scholarly journals TRANSLATING PROPER NAMES IN A LITERARY TEXT: A CASE OF HARRY POTTER NOVEL IN VIETNAM

2018 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Trieu Thu Hang

Translating literary proper names is regarded as one of the challenging but inspiring issues in the field of Translation Studies. Given this context, the present paper aims to analyze the strategies undertaken by the translator when rendering proper names from the English literary text “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” (2014) into its Vietnamese translation “Harry Potter và Hòn đá phù thuỷ” (2016). To fulfill the research purpose, a descriptive and comparative analysis was made between the source and target text. The analysis of translation strategies was grounded on the theoretical frame of Davis (2003). The findings reveal that the translator adopted the strategy of preservation for most of the proper names in the chosen literary text. Several recommendations for translating proper names in the literary texts are finally drawn out.

2020 ◽  
Vol 40 ◽  
pp. 34-54
Author(s):  
I.D. Volkova ◽  

The purpose of the present article is to describe the significance of translator's notes from the point of view of localization of English works of fiction for Russian readership, as well as to identify the types of lexical units that become object of adaptation and the degree of their explication. The theoretical and methodological basis of this study is made up of the key provisions of translation studies, the study of linguistic localization and the study of literary discourse. Within the framework of the present research, a comparative analysis of the concepts of adaptation (pragmatic adaptation) and localization has been carried out to substantiate the advisability of using a new term to name culturally determined modifications of the original text. The characteristics of a literary text have been established, which make it possible to classify works of fiction as objects of localization. Content analysis of the English and Russian versions of the novels Cloud Atlas, The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet and The Slade House by the British writer D. Mitchell has been carried out. The original English-language and translated Russian-language versions of the specified literary works are analyzed, in particular, a comparative analysis of the English-language lexical units and phrases, accompanied by translator's notes in the secondary texts, has been conducted. The advantages of notes as a form of localization of literary texts are indicated. They consist in the possibility of a more detailed and quick description of foreign cultural units in comparison with intra-text transformations.


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Magdalena Ślawska

The Domestication of Cultural Strangeness in the Translation of Children's Literature: The case of Dubravka Ugrešić's Kućni duhovi [Home Ghosts]This article is devoted to the Polish translation of Kućni duhovi [Home Ghosts], a collection of short stories by Dubravka Ugrešić, her only book addressed to the youngest readers which has been published outside Croatia. The study focuses on the issue of cultural strangeness generated mostly by proper names that appear in the stories: ghosts' names, and the names and surnames of other characters. In her translation, Dorota Jovanka Ćirlić domesticated the source text, replacing all of them with Polish equivalents. The comparative analysis presented in this article considers translation strategies she used and illustrates them with numerous examples. Oswajanie obcości kulturowej w przekładzie literatury dziecięcej. Przypadek Domowych duchów Dubravki UgrešićNiniejszy artykuł poświęcony jest przekładowi na język polski zbioru opowiadań Dubravki Ugrešić pt. Domowe duchy. Jest to jedyna książka pisarki adresowana do najmłodszych czytelników, która ukazała się poza granicami Chorwacji. Szczególna uwaga skierowana została na kwestię obcości kulturowej, którą w książce Ugrešić generują przede wszystkim nazwy własne (nazwy duchów, imiona i nazwiska pozostałych bohaterów). Dorota Jovanka Ćirlić, autorka przekładu, dokonała udomowienia tekstu źródłowego, zastępując wszystkie nazwy własne, pojawiające się w oryginale, polskimi ekwiwalentami. Zastosowane przez tłumaczkę strategie translatorskie zostały omówione oraz zilustrowane licznymi przykładami w toku analizy porównawczej.


2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 76
Author(s):  
Aida Alla

The Harry Potter saga, written by the British writer J.K. Rowling, has gained accredited attention worldwide, thus being translated in more than 64 languages, including Albanian, and selling more than 450 million copies. The saga combines a variety of genres, fantasy being the most predominant one. The magical elements in the fantasy genre are portrayed with a delicate choice of words on the part of the writer, encompassing neologisms, Latinisms and French-rooted words which name the objects, events, behaviors of the imaginary world, to mention a few. The present paper aims to investigate how these features are rendered into Albanian so that the effect of the source text is preserved in the target text. The first three Harry Potter novels will constitute the corpus of our study. Such an investigation will be possible through the conduction of a comparative analysis illustrated with examples which will theoretically be based on the translation procedures and strategies offered by scholars in the discipline of translation studies. Two approaches will be utilized as far as analysis is concerned: following Axiela’s division of culture specific items in two groups – common expressions and proper nouns - Finally, conclusions will be drawn regarding the transfer of the similar effect of the magic-related terms from the source text to the target text.


Author(s):  
Alexander Usachev

The object of this research is the works of the prominent Russian writer F. M. Dostoevsky. The subject of this research is the opinion whether F. M. Dostoevsky first and foremost is the Russian philosopher and thinker, and only then a writer. The author examines the peculiarities of such roles in culture as philosopher, thinker and writer, which gives grounds to question unambiguous reference of the works of prominent Russian writer as activity of the thinker. The peculiarity consists in the fact that F. M. Dostoevsky’s literary texts is so rich in images and themes, that shifting the specificity of his artistic image into the background is not quite justified. Special attention is given to clarification of the essence of activity of the philosopher and the writer. The key research method is the comparative analysis of the facts of such types of social practice as the profession of writer, philosopher and thinker in their relation to the fundamental concepts of time, space, text and nature of its perception from the outside perspective .The main conclusion consists in the statement that the philosophical text maintains neutrality in relation to time, as is being written from the standpoint of eternity. Literary text, in turn, is “submerged” in time and space of the events taking place within it, and relies on recognizability of the characters and their existential characteristics. F. M. Dostoevsky appears to the audience as the creator of storylines and images, rather than a person who sets the trends and concepts of social movements.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 718
Author(s):  
Qing Qiu

With the increasing relevance of feminism and translation studies, how to embody female discourse in translation has become an important issue in feminist translation and in reflecting the translator’s subjectivity. Based on the feminist translation theory, this study will explore how female translators use translation strategies and methods to highlight female discourse through a comparative analysis of the two Chinese versions of To the Lighthouse, aiming to reveal the differences between female’s translation and male’s as a result of their gender consciousness, thus bringing beneficial inspiration to translation studies and translation work.


2018 ◽  
Vol 50 ◽  
pp. 01119
Author(s):  
Daria Novikova ◽  
Yulia Ivanova

The aim of the study is to present semantic diversity of an adjective “strange” in Russian, English and Spanish literary texts. All context examples are taken from world-known mystical-fantastic novels (“Altist Danilov” by V. Orlov, “Falling Angel” by W. Hjortsberg, and “The Club Dumas” by A. Pérez-Reverte) in order to demonstrate individual author’s style in conveying religious concept such as demon and its attributes through different cultures. Using the method of comparative analysis and specific identification the authors describe three aspects of adjective definition – gnoseological, emotional-axiological and orthological. The paper confirms that attributive features of main characters in all literary texts can be depicted through one single adjective, its synonyms and its collocations. Moreover, description of demonic personages mostly depends on quality adjectives having selected by a creator of a literary text. The practical value of the study is that research findings can be used in future investigations on the modality and semantics of other adjectives belonging to the same semantic group.


2018 ◽  
Vol 50 ◽  
pp. 01203
Author(s):  
Gulshat Zinnatullina

This article deals with the basic types and functions of adjective constructions “accompanying” proper names in the literary text. This article continues research in the field of poetic onomastics. Stories and short novels by canonical Tatar writers such as A. Yeniki, M. Amir and F. Khusni served as a material for research. The object of study is anthroponyms and their immediate environment (appellatives and their combination with proper names). The novelty and topicality of the research can be attributed to the fact that it is the first attempt to study anthroponyms in particular in combination with different appellative constructions. This, in its turn, allows us to consider anthroponyms as an important structure-forming element of the literary space. The research of the onomastic layer of the literary texts, which we chose, enabled us to draw conclusions about the wide use of dependent words (they are often participles and participial constructions) amid anthroponyms. We make an attempt to reveal the peculiarities of the use and functions of such constructions within the framework of this article. It has turned out that they may contain the most significant, comprehensive information on any character. In addition, these combinations serve as vivid expressive means, reflect specificity of the writer’s artistic and creative thinking.


Author(s):  
Natascha Jourdy

The paper focuses on the analysis of free indirect discourse as a modernist narrative form. We outline the basic narrative and linguistic characteristics of free indirect discourse and examine its main functions in the literary texts. We undertake a comparative analysis of three examples of free indirect discourse (drawn from the texts of G. Flaubert, F. Kafka and V. Nabokov) and display their common and distinctive features.


Author(s):  
Yu.A. Borisenko

The article examines specific characteristics of literary nonce words on the example of English literary tales. It attempts to classify them on the basis of the word-building patterns used (highlighting the so-called nursery words and nonce words proper). It also describes their main functions in a literary text. The research objectives also included a comparative analysis of the translations of famous English literary tales. The analysis proved that the main translation strategies while dealing with literary nonce words are the creation of nonce words in the target language, descriptive translation and compensation. The most successful translation decisions take into account the target audience of readers and include the use of wordplay, as well as phonetic expressive means such as rhyme, alliteration and onomatopoeia. In general, the translation of nonce words directly depends on the specifics of word-building patterns that exist in the source and target languages.


Author(s):  
Adham Mousa Obeidat ◽  
Tengku Sepora Tengku Mahadi

Since the goal of translation is to bridge the gap between two cultures, translators need to pay attention to literary works. Here lies the importance of good translation to convey cultural messages. The mistranslation of cultural concepts in a literary text may cause misunderstanding of this culture by the TL readers. Therefore, to produce a well-translated literary work, translators need to investigate the expressions that relate to culture such as religious beliefs. The vital role of cultural collocations in a language requires translators to apply effective translation strategies. Domestication and foreignization are two important strategies in translating cultural collocations in a literary text. The authors of this study have applied these strategies to investigate whether religious-cultural collocations in a literary text are domesticated or foreignized. The sentences that have religious-cultural collocations are chosen from an Arabic novel. The collocations are analyzed along with two versions of translation, then the English translations are compared. As a result of the discussion, the two translators tend to apply the domestication strategy more frequently. It is found that since religious-cultural collocations are difficult to be understood by the target language readers, the translators tend to reduce their strangeness and domesticate them.


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