scholarly journals Effect of Previous Translations on Retranslation: A Case Study of Russian-Dutch Literary Translation

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 10-25
Author(s):  
Piet Van Poucke
Keyword(s):  
Publishing House ◽  
Literary Work ◽  
Interesting Case ◽  
Literary Translation ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Translation Strategies ◽  
Translation Strategy ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Russian Literary ◽  
The One

As Outi Paloposki and Kaisa Koskinen (2010) correctly stated in their article on the “fine line between retranslating and revising”, the exact relationship of a text with the previous translation(s) cannot always be determined, even if the most recent translation is presented (in the paratext to the edition) as a ‘retranslation’, ‘re-edition’ or ‘revision’. Indeed, in practice the “labels” of “(re)translation, (…) revisions, adaptations and retellings” are “hard to separate and cover different contents” in different circumstances (Van Coillie 2014). In this paper I will try to study the effect of a first or previous translation on the process of retranslating. In order to do that I will compare a number of literary translations with their predecessors. Literary translations are specifically chosen here because they are probably more often retranslated than other types of texts. Moreover, the style of the translated text is presumably more important than for other genres, which allows me to mutually compare the translations not only at lexical and syntactic, but also at stylistic level. In order to visualize the effect of a previous translation on a retranslation I will compare a number of Dutch translations of Russian literary works with their retranslations. On the one hand, I will compare three recent retranslations with older translations of the same work, ordered and published by the same publishing house, and explicitly announced to the reader as a ‘refreshed’ and reworked translation of the previous one. In these particular cases the retranslators were fully aware of the existence of another translation and the explicit reference to ‘retranslation’ virtually forced them to use the previous translation as a starting point. In order to avoid the influence of (1) the changing translation strategies throughout time, and (2) the possible idiosyncratic peculiarities of the specific translation strategy of one particular (but not representative) translator, I will use translations made by three different translators and published in approximately the same period. On the other hand, I will investigate two Dutch translations of the same Russian literary work, that were made independently from each other and were published virtually on the same day, as the translators were unaware of each other’s translation effort. In this case the ‘previous’ (the term is not really applicable in this case) translation could not have had any effect on the ‘retranslation’, which makes it an interesting case to compare with the three genuine ‘retranslations’. Special attention will be drawn to the differences in the translator’s decisions at lexical, syntactical and stylistic level. More specifically, the analysis will include a quantitative and qualitative approach. I will establish the amount of overlap in lexical, syntactical and stylistic choices in the four pairs of texts, and will try to find whether the retention or substitution of certain terms and linguistic features can be explained.

Translation of Persian Mystic Terms into English: A Case Study of Conference of the Birds by Attar

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (7) ◽  
pp. 552
Author(s):  
Sadaf Khosroshahi ◽  
Ahmad Sedighi
Keyword(s):  
Dominant Strategy ◽  
Literary Translation ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Direct Transfer ◽  
Translation Strategies ◽  
Translation Strategy ◽  
English Translations ◽  
The One ◽  
Persian Translation

Translation of mystic terms or metaphors is a very important portion of rendering a text from a source language to a target language, because some of mystic terms do not exist in the target language and this point makes the translation harder. This paper aimed at identifying the translation strategies and procedures used by Darbandi and Davis (1984) in The Conference of the Birds of Attar Neishabouri. To achieve the objectives, Attar’s Persian original work (Shafiei Kadkani, 2010) was read carefully to extract mystical terms.  Then, the translated text by Darbandi, and Davis (1984) was carefully read and the corresponding English translations of Persian mystical term were found.  The original mystical terms and their Persian translation were analyzed based on Van Doorslaer’s (2007) map to find out translation strategies and procedures used by the translators on the one hand and indicate the dominant strategy and procedure in the whole work of translation on the other. The result showed that literal translation strategy (72.41%) was the most frequently used strategy and direct transfer procedure (68.96%) was the most frequently used procedure.  This paper may have some implications in literary translation and help translation instructors and translation trainees as well in translation classes.

Translation and the Authorial Image: the Case of Federico García Lorca’s Romancero gitano

2004 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stella Linn
Keyword(s):  
Literary Criticism ◽  
Social System ◽  
The Other ◽  
Literary Translation ◽  
Federico Garcia Lorca ◽  
Translation Strategies ◽  
Translation Strategy ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The One ◽  
Target Culture

Abstract Despite Barthes’s claim that the author is dead, leaving the scene for his work, freed from its all too personal origin, I would like to argue that the author image is far from absent in the practice of literary translation. On the one hand, the author’s image within a particular literary and social system may determine which work is translated, and even how it is translated. On the other hand, it seems likely that some characteristics of a persona will be highlighted more than others, depending on which source texts are selected for translation and on how the author and his or her works are presented in prefaces and commentaries accompanying the translations. Moreover, the translation strategy may enhance the prevailing tendencies within reception and thus contribute to a certain perception of the author in the target culture. In this paper I will investigate these hypothetical connections, taking as an example the Spanish author Federico García Lorca and a number of translations of his Romancero gitano (1928) into French, English, and Dutch. I will examine a possible correlation between the prevailing “folkloristic” image of Lorca in the early literary criticism, and the emphasis on romantic, naïve and mythological aspects in translations of his work, and conversely, the later, more complex and gloomy image presented of the author, and translation strategies which highlight elements that correspond to that view.

A corpus-based study on imagery and symbolism in Goldblatt’s translation of Red Sorghum

Babel ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 65 (3) ◽  
pp. 399-423 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meng-Lin Chen
Keyword(s):  
Literary Translation ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Source Text ◽  
Mo Yan ◽  
Translation Strategies ◽  
Figures Of Speech ◽  
Literal Translation ◽  
Translation Strategy ◽  
Translation Study ◽  
Key Word

Abstract Research on Goldblatt’s translation of Red Sorghum has attracted more attention in recent years after its author Mo Yan won the Nobel Prize for this work. This translation study has addressed the imagery and symbolism in this classic Chinese work, an area that has yet to be investigated with the use of empirical data. The study employed the corpus-based approach, and analysed the translation of images and symbols based on a parallel translation corpus of Chapters 1 and 2 found in the text of Red Sorghum. Most important images and symbols are represented by 30 distinct nouns in the novel as successfully translated into English as a result of the translator’s adoption of a literal translation strategy. A more focused examination of a translation of the most prominent key word, sorghum, finds that the translator has faithfully adopted the imagery and symbolism techniques in the source text whenever conveying the images and symbols of sorghum across cultures. Based on the findings, this study argues that images and symbols in the source text may present themselves in the translation of novels if translators adopt a source-oriented translation strategy. Our analyses of the translation of figures of speech, namely similes, personifications and repetitions further highlight the importance of taking concert and literal translation strategies into the realm of literary translation.

Strategies of Translating Martial Arts Fiction

Babel ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olivia Mok
Keyword(s):  
Martial Arts ◽  
Chinese Literature ◽  
Literary Translation ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Literary Genre ◽  
Translation Strategy ◽  
Martial Arts Fiction ◽  
Jin Yong ◽  
The One ◽  
Contemporary Chinese

The strategies of translating Fox Volant of the Snowy Mountain, a martial arts novel by Jin Yong, into English are determined mainly by the skopos of bringing Jin Yong’s work to life for a Western audience, shaped also by the translator’s ideology and the poetics dominant in the receiving culture. It follows that the functions associated with translating this literary text, a major genre in contemporary Chinese literature, would include introducing martial arts fiction as a literary genre; introducing Jin Yong as a master storyteller; and presenting genre-specific devices employed in penning a classic work. An overriding strategy adopted by the translator proved to be extensive rewriting into the target language as the translated work only materialized after serious efforts at recreative translating. The fluent translation strategy, when aptly used, is the one that effects transparency, thereby evoking authorial presence in a literary translation.

scholarly journals Literary Translation Analysis of Indonesian Short Story Apel dan Pisau

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (12) ◽  
pp. 172-180
Author(s):  
Lusi Mardiana ◽  
Ahmad Jum’a Khatib Nur Ali
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Short Story ◽  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
Analytical Study ◽  
Literary Work ◽  
Literary Translation ◽  
Literary Works ◽  
Translation Strategies ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative Methods ◽  
Translation Analysis

Translation allows readers to enjoy literary works from all over the world without being constrained by foreign language mastery. For Producing commensurate literary works, translation strategies are employed to deal with different language systems. This research aims at investigating strategies employed by the translator in translating the Indonesian literary work into English. This Descriptive-Analytical Study has been completed by qualitative and quantitative methods. The data sources used are the Indonesian short story Apel and Pisau by Intan Paramaditha and its translation. The 219 collected data are analyzed by using Kazakova’s theory of literary translation. The results in this study indicate that the translator used (1) The Observer Strategy 70,78% (155 data), (2) The Helper Strategy 23,74 % (52 data), (3) The Adherent Strategy 3,65 % (8 data), and (4) The Enlightener Strategy 1,83% (4 data). The study reveals that the strategy dominantly prevailed is the observer strategy (70,78%), and the most dominant approach is unbiased (74,71 %). Also, it is found that the translation ideology is foreignization, where the translator tries to keep the sense of originality of the author’s work.

scholarly journals Dethroning Dante: Skopostheorie in Action

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Timothy Smith
Keyword(s):  
Literary Translation ◽  
Seamus Heaney ◽  
Translation Theory ◽  
Translation Strategies ◽  
Translation Strategy ◽  
English Translations ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Rhyme Scheme ◽  
English Speaking World ◽  
The Right

<p>Dante’s Commedia has been translated into English more than one hundred times. As a result, there are plenty of opposing opinions on how best to translate Dante’s masterwork. One can mimic Dante’s rhyme scheme (terza rima), utilize a more conventional English metre or rhyme scheme, or resort to a prose translation that abandons any attempt to reproduce Dante’s poetics. It is the purpose of this study to demonstrate that all of these are, in the right context, appropriate translation strategies; no platonic ideal translation strategy exists. To provide a more tolerant approach to translations of Dante’s poetry, I employ a translation theory called Skopostheorie (skopos theory). This theory argues that each translation has its own unique purpose (skopos); there are any number of (valid) strategies available to the translator. This theory is often seen as extreme, providing the translator with too much freedom to manipulate the text. Accordingly, this thesis first makes a case for the application of Skopostheorie in literary translation, attempting to defend it against its critics. Second, this essay exhibits how the theory may be applied in practice. To demonstrate its application, I look at three very different English translations of the first canto of Dante’s Inferno published during the 1990s. These translations are by Seamus Heaney (1993), Steve Ellis (1994), and Robert M. Durling (1996). In doing so, I hope to identify the various approaches of these translators, to demonstrate the breadth of options available to translators of Dante’s capolavoro, and to add to the discourse on the reception of Dante in the English-speaking world.</p>

Polnische Bibliothek

2020 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
pp. 60-74
Author(s):  
Paweł Zajas
Keyword(s):  
Publishing House ◽  
Cultural Background ◽  
The Other ◽  
Book Market ◽  
Polish Literature ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
History Of ◽  
Polish Culture ◽  
The One

AbstractThe Polnische Bibliothek, founded by the German Institute for Polish Culture in Darmstadt, financed by Robert Bosch Foundation and published by the Suhrkamp Publishing House, remains a unique attempt at presenting Polish literature in the German book market. This paper focuses on the historical, political and cultural background of the series and the conflicts at the backstage of its initiation. The analysis, based mostly on the so far unpublished archival correspondence of the publishing house has two aims: on the one hand, a historiographic description of the so far unknown processes of Polish literature transfer lies at its centre, on the other, it addresses the need for appropriate conceptualisations of such phenomena. The study is framed in the category of Histoire croisée in this case applied to an analysis of translation production. Activities of all the actors involved, the conflicts and solutions to them constitute the starting point. These generate an argumentation space which offers insights into the history of production of the series that had since its beginning been marked by conflicting expectations.

scholarly journals Foreignization in News Translation: Metaphors in Russian Translation on the News Translation Website InoSMI

2016 ◽  
Vol 61 (2) ◽  
pp. 346-368 ◽  
Author(s):  
Piet Van Poucke ◽  
Alexandra Belikova
Keyword(s):  
Russian Translation ◽  
The Other ◽  
Source Text ◽  
Translation Strategies ◽  
Translation Strategy ◽  
Western Discourse ◽  
Russian State ◽  
Critical Interpretation ◽  
The One ◽  
Newspaper Articles

Journalistic texts, as a rule, contain a considerable number of metaphorically used expressions. This paper investigates the handling of metaphors in Russian translations of journalistic texts in order to reveal the different translation strategies used by the translators. The research is conducted in three consecutive steps. First, we identify all metaphors in a twofold corpus of 60 original Dutch, English and Finnish newspaper articles on the one hand, and their corresponding 60 translations into Russian on the other. Secondly, we compare the use of metaphors in the translations with their source texts in order to establish the translation strategies and to determine to which extent the metaphorical expressions in the target texts display a higher degree of foreignness than those used in the source texts. Finally, we analyze the cases of foreignization in the target texts in order to find an explanation for the use of this translation strategy. The investigation shows how foreignization is adopted by the translators in a certain number of specific contexts, making the Western discourse on Russian subjects more visible to the reader, especially in these cases where the source text contains metaphors that suggest a critical interpretation of the Russian state, society or the leaders of the country.

scholarly journals Dethroning Dante: Skopostheorie in Action

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Timothy Smith
Keyword(s):  
Literary Translation ◽  
Seamus Heaney ◽  
Translation Theory ◽  
Translation Strategies ◽  
Translation Strategy ◽  
English Translations ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Rhyme Scheme ◽  
English Speaking World ◽  
The Right

<p>Dante’s Commedia has been translated into English more than one hundred times. As a result, there are plenty of opposing opinions on how best to translate Dante’s masterwork. One can mimic Dante’s rhyme scheme (terza rima), utilize a more conventional English metre or rhyme scheme, or resort to a prose translation that abandons any attempt to reproduce Dante’s poetics. It is the purpose of this study to demonstrate that all of these are, in the right context, appropriate translation strategies; no platonic ideal translation strategy exists. To provide a more tolerant approach to translations of Dante’s poetry, I employ a translation theory called Skopostheorie (skopos theory). This theory argues that each translation has its own unique purpose (skopos); there are any number of (valid) strategies available to the translator. This theory is often seen as extreme, providing the translator with too much freedom to manipulate the text. Accordingly, this thesis first makes a case for the application of Skopostheorie in literary translation, attempting to defend it against its critics. Second, this essay exhibits how the theory may be applied in practice. To demonstrate its application, I look at three very different English translations of the first canto of Dante’s Inferno published during the 1990s. These translations are by Seamus Heaney (1993), Steve Ellis (1994), and Robert M. Durling (1996). In doing so, I hope to identify the various approaches of these translators, to demonstrate the breadth of options available to translators of Dante’s capolavoro, and to add to the discourse on the reception of Dante in the English-speaking world.</p>

scholarly journals “Kalatidha” : Sebuah Komposisi Musik Program

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 64-86
Author(s):  
Wahyu Thoyyib Pambayun
Keyword(s):  
Music Composition ◽  
Literary Work ◽  
Musical Composition ◽  
The Core ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Musical Works ◽  
Three Stages ◽  
The Creation ◽  
The One

ABSTRAK Karya “Kalatidha” adalah pertunjukan komposisi musik yang mengangkat isi Serat Kalatidha sebagai ide gagasannya. Terciptanya karya “Kalatidha” dilatarbelakangi oleh kegundahan hati melihat keadaan sekitar yang mengalami kemerosotan di berbagai bidang. Karya sastra Serat Kalatidha dianggap mampu untuk mewadahi kegundahan hati karena substansinya masih aktual dan  apresiatif hingga sekarang. Tujuan penyusunan karya “Kalatidha” adalah dapat menyampaikan dan menggambarkan secara musikal isi substansi Serat Kalatidha. Hasil dari pengamatan mendalam terhadap Serat Kalatidha, dapat ditangkap bahwa inti dari isi Serat Kalatidha ada lima butir. Adapun kelima butir tersebut sebagai berikut: (1) Keadaan negara yang penuh keraguan karena tidak adanya tauladan dari pemimpin. (2) Boleh merasa sedih ketika mendapatkan cobaan, namun harus segera bangkit dan menyadari bahwa semua cobaan yang dialami sudah ditakdirkan. (3) Kepandaian dan kedudukan yang didapatkan akan mengakibatkan datangnya petaka jika seseorang tidak mempunyai moral yang baik. (4) Mawas diri, berserah dan berdoa kepada Sang Pencipta, karena Dialah yang menentukan segalanya. (5) Harus tetap semangat untuk berpegang teguh pada kebenaran walaupun dikelilingi perbuatan yang angkara dengan tetap menganggap bahwa seuntung-untungnya orang yang lalai, masih beruntung yang selalu ingat dan waspada. Butir-butir tersebut digunakan sebagai titik pijak tema cerita atau penggambaran situasional untuk menyusun materi musikal dan garap masing-masing komposisi musik dalam karya “Kalatidha”. Adapun komposisi musik tersebut sebagai berikut: Aruhara”, “Kantaka”, “Awignya Angkara”, “Pamuja Pujastawa” dan “Pramana Prayitna”. Penyusunan karya “Kalatidha” menggunakan tiga tahapan, yaitu: penyusunan gagasan isi, penyusunan ide garapan dan penuangan ide garapan. Tahapan dalam penuangan ide meliputi eksplorasi teknik, eksplorasi pola permainan instrumen, pencarian melodi melalui eksplorasi, penyusunan bagian komposisi, penyambungan antara bagian komposisi, pengolahan volume, tempo sajian dan  evaluasi. Hasil dari penyusunan karya dan tesis karya seni “Kalatidha” diharapkan dapat menjadi salah satu alternatif rujukan untuk menyusun karya musik baru bagi mahasiswa penciptaan musik, khususnya mahasiswa karawitan. Kata Kunci: “Kalatidha”, Serat Kalatidha, Komposisi Musik, Penciptaan Musik, Eksplorasi.  ABSTRACT The work “Kalatidha” is a musical composition performance that elevates the contents of Serat Kalatidha as an idea. The creation of the work “Kalatidha” was motivated by the anxiety of seeing a deteriorating situation in various fields. The literary work of Serat Kalatidha is considered capable to accommodate the anxiety for the substance is still actual and appreciative until now. The purpose of the work “Kalatidha” is to convey and to describe musically the substance of Serat Kalatidha. The in-depth observations of Serat Kalatidha shows that Serat Kalatida contains five points as follows: it can be captured that the core of the Kalatidha Fiber contents is five points. The five points are as follows: (1) A state is full of doubts because there is no guidance from the leader. (2) One may feel sad when getting a trial but he must immediately get up and realize that all that happened are destined. (3) Intelligence and position obtained will result in disaster if someone does not have good morals. (4) To be introspective, surrender and pray to the God because He is the one who determines everything. (5) Keeping the spirit to hold the truth even surrounded by insolent actions and keeping assuming that someone must always remember and alert in order to get safe in his life. These items are used to be a starting point for the themes or situational portrayals to arrange the musical material and the works on each musical composition in “Kalatidha”. The composition of the music is as follows: Aruhara “,” Kantaka “,” Awignya Angkara “,” Pamuja Pujastawa “and” Pramana Prayitna “. The preparation of the work “Kalatidha” uses three stages, namely: the preparation of content ideas, compilation of ideas and conveying the ideas. The stages in conveying ideas include technical exploration, exploration of instrument playing patterns, searching the melodies through exploration, compilation of composition parts, splicing the parts of composition, processing volume, tempo of presentation and evaluation. The results of the works and the thesis of “Kalatidha” are expected to be one of the alternative references for composing new musical works for students of music creation, especially musical students. Keywords: “Kalatidha”, Serat Kalatidha, Music Composition, Music Creation, Exploration.

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