scholarly journals BETWEEN WOR(L)DS... OR COMPLETELY LOST IN TRANSLATION? O WSPÓŁCZESNYCH „TŁUMACZENIACH” TYTUŁÓW MEGAPRODUKCJI FILMOWYCH. OD WIRUJĄCEGO SEKSU (1987) PRZEZ MINIONKI (2010-2017) DO PRZEŁĘCZY OCALONYCH (2016)

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (XX) ◽  
pp. 99-112
Author(s):  
Bartosz Poluszyński

In the present article, entitled Between Wor(l)ds... OR completely lost in translation? On contemporary “translations” of the titles of film blockbusters. From “Wirujący seks” (1987) and “Minionki” (2010-2017) to “Przełęcz ocalonych” (2016), its author – being a philologist, a linguist, a translation-studies researcher, and a regular picturegoer, takes into practical consideration selected translations (mainly from English into Polish) of several dozen film blockbusters having been produced in the last 20 years. On the basis of available resources, which are relatively few regarding the matter in question, the author makes an attempt at identifying and defining a range of formal and informal criteria in accordance with which English-language film titles are typically translated (“translated”?) into Polish, and then he tries to evaluate the adequacy of such film title translations against the original ones. The considerations are primarily made from a philological perspective (mainly lexical), including the corresponding cultural issues that might have affected the translation process. The analysis also embraces the increasingly significant commercial aspect present in the contemporary cinematography, in view of which a film these days is first of all a product that needs to be sold at a huge profit to the international clientele.

Author(s):  
Анастасия Александровна Лукиных ◽  
Ирина Вячеславовна Баранова

Введение. Прецедентность представляет собой весьма значимое явление для современной лингвистической науки. Прецедентность и прецедентные феномены изучаются лингвистами в различных аспектах и сферах. Исследуется прецедентность в политическом дискурсе. Целью является сопоставительное исследование национально-прецедентных феноменов, функционирующих в русскоязычном политическом дискурсе, а также в переводе на английский язык. Задачи исследования состоят в определении методологии, осуществлении отбора материала и определении наиболее адекватных способов перевода прецедентных феноменов русскоязычной культуры на английский язык. Материал и методы. Методология исследования основывается на теории когнитивной лингвистики с применением методов когнитивного моделирования, дискурсивного анализа, сопоставительного анализа. Для отбора материала исследования использовался метод сплошной выборки. При обобщении, систематизации и анализе материала применялся также описательный метод. Материалом исследования послужили тексты выступлений В. В. Путина, опубликованные на официальном сетевом ресурсе Президента РФ. Результаты и обсуждение. В результате проведенного исследования было обнаружено, что политический дискурс является весьма продуктивным для создания национально-прецедентных феноменов в силу своей специфики. Прецедентные феномены в политическом дискурсе обладают своей спецификой, как правило, источником прецедентности служит сфера политики либо исторические события конкретной национально-культурной общности. Прецедентные феномены в политической лингвистике сравнительно недолговечны. Наиболее часто они представлены прецедентными текстами, именами и высказываниями. При переводе национально-прецедентных феноменов для создания эквивалентного перевода применяются конкретизация, поиск фразеологических эквивалентов и аналогов. В некоторых случаях прецедентность при переводе полностью утрачивается, но в любом случае для интерпретации национально-прецедентных феноменов необходимы знания о национально-специфичных культурных источниках прецедентности. Заключение. Таким образом, национально-прецедентные феномены представляют собой значимую характеристику политического дискурса, служат связующим звеном между адресатом и адресантом, придают живость и образность речи в политическом дискурсе. С другой стороны, их национальная специфика служит дополнительной сложностью при переводе и часто требует наличия некоторых экстралингвистических знаний для их дешифровки и адекватного восприятия. Introduction. The study of precedential phenomena is extremely important for modern linguistics. They can be explored in different spheres and aspects, which depends on the aims of research. This article deals with precedential phenomena in political discourse. Aim and objectives. The aim is a comparative research of national precedential phenomena which function in Russian political discourse and of their translation into the English language. The objectives of this paper are to define methodology of the research, to select the necessary language material and to find the ways of translation of precedential phenomena taken from Russian culture into English. Material and methods. The methodology of the research is based on the cognitive linguistics theory. The methods are cognitive modelling, discourse analysis, comparative analysis. The selection of the material was carried out with the solid sampling method. To analyze and systematize the material a method of description was used. The material for the study were sampled out from the official website of the Russian president Vladimir Putin. Results and discussion. The results of the research showed that political discourse is a very productive sphere for the creation of national precedential phenomena. As a rule, precedential phenomena in political discourse are very specific. Their source can be found either in the sphere of politics or historic events of the nation. Precedential phenomena in political discourse usually have a short life span. There types are precedential texts, names and expressions. While translating national precedential phenomena, interpreters prefer to use concrete definition, equivalents or analogues of phraseological units. Sometimes precedential phenomena are lost in translation. Conclusion. So national precedential phenomena represent an important characteristic of political discourse. They serve as a link between the author and the recipient, make the speech more vivid and emotional and influence the audience in a specific way. But their national peculiarities often impede the translation process. Anyway some knowledge of cultural sources is necessary for correct interpretation and understanding of precedential phenomena.


Babel ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 234-243 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irma Sorvali

Abstract The translation process is studied from the translator's point of view. The translator is considered as an individual, i.e. as a creative being, and the process proper is thus seen as a typically human one. Translation strategies have been described in various ways within the framework of translation studies (TS). Transfer as such has very often been studied by linguistic analysis, but this is not sufficient to characterize the process itself. Other kinds of information are needed, which we can best obtain by interviewing translators. The interview method has not been widely used in TS, but it can provide very useful material on the creative nature of the translation process. Aesthetic and emotional values are of great importance in literary translation, but it is very difficult to measure them. Translators chiefly engaged with language written for special purposes (LSP) can be interviewed in a more objective way. Every translator has his principles of translating, and these can display very great variation, due to the creativity of the translator, but there are also phenomena that are common to all translating and all language transfer. There are thus individual and inter-individual differences, but also similarities. It is these differences and similarities that are described here. Résumé Le processus de la traduction est étudié du point de vue du traducteur considéré comme une entité individuelle, c'est-à-dire comme un être créatif, et par conséquent, le processus de traduction est considéré comme étant une activité typiquement humaine. Dans le cadre des études consacrées à la traduction (ET), les stratégies de la traduction ont été décrites de plusieurs manières différentes. En tant que stratégie, le transfert a souvent été étudié par le biais de l'analyse linguistique, mais en soi, cette approche est insuffisante pour caractériser le processus de traduction. Les ET n'ont pas souvent eu recours à la métode d'interview qui s'avère pourtant très utile pour faire apparaître l'aspect créatif du processus de traduction. Dans la traduction littéraire, les valeurs esthétiques et sentimentales sont très importantes mais il n'en demeure pas moins qu'elles sont aussi très difficiles à mesurer. Les traducteurs qui traduisent essentiellement des textes rédigés dans un but spécifique (TBS) peuvent être interviewés d'une manière plus objective. Chaque traducteur applique ses propres principes de traduction qui peuvent grandement varier selon la créativité du traducteur, mais il y a cependant des phénomènes communs à toutes les traductions et a tous les tranferts linguistiques. On peut donc affirmer qu'il y a des différences individuelles et inter-individuelles mais aussi des similitudes. Ce sont précisément ces differences et similitudes que l'auteur souhaite décrire dans le présent article.


Author(s):  
Ritika Sinha ◽  

Subtitling, a subfield of translation studies has witnessed a recent upsurge in India. The rise of subtitling services can be attributed to the fact that the number of viewers from outside the country is increasing phenomenally, thanks to the global streaming platforms. Subtitling is an art; it involves translation of the language of the video to another language with an objective to retain the temper of the original message for the target audience. The subtitler is faced with the daunting task of preserving the idiom of the source text (ST) and the target text (TT). Since, the meaning in both source and target language is profoundly affected by the cultural context, it is important to undertake the practice of translation while respecting and reflecting cultural ethos of each language. This research aims to investigate the English subtitles of selected famous rap sequences by Indian rapper ‘Badshah’ in Bollywood songs released from 2016 to 2021. With an aim to assess the quality of translation of the selected song sequences, an analysis is made of the sematic peculiarities that are lost in translation from Hindi/Punjabi to English. The loss can be mainly attributed to Hindi and Punjabi cultural references or culture-bound terms which do not have a suitable equivalent lexical item in English language.


2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Burçin K. Mustafa

The inability of translators to convey all aspects of the source text is often cited as an inherent flaw of the translation process. For example, with regard to Qur'an translation, the inability of the translator to transfer the linguistic ambiguity inherent in some specific verses, or to find equivalent target-language words for Qur'anic terms, is often seen as a drawback of translation. This is routinely referred to as ‘translation loss’ and is framed in a negative light, on the basis that facets of the source text are lost in translation. However, this article will argue that this limitation of translation can actually provide an advantage for those propagating a particular doctrine. In this sense, ambiguous terms can be exploited to impose on the reader of the target text a singular interpretation derived from a specific doctrine. To demonstrate this notion a number of examples from various English-language Qur'an translations will be presented, such as a variety of translations of khātama'l-nabiyyīn (Q. 33:40) and istawā (Q. 2:29 and Q. 20:5). The discussion will then explore translations of two Qur'anic phrases which have significance to contemporary discourses on Islam, lā taghlū fī dīnikum in Q. 4:171, and wa'ḍribūhunna in Q. 4:34.


2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 23
Author(s):  
Amin Alani ◽  
Ali Jahangard

The English Book series are the EFL textbooks that have been prescribed by the Ministry of Education for the public senior high schools. The researchers of the current study embarked on the evaluation of the series through examining teachers’ and students’ perspectives in this regard. Employing Litz’s questionnaires, attitudes of both Iranian learners and teachers from both genders were obtained; the two questionnaires used in the study incorporated seven categories including Practical Consideration, Layout and Design, Activities, Skills, Language type, Subject and Content, and Summary. Some 1128 participants from the Senior high school learners and 74 teachers took part in the study. A detailed analysis of the textbooks of the series was made using descriptive statistics, namely median and mode accompanied with standardized skewness value. The findings of the study revealed that there were positive attitudes toward the textbooks price and accessibility; however, other criterial parameters, i.e., the resources, vocabulary lists, the series language type, and the treatment of cultural issues were viewed as partially appropriate or, in the majority of the cases, in need of improvement. Keywords: Textbook evaluation, English language teaching, English book series, curriculum study.


2019 ◽  
Vol 67 (4) ◽  
pp. 411-427
Author(s):  
Dagmara Drewniak

Abstract This paper explores the possibilities of introducing contemporary Canadian texts into a Polish university classroom. It contextualizes teaching English language literature in Poland as well as seeks options for promoting values such as openness and tolerance while facilitating global reading and raising students’ awareness on global conflicts and their meaning in the contemporaneous world. The paper aims at demonstrating that Canadian literature courses composed of texts concerned with immigration and multiculturalism turn out to have an enormous potential in creating valuable debates on the problem of embracing otherness, seeking bridges in mutual understanding, and promoting openness towards different identities. On the basis of close readings of three texts, M. Ondaatje’s The English Patient, A.J. Borkowski’s Copernicus Avenue, and E. Stachniak’s Necessary Lies, the present article also demonstrates how Canadian literature enriches and rescales students’ perception of cultural heterogeneity and responsibility of reading, thus offering new perspectives on the rapidly changing world.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (8) ◽  
pp. 15-26
Author(s):  
Marina Žukova

Knowledge of English professional terminology is one of the predominant factors for border guards’ successful professional performance during both border and immigration control carried out at their national state border and inside the country and also joint operations organised and implemented by the European Border and Coast Guard at the EU external borders.  The present article suggests an overview of the results of the measures taken by the State Border Guard of Latvia in 2017-2020 to facilitate the improvement of Latvian border guards’ competence in English professional terminology. Based on the results of the survey the author puts forward suggestions for possible improvements in English language training and testing for border guards.


2019 ◽  

The paper, in its first part, outlines the Slovak research into audiovisual translation (AVT) from the 1950s up to the present, paying attention to the most important scholars as well as publications that helped to shape and establish the discipline within Slovak translation studies. It is based on the ongoing bibliographical research and the historical explanation mapping the development of AVT research in Slovakia by I. Tyšš – e.g. his publication Myslenie o audiovizuálnom preklade na Slovensku: 1952 – 2017 (Thinking on Audiovisual Translation in Slovakia: 1952 – 2017, 2018) – as well as on own findings covering the last two years. In more detail, the first part of the paper highlights that it was primarily thanks to a younger generation of translation studies scholars – especially E. Perez (née Janecová), L. Paulínyová (née Kozáková) and J. Želonka – that in 2012 the Slovak research into AVT finally became systematic. The second part of the paper is devoted to the phenomenon of the so-called second-hand translation of originally Russian audiovisual works that may be observed in Slovakia in recent years. The questionable nature of this phenomenon is stressed since the Russian language is not a language of limited diffusion and definitely not remote in relation to the Slovak cultural space. On the example of two documentary films – Под властью мусора (Held Captive by Rubbish, 2013) and Дух в движении (Spirit in Motion, 2015), the author discusses and analyses the problems that occur when translating originally Russian AV works into Slovak through the English language, i.e. the negative shifts resulting from mis-/overinterpretation of the source text, translation by omission, wrong order of dialogues, cultural specifics and incorrect transcription.


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