Cuprins
- Introduction 4
- What is translation? 6
- What is poetry? 10
- Arguments against the Translation of Poetry 12
- Arguments for the Translation of poetry 14
- Difference from ESP translation 16
- I. Linguistic problems 18
- II. Aesthetic or Literary problems 26
- 2.1 Poetic structure 27
- 2.2 Metaphorical expressions 28
- 2.3 Sound 30
- III. Socio-cultural problems 31
- Conclusion 36
- Refences 38
Extras din licență
Introduction
I chose to start with Steiner’s affirmation (1983:78) who said that “translation exists only because people talk different languages. In fact, this truism is based on a situation that we may consider mysterious and that raises a question of both psychological and socio-historical difficulty”.
“Why must the human beings talk thousands of different languages that cannot be understood by everyone? Thus, within one language or even more than one language, communication between humans is possible due to translation” (Steiner 1983: 25).
We should consider the fact that translation theory is the classic name that was given to the generic knowledge about translation and down the line, it has become an out-of-date term as it is associated with the old, normative, prescriptive writings on the ways in which good literary translations could be achieved.
Translation is an extremely difficult process. It is defined as “a transfer of meaning from one language to another”. But sometimes we hear people who do not speak or read a foreign language often have mistaken points of view on the nature of translation.
Many of them consider it merely a mechanical process which is like decoding (Hopkins, 1976: 114). As for Roman Ingarden (cited in Vollmer, 1986: 203), he says that the translation of a work is never completely adequate; it is a problem.
Besides, it is, as Quirk (cited in Bassnett, 1980: 5) claims, “one of the most difficult tasks that a writer can take upon himself,” while Richards (cited in Nida, 1993: 1) claims that it “is probably the most complex type of event in the history of the cosmos.” Any step on the way of translation meets many problems and challenges.
One can say that the translation of poetry may be the most challenging, then other types of translation because of the peculiarity of poetry. Accordingly, two notions are of relevance, here, to understand this paper, i.e., translation’ and poetry.
Translating poetry is considered one of the most complicated types of translations. It meets many difficulties, the most important of which is the question of possibility or impossibility of translating poetry.
So, it is better to start by asking the following question: is the translation of poetry possible? Or is it impossible? It is a rhetorical question because translation is as old as the presence of translated texts, which fills the shelves of libraries.
One can ask despite these difficulties, who would discourage people of the world from translating poetry merely because it is fundamentally impossible? (Mann, 1970: 211).
What is translation?
Translation used to be considered an inter-language transfer of meaning, which is the point of departure for research and study. Many earlier definitions demonstrate this, using source language and target language as their technical terms. Moreover, translation theories strictly confined themselves within the sphere of linguistics.
For many years the popular trend in the translation circles had been perfect faithfulness to the original both in content and in form, it had been regarded as the iron criterion as if from the holy Bible for translators to observe.
The godly status and the impossible idealistic belief were not altered until new thoughts arose with the respect of consideration of target readers, the unavoidable translator subjectivity and the purpose and function of translations.
Starting to look from new angles such as the accommodation to target cultural conventions, the translator's consciousness of linguistic and cultural adaptations to make it easy for readers to understand translated works without too much pain and effort, and translation as a purposeful endeavor. Translation is then understood as a much more complicated activity with a much broader scope.
According to Brislin (1976: 1) who notes that „The general term referring to the transfer of thoughts and ideas from one language (source) to another (target), whether the languages are in written or oral form; whether the languages have established orthographies or do not have such standardization or whether one or both languages is based on signs, as with sign languages of the deaf”.
It is also defined as “rendering the meaning of a text into another language” (Newmark 1988:5). Accordingly, this process needs the source language (henceforth SL) translator to find a functional equivalent in the target language (henceforth TL).
Some theorists talk about the importance of translation to the extent that they do not consider a certain text as truly existed only after it has been translated.
Translation comes into being inside change itself, at times it seems to confuse itself with change while still being active. To translate is to take something beyond itself.
Bibliografie
Abrams, M.H. (1971). A Glossary of Literary Terms. New York: Holt
Adams, Hazard. (1967). The Interests of Criticism. New York: Harcourt Brace and World Inc.
Arberry, A. (1957). The Seven Odes. London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd
Bassnett, S. & Lefevere, A. (1998). Constructing Cultures: Essays on Literary Translation. Great Britain: Multilingual Matters
Bassnett, S. (1980). Translation Studies. New York: Methuen
Bartlett, J. (1955). Familiar Quotations. 13th. Ed. Boston: Little Brown & Co.
Bell R. T. (1991). Applied Linguistics and Language Study. Addison Wesley Publishing Company
Benjamin, W. (1968). The Task of the Translator, in: Illuminations. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World Inc
Bloomfield, L. (1933). Language. New York: Holt
Brislin, R. W. (1976). Translation: application and research. New York: Gardner Press Inc
Broeck, R. V. (1990). Translation Theory after Deconstruction. London: Routledge.
Brower, R. (1966). Translation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Burnshaw, S., Fitts, D. & Peyre, H. (1995). The Poem Itself. Arkansas: University of Arkansas Press
Catford, J. C. (1965). A Linguistic Theory of Translation: An Essay in Applied Linguistics. (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
Charters, A. & Charters, S. (1987). Literature and Its Writers: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. (Boston: Bedford Books)
Cudden, J.A. (1976). The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory, England.
Dumistrăcel, S. (1980). Lexic romanesc; cuvinte, metafore, expresii”, editura Știintifică și Enciclopedică, București,
Frost, W. (1969). Dryden and the Art of Translation. (New Haven: Yale University Press)
Gasagrade, J. (1954) The Ends of Translation, International Journal of American Linguistics
Gelpi, A. (1990). The genealogy of postmodernism: Contemporary American poetry.
Giles, D. (1995) Basic Concepts and Models for Interpreter and Translator Training.
Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing.
Hatim & Mason: (1997). The translator as Communicator
L., Martin J. (1991). Redefining Translation: The Variational Approach
Hopkins, J. (1976). Hermeneutical and Textual Problems in the Complete Treatises of St. Anselm. (New York: the Edwin Mellen Press).
Ilyas, A. (1989). Theories of Translation: Theoretical Issues and Practical Implications. Mosul: University of Mosul.
Jahiz, A. A. (2003). Al-Haywan. 2nd. Edition, Part 3. Egypt: Al-Hilal Publishing House.
Jakobson R. (1959) On Linguistic Aspects of Translation essay
Jakobson, R. (1966). “On Linguistic Aspects of Translation”, in Brower, R. (ed.), On Translation. New York: Oxford University Press.
Landers, C. E. (2000). Literary Translation: A Practical Guide. London: New Jersey City University Press
Mann, Thomas (1970). Letters to a Translator. Oxford: Delos 4
Mathews, J. (1966). Third Thoughts on Translating Poetry. In: Brower, R.A. (ed.) On Translation. New York: Oxford University Press
Moody, A. D. (1979). Thomas Stearns Eliot: Poet. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Mounin, G. (1963). Theoretical problems of translation
Munteanu, R. (1986). Civilizatia cartilor. Editura Univers
Murena, N. (1973). Variation in Translation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Newmark, P. (1981). Approaches to Translation. Oxford: Pergamon Press.
Newmark, P. (1982). Approaches to Translation. Oxford: Pergamon Press Ltd
Newmark, P. (1988). Textbook of Translation. Oxford: Pergamon Press.
Nida, E. A. (1964). Towards a Science of Translating. Leiden: E. J. Brill.
Nida, E. A. (1984) On translation. Beijing: Translation Publishing Corp
Nida, E. A. (1993). Language, Culture, and Translating. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press.
Raffel, B. (2010). The Art of Translating Poetry. Pennsylvania: State University Press.
Ravindran, S. (1982). Structuralism & Deconstruction. Delhi: Ram & Sons
Robinson, P. (2010). Poetry & Translation: The Art of the Impossible. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press
Rose, M. G. (1981). Translation Spectrum: Essays in Theory and Practice. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Said E. W. (1994). Culture and Imperialism. Vintage Books
Sapir (2000). Language: An Introduction to the Study of Speech. New York
Sartre, J. P. (1988). What is Literature? Harvard: Harvard University Press.
Steiner R. (1983). Anthroposophy and the Riddle of the Soul. Rudolf Steiner publishing house
Venuti, L. (2004). The Translation Studies Reader. London: Routledge
Vollmer, K. M. (1986). The Hermeneutics Reader: Texts of The German Tradition from the Enlightenment to the Present. UK: The Continuum Publishing Co
Webster, R. (1994). Convexity. Oxford Science Publications
Wolfram Wilss: (2001). The Science of Translation- Problems and Methods
Yanal, R. J. (1982). Aristotle's Definition of Poetry. Michigan: Brill.
Preview document
Conținut arhivă zip
- Challenges when translating poetry.docx