Fundamentals of Translation The course focuses on basic concepts and strategies of translation from English into Polish and Polish into English. The following problems will be discussed: 1. The role of context in translation. 2. Equivalence on word level. 3. Equivalnce above word level. 4. Translation of idioms. 5. Culture in translation. 6. Pragmatics in translation. 7. Cognitive aspects of translation. 8. Communicative aspects of translation. Assessment. Participation in classes; written and oral reports and analyses; individual translation task at the end of the semester. Grades: 2; 3; 3.5; 4; 4.5; 5. Bibliography. Baker, Mona. 2003. A Coursebook in Translation. London: Routledge. Hejwowski, Krzysztof. 2005. Komunikacyjno-kognitywna teoria przekładu. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN. Korzeniowska, Aniela and Piotr Kuhiwczak. 2008. Successful Polish-English Translation: Tricks of the Trade. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN. Lipiński, Krzysztof. 2006. Vademecum tłumacza. Kraków: Wydawnictwo IDEA. Palumbo, Giuseppe. 2009. Key Terms in Translation. London: Continuum. Basic concepts of translation 1. Consider the possible translations of the title of the following song. Nowhere Man (John Lennon and Paul McCartney) He’s a real nowhere man,/Sitting in his nowhere land,/Making all his nowhere plans for nobody.//Doesn’t have a point of view,/Knows not where he’s going to,/Isn’t he a bit like you and me?// Nowhere man, please listen,/You don’t know what you’re missing./Nowhere man, the world is at your command.//He’s as blind as he can be,/Just sees what he wants to see,/Nowhere man, can you see me at all?//Nowhere man, don’t worry,/Take your time, don’t hurry,/Leave it all till somebody else lends you a hand.… 2. Translate the following text into Polish. The procedure is actually quite simple. First you arrange items into different groups. Of course one pile may be sufficient depending on how much there is to do. If you have to go somewhere else due to lack of facilities that is the next step; otherwise you are pretty well set. It is important not to overdo things. That is, it is better to do few things at once than too many. In the short run this may not seem important but complications can easily arise. A mistake can be expensive as well. At first, the whole procedure will seem complicated. Soon, however, it will become just another facet of life. It is difficult to foresee any end to the necessity for this task in the immediate future, but then, one never can tell. After the procedure is completed one arranges the materials into different groups again. Then they will be used once more and the whole cycle will then have to be repeated. However, that is part of life. 3. Translate the following text into English. Prison Tales Polish writer Gustaw Herling-Grudziński brilliantly chronicled the terrors of the Gulag Archipelago long before Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn did. His seminal work, A World Apart, published in 1951, was based on his experiences in Soviet labour camps from 1940 to 1942. The book described the psychological as well as the physical destruction of his fellow prisoners. After his release, Herling-Grudziński fought for Polish forces that battled the German troops across North Africa and Italy. Since the end of World War Two he had lived in Naples, where he became a leader of the cultural and political life of the Polish anti- communist émigré community. He died last week at 81. Equivalence at word level 1. Word is the smallest meaningful unit of language that can be used by itself; morphemes are the smallest meaningful units of language: walk vs. re+build. 2. Types of meaning. a/ Lexical. b/ Propositional. c/ Expressive. d/ Presupposed (selectional and collocational restrictions). e/ Evoked meaning (dialect and register). 4. Problems of non-equivalence. a/ Culture-specific concepts, e.g. privacy, Speaker, airing cupboard. b/ Source-language concept is not lexicalized in target language, e.g. landslide. c/ Source-language concept is semantically complex, e.g. the Brazilian word arruação, which means “clearing the ground under coffee tress of rubbish and piling it in the middle of the row to aid in the recovery of beans dropped during harvesting”. d/ Source and target languages make different distinctions in meaning, e.g. the Indonesian concepts of kehujanan (“going out in the rain without the knowledge that it is raining”) and hujanhujanan (“going out in the rain with the knowledge that it is raining”). e/ Target language lacks a superordinate term (hyperonym), e.g. the English word facilities. f/ Target language lacks a specific term (hyponym), e.g. the English concept of house and its hyponyms of bungalow, cottage, croft, chalet, lodge, hut, mansion, manor, villa, hall. g/ Differences in physical or interpersonal perspective, e.g. pairs of words such as come/go and take/bring. h/ Differences in expressive meaning, e.g. the English verb batter and the word homosexuality translated into Arabic as shithuth jinsi (sexual perversion). i/ Lack of equivalent for a particular form in target language, e.g. legalese, journalese, translationese. j/ Use of loan words in source text, e.g. alfresco in English. Translation strategies at word level 1. Translation by a more general word (superordinate). a/ The rich and creamy Kolestral-Super is easy to apply and has a pleasant fragrance. b/ Shampoo hair with a mild Wella-Shampoo and lightly towel dry. c/ He described how the earth orbits around the sun. 2. Translation by a more neutral/less expressive word. a/ The panda is something of a zoological mystery. b/ The panda’s mountain home is wet and lush. 3. Translation by cultural substitution. a/ The restaurant is an ideal place for the Cream Tea expert. 4. Translation using a loan word or loan word plus explanation. a/ Visitors can spend free time in an English style tea salon. 5. Translation by paraphrase using unrelated words. a/ In the words of the affidavit dated 2 November 1988, the obligations . 6. Translation by omission. a/ This is a chance for younger visitors to see in real-life detail the way their parents lived and travelled. 7. Translate the following texts into Polish. Bacon-free Many of Britain’s Muslims want Winnie the Pooh’s partner Piglet removed from paraphernalia and clothing at baby-gear chain Mothercare, as Islam deems pigs unclean. “I do not want my children playing with him,” said one shopper. But stores probably won’t make the cut. “Piglet is an integral part of Winnie’s friends. How could we possibly dump him?”, said Mothercare. Not even religion can break up this friendship. Vienna is considered by its oh-so-fashionable residents to be der Nabel der Welt (literally, the belly button of the world). However, Vienna is often written off as a living, breathing fossil, a wedding-cake city that once shared the spotlight with London, Paris and Rome but has since slipped into peaceful obscurity. Graz was labeled “Pensionopolis” for the multitudes of retired civil servants attracted to its “mild” weather and “simple” lifestyle. Equivalence above word level 1. Collocation: tendency of certain words to co-occur in a given language. 2. The range of collocation can be reinforced, e.g. He was a fine writer and a compulsive gambler; or it can be extended, e.g. He was a heavy smoker and a heavy gambler; or the collocation can be marked, e.g. Could real peace break out after so many wars? 3. Paraphrase the meaning of dry in each of the following collocations. a/ Dry clothes. b/ Dry river. c/ Dry weather. d/ Dry cow. e/ Dry bread. f/ Dry wine. g/ Dry sound. h/ Dry voice. i/ Dry country. j/ Dry book. k/ Dry humour. l/ Dry run. 4. Problems in translation of collocations. a/ Possible effect of ST pattern. Eng. strong tea vs. Jap. dense tea. Eng. keep a dog vs. Dan. hold a dog. Eng. break the law vs. Ara. contradict the law vs. Ger. hurt the law. b/ Misinterpretation of ST collocation. Eng. He appeared to be someone with modest means vs. Ara. His appearance suggested modesty and simplicity. c/ Accuracy vs. naturalness. Eng. hard drink vs. Ara. alcoholic drink. Eng. good/bad law vs. Ara. just/unjust law. Eng. Young pandas are great crowd pullers vs. Chin. Young pandas attract spectators. d/ Marked collocation in ST. Eng. “kitchen German” vs. Fr. “kitchen German” or “cooking language”. 5. Translate the following Polish collocations into English. Pol. zdobyć dostęp = Eng. Pol. zawierać znajomość = Eng. Pol. pragnąć uczuć = Eng. Pol. zdobyć aplauz = Eng. Pol. pokonywać bariery = Eng. Pol. zawrzeć rozejm = Eng. Pol. dotrzymywać towarzystwa = Eng. Pol. dotrzymać terminu = Eng. Pol. przeprowadzić wykład = Eng. Pol. wykazywać podobieństwo = Eng. Pol. zdobyć respekt = Eng. Pol. zwiększyć sprzedaż = Eng. Pol. wywołać sensację = Eng. Pol. przerwać ciszę = Eng. Pol. dać nadwyżkę = Eng. Pol. złożyć hołd = Eng. 7. Translate the following texts into Polish. Sweet Deal Mickey Mouse has stepped in Pooh: Disney is buying the film and merchandising rights to Winnie the Pooh and the rest of the Hundred Acre Wood crowd for $ 350 million. That means windfalls for the British institutions named in the will of Pooh’s creator, A. A. Milne. The Garrick Club in London, of which Milne was a member, is likely to receive a $ 75 million share. The membership, which includes the Prince of Wales, plans improvements to the wine cellar. Westminster School, Milne’s alma mater, will spend its wad on scholarships. Other payments go to the family of Milne’s illustrator, E. H. Shepard and the Royal Literary Fund, which supports needy authors. Not included in the deal are sales from two Pooh books, leaving plenty more honey in the pot.