ISSUES IN LITERARY TRANSLATION

FIDELITY, TRANSPARENCY, BEAUTYFIDELITY staying close to the original, producing faithful translations i.e. finding a way to reproduce the original without loss of information or of the effects the original carriesTRANSPARENCY translation needs to be clear, there should be no parts of the text that the readers cannot understand. This does not mean that the text should be easy to read, that the translators should interpret the text and make it easier for the readers, but that every message is as intelligible or unintelligible as it is in the original and that it is made accessible to the target readersBEAUTY the product of literary translation needs to be beautiful, it is art and it thus must meet the standards of quality and artistry in the target culture

EFFECTIt is important to know that literature, like any other art, is there because it provokes certain reaction or has an esthetic effect on the reader. The translators task is to produce the same (or at least similar) effect in the target languageLanguage is the expression and the repository of culture; thus many words/concepts/stylistic features, which are part of the esthetic effect of the given text, are difficult to transfer in their totality; something is always lostTranslators should feel relatively free to switch grammatical (and any other language, stylistic, etc.) categories in order to express what they need to express in a way the target audience finds easy to understand

TRANSLATORS INVISIBILITYThe translator should invisibly transmit the authors style i.e. the translators have neither right to improve the original nor to impose their own style on the authors they translate. The translator should be able to reproduce or develop many styles, one for each author he or she translates, while the original author has only one.This, however, doesnt mean that the translator must serve the original author at all times and express humility and humbleness toward the original. The invisibility is dictated by publishers, reviewers and readers who judge a translated text as acceptable if it reads fluently

TRANSLATING FICTIONVoice, style, genre very important to determine before starting the translation and to keep consistent throughout translationTone the mood, feeling or emotion certain literary text is supposed to provoke in the reader or make the reader feel for certain events or characters in the work (somber, ironic, solemn, formal, informal, condescending, etc.)Register formality of the language used in the text, language used by certain social or occupational groups (rigid, formal, normal, informal, casual or familiar; technical, literary, etc.)

FOR EXAMPLERanko, Foreign Legion admirer, whod gone into the world in search of war. Hed worn army shirts, NATO hats and American Marine boots in the middle of summer. Central defender.By then he had spat and cleared his throat for the first word.People and ladies, he began ceremoniously, little Mirna was chain-sawed in half. The poor little thing was playing with her dolls when they came and began cutting her.Shock and horror spread through the crowd.Zoran Feri, The Death of the Little Match Girl

TRANSLATING POETRYMost difficult to translate; it is often said that poetry should be written anew and not translated. This means that the translator will often be forced to step away from the original and become more creativeSound painting: rhyme can be compensated for by using other rhythmical elements (alliteration, assonance, enjambment, etc.); both figures of speech such as alliteration, assonance or similar and tropes or figures of thought such as metaphor, simile should be reproduced in the translationMeter is very important and if possible it should be reproduced in the translation

TRANSLATING FOR CHILDRENThis is a special and specialized field of literary translation. It is also one of the most difficult fields of literary translation.Most of the rules applicable to the translation of other genres also apply, but this type of translation has some of its own special issues, such as: age groups,illustrations, political correctness, death and illness, allusions to sex, dying, divorce, racism, etc., profanities, rhyme and rhythm very important in this type of literature

TRANSLATING FOR THEATRESpeakability, the text is written to be performed on stageTranslation correct and fluent in TL (i.e. can be performed without sounding odd and off-register) but it also sticks to the original.Adaptation it is still close to the original, but it is much freer than translation. The style and the tone can be changed, bits and pieces cut out, things added to it.Variation has little to do with the original text it is merely based on the original. Lets say that the plot is the same, but pretty much everything else is different. Think of it as something of a song cover.

PROFANITIES, EMOTIONAL LANGUAGEProfanities are natural, emotional, immediate, direct, and they should be the same in translation. This means finding equivalents i.e. expressions of similar weight in the target language. Emotional, non literal equivalents swearwords and other expressions loaded with emotions should contain the same emotion and appear naturalSelectivity not every occurrence of profanity in the SL text needs to be translated; one should be careful not to overdo it Correspondence analogy, the N word in English in certain contexts means simply Hey dude, wassup! so one can translate it simply as buraz, stari; mind the tone and register

DIALECTUntranslatable dialects are geographically and culturally closely defined and it is very difficult to find even close equivalentsDo not invent your own dialect in the sense of choosing a dialect of the target cultureColloquial speech or some substandard variant is probably the best solutionDialectal effects can be achieved by adding information

e.g. He my brother, said Misha in his Russian accent.

SOUND & WORD PLAYSRepetition & Sound PlaysRhyme, assonance, alliteration, enjambment, etc. Whenever possible it (or a similar effect) should be reproduced in translationAvoid unless it is a prominent feature of the originalWord plays/PunsThink outside the box and hope for the bestCompensate at other places in the text if possibleBolje ispast glup, nego iz busa! To write with a broken pencil is pointless.

RHYME Rhyme is an important element of poetry and as such it should be reproduced in translation (especially in poetry)There are different types of rhyme: masculine (one syllable), feminine (two syllables), dactylic (three syllables); and rhyming patterns: perfect rhyme, pure, imperfect, near or off-rhymeRhyme on its own does not produce good poetry so the translators should feel obliged to produce good rhyme as well as to look for different ways of (re)producing the effect (alliteration, assonance, consonance, sound patterns, repetition, enjambment, different meters, syllables of different length, etc.)

EXAMPLE - RHYMEDeath, be not proud, though some have called theeMighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow,Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.

One short sleep past, we wake eternally,And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.

Smrti ohola ne budi, mada zvahuSilnom te i stranom, a takva nisi,Bijedna Smrti, ti koje sruit htjela si,A ni mene ne moe, ne mrijehu.

Poslije sna kratkog vjeno emo bdjet.I smrti bit nee; Smrti, ti e mrijet.

EXAMPLE - PUN

Vlado Buli, 015 na nasipu su me jednomzaustavila tri tipa.

prvi me pitao odakle sam.rekao sam, Jebiga, iz Splita.

to je njemu bilo dovoljno da mepogodi cigarom u eloi laktom u zube.jedan se slomio.

kad se uputio po jomojih zuba rekao samOprosti to si mi izbio zubi oprosti to sam iz Splita.Mogu li sada doma?razoarao se.

rekao je:Daj barem sa mnomjedan na jedan. Oni se nee mijeati.

Stari, sorry, ali ja bi stvarno doma.

(BOLJE ISPAST GLUP, NEGO IZ BUSA. grafit)

pa su me pustili.

kad sam to ispriao Veci,rekao je da e slomit piku prvomPurgeru kojeg vidi u Splitu.a to uope nisam traio od njega.

naravno, ispunio je obeanje.

zato je nekad dobro preutjetineke stvari.

015on a dike oncethree guys stopped me.the first asked where I was from.I said From Split, fuck it.for him this was enough so heflicked his cigarette at my foreheadand knocked his elbow into my teeth.one got broken.when he went to knock out moreof my teeth I saidIm sorry you kicked out my toothand Im sorry Im from Split.Can I go home now?

he was disappointed.

he said:At least lets do it one on one, you and me. Theyll stay out of this.Sorry, buddy, but Id really like to go home now.(ITS BETTER TO GET A STUPID LOOK THAN TO GET HIT BY A BUS. a graffiti)so they let me go.when I told Veco about this,he promised me he would fuckin killthe first Purger he saw in Split.but I never asked him to do that.of course, he kept his promise.thats why it is better to let go ofsome things.

FOREIGN WORDSPresent a problem of double translation or, on the other hand, may not be foreign in the target culturePossible solutions:Interpolation add an explanation inconspicuously somewhere in the textFootnotes, endnotes add information/explanation at the bottom/end of the textOmission leaving the foreign word intact and leaving the reader to deal with the foreign word on his or her own devices

EXAMPLE INTERPOLATION Leave the words in their original form and add an explanation or translation inconspicuously somewhere in the text

Popodne je donijelo buru, a bura otjerala maglu.

The afternoon brought a north-easterly we call the Bura, and the Bura sent the fog away. Zoran Feri, The Death of the Little Match Girl

EXAMPLE FOREIGN WORDSIf foreign words are a prominent feature of the original text, the translator should consider keeping them in the translation as well. In this case an option is to attach a glossary at the end/beginning of the text.

When lightning struck for the first time, the whole arija shook, and bareheaded konas ran out into the rain and cried: My poor mother, our hodas dead. Miljenko Jergovi, Alkatmer

ALLUSIONS & NAMESAllusions Literary allusions: A name writ in waterCultural allusions: namjera je asna pionirska, rad teak posljedice raznobojneIt is important to recognize them and respond adequately

NamesDo not translate personal names (exception Vienna/Be, etc.)When names have a meaning for the purpose of the text (e.g. characterization), they should be translated

TYPOS, NEOLOGISMS & INTERJECTIONSGrammatical norms/Typos i.e. Deviation from such normsShould be reproduced (if the translator determines they were done on purpose) according to the standards of error in the target languageNeologismsTranslators should decide how important a given neologism is and try to create a similar effect in the translation again following the rules of new words formationInterjectionsWords expressing emotions such as Aha! Wow! etc. Tend to vary from one language to another thus it is important to find the adequate interjection in the target language i.e. the one that carries the same emotion

EXAMPLE GRAMMATICAL ERRORWe read it. There was the date, the time, and a lot of mistakes:

IN THIS MOST DIFFICULT OF MOMENTS SOME IRESPONSIBLE, ILL-MANNERED STUDENTS WHICH WE WERE INABLE TO IDENTIFY BUILD A SNOWMAN OF A VULGAR SHAPE IN FRONT OF THE FIRST PAVILLION. IT WAS REMOVED ON TIME THANKS TO OUR TIMLY ACTION.

itali smo. Bili su navedeni datum, sat i biljeka:

U OVOM TEKOM ASU NEKI NEODGOVORNI I NEODGOJENI STUDENTI KOJE NISMO USPIJELI INDETIFICIRAT SU NAPRAVILI SNJEGOVIA VULGARNOG OBLIKA ISPRED I. PAVILJONA KOJI JE UKLONJEN NAOM AKCIJOM NA VRJEME.Vlado Buli, Putovanje u srce hrvatskog sna

Dictionary of interjections i Asortiman psovki*