continued from No.
1,
3,
4,
6
Translation and Style
The problem of translation equivalence is closely connected with the
stylistic aspect of translation – one cannot reach the required level of equivalence if
the stylistic peculiarities of the source text are neglected. Full translation adequacy
includes as an obligatory component the adequacy of style, i.e. the right choice of
stylistic means and devices of the target language to substitute for those observed in the
source text. This means that in translation one is to find proper stylistic variations of
the original meaning rather than only the meaning itself.
For example, if the text You’ll see…everything will be
hunky-dory is translated in a neutral style Увидишь...всё будет
хорошо, the basic meaning will be preserved but the colloquial and a bit vulgar
connotation of the expression hunky-dory will be lost. Only the
stylistically-correct equivalent of this expression gives the translation the required
adequacy: Увидишь...всё будет тип-топ.
The expression of stylistic peculiarities of the source text in
translation is necessary to fully convey the communication intent of the source text.
Special language media securing the desirable communication of the text are called stylistic
devices and expressive means.
First of all, a translator is to distinguish between neutral, bookish
and colloquial words and word combinations, translating them by relevant units of the
target language. Usually it is a routine task. It sometimes is hard to determine the
correct stylistic variety of a translation equivalent. But, as in almost all instances of
translation, the final decision is taken on the basis of context, situation and background
information.
For example, it is hard to decide without further information, which of
the English words – disease, illness, or sickness – corresponds to the
Russian words болезнь and заболевание.
However, even such short contexts as infectious disease and social
disease already help to choose the appropriate equivalents and translate the word disease
as инфекционное заболевание and социальная
болезнь, accordingly.
This example brings us to a very important conclusion, that style is
expressed in a proper combination of words rather than only in the stylistic colouring of
the individual words.
Stylistic devices are based on the comparison of primary (dictionary)
meaning and that dictated by the contextual environment; on the contradiction between the
meaning of the given word and the environment; on the association between words in the
minds of the language speakers and on the purposeful deviation from accepted grammatical
and phonetic standards.
The following stylistic devices and expressive means are most common
and frequently dealt with by the translators of publicistic style texts.
Metaphor is the transfer of some quality from one object to
another based on resemblance, in other words, on a covert comparison: He is not a man,
he is just a machine; What an ass you are!; the childhood of mankind; the dogs of war; a
film star.
Not only objects can be compared in a metaphor, but also phenomena and actions: Some
books are to be tasted, others swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested
(Bacon); virgin soil; a treacherous calm.
A trite metaphor is one that is overused in speech, so that in
has lost its freshness of expression. Such metaphors often turn into idiomatic phrases,
fixed in dictionaries: seeds of evil; a rooted prejudice, a flight of
imagination, in the heat of argument; to burn with desire, to fish for compliments.
Usually the metaphors (especially, cliches) are rather easy for translation: they are
translated either by keeping to semantic similarity, e.g., ray of hope – луч
надежды, or by choosing an appropriate pragmatic equivalent, e.g., flood of
tears – море слёз.
Metonymy denotes a transference of meaning which is based on
contiguity of notions, not on likeness. It may be called “similarity by association”.
In metonymy, the name of one object is used instead of another, closely connected with it,
which may include:
1. The name of a part instead of the name of a whole as in Washington
and London (= USA and UK) agree on most issues; the word colours in the
phrase to defend the colours of the University denotes the organization
itself.
2. The name of a container instead of the contents as in He drank a
whole glass of whiskey (= the liquid contained in a glass); The whole town
was out in the streets (= the people of the town).
3. The name of a characteristic feature of an object instead of the
object as in The massacre of the innocents (= children; this biblical phrase is
related to the killing of Jewish male children by King Herod in Bethlehem).
4. The name of an instrument instead of an action or the doer of an
action as in All they that live by the sword, shall perish by the sword (= war,
fighting).
As a rule, translators keep to literal translation when translating the
cases of metonymy. For example, crown (= the royal family) is usually translated as
корона, hand – рука (e.g. in He is the right
hand of the president).
Irony is based on simultaneous realization of two opposite
meanings: the stable, direct meaning of the words and their contextual (covert, implied)
meaning. Usually the direct meaning in such cases expresses a positive evaluation of the
situation, while the context contains the opposite, negative evaluation: How delightful
– to find yourself in a foreign country without a penny in your pocket!; The Holy
Alliance (Russia, Prussia, Austria) was minded to stretch the arm of its charity across
the Atlantic and put republicanism down in the Western Hemisphere as well as on its own
(Goldwin Smith).
Cases of irony do not present a serious problem for translation and the
approaches similar to those mentioned above (semantic or pragmatic equivalence) are
commonly used. For example, the ironical expression paper war may be translated as бумажная
война or война бумаг.
Zeugma is a stylistic device that plays upon two different
meanings of the word (the direct and the transferred meanings), thus creating a pun. This
comes from the use of a word in the same formal (grammatical) relations, but in different
semantic relations with the surrounding words in the phrase or sentence, which is a result
of the simultaneous realization (in one text) of the literal and figurative meanings of a
word: A leopard changes his spots as often as he goes from one spot to another
(spot = 1.пятно; 2. место); At noon Mrs. Turpin would get out of bed
and humour, put on kimono, airs, and water to boil for coffee (O. Henry); He has
taken her picture and another cup of tea.
Here again the translator’s task is to try to render this ironical
comment either by finding a similar irregularity in the target language or, failing to
show a zeugma and irony of the author, stick to the regular target language meaning (i.e.
separate the two actions Он её сфотографировал и выпил
ещё одну чашку чая or try to render them as a zeugma as well Он
сделал снимок и ещё один глоток чая из чашки).
Semantic and syntactic irregularities of expression may be used as a
stylistic device called transferred qualifier. A good example of this device is He
paid his smiling attention to her – here the qualifier smiling refers to a
person, but is used as an attribute to the state (attention). The translator’s
task in this case consists in rendering the idea in compliance with the lexical
combination rules of the target language. For instance, in Russian it may be expressed as Улыбаясь,
он заметил...
A Pun, the so-called “play on words”, is righteously
considered the most difficult for translation. Pun is the realization in one and the same
word of two lexical meanings (direct and figurative) simultaneously: May’s mother
always stood on her gentility, and Dot’s mother never stood on anything but her active
little feet. One more example of pun is represented in the humorous report about two
duellists who fired at each other and both missed, so when one of the seconds said, after
the duel, “Now, please, shake your hands!” the other answered “There is no
need for that. Their hands must have been shaking since morning”.
A pun can be translated only by a word in the target language with a
similar capacity to develop two meanings in a particular context. English is comparatively
rich in polysemantic words and homonyms, whereas in Russian these word types are rather
rare. Consider an example of a pun and its fairly good Russian translation.
– What gear were you in at the moment of impact?
– Gucci’s sweats and Reeboks.
– На какой передаче вы были в момент
столкновения?
– “Последние известия”.
Periphrasis is another device. It denotes the process of
renaming – the use of a different name instead of the traditionally used one. Its
frequent use is characteristic of the publicistic style.
A different, more gentle or favourable name may be used for an object
or phenomenon so as to avoid undesirable or unpleasant associations. This case of renaming
is represented by euphemisms. Thus, the verb die may be replaced by
euphemisms like expire, be no more, join the majority, be done, depart; a
madhouse may be called a lunatic asylum or a mental hospital;
euphemisms for toilet, lavatory are ladies’ (men’s) room, rest-room,
bathroom.
Periphrasis may use a description instead of a person’s name,
creating a kind of nickname: Mister Know-all; Miss Today. On the other hand, a
proper name may be used instead of a common name: He is the Napoleon of crime (= a
genius in crime as great as Napoleon was in other things); You are a real Cicero (=
a great orator like Cicero).
Some of the periphrases are borrowed from classical sources (myths and
the Bible); others are typically English. To give just a few examples, the periphrases of
classical origin are:
From the Bible: prodigal son(= блудный сын); the
golden calf (= золотой телец); Render unto Caesar the things
that are Caesar’s and unto God the things that are God’s (= отдайте
кесарю кесарево, а Богу – Божие); at the eleventh hour (=
в последний момент); the promised land (= земля
обетованная); the writing on the wall (= зловещее
предзнаменование).
From Shakespeare: salad days (= молодо-зелено;
период становления); at one fell swoop (= одним махом;
в одно мгновение); sound and fury (= драматические
события); every inch a king (= самый настоящий); ‘tis
neither here nor there (= к делу не относится); cry havoc (=
кричать караул; сеять панику).
Typically English periphrases are: Lake country (= England); The
Lord; Almighty; Goodness; Heavens; the Skies (= God); a shield-bearer (=
a soldier); a play of swords (= a battle).
As a rule, periphrases do not present difficulties for translation,
however, their correct translation strongly depends on the situation and appropriate
background information.
Special attention is to be paid by a translator to overt and covert
quotations. Whereas the former require only a correct rendering of the source quotation in
the target language (Never suggest your own home-made translation for a quotation of a
popular author!), the latter usually takes the shape of an allusion and the pragmatic
equivalence seems the most appropriate for the case. For example, the Trojan
Horse raid one may translate as нападение, коварное, как
троянский конь (i.e. preserving the allusion) or as коварное
нападение (loosing the meaning of the original quotation).
Allusion is an indirect reference to (a hint at) a historical or
literary fact (or personage) contained in the text. It presupposes the knowledge of the
fact by the reader or listener, so no particular explanation is given (although this is
sometimes needed by the readers). Very often the interpretation of the fact or person is
broadened, generalized or even symbolized. See the following examples:
Hers was a forceful clarity and a colourful simplicity and a bold
use of metaphor that Demosthenes would have envied (W. Faulkner) (allusion to
the widely-known ancient Greek orator).
He felt as Balaam must have felt when his ass broke into
speech (Maugham) (allusion to the biblical parable of an ass that spoke the human
language when its owner, the heathen prophet Balaam, intended to punish it).
Allegory is a device by which the names of objects or characters
of an article are used figuratively, representing some more general things, good or bad
qualities. We often find allegory in parables, essays and pamphlets. It is also a typical
feature of proverbs containing generalizations (expressing some moral truths): All is
not gold that glitters (= impressive words or people are not always really good.
Russ.: Не всё золото, что блестит.); Every cloud has
a silver lining (= even in bad situations there may be positive elements. Russ.: Нет
худа без добра.); Make the hay while the sun shines (= hurry to
achieve your aim while there is a suitable situation. Russ.: Куй железо,
пока горячо.).
As a type of allegory we distinguish Personification, i.e.
ascribing human qualities to inanimate objects, phenomena or animals:
Silent, like sorrowing children, the birds have ceased their song…
the dying day breathes out her last… and Night, upon her sombre throne,
folds her black wings above the darkening world, and, from her phantom
palace, lit by pale stars, reigns in stillness (Jerome).
In English personification is often represented grammatically by the
choice of masculine or feminine pronouns for the names of animals, inanimate objects or
forces of nature. The pronoun He is used for the Sun, the Wind, for the names of
animals that act like human beings, (for example, The Cat who walked by himself),
for strong, active phenomena (Death), or feelings (Fear, Love). The pronoun She is
used for what is regarded as rather gentle (the Moon, Nature, Silence, Beauty, Hope,
Mercy; e.g., Fair Science frowned not on his humble birth, but Melancholy
marked him for her own (Gray), or in some way woman-like (in Aesop’s
fable about The Crow and the Fox, the pronoun She is used for the Crow,
whose behavior is coquettish and light-minded, and He – for the Fox).
In neutral style there are also some traditional associations of
certain nouns with gender. These are apparent in the use of personal or possessive
pronouns. The names of countries, if the country is not considered as a mere geographical
territory, are referred to as feminine: England is proud of her poets. But
if the name of the country is meant as a geographical one, the pronoun “it” is used: Iceland
is an island, it is washed on three sides by the Atlantic Ocean. The names of
vessels (ship, boat, steamer, ice-breaker, cruiser, etc.) are referred to as feminine: The
new ice-breaker has started on her maiden voyage. She is equipped with
up-to-date machinery.
The names of vehicles (car, carriage, coach) may also be referred to as
feminine, especially by their owners, to express affectionate attitude to these objects:
I found my car at the curb; her window was broken.
While translating the cases of personification and traditional use of
personal and possessive pronouns, a translator should render the English pronouns in
accordanee with the norms of the target language.
A translator is to be ready to render dialect forms and illiterate
speech in the target language forms. It goes without saying that one can hardly render,
say, cockney dialect using the target language dialect forms. There is no universal recipe
for this translation problem. In some cases the distortions in the target grammar are used
to render the dialect forms but then again it is not ‘a cure-all’ and each such case
requires an individual approach.
Activities
Questions
1. What obligatory components does full translation adequacy include?
Explain the notion stylistic adequacy.
2. List special language media securing the desirable communication of
the text.
3. What are stylistic devices based on?
4. What is the transfer of some quality from one object to another
based on in cases of metaphor? Metonymy?
5. What stylistic device is grounded on simultaneous realization of two
opposite meanings of a word – its direct and contextual ones?
6. What stylistic device is characterized by the use of a word in the
same grammatical relations, but in different semantic relations with surrounding words in
a phrase?
7. What problems arise when a translator deals with a case of punning?
How should they be solved?
8. Give examples of periphrasis borrowed from classical sources. What
does their proper translation depend on?
9. How is personification represented in English? What determines the
choice of masculine or feminine pronouns?
10. What approaches to translation do the cases of covert quotation
(allusion) require?
Exercises
Exercise 1. Point out the stylistic devices used.
1. It was his habit not to jump or leap at anything in life but
to crawl at everything (Ch. Dickens).
2. He earns his living by his pen (S. Maugham).
3. Money burns a hole in my pocket (T. Capote).
5. Then there were the twin boys, whom the family called “Stars
and Stripes” as they were whipped regularly (O. Wilde).
6. There comes a period in every man’s life, but she’s just
a semicolon in his (S. Evans).
7. Did you hit a woman with a child? No, sir, I hit her with
a brick (Th. Smith).
8. Isn’t it discouraging when it takes two days to fly a letter from
coast to coast? I get so mad I mark the envelopes “Air-Snail”
(S. Noukhova).
9. Every Caesar has his Brutus (O. Henry).
10. There are three doctors in an illness like yours…Dr. Rest, Dr.
Diet, and Dr. Fresh Air. (D. Cusack).
11. “I expect you’d like a wash”, Mrs. Thompson said, “The
bathroom’s to the right and the usual offices next to it” (J. Brain).
12. “Christ, it’s so funny! Madame Bovary at Columbia
Extension School!” (D. Salinger).
13. She was still fat; the destroyer of her figure sat at the
head of the table (A. Bennet).
14. The hospital crowded with the surgically interesting products of
the fighting in Africa (I. Show).
15. “You have heard of Jefferson Brick I see, Sir,” quoth
the Colonel with a smile. “England has heard of Jefferson Brick. Europe has
heard of Jefferson Brick” (Ch. Dickens).
16. Stony smiled the sweet smile of an alligator (J. Steinbeck).
17. The mechanics were underpaid, and underfed, and overworked
(J. Aldridge).
18. Swan had taught him much. The great kindly Swede taken him under
his wing (E. Ferber).
Exercise 2. Fill in a personal or possessive pronoun
corresponding in gender to the word in bold type.
1. Awake! (not Greece – … is awake)! Awake my spirit! (G.
Byron).
2. The coyote looks like a cross between the fox and the wolf;
… is now protected, … is already too numerous.
3. If England treats … criminals the way … has treated me,
… doesn’t deserve to have any (O. Wilde).
4. When did the USA first send … ambassador to Poland?
5. God bless America, Land I love, Stand behind …, and guide
…, Through the night with a light from above (I. Berlin).
6. Go to the sea and cast a hook, and take up the fish that
first comes up, and when you have opened … mouth, you shall find a piece of money
(Matthew).
7. And when Death at last lays … icy hand upon you, you will
share my Kingdom.
8. Many of the Arab states are opposed to the State of Israel
and would not regard Jerusalem as … capital.
9. A horse, like a dog or a cat, can easily find … way home
even in the darkness.
10. San Francisco put on a show for me. I saw … across the Bay
(J. Steinbeck).
Exercise 3. Define the underscored stylistic devices and
expressive means in the following text. Translate the text into Russian preserving its
stylistic colouring.
Ever since the U.S. got voted off the island at the U.N. Human
Rights Commission three weeks ago, Congress has been hopping mad and the
U.N.-haters have been on a tear. So I have an idea: Let’s quit the U.N. That’s
right, let’s just walk. Most of its members don’t speak English anyway. What an
insult! Let’s just shut it down and turn it into another Trump Tower. That
Security Council table would make a perfect sushi bar.
The vote that got the U.S. booted off the Human Rights
Commission was to the U.N. what Senator Jim Jeffords’s vote to leave the Republican
Party was to the Senate – a wake-up call, a signal that the world will push back
against radical Bush policies just as Senator Jeffords did.
When President Bush trashed the Kyoto treaty on climate change, the
message the world got was that the Bushes will do whatever they please, on a range
of issues, and if the world doesn’t like it – tough. So, not surprisingly, when the
members of this U.N. Commission got a chance to vote anonymously on whether the U.S.
should be a member, they stuck it to us. People with power often don’t think
about it; people without power think about it all the time.
The New York Times, May 29, 2001,
by Thomas L. Friedman
By Galina Goumovskaya
to be continued
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