture is converted into the TL culture. 6. Free translation - it is usually longer than the original and reproduces the matter without the manner, or the content without the form of the original. 7. Idiomatic translation - reproduces the message of the original but tends to distort nuances of meaning by using colloquialisms and idioms, even though they do not exist in the SL. 8. Communicative translation - focuses on the contextual meaning and attempts to be precise with the content and the language, (pp. 45-47)

Newmark explains that only two of these methods, semantic and communicative, fulfil the two main aims of translation - accuracy and economy. The linguist clarifies that semantic translation is used for expressive texts and tends to over-translate, on the other hand communicative translation serves informative and vocative texts and tends to under-translate (1988, p. 47). Newmark's idea that semantic and communicative translation are present in every translation, only in different degrees, depending on which one is emphasized, is seen as a slight simplification by Knittlova, as she believes that translating is about understanding the system

13 and its usage. Therefore, there are noticeable differences in systematic and textual approach (Knittlova, 2000, p. 9).

3.3 Problems in translation There are many hurdles that translators need to overcome and even if they manage to do so, they hardly ever satisfy everyone. Savory (1957) justifies this by stating that linguists have never agreed on universal rules and often contradict themselves. He adds several rules of translation that were stated by various linguists to demonstrate his argument:

1. A translation must give the words of the original. 2. A translation must give the ideas of the original. 3. A translation should read like an original work. 4. A translation should read like a translation. 5. A translation should reflect the style of the original. 6. A translation should possess the style of the translator. 7. A translation should read as a contemporary of the original. 8. A translation should read as a contemporary of the translator. 9. A translation may add to or omit from the original. 10. A translation may never add to or omit from the original, (p. 49)

Based on these rules it is impossible to achieve a perfect translation, which is an utterance that most linguists have agreed on. It is essential to find the balance between all those rules and decide when to follow one rule and when to follow its opposite. Newmark agrees with the rule that a translation should not read like a translation, however, "when an authoritative text is linguistically innovatory, its translation is likely to be so, and if the translator-reviser or the critic keeps thinking that a translation should not appear to be one, he or she will be impairing the original's impact by normalizing it" (1991, p. 105).

3.3.1 Cross-linguistic problems Linguistic issues in translation may arise in translating from any source language to any target language. It is even more probable when translating into a language from a different branch, which is the case in translating from Czech (Slavic language), into English (Germanic language). Catford says that "SL texts and items are more or less translatable rather than absolutely translatable or untranslatable. In total translation, translation equivalence depends

14 on the interchangeability of the SL and TL text in the same situation" (1965, p. 93). Straková advises that knowing the whole text makes it easier to understand difficult passages that appear in it, which prevents the translator from misunderstanding some situations and helps them find equivalents for uncommon expressions (Kufnerová, Poláčková, Pověj šil, Skoumalová & Straková 1994, p. 159).

Czech and many other languages differentiate two forms of addressing other people - tykání, vykání. Kufnerová emphasizes that translating such a phenomenon is disturbing mainly when it has a further purpose in the source text. She presents the example of Tatyana's letter in Eugene Onegin, where Tatyana is not assured whether to use tykání or vykání. This translation is not problematic for a Czech, but an English translator needs to think of other ways to express Tatyana's emotions. On the other hand, a Czech translator is burdened with a contrary problem, that is to differentiate when the situation in an English written text rather corresponds to vykání or tykání (Kufnerová et al., 1994, p. 161). Knittlová adds that it is helpful to address the person by their first name to indicate tykání. However, there are more factors that should be considered, e.g., further context, convention and the situation (2010, p. 122).

Common complications in translation are caused by ambiguity or puns. Kufnerová mentions that puns may be based on homonyms, synonyms or polyonymy of such kind that it is impossible to find their Czech counterpart with an appropriate structure (1994, p. 12). The main concern emerges when an author intends to be ambiguous as it is very difficult to find a fitting translation and preserve the ambiguity. Catford presents an example of an English word bank. The word can either represent a building or an edge of a river. These have unique words in many other languages. It should not be challenging to realize which of these the speaker meant in a usual context. However, it is impossible to translate if the author intends to be ambiguous as Catford shows on the example "Realize thyself, Amoeba dear, said Will; and Amoeba realized herself, and there was no Small Change but many Checks on the Bank wherein the wild Time grew and grew and grew." Such a phenomenon is known as polysemy; that is one single item having more meanings (1965, p. 95).

3.3.2 Grammatical problems There is a multitude of grammatical categories across languages. When translating, it becomes a concern when one language lacks a grammatical category that the other language uses, which might have a consequence of changing the message during the process of

15 translation. Baker notes that "this change may take the form of adding to the target text information which is not expressed in the source text" (2018, p. 97). The Czech language, as well as the other Slavic languages, has a different verb form based on the gender of the speaker. Catford uses an example from Russian literature, where the person says "ja prišlď, which is translated into English as "I've arrived'. This translation was done correctly. However, it does not provide a perfect meaning devolution, because the sex of the person is irrelevant in the English language. On the other hand, the Russian woman revealed her sex by uttering such words, even though she had not intended to do so (1965, p. 94). Jakobson discusses a similar obstacle and emphasizes that "if I ask the utterer of the English sentence whether the worker was male or female, my question may be judged irrelevant or indiscreet, whereas in the Russian version of this sentence an answer is obligatory" (1959, p. 236). Knittlová connects to the topic and presents examples such as cook or lawyer, which are same for both sexes in the English language but different in Czech - kuchař and kuchařka, advokát and advokátka. This might be significant in the story as the whole point might be an exposure that the lawyer is a woman (2010, p. 121).

Baker recognizes word order as another problematic field for a translator. English, compared to other languages such as German, Russian and Arabic, has relatively fixed word order. Baker highlights that "word order is extremely important in translation because it plays a major role in maintaining a coherent point of view and in orientating messages at text level" (2018, p. 123). Straková adds that it is challenging to translate dialogues where it is necessary to signify an intonation. This is unique for every language and the choice of translating devices depends on its word order rules and its ability to adapt (quoted in Kufnerová et al., 1994, p. 85).

Knittlová comments on the issue of different countability of nouns between some Czech and English words. She claims that this problem can be countered by lexical devices, however, it may inadvertently put more emphasis on the translated text, e.g., Close the gate x Zavírejte ta vrata or Have some chocolates x Vezmi si nějaké bonbony (2010, p. 121). Baker agrees with the idea of dealing with such inconvenience lexically, but gives another possibility, "to omit the relevant information relating to number" (2018, p. 99).

The Czech and English language also differ in tense and aspect. The former grammatical category usually distinguishes past, present and future. The latter one differentiates the temporal distribution of an event, its completion, continuation or momentariness (Baker, 2018, p. 110). Knittlová proposes that every verb in the Czech language is either perfective or imperfective in its morphological structure unlike in English, where the verb only focuses on the process of

16 action development, which is slightly influenced by the subjectivity of the speaker (2010, p. 122).

3.3.3 Cultural problems There are various cultures all over the world. Many issues may be caused when translating a text between different cultures. Newmark defines culture as "the way of life and its manifestations that are peculiar to a community that uses a particular language as its means of expression" (1988, p. 94). Robinson mentions that "translation theorists have been cognizant of the problems attendant upon cultural knowledge and cultural difference at least since ancient Rome, and translators almost certainly knew all about those problems before theorists articulated them" (2003, p. 187). Komissarov claims that "the differences in the source language and target language cultures may necessitate additional information in the target text explaining unfamiliar facts and ideas to the receptors. In other cases, they may result in omission of irrelevant details" (1991, p. 47). This might create difficulties for translators as there is a danger of impoverishing the readers of the smoothness of the text by adding explanations and making the text seem rather unnatural. Povejsil suggests that this is common when the source text contains allusions that are specific within the culture (quoted in Kufnerova et al., 1994, p. 155). Tarnyikova argues that "clause addition is quite frequent and is mostly evoked by the need to explicate potential sources of structural ambiguity or semantic indeterminacy. It might be the lack of shared pragmatic knowledge or an empathy to less knowledgeable readers" (2007, p. 211).

Newmark distinguishes universal, cultural and personal language. He states that there are rarely problems with translating universal words such as die, live, swim or star. Cultural words are usually precarious to translate, unless they overlap between the cultures of the source language and the target language, e.g., monsoon, steppe, tagliatelle. Personal language is, according to Newmark, difficult to translate as well. He presents an example of calling someone a monologger (never finishes the sentence) or saying that person's underlife (personal qualities and personal life) is evident in the poem. He explains that such personal language is often referred to as idiolect and normally causes trouble in translation (1988, p. 94). Jakobson comments on the different perception of the word cheese and its Russian counterpart syr, saying that "the English word cannot be completely identified with its standard Russian heteronym,

17 because cottage cheese is a cheese but not a syr. In standard Russian, the food made of pressed curds is called syr only if ferment is used" (1959, p. 233).

Newmark develops his idea of cultural words and says that "most cultural words are easy to detect, since they are associated with a particular language and cannot be literally translated, but many cultural customs are described in ordinary language, where literal translation would distort the meaning and a translation may include an appropriate descriptive- functional equivalent" (1988, p. 95). A good example of this is the comparison between the English expression to kick the bucket and Czech natáhnout bačkory. Both utterances mean to decease, but it would not make sense if they were translated literally.

Metaphors and idioms are often featured in literature and are not easy to deal with. Kufnerová says that when translating metaphors, the translator should not only focus on its meaning, but also on the commonness of its use, i.e., whether it is a metaphor that is relatively new or on the other hand has been used for decades (1994, p. 113). Kufnerová comments that metaphors that are based on local strangeness are not very common, however, they are not easy to translate. She uses an example from Macedonian culture, pamučen chorizont, which displays a horizon that is veiled with fluffy white clouds. The Macedonians associate it with buying rough cotton as pamuk means cotton in Macedonian. This association is improbable to be made by a Czech person and the translator needs to find a different solution than a literal translation (1994, p. 116). Baker stresses that "it is not the specific items an expression contains but rather the meaning it conveys and its association with culture-specific contexts which can make it untranslatable or difficult to translate" (2018, p. 74). She then presents an example that demonstrates her argument. The English language has the expression to carry coals to Newcastle. Even though it is culturally specified, as Newcastle is a place with abundance of coal, the expression has its equivalent in German Eulen nach Athen tragen (to carry owls to Athens). The main point is "to convey the same meaning, namely, to supply something to someone who already has plenty of it (2018, p. 74). An equivalent can be found in the Czech language as well - nosit dříví do lesa. Translating metaphors often forces the translator to change the grammatical structure, which may result in the sentence looking rather inelegant. Newmark (1988) advises that:

Whenever you meet a sentence that is grammatical but does not appear to make sense, you have to test its apparently nonsensical element for a possible metaphorical meaning, even if the writing is faulty, since it is unlikely that anyone, in an otherwise sensible text, is suddenly going to write deliberate nonsense, (p. 106)

18 Kufnerova recalls the issue of translating dialect. She explains that it is essential to detect the function of the dialect in the text, as it might not have any; therefore, the text can be translated into standard Czech. However, if the dialect has its function in the text, the translator should find a solution to portray it in the translation. Kufnerova speculates that the problem is often approached by using standard Czech with different degree of regional dialects that are not distractive (1994, pp. 69-70). Newmark (1988) advises to observe the function of the dialect as well and proposes three functions that a dialect is likely to have:

a) to show a slang use of language b) to stress social class contrasts c) to indicate local cultural features (p. 195).

Newmark remains encouraging and speculates that even though translation of dialect "is sometimes set up as the ultimate impossibility in translation, it is not" (1988, p. 195).

4 Practical part

4.1 Specification

Specification is a type of a translation method that is used frequently as different languages work in different ways and words might have wider or narrower meanings. There are many more expressions that are not true synonyms rather than the opposite. This is true not only in different languages, but also within one language. Therefore, specification occurs repeatedly in translation. Sager and Hamel translate Vinay and Darbelnet's "specification" as "particularisation". The linguists state that "the most basic lexicological distinction between words occurs at the level of the range of their extension. There is no reason why an English word and its French counterpart should have the same extension" (Darbelnet & Vinay, 1958/1995, p. 59). This statement suggests that specification appears in every translation, although in different degree.

(1)

Jel jsem se tam podívat na bicyklu za půl I went out there on my bicycle to have a hodiny po sestřelení. A už jsem potkával look, half an hour after the dog-fight. And občany, kteří na vozíčku táhli to, co all along the road I kept meeting people ukořistili. from the town, pulling hand-carts loaded I with the stuff they'd looted.

19 The original text in example 1 mentions that there had been a plane shot down. The translator uses the term dog-fight, which means "a fight between two military aircraft in which they fly very fast and very close to each other" (Cambridge Dictionary). The translated text therefore tries to specify the battle between the planes, even though it had not been described in the text. The term was chosen in order to stress the fight between the planes. The latter example specifies that the people that Miloš kept meeting were from the town. This specification was made as the word people would be quite vague. However, the word citizens could have been introduced instead, which would prevent both the vagueness and the unnecessary additional information.

(2)

Těžko se dalo uhádnout, na co by to tak It was a job to guess what use they could mohlo být? Ale já jsem jel na bicyklu possibly make of some of that junk. But I dál, chtěl jsem se podívat na ten rozbitý went pedalling on, all I wanted was to have aeroplán, já jsem nesnášel shánlivé lidi, a look at the smashed plane. I couldn't stand kdepak já sbírat nebo utrhávat nějaké acquisitive people, and I wasn't interested součástky, nějaké krámy! in prising off odd parts and grabbing at bits of rubbish.

Here Hrabal uses a simple demonstrative pronoun to, which does not have any positive or negative polarity. The sentence slightly suggests that the loot is probably useless. On the other hand, the translation blatantly states that the loot is junk. However, this is intentional because of the lack of expressivity in the utterance at the end of this example. Nějaké krámy is quite expressive and its translation bits of rubbish is not as colourful, so the translator tries to balance it by stressing it earlier. The second instance is more problematic as it gives much more emphasis on Miloš's desire to see the crashed plane. The translation suggests that there was nothing that could stop him or distract him from seeing the aircraft. Nevertheless, this addition of emphasis, similarly to the first case, is supposed to substitute the expressiveness that is present in the original at the end of Ex. 2.

(3)

ale občané šíleli závistí, když si But our townspeople went green with envy pomysleli, že otec může ještě dvacet when they reflected that Father might still třicet let na tomhle světě žít. A potom, have twenty or thirty years of life ahead of tatínek vstával ještě dřív než ti, co chodili him. And on top of that, Dad went on do práce. V celém kraji sbíral, kde se co getting up in the morning earlier than the dalo... people who were still going to work. He

20 used to go round collecting from the whole district...

The English translation, again, puts more emphasis on the utterance. In the Czech text A potom introduces dad's habit. In the translation, Pargeter uses the phrase on top of that, which is more intensive than its Czech counterpart and suggests that it was another reason for the townspeople to hate or envy Milos's dad. This is not the case as it is explained a few lines later that people would come to ask the dad for something that they needed. An appropriate translation would therefore be and then.

(4)

Ale pradědeček se jen vykřísal, už zase But Great-grandfather only bobbed up as se tak dlouho vyptával, kdo je na tom lip, fresh as ever, and was soon off again až ho zase nekřesťansky zbili. bragging about who was the better off everywhere he went, until somebody beat him up again in the same unchristian way.

Hrabal uses the verb vykrisal, which suggests that the grandfather started bragging immediately after recovering from his previous injuries. The translator uses the phrase bob up as fresh as ever, which rather implies that he has fully recovered and then started bragging. The adaptation therefore specifies his state of health. The latter addition of everywhere he went is specification as well. The original does not particularly claim that he was boasting everywhere he went, even though it might be true. Pargeter intensifies his actions by including the adverbial in her adaptation.

(5)

...kde studenti házeli po vojácích The students dug out cobble-stones from dlažební kostky a trefili pradědečka do the paving there to throw at the soldiers, kolena a zmrzačili ho nadosmrti. and they hit great grandfather on the knee and crippled him for life.

In example 5, Pargeter adds the information that students dug out cobblestones from the paving. This is not literally said in the original, but it is obvious that this was the case. Therefore, Pargeter's addition does not change the meaning nor the story but attempts to help the readers with realizing what the students were doing and also stresses their actions by adding the lead up to the throwing, which is not mentioned by Hrabal.

21 Pargeter uses specification in her translation very often. She primarily uses it to highlight some actions, either because she did not manage to translate a particular part with enough expressivity, therefore she feels necessity to balance it by stressing the text where it is possible, or in other cases, where she does not substitute any missing expressivity but wants to emphasize the situation in order to affect the reader more by giving them more specific information. Even though Pargeter specifies quite frequently and sometimes slightly changes the meaning, overall, she uses specification carefully in order not to differ substantially from the original.

4.2. Amplification Amplification is a term that was introduced by American theorist Vázquez-Ayora (Knittlová et al., 2010, p. 20). The glossary of terms in Darbelnet and Vinay defines amplification as "the translation technique whereby a target language unit requires more words than the source language to express the same idea" (1958/1995, p. 339). Translators use amplification in order to expand their text, even though it might not be necessary. Expansion of a text may sometimes change the meaning or give additional information, which would be rather considered specification. Amplification is close to specification and it is sometimes difficult to distinguish these methods.

(6)

... a otec se zamyslil, šel popaměti ... and Father considered for a moment, někam na půdu nebo do kůlny nebo před and then set off from memory for some hromady na dvoře, a potom někam hrábl particular spot in the loft or the shed, or a za chvilku vytáhl něj aký krám... prowled round the pile of stuff in our yard, and then he rummaged in there somewhere, and in a few moments he hauled out some I piece of scrap...

Pargeter inserts the phrase for a moment, which specifies the time of the father's thinking. However, this addition was necessary as Hrabal uses the prefix za- in zamyslil, which does not require to be followed by time specification. As English does not abound such verbs, Pargeter chooses to expand the text by adding a phrase. The second instance in this text says that the father šel popaměti někam, which suggests that he might have had an idea where exactly he wanted to go. However, the translation produces extra information and directly mentions that he set off for some particular spot. Therefore, the translation emphasizes the awareness of the dad even more than the original. The final case of amplification in this example is the

22 addition of the verb prowl, followed by the excessive noun stuff. The verb specifies the way in which the father was moving around the piles. The noun unnecessarily defines the pile, moreover, the adaptation proposes that there is a single pile instead of multiple as the original suggests.

(7)

Rozřezal je na stejné kousky, vyleštil, a He cut those pipes up into identical pieces, potom vedle těch šedesáti lesklých and polished them, until he'd turned them trubiček položil svou patentní tužku into sixty shiny tubes, and then he laid s vysouvací tuhou. alongside them his own patent propelling pencil with the retractable lead.

Pargeter enters a whole extra clause into her translation. The clause slightly emphasizes the amount of time which was required to turn those pipes into tubes as until he'd turned them highlights the action. The addition does not specify the text nor changes its meaning.

(8)

A potom, tatínek vstával ještě dřív než And on top of that, Dad went on getting ti, co chodili do práce. up in the morning earlier than the people who were still going to work.

The translated text in example 8 redundantly adds that it was in the morning when the dad was getting up. There is already the adjective earlier, which on its own indicates that it was at dawn, not later in the day, when the father used to get up. It is not the language that forces Pargeter to use extra words in English, it is rather her choice to extend the text and be more explicit.

(9)

... protože dál se vytahoval těmi ... because he still went on dragging sedmdesáti lety, ve kterých měl každý himself around the district flaunting those den tu láhev rumu a tabák. seventy years when he had had his bottle of rum and his tobacco every day.

Pargeter expands the text by adding the information that Milos's grandfather was dragging himself around the district, which is not specified in the original, however, it is obvious from the plot that the grandad was boasting in front of the people from the district. Thus, it is not false information and only functions as text expansion.

23 (10)

Proto žádná jiná rodina tak neležela That was why there was no other family that v žaludku města. stuck in the town's gullet like ours did.

An addition of the phrase like ours did in example 10 emphasizes the fact that it was Milos's family that was not favourite in the eyes of other people in the town. Pargeter could have decided to choose a different structure of the sentence and simply translate as "why no other family but ours stuck...", which would not require the addition at the end. However, it seems like the translator attempts to stretch the text as often as possible.

(11)

... a potom poručík dal praporkem And then the lieutenant gave a signal with znamení a tank se rozejel, ale děda his pennant, and the tank changed its mind neuhnul a tank j ej přej el... and moved forward, but Grandfather never budged, and the tank ran over him...

Pargeter provides information that the tank changed its mind. Even though the tank had not been moving for a while, the Czech text does not imply that the lieutenant had been considering not moving forward. However, the translator's intention could have been to stress the movement of the tank, not to suggest that there had been a chance of it not going forward.

Amplification is used frequently in Pargeter's translation. She tries to maintain Hrabal's style and use long sentences, which is not as usual in English as it is in Czech. In order to keep the sentences long, the English translator uses amplification and chooses longer phrases or even adds more information to express similar meanings. However, applying such strategy sometimes causes slight changes in the meaning. This is true for Pargeter as well, as can be seen in the examples above. Even though Pargeter employs amplification often and sometimes slightly alters the situation, she manages to avoid changing it excessively and preserves the main point.

4.3 Transposition Transposition is a term used for necessary changes in the grammatical structure of the text because of a different language system. Knittlovä states, following Vinay and Darbelnet, that transposition is usually connected to changing word classes without changing the meaning.

24 She continues that transposition can be obligatory or optional and proposes that the most frequent changes are from a verb to a noun and from an adverbial to a verb (2010, p. 20). Vinay and Darbelnet comment that "though translators recognize the global meaning of the message, they also note that the structural elements, their sequence and their associated meanings differ substantially" (1958/1995, p. 94). They also speculate that "transposition is probably the most common structural change undertaken by translators" (p. 94).

(12)

...že odpolední vlak přijel podle jízdního ...it might happen that an afternoon train řádu na minutu včas, ale to bylo tím, že came in punctual to the minute, according to byl čtyři hodiny opožděný dopolední to the time-table, but only because it was the osobák. morning passenger train running four hours late.

The Czech text uses adjectives dopolední and opožděný to describe the type of train and the fact that it is not coming on time. A literal translation would be clumsy, therefore, Pargeter chooses to substitute the latter adjective by the gerund phrase running four hours late. The translation provides the same meaning and sounds natural.

(13)

A těžký, mahagonem vykládaný The broad leaves of a large palm tree pracovní stůl byl zacláněn velikými curtained his heavy working table, inlaid lupeny obrovské palmy a ty listy dělaly with mahogany, and formed a kind of royal nad benátským křeslem takový umbrella above his Venetian armchair, deštní ček.

Both Czech and English version of this example have two clauses. The first clause has a different subject in the target language. In the original těžký, mahagonem vykládaný pracovní stůl is the subject, but its translation heavy working table is an object. In fact, the clause switches its subject and object as the subject of the adaptation is the broad leaves of a large palm tree and velikými lupeny obrovské palmy is an object in the original. Moreover, the translation introduces the appositive inlaid with mahogany, which is part of the subject in Hrabal's text. The second clause has the same subject, even though it is not expressed in Pargeter's translation. Hrabal uses two different words lupeny and listy to not repeat himself, which is the reason of its omission in the second clause of the translation, which is appropriate as the subject is clear from the preceding clause.

25 (14)

A sněhem ušlapanou cestičkou, která By this time there was a regular path už vedla k těm černým troskám, kráčel trodden through the snow all the way to můj otec, nesl nějaký stříbrný hudební that black wreckage, and along this path my nástroj a usmíval se a třásl těmi father came marching, carrying a sort of stříbrnými střívky, nějakými trubičkami. silver musical instrument, and grinning and brandishing these silvery intestines as he marched.

The Czech text uses the subordinate clause která už vedla k těm černým troskám unlike the translation, which provides a complete description of the path in the main clause a regular path trodden through the snow all the way to that black wreckage. This change forced Pargeter to introduce the prepositional phrase by this time in order to retain a similar flow of the text. In the latter part of example 14, Hrabal uses verbs kráčel, nesl, usmíval se and třásl. Pargeter changes the form of these verbs into present participles. This transformation is acceptable as present participles often occur in English in comparison to the Czech language.

(15)

... z trupu říšského letounu, který spadl ... from the fuselage of the German plane, za městečkem do sněhem zasypaných which had crashed outside the town, in the polí. snow-covered fields.

Example 15 demonstrates a change that occurs frequently when translating from Czech into English. The target text uses past perfect tense, even though the sentence in the source text is in past simple tense. Although similar tense to past perfect exists in the Czech language, it is rarely used, unlike in English. The Germanic language uses this tense frequently and Pargeter correctly chooses to utilize it in this instance.

(16)

A přece pradědečka Lukáše každý rok But even then, never a year passed without zbili do bezvědomí, protože dál se... somebody beating Great-grandfather Luke unconscious, because he still went on...

The target text uses the participle without somebody beating, whereas the original uses past simple. The Czech language does not use participle as frequently as the English

26 language. Therefore, Pargeter decides to occasionally include it in her text, so that it seems more natural to the readers.

(17)

..., a já jsem až doma na večer poznal, It was only when we were at home that proč tatínek měl z téhle kořisti takovou evening that I realized why Dad was so radost. delighted with this plunder.

Hrabal uses the expression doma na večer, which is difficult to translate literally. Therefore, the translator inserts the verb were in order to explain the situation. The following clause contains a change of a word class as well as a change of sentence elements. The original text uses měl as its predicate and radost as one of its objects, whereas the predicate in the English text is was delighted. Not only the word changes its function in the sentence, it also appears in a form of an adjective instead of a noun. Similarly to the previous change, this one was also necessary as the two languages do not work in the same way.

(18)

Za nádražím bylo vidět všechny Just outside the station premises there was překážky na dostihové dráze, celá ta a field where all the jumps for a race­ miniaturní dráha z Velké pardubické, track were laid out, a complete miniature protože kníže Kinský pěstoval of the course for the Pardubice Grand polokrevné závodní koně, se kterými Steeplechase, because Prince Kinsky used vyhrál nejen Velkou pardubickou... to breed half-pure-blood racehorses, which in their time had won him not only the Grand Pardubice...

There is a difference in the number of clauses between the original and its translation. The first clause of the Czech text ends by its subject celá ta miniaturní dráha z Velké pardubické, whereas Pargeter changes the structure and introduces the noun field, which functions as the subject of the first clause. The original uses všechny překážky as its object compared to all the jumps, which is the subject in the subordinate clause in the adaptation. The latter instance of transposition in this short passage occurs towards the end, where there is a change of an agent. The agent in Hrabal's text is Prince Kinský as he is the one who won the Grand Pardubice, riding his horses. This is justified by the phrase se kterými vyhrál. The agent of the translated text are the horses, which is confirmed by the subordinate clause which in their time had won him.

27 (19)

Až pád Rakouska vzal pradědečkovi Until the fall of Austria put a stop to this rentu, tu, kterou bral sedmdesát let. disability pension he'd been drawing for seventy years.

This example shows a typical feature of the English language. Hrabal uses the verb vzal in order to explain what happened to the disability pension of Milos's grandfather. Pargeter uses the phrase put a stop, which consists of a verb and a noun. The translation carries a similar meaning, however, the Czech vzal is slightly stronger as it directly suggests the action of taking his pension away from him. On the other hand, the English adaptation signifies that the fall of Austria was the reason why he was not able to collect the money anymore.

(20)

Ze zámku přišla zpráva, že pan přednosta Word came from the castle that the station- je pozván k hraběti Kinskému na master was invited to Count Kinsky's to večeři, že v sedm hodin pro něho přijede dinner, and at seven o'clock a groom would štolba. come for him.

The translation changes the tense in the first sentence. Hrabal uses present tense je pozván, whereas Pargeter chooses to translate the passage in past simple, using was invited. There is also a difference in the texts regarding Count Kinský. It is possible to make declensions in Czech, unlike in English. It is enough to use different prepositions and keep the form of the noun. In this case, Pargeter changes the form of the proper noun into a possessive, which provides the same information and is natural in the target language.

Transposition appears repeatedly in Pargeter's text, which is not surprising as English and Czech are languages that are not similar and use different sentence structures. The English interpretation often changes word classes as well as sentence elements. The translator also often uses different tenses, which is legitimate as English has a higher number of them. One of the obvious transformations that is frequently used in the translation is the change from past simple tense to past perfect tense which is used regularly in English.

4.4 Reordering This method was introduced by American linguist Joseph L. Malone. He states that reordering is identified when "one or more target elements appear in a position different from

28 that of the source text" (1988, p. 65). Reordering words often means changing word classes and sentence elements. Therefore, Malone's reordering often overlaps with Vinay and Darbelnet's transposition. As Czech and English are languages of different branches, reordering is likely to occur in translation from one to another quite often. Malone also claims that "the tighter the morphosyntactic bond between two source elements, the less likely it is that reordering in the target text will become a critical conscious issue for the translator" (1988, p. 65).

(21)

A ti dva esesáci mi pořád navlíkali na And those two S.S. men all the time kept hroty plic hlavně parabol a jejich oči, the muzzles of their pistols jammed zrovna tak jako ty hlavně, se nehnute against the tips of my lungs, and their dívaly na hejtmana... eyes, just like the muzzles of their guns, stayed fixed, motionlessly watching the captain...

The translated text in example 21 uses a different verb, which leads to reordering later in the sentence. Even though the order can be preserved with the introduced verb, Pargeter decides to swap the objects. The reason for this reversed order might have been a significance of the pistols as the information that the S.S. men are still aiming at Miloš is more essential than that they are aiming at his lungs.

(22)

Podlezl jsem závory a na páté koleji I ducked under the bars, and there was that stály osobní vagóny. passenger train standing on line number five.

Example 22 demonstrates typical reordering that happens often when translating from Czech into English. Adverbials of place, in this case napate koleji, usually stand at the end or at the beginning of a sentence. They might appear in the middle as well, however, it is not that regular. In comparison, the Czech language has reasonably free word order and this adverbial can stand anywhere in the sentence without looking unnaturally.

(23)

... stromy byly ověšené těmi černými ... the trees were wreathed with these black ptáky, třpytili se v dopoledním birds; they gleamed in the frosty sun of mrazivém slunci, a když jsem přišel... morning, and when I came...

29 Hrabal uses two adjectives to describe the sun. Pargeter changes the adjective dopolednim into a noun. She could have simply translated the phrase as in the frosty morning sun. However, the reordering and the change of the word class provides easier reading and also stretches the text a little, which is not a rarity in Pargeter's translation.

(24)

A po schodech bylo slyšet, jak přichází The moment the station-master could be pan přednosta, výpravčí položil boty na heard coming down the stairs, the podlahu a vstal. dispatcher planted his boots on the floor and got up.

The translation in example 24 required reordering as the phrase a po schodech bylo slyšet is not very common in Czech and non-existent in the target language. The English text is slightly more explicit as it emphasizes that station-master's movement was the reason for the dispatcher's action.

(25)

Pan přednosta vešel ve staré uniformě, Mr. Lánský came in his old uniform, he was jistě zase půjde čistit holubník, kalhoty evidently going to clean out the pigeon-loft měl od holubího trusu celé zabílené, again; his trousers were whitened all over rukávy taky. with pigeon-droppings, and so were his sleeves.

Pargeter was forced to use reordering in example 25 as the text would be awkward if the word order was kept. Even though there are different subjects, panpfednosta in the original (unexpressed) and his trousers in the adaptation, it was not caused by the reordering. Pargeter could have kept the same subject and translate as he had his trousers whitened. However, it was necessary to postpone the object pigeon-droppings as it cannot be put within the predicate. The final part is reordered for grammatical reasons as well, albeit it would be possible to translate as and his sleeves as well. Nonetheless, Pargeter's translation is natural and keeps the same meaning.

(26)

... že nebude ani chvilinku váhat! Že dá ... that he wouldn't hesitate for an instant odstřelit pár českých výpravčích! to have a few Czech dispatchers shot!

30 The first choice of reordering in example 26 was not voluntary. The Czech phrase ani chvilinku vdhat is translated as hesitate for an instant. It would be possible to keep the word order by adjusting the translation and translate as wouldn't even hesitate. However, Pargeter's translation is ideal. The latter part of the sentence is reordered involuntarily as well. The English language requires to place the object within the phrase to have shot.

(27)

... všichni ti holoubci s ním teď byli ... for all the pigeons were up in the loft v holubníku, to jednou bych se chtěl with him by this time. Some day I should v tom holubníku schovat a škvírou se really like to hide myself in that pigeon­ dívat, co to tam pan přednosta s těmi loft and watch through a chink, and see holoubky vyvádí? what the station-master gets up to there with his pigeons.

Example 27 is an instance of reordering which showcases a difference in word order of the present languages. The Czech language is flexible and allows to place objects and adverbials either before or after a verb. In this case, Hrabal chooses to put these elements before the verb four times in a row, e.g., škvírou se dívat and s těmi holoubky vyvádí. This is impossible in the English language, therefore, Pargeter was forced to reorder these elements according to the English syntax.

(28)

V noci na dnešek partyzáni vyhodili Last night the partisans near Jihlava blew ostře sledovanej transport u Jihlavy tak up one of those close-surveillance šikovně, že spadl celej do propasti a transports so neatly that the whole thing druhou náloží ještě na ten vlak shodili dropped into a ravine, and with the second ten most. blast they dropped the bridge right on top of the train.

Hrabal writes that it was near Jihlava, where the partisans blew up the train. Pargeter changes the word order and connects Jihlava to the partisans, which slightly changes the meaning. The translation suggests that it was the partisans who live near Jihlava that blew up the train. On the contrary, Hrabal does not particularly say that the partisans live near Jihlava, only that they blew up the train in that location. The reordering at the end of example 28 was forced by English syntax as well as in Ex. 27. This time, Hrabal puts the adverbial na vlak before the object most, which is not possible in the English language.

31 Reordering occurs frequently in Pargeter's adaptation as the grammar and syntax of Czech and English are different. This often forces the translator to reorder sentence elements as they have fixed order in the Germanic language. On the other hand, Czech is flexible, which Hrabal sometimes uses to his advantage in order not to be monotonous. Pargeter occasionally changes the word order even if it is not necessary, but she mostly preserves it when it is possible.

4.5 Modulation Modulation is concerned with changing the point of view. Knittlová points out that modulation can be obligatory or optional and is legitimate to be used primarily in the case when a grammatically correct translation without it would seem unnatural (2010, p. 20). Modulation might overlap with transposition as Armstrong comments that "there is however overlap between the two, as a change of viewpoint will often imply a difference in syntax or word category" (2005, p. 161). Newmark even argues that Vinay and Darbelnet's categorization of modulation is not very useful and is divided into "eleven rather random categories, whilst - in my opinion - only important one, the negated contrary, is not discussed" (1988, p. 88). He continues to critique the categorization as one of Vinay and Darbelnet's subtypes of modulation is "active for passive" or vice versa, which, according to Newmark "is a common transposition, mandatory when no passive exists, advisable where, say, a reflexive is normally preferred to passive" (1988, p. 89). Overall, it is often impossible to distinguish between modulation and transposition as they have similar features and some linguists, such as Newmark, do not agree on the categorization.

(29)

Tenhleten rok, rok pětačtyřicet, Němci By this year, the year forty-five, the už neovládli prostor nad naším Germans had already lost command of the městečkem. Natožpak nad celou air-space over our little town. Over the krajinou, zemí. whole region, in fact, and for that matter, I the whole country.

Example 29 demonstrates optional modulation. The translator could have chosen to translate the passage with the same structure as the original. An instance of such translation could be ..., the Germans had not conquered/managed to occupy the air-space over... However, this would also require changing the following sentence. Nevertheless, Pargeter chooses to change the point of view and uses the semantically negative phrase lost command, which is not

32 grammatically negative unlike the Czech verb neovládli. The application of modulation could have been avoided but Pargeter chose to use it as she probably considered it more natural.

(30)

Těžko se dalo uhádnout, na co by to tak It was a job to guess what use they could mohlo být? possibly make of some of that junk.

The target text changes the point of view as well as word classes, which is not a rarity as modulation and transposition sometimes overlap. The word that signifies the difficulty in the source text, těžko, is an adverb, whereas the target text uses the noun job. This is an example of obligatory modulation as it is not possible to translate the phrase literally. However, Pargeter had more options as she, for instance, could have chosen hard instead of the noun.

(31)

Můj otec dovedl udělat všechno na světě. There wasn't anything my father couldn't make.

Example 31 provides a clause that is a typical example of changing polarity, in this case, negation. This is optional modulation as it was not necessary to change the positive clause from Czech into a negative one in English. However, Pargeter decided that changing the polarity would sound more natural in the target language.

(32)

ale občané šíleli závistí, když si But our townspeople went green with envy pomysleli, že otec může ještě dvacet when they reflected that Father might still třicet let na tomhle světě žít. have twenty or thirty years of life ahead of him.

Example 32 demonstrates another type of modulation, substituting abstract for concrete or vice versa as shown in this instance. The source text uses the verb šíleli, which implies that the townspeople were mad. The translation went green with envy has a similar meaning, however, it is rather in an abstract form. The last clause in this example produces the same kind of modulation, which is even more justifiable. The Czech text is, once again, concrete as it says that Miloš's father může ještě dvacet třicet let na tomhle světě žít. On the other hand, Pargeter uses more abstract phrase to have twenty or thirty years of life ahead of him. Even though the

33 text would be perfectly natural without this modulation, it cannot be considered a faulty translation.

(33)

... přehraboval skládky a navečer se ...raking through the rubbish tips with a vracel s kořistí, protože všecko se hook, and in the evening he'd come back mohlo na něco jednou hodit, a také with his haul, because he said there wasn't hodilo... anything that might not come in for something some day; and he was right, too...

Pargeter repeatedly uses negation of the opposite. Newmark states that he prefers to refer to such modulation as "positive for double negative or double negative for positive" (1988, p. 88). This term is quite fitting as can be confirmed in this example as well as in Ex. 31. The original uses a positive clause, whereas the adaptation substitutes it by introducing two negatives wasn't and might not.

(34)

A já j sem jich už nelitoval, já, který jsem And I had no pity for them, I who had wept oplakal každé podříznuté kůzle a over every kid that ever was slaughtered, všecko to, co potrefilo neštěstí, já jsem and everything that suffered distress, I už těchhle Němců nepolitoval. | could find no pity now for those Germans.

Example 34 is an instance of modulation that is categorized by Vinay and Darbelnet as "active for passive". The source text uses active voice, whereas the translation changes the structures and uses passive voice in every kid that ever was slaughtered. This translation also changes the word class of podříznuté, which is an adjective that becomes a verb phrase in the target text was slaughtered.

Pargeter uses modulation on regular basis but the text is not overwhelmed with it. The subtype that appears most frequently is the "positive for double negative". It is often used in order to preserve the naturalness of the text, which is valid for all the methods. The subtype that does not appear as frequently as could be expected in an English text is the change from active to passive voice. Passive is kept when the text is passive in the original, however, it is rarely changed from active throughout the book.

34 4.6 Explicitation Explicitation deals with adding explanations into the translated text and it is another term that was introduced by Vazquez-Ayora (Knittlova et al., 2010, p. 20). Translators use this method in order to provide additional information, so that the readers of the translated text can understand various situations. It is necessary to use explicitation when there is a tradition, event, phrase, etc., which is known and understandable within the language and the culture of the source language but might not be thoroughly understood by readers of the target text. Vinay and Darbelnet define it as "a stylistic translation technique which consists of making explicit in the target language what remain implicit in the source language because it is apparent from either the context or the situation" (1958/1995, p. 342).

(35)

Proto můj tatínek býval velitelem That was why my father was always put in železných nedělí, a když odvážel charge of the "Iron Sunday" scrap všelijaké ty železné krámy na nádraží, collections; and when he carted off all that vždycky jel kolem našich vrat a odsypal assorted iron scrap to the railway station he trošku té železné neděle. always took it round by our gate, and tipped a little bit of his "Iron Sunday" over into our yard.

The Czech text in example 35 uses the term železná neděle, which is an expression that the Czechs were familiar with at the time. Pargeter decided to explain the term by adding the short noun phrase scrap collections, which clearly defines the event. The term is used for the second time shortly after its first appearance at the end of this example. As Pargeter had already explained what the "Iron Sunday" is, she does not need to provide the definition again.

(36)

Byl strojvedoucí a na stroji byl od He was an engine-driver, and he'd been on dvaceti let a tak měl vysloužená locomotives from the time he turned tuplovaná léta, ale občané šíleli twenty, so he had to his credit double the závistí... service time he'd actually put in.

Hrabal uses the term tuplovaná léta. The problem for the translator is the word tuplovaný, which means that there is a double amount of something. The English language does not have an adjective that would collocate with the concept of years as well as the Czech expression tuplovaná léta does. The translator therefore chooses to substitute this adjective by introducing a whole clause that explains what the phrase means. This is a correct decision as it

35 would not be clear for readers of the English text if Pargeter translated the phrase literally as double years.

(37)

V bloku zarachotilo a červené kolečko The block-system rattled, a red circle there hrkalo a měnilo se v bílé a já jsem vytáhl jerked and changed to white, and I pulled z bloku klíč a vyběhl na perón, do out the key from the board and ran out on to přístěnku, lokomotiva pískala u vjezdu a the platform, into the alcove where the pan přednosta... signal levers were. A locomotive was whistling at the approach to the station...

Pargeter inserts a subordinate clause which explains that there are levers in the alcove and Miloš can pull them. This addition is probably unnecessary as there is not any advantage for a Czech reader, because an alcove is not primarily a place where levers are. By this comment, Pargeter helps the readers realize why Miloš is heading into the alcove.

(38)

... Němci zavřeli hned v roce čtyřicet a ... was imprisoned by the Germans as early vrátila se loni na vánoce, celou tu dobu, as nineteen forty, and she came back last ty čtyři roky, byla v Pečkárně a tam year at Christmas, and the whole of that utírala krev po popravách... time, the whole four years, she'd been in Gestapo headquarters at Peckarna, and there she mopped up the blood after executions...

In example 38, Pargeter adds an explanation that Pečkárna used to be Gestapo headquarters at the time, which is important for the knowledge of the readers, so that they understand that Pečkárna was not only a random place and that it influenced Mrs. Karáskova during the four years that she had spent there.

(39)

Tak sedmý sloupec, sedmý foch, All right, the seventh column, the seventh sedmička jako u židů. drawer, lucky seven, same as for the Jews.

This instance describes the situation when Miloš decides to buy a ticket into a random destination. Pargeter inserts a comment that number seven is supposed to be a lucky number, which is only suggested in the original by sedmička jako u židů.

36 Pargeter is not forced to use explicitation with high frequency, however, it cannot be said that the method is hardly used either. She gives explanations when it is necessary to describe a concept or a phrase that might not be clear without it. Even though her adaptation is not overwhelmed with explanations and notes, the translator sometimes chooses to make further comments which are redundant. Overusing explicitation could lead to lowering the quality of a translation, which is not relevant in Pargeter's case despite the occasional redundancy of her explanations.

4.7 Equivalence According to Vinay and Darbelnet (1958/1995), equivalence is an independent translation method, even though Armstrong claims that it "is a type of modulation that concerns idioms and set phrases, and more generally the pragmatic use of language" (2005, p. 152). Knittlová follows Vinay and Darbelnet's model and describes that the term is used for employing different stylistic and structural devices in comparison to the original and it is frequently used when translating idioms and proverbs (2010, p. 19). Vinay and Darbelnet emphasize that in order to successfully apply equivalence, as well as transposition and adaptation, translators "must be able to locate a text in its social environment and be informed about the current state of literature, science, politics etc. of both language communities which are reflected in the text they are asked to translate" (1958/1995, p. 42).

(40)

Můj děda, aby jablko nepadlo daleko My grandfather again, not to fall too far od pradědečka Lukáše, byl zase short of the standard set by Great- hypnotizér... | grandfather Luke, was a hypnotist...

In example 40, Hrabal uses the proverb jablko nepadlo daleko od stromu, which is quite frequent in the Czech language. Pargeter decides to adjust it and translates it slightly more concretely. The proverb is relatively old and used by the English, therefore, it is quite surprising that Pargeter does not translate it literally. However, the proverb is lightly changed by Hrabal as he substitutes ordinary od stromu for od pradědečka Lukáše. This change might have been the reason for Pargeter's modification.

37 (41)

„Tichá voda břehy mele," povídám, "Still waters run deep," I said. "But „ale v jednu hodinu po půlnoci... about an hour after midnight...

Hrabal introduces another common proverb. In this case, Pargeter selects the English equivalent of the proverb. They work the same in both languages as they carry the same meaning, that someone who is quiet, not engaging too often, is possibly dangerous.

(42)

Přesně o půl osmé vstoupil do dopravní Precisely at half past seven the station- kanceláře pan přednosta. Vážil skoro master came into the traffic office. He metrák, ale ženské o něm říkaly, že weighed almost sixteen stone, but women tančí neuvěřitelně lehounce. always said that he was incredibly light on his feet when he danced.

The original text includes the word metrák, which is used in non-standard Czech for a hundred kilograms. Pargeter chooses to translate it as sixteen stone, which is approximately equal to a hundred kilos. Nonetheless, the English phrase is not as expressive. There is a possibility to use quintal instead, which is equal to Czech metrák. However, the English do not use kilograms as the base unit of weight, which would not work and cause misunderstandings. Therefore, Pargeter avoided it by converting the weight into stones. At the end of example 42, Hrabal uses the adverb lehounce. It would be difficult to match the expressivity of this word by translating it literally. Therefore, Pargeter decides to introduce the phrase light on his feet, which is fitting in this context.

(43)

... knížku, do které se nakláněla pro další ... book, and leaned over it every now and pokyny, jak nabírat ty nitě, j ako by hrála again to pick up the next instructions on na citeru a četla si v notách. manipulating her thread, as though she was playing the guitar and reading from the music.

Hrabal decides to compare crocheting of station-master's wife to playing na citeru, which is a musical instrument that is not very-well known, certainly not amongst the English. Even though there is a word for this instrument in English, zither, Pargeter decides to substitute it by playing the guitar. They are both string instruments, however, they are not both held in

38 the same way. Hrabal's choice is more fitting as a zither is usually laid in front of the musician, whose hands are quite close to each other as they are when crocheting, which is not the case when playing the guitar. However, this is only a small detail and Pargeter certainly decided to use the guitar for its recognition.

(44)

... ale dopravní šéf zavrtěl hlavou. ... but the Traffic Chief only shook his „Jaký pán, takový krám," řekl. head. "Like master, like man!" he said.

Both texts use a proverb with the same meaning, even though they are not literally the same. Each of them means that a person behaves the same way as someone who is superior to them.

Equivalence does not appear frequently in Pargeter's translation because Hrabal's text is not overwhelmed with proverbs and idioms, which often elicit the appliance of equivalence. Albeit, there are several examples of equivalence and Pargeter manages to deal with them without greater difficulties. She attempts to keep the text understandable for her readers and prefers simplifying some proverbs or expressive words to keeping their exact equivalents at all costs if they could be a possible burden for the comprehension of the target text readers.

4.8 Caique Caique is another translation method that is part of Vinay and Darbelnet's model. The linguists define it as "a special kind of borrowing whereby a language borrows an expression form of another, but then translates literally each of its elements" (1958/1995, p. 32). It is often used when a language does not have its expression for a situation or an object, or generally when neologisms are translated. The translator then translates literally, which might sometimes lead to adding an explanation, so that the target audience understands the situation.

(45)

Takové osobní vagóny to byly, jaké už They were the kind of passenger coaches dávno byly vyřazeny z provozu, do that had been withdrawn from traffic long každého kupátka vedly z obou stran ago; doors led from both sides into each dveře a kolem celé stěny vagónu bylo compartment, and along the whole wall of dlouhé stupátko. the coach there was a single long footboard.

39 The translation in Ex. 45 copies the original in the highlighted phrases of this instance. The first one osobni vagony is literally translated as passenger coaches, making it a caique. The latter highlighted word vagon is translated as coach. They are still the same coaches and Pargeter decides to translate the first instance literally, even though she could have chosen to omit the word passenger. Nonetheless, Hrabal does the same in his original text, which only suggests Pargeter's determination to maintain Hrabal's exact words. This is evidence that Pargeter tries not to omit anything and uses caique to help her in this situation.

(46)

... rozházené figurky šachů, schéma hry: ... scattered chess-men, a board for the dice Člověče, nezlob se... game called "Don't be angry, lad!"

Člověče, nezlob se is a classic board game that has been played for years by the Czechs. Pargeter chooses to translate the title literally, even though there is a board game called Ludo, which is almost identical and was known in England at the time. However, the game has no hidden meaning in the text, so it is not necessary to explain the rules or substitute it for Ludo. In this way, Pargeter preserves the Czech cultural context by keeping the title of the game and translating it into English. Even though the gist of the game is not important, Pargeter adds information that it is a game which is played with dice.

(47)

... dával jí šunku, prosíval ji, aby zpívala ... he used to give her ham, and ask her to Černé oči, proč pláčete? sing for him: Why do you weep, black eyes?

Hrabal uses the Czech folk song Černé oči, proč pláčete? in the original, which Pargeter translates literally. It is not essential to know the song as it does not prevent readers from understanding anything. However, Pargeter does not provide any further information this time, even though it might have been more useful than in the previous Ex. 46. The title of the song may be slightly misleading and could result in a misinterpretation. This could be easily avoided by using sing a joyful song in the translation.

Caique appears very rarely in Pargeter's translation. It is usually seen more often in translations from English into Czech as the Germanic language does not borrow many words from the Slavic one. The translator uses caique when translating titles of songs and games that

40 are well-known among Hrabal's countrymen and does not use their equivalents from the English culture in order to mediate to readers the Czech cultural context.

5 Conclusions

The goal of this thesis was to examine the translation methods that were applied by Edith Pargeter in her translation of Ostře sledované vlaky. The work aimed to determine whether her adaptation kept the original meaning and to justify the use of the methods. Pargeter utilizes many methods for various reasons.

Transposition and reordering are frequent as Czech and English are not similar languages, therefore, it is inevitable to change the structure of sentences quite often. The persistent occurrence of these methods is natural and does not change the message, it only expresses it in a different structure. However, Pargeter sometimes chooses to change the structure of sentences even if it is not necessary, usually in order to introduce longer phrases or clauses.

Specification, explicitation and amplification occur regularly as well. Pargeter slightly adjusts the original text by applying these methods. Each of these methods extends the text, which is often the reason for their employment by Pargeter. The translator is devoted to keeping the length of Hrabal's text. In fact, her translation is never shorter than the original as it is confirmed in every example in the practical part. The same applies to the length of sentences. Hrabal is known for writing endless clauses and Pargeter is certainly aware of that, so she uses long sentences as much as possible and sometimes even merges Hrabal's sentences into one in order to compensate for using shorter ones earlier. Another evidence of Pargeter's stretching of text is that it is almost impossible to find ellipsis, the opposite of amplification, in her translation.

Modulation and equivalence do not appear that often. Pargeter tries to preserve Hrabal's style, which means that she does not use modulation all the time. However, she regularly changes positive for double negative, although it is usually optional. I believe that by using this technique, Pargeter's intention is, once again, to extend the text whenever it is possible. Equivalence appears even less frequently as Hrabal does not use many idioms and proverbs, which often elicit the use of this method. Pargeter mostly attempts to keep the form of the

41 original text. When she is forced to choose different expressions or opts to do so, she prefers to apply other methods such as specification, amplification and modulation.

The translation rarely provides instances of caique as Hrabal does not create any non­ existent words and when he uses words that do not have an English equivalent, Pargeter attempts to find their closest counterpart or uses explicitation to describe the object or the situation.

Overall, Pargeter is aware of Hrabal's style and attempts to match it as often as possible. Even though it is important to attempt to keep the style, it seems like the translator is obsessed with the length of her sentences and applies various methods in order to extend her text, which sometimes changes the meaning, adds redundant information or creates awkwardly looking sentences. On the other hand, Pargeter managed to provide a reasonable translation that transmits the original meaning with occasional deviations, which is usually caused by her attempts of expanding the text.

I am glad to have chosen this topic as I have gained knowledge while I was going through works of many renowned linguists such as Newmark, Catford and Knittlová. It is fascinating to compare their works and study what they agree and disagree on. This thesis will certainly encourage me to appreciate translated texts even more and to examine more English texts that were translated from my mother tongue.

List of references

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Hrabal, B. (1965). Ostře sledované vlaky. Praha: Československý spisovatel.

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44 Darbelnet, J., Vinay J.-P. (1995). Comparative stylistics of French and English: A methodology for translation (Juan C. Sager & M.-J. Hamel, Trans.). Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. (Original work published 1958). Retrieved March 9, 2020, from https://books.google.cz/books?hl=cs&k=&id=I06D- 6gU45sC&oi=fnd&pg=PRl&dq=vinay+and+darbelnet+particularisation&ots=CJlVrf w8b6&sig=pZHrAc8w5DICTgNo0zYAKDIGLvk&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=fal se

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