Acta Universitatis Palackianae Olomucensis – Geographica, Vol. 43, No. 1, 2012, pp. 51-60 51 RESEARCH REPORTS Slovak geographical names translation process can be described as decoding and the translation traps the meaning of the source text, and re-encoding or translating this meaning in the target language. Translation covers not literal (word by word) trans- Abstract lation but also many other factors depending on the The role of English has increased in the recent concepts of languages. The bigger the gap between years more than ever before. Effective mastering of the SL and the TL, the more diffi cult the process of the language, the ability to publish and lecture in transfer will be. it is very topical for the academicians. Geography- related texts are typical of using the geographical A good translation is (Wrede 2000): names – geonames or place names the translation • grammatically correct; of which has many imperfections. It is therefore • communicative; necessary to adopt basic procedures in translating • interculturally understandable. the geographical names. The paper gives the brief introductory to geographical names, points at how It is such a kind of interdisciplinary fi eld of research, Slovak geographical names were found to be trans- where besides geographers, linguists, cartographers, lated in geographical texts and fi nally, proposes historians and other are involved. or discusses standardised forms of some Slovak geonames. Geographical names – geonames Key words: geonym, geographical names, standardisa- English has revolutionized in geographical works as tion, translation, Slovakia well. Production of academic texts written in Eng- lish by Slovak geographers has considerably risen in recent years. Geographical texts are typical of using Introduction geographical names – geonames the translation of which has many imperfections. Many times, the The English language is widely spoken international translations of geographical texts include mistakes language. It has become the working language at and are inaccurate. We decided to deal with trans- the conferences, congresses, research projects not lating the geographical names from the Slovak lan- only in foreign countries but also in homeland non- guage to the English language so that we see how English institutions. In terms of scientifi c research the translations can be misleading. at universities, the outreach of research fi ndings to abroad is higher provided they are published in a Up to now, there have been only few materials foreign, most commonly English language. concerning the translation of geonames from Slovak to English. The handbook on academic Traditional understanding of mastering the language English for geophysicians and geologists by includes two receptive competences (reading and Pašteka, Dugovičová (1998), the scriptum for the listening) and two productive competences (writ- students of public administration by Cihová et al. ing and speaking). Wrede (2005) considers trans- (2005) become the good inspiration. There are lation the fi fth competence inevitable for transfer many secondary school internal materials (geo- the information from the source language (SL) to graphical dictionaries, maturity leave handbook) the target language (TL). According to linguists not publicly published that we have come across AUPO Geographica Vol. 43 No. 1, 2012, pp. 51-60 52 Research reports during the research. Geographers published the An exonym is a toponym bestowed from the out- brochure Geography of the Slovak Regions side, and in the language from the outside. Exonyms (Tolmáči et al. 2007) and the Geographical Diction- are usually the products to render foreign toponyms ary for the participants of Geographical Olympiad in a manner and spelling suited to the characteristics (Majerová 2006). Gercsák (online) pays attention of the receiver the language. Many exonyms are, to exclusively to the use of Hungarian geographical a greater or lesser degree, recognizable as forms of names in foreign language literature. At our Insti- the original endonym. Their translation needs to be tute of Geography, the graduate Eva Šostáková handled with sensitivity. (2012) wrote her diploma thesis on the translation of geonames to English and the methodological Standardisation of geographical names in the world application to geography teaching. Some of her and in the Slovak Republic results are presented later in the text. Geonames refer to the proper nouns of landscape Geonames can be attributed three basic functions: objects and phenomena on the Earth and objects they refl ect spatial characteristics, contribute to the created by humans in the landscape. Geonames shaping o space and contribute to identifi cation of are apparent in tourism, cartography, international people with place. Geographical names (geonames) trade, transport, telecommunications, statistics, can be, in general, divided into: natural environment etc. (Miklušová 2010) and as a. generic – river, forest, desert, cave. They are used Jordan (2009) says they are important parts of cul- not only by geographers but also by the wide tural heritage. public, b. specifi c – metropolis, agglomeration, life expect- At the global level, the United Nations established ancy. They are used predominantly by geo- the United Nations Group of Experts on Geo- graphers (or other scientists). graphical Names (UNGEGN) in 1959. It gave rise to the United Nations Conferences on the Stand- From the linguistic point of view, one can ardization of Geographical Names (UNCSGN) distinguish: with the main need for global standardization of a. common names – they name people, places, things geographical names. UNGEGN promotes the or ideas that are not specifi c, recording of locally-used names refl ecting the lan- b. proper names – they name the specifi c person, guages and traditions of a country. Its goal is for place, thing or idea and are capitalised in the every country to decide on its own nationally stand- text. ardized names through the creation of national names authorities. The UNCSGN is held every fi ve It is important to differentiate the geographical years, this year in New York (2012). names, according to how they are used in a particu- lar state: In the Slovak Republic, the geographical names a. exonym – is a name for a place or a personal are in charge of the Ministry of Interior and the name that differs from that used in the offi cial Offi ce of Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre of language within that place or for that person the Slovak Republic in Bratislava. Last year, it by the local inhabitants (in Slovakia it means arranges the seminar on the topical issues titled the names of foreign places outside Slovakia – “Standardisation of Geographical Names”. The Paríž, Londýn, Moskva adopted to the Slovak Terminology Authority, established in 1970, as the language). Exonyms are therefore of interest to advisory body at the Offi ce of Geodesy, Cartog- representatives of many disciplines. raphy and Cadastre of the Slovak Republic stipu- b. endonym – the names used by the people or local lates the standardised, offi cial geographical name themselves (in Slovakia it means the names of of individual toponyms which are obligatory for places within Slovakia in the Slovak language – publishers of cartographical works, scientifi c pub- Slovenský raj, Spišský hrad, Slovenský kras). lications, in mass media communications and in AUPO Geographica Vol. 43 No. 1, 2012, pp. 51-60 Research reports 53 Table 1 English variants of selected geomorphological units of Slovakia. Malé Karpaty Vysoké Tatry compiled by author and Fičor (2010) compiled by author Malé Karpaty (the Little Carpathians) the Tatras the Small Carpathians the Vysoké and Nízke Tatry Mountains Malé Karpaty Mountains Vysoké Tatry Mts. the Small Carpathian Mountains the Tatra Mountains the mountain range Malé Karpaty the High Tatras Small-Carpathian High Tatra Mountains the Little Carpathians High Tatras Mountains the Low Carpathian Mountains High Tatras Range the Little Carpathian mountains the Malé Karpaty - the Little Carpathians Malé Karpaty Mts. (Little Carpathians) the Malé Karpaty (Little Carpathians) administrative places. It works out the Conception who hardly recognise what landscape region or hill of Standardisation of Geographical Names in the they are reading about. This problem is even more years 2006-2010. complicated when the reader works with a map, a table or an accompanying text and there are more As declared in 2010, one of the expected account variations of one landscape feature. of the Offi ce to be published was “The Rules to use Slovak geographical names in foreign texts pub- Gercsák (online) writes on the recommendations lished in the Slovak Republic”, however, the publi- how to proceed when translating from Hungarian cation has not been published yet. to English. Some rules are likely to be adapted to Slovak as well: Slovak geographical names in translation 1. Those few Slovak geographical names that have their widely accepted English equivalent are Firstly, we compiled many examples from academic, recommended for use without any restriction popular and tourist-related materials where trans- in running text and in professional publications lated Slovak geonames occurred. On the basis of The Danube, the High Tatras, the Low Tatras, what has been collected we pointed out the incor- the Slovak Karst. In this case, we recommend to rect and insensitive translations of geomorphologi- use them respectively. cal units of Slovakia and some geonames on the 2. The generic