Types and methods of translation the question whether a translation should be literal or free is as old as translation itself. Discussion and evaluation the present discussion is divided into two areas. Performing without a stage is a lively and comprehensive introduction to the art of literary translation for readers of foreign fiction and poetry who wonder what it takes to translate, how the art of literary translation has changed over the centuries, what problems translators face in bringing foreign works into english and how they go. True, the impact of critical discourse theory, particularly as in foucault, has invited translation theorists to view both text and context in terms of discursive formations, effectively extending textuality into the social domain, where texts can become very big. International journal of arabicenglish studies ijaes vol. And the translator should master the theory and practice of literary translation throughout his whole life. Introduction communication between cultures can be achieved through translation. Thus, translation problems may be linguistic andor cultural. Review of translation theory gives a brief account of the history of. Some problems of translation from english into arabic. The beginning of the thesis entitled a brief and general. If we use it only with modern language a literary translator should have a sensor power. Difficulties in literary translation literature poetry.
Literary translation article about literary translation by. One of the problems a translator can face arises from the. The disagreement voiced by translation theorists as regards the problems that are involved in the process of literary translation stems from the confusion between a literary text and a literary translation. So when it comes to translating a book or, more generally, literary translation, one must use its creativity at the maximum.
Request pdf cultural problems in literary translation from english into arabic translation is a process of cultural transfer that involves more than simple. First, the problem is decided upon, many examples from different texts in. Difficulties of literary translation translating between. Cultural nuances of the language constitute the congenital merits of any literary work. Translation studies came from literary studies, where the text remains the thing. Translation procedures, strategies and methods by mahmoud ordudari abstract translating culturespecific concepts cscs in general and allusions in particular seem to be one of the most challenging tasks to be performed by a translator. Introduction getting to know literary translation, analyzing literary texts, and, finally, presenting an equivalent translation are the aims of the curriculum for the german translator study program and issues in teaching practical. Translating literary texts, however, is not an easy task, since it certainly poses many problems for the translator. Apr 25, 2019 literary translation is significantly different from any other kind of translation. Pdf translating the literary in literary translation in. Literary texts are excluded from the data used for the study.
For the strategy of literary translation one of the central concepts is the notion of the readers competence as a criterion of literary translation adequacy and appropriate translation strategy. The discussion will focus on the linguistic problems the. Jakobson points out to the problem of equivalence of meaning, stating that there is ordinarily no full equivalence between codeunits cited in munday, 2008, p. Tackling a piece that runs in the region of hundreds of thousands of words is not an easy task, nor is attempting to recreate poetry in another language without losing the magnificence of the. Jan 01, 2001 in this book, both beginning and experienced translators will find pragmatic techniques for dealing with problems of literary translation, whatever the original language. Chapter ii the problems of translation the process of translation is often hindered by structural, lexical and contextual constraints. This thesis explores the culture of literary translation from arabic to english. Therefore, the problems of literary translation are within the sphere of art and are subject to its specific laws. It also approaches the problem of equivalence and that of translation units which are raised by the translation process itself and are therefore relevant to the problems of literary translation. Or rather, i have a very public identity which isnt immediately obvious. This guide proposes to help the translator navigate through them. An owner of this process should feel the words and should have a skill of describing, interpreting them in the translation.
Translation has been used by humans for centuries, beginning after the appearance of written literature. The routledge handbook of literary translation 1st edition. Indeed, the oxford history of literary translation in english runs to five whole volumes, such is the depth and complexity of the subject. Challenges and possibilities for world literature, global literature, and translation my starting point is the question of what links goethes notion of weltliteratur to world literature, with a particular focus on the matter of translation. The present study investigates the cultural problems involved in literary translation from english into arabic.
That is why literary translation is a subject of disagreement among scholars and translators. Cultural problems in literary translation from english into. Translation, literary article about translation, literary. An analytical study of some problems of literary translation. The problems of literary translation a study of the theory and practice of translation from english into spanish peter lang oxford bern berlin bruxelles frankfurt am main new york wien. It is exhilarating when translators consider the benefits, both spiritual and liter ary, that the rendering will provide to their readers. However, the latter differs in that it is not freestanding, as it is intrinsically linked to the form and tone of the original work. The unification of human emotion can be exacted through translated literature as it familiarizes people with the. Mar 12, 2015 the present study investigates the cultural problems involved in literary translation from english into arabic.
Cultural problems in literary translation from english. The challenges of translating literature k international. The two modes of translation have some common problems as well as modespecific problems. Just the volume of the texts sets this translation endeavour apart. A literary translation is truthfully a creative process. In case of literary translation, however, the problems are both cultural and semantic, since the text is often more important than the words constituting it and in most cases more important than the word in isolation. In fact, literature is distinguished by its aesthetics. Thus, brazilian theoreticians of literary translation treat a translator s work as a type of writing, or, to be more exact, rewriting, only this writing is not considered an ordi nary transcription, but. For this reason, he is seen as being in the camp of those who advocate the domestication of translation. In this book, both beginning and experienced translators will find pragmatic techniques for dealing with problems of literary translation, whatever the original language. However a strict adherence to these principles seems a hard task to attain.
Dissertation writing services from experienced team of writers high quality law dissertations to help you secure your final grade. Aug 19, 20 a literary translation is truthfully a creative process. The argument in favour of the spirit and sense as against the letter or the word has been going on at least from the beginning of the first century b. Translating literary texts, however, is not an easy task because it certainly poses many problems for the translator who should be bilingual and. Unfortunately, the translators lay more emphasis on the translation of poetry. An entire history of literary translation is far too big for the scope of a single article. In every case, it is intended to make something mean something else. This paper deals with some lexical and syntactic problems of translation and offers modest solutions to each. This includes the translation of literature from ancient languages and the translation of modern fiction so that it can reach a wider audience. It is useful to think of these problems under two headings. May 29, 2017 literary translation is the translation of creative and dramatic prose and poetry into other languages. However, problems of translation are mainly caused by syntax gram. In the modern scenario the problems of translation most specifically, literary translation have increased multifold.
The contribution of comparative historical semantics. So it is no wonder that literary translation has many features, and, of course, certain difficulties. Challenges in translating literature inbox translation. Less research and thinking has been done on document translation to investigate its problems, challenges, translation. Those are varieties of literal translation, but literal translation can affect larger units than the word and the longer the unit, the rarer the onetoone. Im a translator, and with each year that goes by, more of our society understands what that means. Literary translation article about literary translation. This article deals with the problems in translating literary prose and reveals some pertinent solutions and also concentrates on the need to expand the perimeters of translation studies. Certain challenges and certain themes recur in translation, whatever the language pair. A guest post by sarah alys lindholm my name is sarah alys lindholm, and i have a secret identity. In translation practice and theoretical studies, document translation seems to draw less attention compared with literary translation. Pdf literary translation difficulties researchgate. In literary translation it is not uncommon for some source language lexical items to be treated in this way, either because they are regarded as untranslatable or for the deliberate purpose of introducing local colour into the target language text.
Procedia social and behavioral sciences 59 2012 328 a 334 18770428 2011 published by elsevier ltd. Difficulties of literary translation translating between a. Problems and prospects 59 in translation, we do not translate a word, sound, style or grammar but meaning. An inquiry into the challenges of literary translation to. When you transfer that into the realm of translation, problems are inevitable.
Literary creativeness is, therefore, needed not only during the writing of the original work, but also during the translation of it. This paper is concerned with some of the linguistic problems, mainly lexical and syntactic, and attempting to offer some solutions to them. Modernday translators use sophisticated tools and technologies to accomplish their work, and rely heavily on software applications to simplify and streamline their tasks. This nextgeneration volume brings together principles, case studies, precepts, histories and process knowledge from practitioners in sixteen different countries. Jakobson, roman 19592004 on linguistic aspects of translation. The translation courses offered at many universities in bangladesh and overseas treat the subject mostly as an outcome of applied linguistics.
Abstract the aim of this paper is to explore the literary in literary translation. Literary translation is significantly different from any other kind of translation. It analyzes university students translations of english literary texts in an attempt to identify the basic problems jordanian translation students encounter, strategies and processes students follow to account for these problems. The work involved in making a translation of the bible is both exhilarating and exhausting. It is important to understand the relation between. However, in the actual literary process, it is not always possible to draw a. All translations require excellent knowledge of the target and source languages, as well as an understanding of the cultural background and context into which a document is being translated. Among the lexical problems offered are the absence of direct tl counterparts, the different function of the tl counterpart, words with. Suffice to say that literary translation has been taking place for thousands. A literary translation must reflect the imaginative, intellectual and intuitive writing of the author.
Chapter three includes an overview of the data as well as the methodology that were used in analyzing the translation of collocations in literary texts, and how they are collected and investigated. Arabic into english and english into arabic translations. An investigation on grammatical and lexical problems in the. It begins with a discussion of what makes a text literary, focussing on some very famous literary works. Pdf linguistic and cultural issues in literary translation. Contents acknowledgements 7 introduction 9 part one. Translating the l iterary in literary translation in practice whereby linguacultural differences in a text, which could inform or affect the reader are effaced, homogenised, to conform to. Initially, the translation of literary works novels, short stories, plays, poems, etc. On the social and the cultural in translation studies.
Translation as a means of crosscultural communication. Some problems in literary text translations 143 should be characterized by naturalness of expression in the translation and that it should relate to the culture of the receptor. Yet, the need for translation between languages and cultures, particularly between europe and its neighbouring regions, and in particular the arab world, has never been greater. Poetry and translation contemporary theories although most studies in the field of translation studies focus on literary. Literary texts display many linguistic peculiarities, as well as social and cultural aspects of our lives and, thus, we can assert that literary translation is one of the main ways of communication across cultures. Rhythmical, alliterative and onomatopoeic aspects have been hurdles at the lexical level. She pointed out that some of the major problems of translation are overtranslation, undertranslation, and untranslatability. This kind of translation is not intended to do it literally, word by word. First, it is the total lack of literalness in translation. The routledge handbook of literary translation provides an accessible, diverse and extensive overview of literary translation today. Main issues of translation studies key texts holmes, james s. Other aspects studied include how translation has been perceived over the centuries, the differences and the similarities between a writer and a translator, plus a detailed examination of translation as process, all of which bring the problems of literary translation into perspective.
The problems of literary translation are still open to confucting debates and individual proposals. Culture constitutes another major problem that faces translators. It is a wellknown fact that a good literary translator has to be a skilful writer at the same time. Literary translation from arabic into english in the united kingdom and ireland, 19902010 a report prepared by alexandra buchler and alice guthrie with research assistants barbora cerna and michal karas december 2011 making literature travel series of reports on literary exchange, translation and publishing series editor. Those features will be explained below in a simple way. The problem of cultural translation occurs not only in the translation of folk literature but also in the case of sophisticated literatures. Meaning can be defined as a knotty arrangement or a product of different linguistic elements such as vocabulary, grammar, style, phonology and usage. Thus, brazilian theoreticians of literary translation treat a translator s work as a type of writing, or, to be more exact, rewriting, only this writing is not considered an ordi nary transcription, but rather an act of creation. Translation problems can be divided into linguistic problems and cultural problems. Literary translation differs from literary creativity in that its existence depends on the existence of an object of translation, a work to be translated. Difficulties of literary translation translating between a rock and a hard place. Literary translation is a type of translation which is distinguished from translation in general. Pdf translating the literary in literary translation.