Transcript Translation Studies

Translation Studies
18. Lexical TOs 4:
antonymous translation,
total transformation,
compensation
Krisztina Károly, Spring, 2006
Source: Klaudy, 2003
1. Antonymous translation
= a standard lexical TO whereby meanings
in the SL text are replaced by opposite
meanings in the TL text.
It is an extreme form of exchange of
meanings: exchange of meaning was
referred to as logical extension, since the
"new", target language meaning is always
in some logical relation with the source
language meaning. Here the logical
relation is antonymity itself.
Hungarian ST: ... édesanyám azzal fogadott,
hogy az apám már nem él. (Csáth 10)
(‘doesn’t live’)
English TT: My mother met me ... with the
news that my father had died. (Kessler 18)
Subtypes:
1. Negative-positive inversion
2. Positive-negative inversion
3. Conversive translation
4. Antonymous translation in situative
utterances
5. Antonymous translation in dialogues
1. Negative-positive inversion
= it is a bidirectional, non language
specific transfer operation,
independent of language pair and
direction of translation.
English  Hungarian:
non-acceptance  visszautasítás
non-appealable  jogerős
non-attendance  távolmaradás
non-conductor  szigetelő
non-stop  folyamatos
non-wasting  tartós, etc. (EHD
1254).
English  Hungarian:
English ST: He began to read it
immediately with his mouth not quite
closed. (Salinger 10)
Hungarian TT: Mindjárt olvasni is kezdte,
kissé eltátott szájjal. (Elbert 7)
Commentary: Negative approach in
English (not quite closed) is replaced by
positive approach in Hungarian (kissé
eltátott ‘slightly opened’).
2. Positive-negative inversion
= also a bidirectional, non L specific transfer
operation that is independent of L pair and
direction of translation.
English  Hungarian:
English ST: 'Only you must remember I
warned you.' (Wilde 232)
Hungarian TT:  Csak ne feledkezzék
meg arról, hogy én figyelmeztettem. (Tímár
141)
Commentary: Positive approach in English
(you must remember) is replaced by
negative approach in Hungarian (ne
feledkezzék meg ‘ do not forget ’).
3. Conversive translation
Antonymous translation is frequently not the
expression of a concept by the denial of
the opposing concept (he lives  he has
not died, he died he does not live), but
rather an opposite approach. Instead of he
hesitated for a moment before replying
we say: he replied after hesitating for a
moment. Instead of I did not give him the
medicine, we say he did not receive the
medicine from me.
English ST: He hesitated a moment
before replying. (Greene 154)
Hungarian TT: A férfi pilanatnyi
tétovázás után felel. (Borbás 117)
(‘he replied after hesitating for a
moment’)
Thus, antonymous translation often
involves a reversal of point of view rather
than an inversion from a positive to a
negative statement and vice versa. It is for
this reason that in the literature the term
conversive translation is often applied to
those cases where there is no reversal of
sign, only a change in perspective.
(before  after, below  above, give 
receive, many believe  few doubt,
remembers  forgets, etc.)
English  Hungarian:
English ST: He was the son of a proprietor
of a certain well-known cottonmill in
Massachusetts. (James 197)
Hungarian TT: Caspar Goodwood atyja
ismert pamutfonógyár tuljdonosa volt
Massachusetts államban. (Balabán 164)
Commentary: the son of in English is
replaced by atyja (‘his father’) in
Hungarian.
Hungarian  English:
Hungarian ST: A búcsúlevél a konyha
kőpadlóján hevert, rajta egy kis
kerámia hamutartó ... (Örkény 1. 31)
English TT: It was tucked under a
small ceramic ashtray ... (Sollosy 23)
Commentary: rajta (on sg.) in
Hungarian is replaced by under in
English
4. Antonymous translation in
situative utterances
Situative utterances (Fónagy 1982) are
typical utterances (exclamations, requests,
questions, commands, etc.) characteristic
of certain communicative situations.
In translating situative utterances
translators must rely more on the situation
itself than on the SL form.
The transfer operation carried out in
translating situative utterances may be
either antonymous translation or total
transformation.
Example:
English ST: ‘Have you seen him
anywhere about?’ (Christie 54)
Hungarian TT:  Nem látta
valamerre? (Borbás 55)
5. Antonymous translation in
dialogues
Antonymous translation is
characteristic of the translation of
adjacency pairs in dialogues, where
the stimuli and reactions are highly
stereotypical.
English  Hungarian:
English ST:
‘Sorry’ he said outside her window with the
blinds drawn.
‘It's all right, dear’ she said. (Hemingway
28)
Hungarian TT:
 Bocsáss meg  mondta kívül, a lehúzott,
zsalus ablaknál.
 Semmi baj, drágám  mondta az
asszony.(Szász 29)
Commentary: Semmi baj (‘No problem’) in
Hungarian is a typical response to the
apology Bocsáss meg (‘Sorry’).
English ST:
‘Where's Cynthia?’
‘She isn't in.’ (Greene 171)
Hungarian TT:
 Hol van Cynthia?
 Házon kívül. (Ungvári 236)
Commentary: Házon kívül (lit: Out of the
house) in Hungarian it is a typical response
to the question Hol van? (‘Where is she?’)
2. Total transformation
= a standard lexical TO whereby meanings of
the SL text are replaced by other meanings
in the TL text, which are do not seem to
show any logical relation with the SL
meanings (=radical departure from the
original)
Hungarian ST: A szakácsnő kávét adott,
azután a konyhába ment főzni. (Csáth 189)
English TT: ... the cook gave us our cocoa,
and went back to work into the kitchen.
(Kessler 99)
The concepts related in total transformation
are characterised by incompatibility, i.e. they
are co-hyponyms of the same superordinate
category and are mutually exclusive.
Reasons for total transformation:
pragmatic differences, i.e. the differences in
the relationship between the linguistic sign and
the users of the sign. Translators have an idea
of the perspective of the target language
reader and perform total transformation with
the target language reader's cultural schemata
and world knowledge in mind  total
transformation is frequently referred to as
pragmatic adaptation
Subtypes:
1. Total transformation of names of foods and
beverages
2. Total transformation of names of child’s
games
3. Total transformation of proper names
4. Total transformation of address forms
5. Total transformation of names of historical
realia
6. Total transformation of idiomatic
expressions
7. Total transformation of situative utterances
8. Total transformation of measurements
9. Total transformation of intralingual
references
1. Total transformation of names
of foods and beverages
English ST: It was a pudding he liked,
Queen's pudding with a perfect
meringue ... (Greene 461)
Hungarian TT: Csakugyan olyan
tészta volt amit szeretett, rakott
palacsinta pompás habbal ...
(Szobotka 284)
2. Total transformation of names
of child’s games
English ST: The fifth of January, Peter
thought again, his mind drifting idly from
image of cakes to the prizes which might
be won. Egg-and- spoon races, spearing
apples in basins of water, blind man's
buff. (Greene 552)
Hungarian TT: Január ötödike, gondolta
Péter újra, gondolatai lustán vándoroltak
ide-oda a sütemények és az elnyerhető
díjak között. Zsákban futás, célba dobás,
bújócska. (Osztovits 311)
3. Total transformation of proper
names
e.g., "low-prestige" names (announce
servant status).
Hungarian ST: Maris megfordult az ágyban,
kinyitotta szemét és kinézett az ablakon.
(Csáth 5)
English TT: Rosie turn in bed, opened her
eyes, and glanced out. (Kessler 185)
Hungarian ST: ... mondta is Gyuri, aki a II.
számú anatómiában van. (Csáth 13)
English TT: Even Peter  he's in Institute Two
 said ... (Kessler 185)
e.g., the name has no equivalent in the
other language, even though it is a very
common name
Hungarian ST: Én és Dezső mindenből
ettünk sorban. (Csáth 38)
English TT: Peter and I take turns eating
everything. (Kessler 59)
Hungarian ST: Lábat kell mosni.
Rendszeresen Eti kezdi. (Csáth 38)
English TT: We have to wash our feet.
Anna's usually first. (Kessler 60)
4. Total transformation of
address forms
In translating address forms translators may
choose between three different solutions:
retain the original SL address form in the
TT (English: Sir  Hungarian: Sir English
Mister  Hungarian: Mister),
translate it (English: Yes, Sir  Hungarian:
Igen, uram),
apply total transformation of the SL
address form according to the situation
(=adaptation  translation):
English ST: ‘Some other time I'll come
here.’ I said, and she said, ‘Any time, kid’.
(Kerouac 35)
Hungarian TT:  Na majd legközelebb 
biztattam, ő pedig rámondta: - Nézz be,
kisapám. (Bartos 39)
English ST: Till Saturday, my flower!
(Salinger 5)
Hungarian TT: A szombati viszontlátásig,
bogaram!(Elbert 9)
5. Total transformation of names
of historical realia
In such a case, the translator must find an
attribute which has the same meaning for
the target language reader as the name of
the historical period has for the source
language reader. Victorian (relating to
Queen Victoria and to the second half of
the 20th Century) or Jozefinista (the
period of Joseph II) mean something to the
Hungarian reader, but Edwardian (relating
to the period of Edward VII) requires
pragmatic adaptation.
English ST: ... and the phrase sounded
more Edwardian because of the faint
American intonation. (Greene 153)
Hungarian ST: ... s a mondat csak annál
inkább múlt századbelinek hangzott, mert
halvány amerikai hangsúly színezte.
(Borbás 116)
English ST: Old Hall was a big Victorian
house surrounded by woods and parkland.
(Christie 10)
Hungarian ST Az udvarház hatalmas erdő
és park közepén álló múlt századi épület
volt. (Borbás 11)
In mentioning a historical event, the author
can choose between naming the event
(conquest of Hungary, revolution,
millennium) and giving its date (896, 1848,
1896).
Hungarian ST: – Nem történt a
szabadságharc óta semmi. (Örkény 1. 9)
English TT: ‘You mean nothing has
happened since the war in 1848?’(Sollosy
47)
6. Total transformation of idiomatic
expressions
English ST: ... her little boy who was crying for the
moon. (Wilde 137)
Hungarian TT: ... kisfia nyafogott, hogy hozza le
neki a csillagokat (Lengyel 193)
Hungarian ST: A visszatérő szolga falfehéren,
remegő térdekkel, hatalmas ezerfrankos köteget
hoz. (Rejtő 17)
English TT: The shop assistant looked white as a
sheet as he returned with the tremendous bundle
of thousand-franc notes. (Bozsó 18)
English ST: “You want to look under the stones
too much, Sarah". (Greene 21)
Hungarian TT:  Minek ezt felhánytorgatni?
(Ungvári 37)
7. Total transformation of
situative utterances
Total transformation is frequently mandated by the
fact that in identical situations following similar
conversational patterns speakers of different Ls
would use different Lic forms. When meeting,
saying good-bye or thanking for a present, we use
routine expressions, which may not have a
single common element with the expression used
by another L community ("situative utterances":
Fónagy 1982).
Here the source and target Ls lack even a single
common element, or more accurately, they lack
even a single common Lic element and the basis
for equivalence must lie in the similarity of the
situations.
Hungarian  English:
Hungarian ST  Te ilyen ember vagy? Kezdem
megbánni, hogy hozzád kötöttem az életemet!
(Örkény 1. 188)
English TT: ‘So that is what you're really like!
I'm sorry I ever married you!’ (Sollosy 118)
Hungarian ST A lány majd elvágódott. Haj-né!
sikoltott a fogai között.(Csáth 6)
English TT: ... and the girl slipped. Jesus Christ!
she cried through clenched teeth. (Kessler 115)
Hungarian ST  Tessék beülni  mondta a
csónakos. (Örkény 1. 223)
English TT: ‘Climb right in’ the boatman said.
(Sollosy 61)
8. Total transformation of
measurements
English ST: ... though they were
separated by five feet of green
metal, they could have been a
married couple. (Greene 12)
Hungarian TT: ... másfél méternyi
zöld fém választotta el őket, de
lehettek volna akár házaspár is ...
(Borbás 115)
English ST: ... the gold band was
distinguished, even from a few feet
away one could see there was a
monogram engraved there. (Greene
155)
Hungarian TT: ... előkelő volt az
aranykarika, s egy-két méterről is
látszott, hogy monogramot véstek
bele... (Borbás 118)
9. Total transformation of
intralingual references
References to the SL are often made in
describing characters. It is almost
impossible to render speech characteristics
(lisping, foreign accent, regional or social
dialect) of SL speakers with the means of
the TL. In this case there are three main
standard lexical operations performed by
translators: omission, total transformation
or compensation.
Total transformation takes place when
information given by the individual speech
properties of a character is important.
German ST: "Dann gibt es einen Konflikt  !" Herr
Köppen stiess zornenbrannt das Queue auf den
Boden. Er sagte "Kongflick" und stellte jetzt alle
Vorsicht in betreff der Aussprache hintan. "Eine
Kongflick, da versteh' ich mich auf." (Mann 3. 39)
Hungarian TT: Akkor kész a konviktus!  Köppen úr
haragosan bökte meg dákójával a padlót. "Konviktust"
mondott konfliktus helyett, és most már a
kifejezésmódot illetően felhagyott minden
elővigyázattal.  Konviktus lesz, tessék csak rám
bízni. (Lányi 3. 33)
Commentary: Kongflick is the distorted version of the
German word Konflikt (lit: conflict), which is conveyed
by konviktus (lit: boarding-house) in Hungarian
translation. The reason for the translator’s decision was
probably the similar sounding of the two words in
Hungarian (konfliktus  konviktus) which made it a
plausible word to be misused by the uneducated Herr
Köppen for the Hungarian audience.
3. Compensation
= a standard lexical TO whereby those meanings
of the SL text, which are lost in the process of
translation, are rendered in the TL text in some
other place or by some other means.
A classical case of compensation involves the
rendering of individual, vernacular or class speech
patterns with means available in the target
language, e.g., regional expressions, slang words
or distorted grammar (local compensation).
It is also a form of compensation if the translator
takes advantage of the opportunities offered by the
target language and uses striking and idiomatic
expressions thus compensating the reader for
having had to use less than ideal solutions in other
areas (global compensation).
Subtypes:
1.Types of losses
1.1. Serial (multiple) losses
1.2. Losses in the translation of
metalinguistic information
2.Local compensation
3.Global compensation
1.Types of losses
1.1. Serial (multiple) losses
Most translations are characterised by a
series of losses and not by just one or
two.
A good example for inevitable serial loss is
the translation of Kálmán Mikszáth's novel,
Beszterce ostroma into different IE
languages (The Siege of Beszterce, Der
Graf und die Zirkusreiterin, Osada
Bestertse). The playfully proverbial,
lovingly teasing Mikszáth style has
linguistic characteristics which are either
untranslatable or become ineffective when
translated.
Beszterce ostroma is full of lexical devices which
create the unmistakable atmosphere of Felvidék
which was the name of the northern part of
Hungary before 1921 (today belongs to Slovakia):
(1) geographic names pertaining to the Felvidék
(‘Highland’): gömöri akcentus (‘gömör accent’),
besztercei szilva (‘Beszterce plums’), lapusnyai
szelid-gesztenyeerdő (‘chestnut forest of
Lapuchna’), gbelai molnár (‘gbela miller’), etc.
(2) Hungarian historical realia: Árpád vezér
(‘chieftain Árpád’), Mátyás korabeli fekete sereg
(‘King Mathias’ Black Brigade’), török spáhi
(‘turkish spahi’), Rákóczi-féle brigadéros
(‘Rákóczi’s brigadiers’), etc.
(3) characteristic officials from the Hungarian
county system: főispán (‘prefect’), alispán (‘subprefect’), vice-jegyző (‘assistant town clerk’),
pandúr (‘pandour’), csendbiztos (‘gendarm’), etc.
(4) characteristic forms of 19th century Hungarian
addresses: kend (‘you’), vitéz bátyámuram (‘valiant sir’),
instállom (‘saving your presence’), alázatos szolgája
(‘your humble servant’), amice (‘my friend’), domine (‘my
lord’), etc.
(5) latinisms used by the above officials: skandalum
(‘scandal’) direktor (‘manager’), jus gladii (‘power of life
and death’), punktum (‘I have told you’), apelláta
(‘appeal’), spektákulum (‘spectacle’), elokvencia
(‘eloquence’), violencia (‘violence’), konfidens
(‘confidential’), elementum (‘element’), etc.
(6) archaic and regional names of dresses, dishes,
beverages and furnishings of the Felvidék: kócsagos
kalpak (‘kalpak with an egret’s plum’) atilla (‘hussar
jacket’), veres dolmány (‘scarlet dolman’), csibuk
(‘chibouk’), susztertallér (‘silver coin’), bugyelláris
(‘wallet’), ibrik (‘mug’), rokolya (‘skirt’), kulacs (‘flask’),
etc.
(7) foreign language insertions in the Hungarian text:
mixture of Hungarian, German, Polish and Slovakian,
spoken by the characters: vojna (‘war’), cserveni
(‘scarlet’), pod szmrty (‘come on death’), etc.
Hungarian  English:
Hungarian ST: Ebéd után csibukra gyújtott
a várúr ... (Mikszáth 15)
English TT: After lunch the count lit up his
pipe ... (Sturgess 17)
Hungarian ST: S kevélyen ütött mellének
azon helyére, ahol a bugyellárisát tartotta,
... (Mikszáth 65)
English TT: And he arrogantly patted his
chest on the side where he kept his wallet,
... (Sturgess 82)
1.2 Losses in the translation of
metalinguistic information
The number of inevitable losses is
increased by the translation of
metalinguistic references. They can
be:
(1) references to the SL
(2) references to the TL
(3) references to a third language or
languages
In the closing scene of Mikszáth Kálmán’s
novel Beszterce ostroma (The Siege of
Besterce) the dead body of count Pongrácz
is surrounded by dilettantish, provincial
actors. One of them makes an extempore
speech over the dead body and for the
sake of solemnity he inserts the following
English words in his funeral speech:
Mylordok, ladyk, (My lords, ladies). Using
English addresses in the Hungarian text
arouses the effect of false dignity and
nobility. and emphasises the tragicomic
character of the scene. This effect in
English translation is seriously jeopardised.
Hungarian ST: Csak Lengeffy nézte Nedec
mozdulatlan urát közömbösen, íly szavakat
ejtvén:
 Oh, mily rettentő a halál keze.
Mylordok, ladyk, ím okuljatok,
E por tegnap még parancsolt ...
Mylordok és ladyk nem lévén jelen, hogy
okulhattak volna, csak Estella tette a
következő észrevételt :
- Jó, jó, de mi lesz mármost
énvelem?(Mikszáth 180)
English TT: Only Lengeffy gazed with
indifference at the motionless body of the
Lord of Nedec. He quoted the following
lines:
“Oh, how fearful is the hand of death,
My lords, ladies learn from this,
This dust which yesterday commanded ...’
But there being no lords or ladies present
to draw the moral from these sad events, it
was left to Estella to make the next
observation. ‘Yes, yes I know. But now
what happens to me?’(Sturgess 233)
Commentary: Inserted English words are
automatically neutralised in the English
translation, losing their original function.
2. Local compensation
The above-mentioned inevitable losses in
certain places in literary texts works makes
it necessary to compensate the TL readers.
We make a distinction between local and
global compensation.
Local compensation is a subtype of
compensation which involves the rendering
of individual, vernacular or class speech
patterns by the means available in the
target language.
English ST:’ Well, she  don`t have to worry about
that,’ said Kramer. In a room with three people
who said She don't, he couldn't get a doesn't out
of his mouth. (Wolfe 199)
Hungarian TT:  Nos... nem kell aggódnia, eztet
elintézzük  mondta Kramer. Egy szobában, ahol
hárman is eztet mondanak ezt helyett, úgy érezte
engednie illik. (Fencsik 157)
Commentary: In the English ST uneducated speech
is represented by the incorrect use of the English
auxiliary verb do. As there are no auxiliary verbs in
Hungarian, the translator decided to render
uneducated usage with the accusative of the
Hungarian demonstrative pronoun ezt, which has
a lower prestige variant eztet.
3. Global compensation
= a subtype of compensation whereby
translators do not compensate for a
specific item, but they compensate for
compromises imposed upon them by
the fact of translation itself as an
indirect, mediated type of
communication.
English  Hungarian:
English ST: She was a harsh girl. (Greene
140)
Hungarian TT: Cynthiát kemény fából
faragták. (Ungvári 197)
Commentary: The meaning of the
Hungarian translational equivalent kemény
fából faragták: =‘she is a woman of strong
character’ (lit: she is made of hard wood).
English ST: Absolutely no deception.
(Christie 140)
Hungarian TT: Nem csalás, nem ámítás.
(Szíjgyártó 141)
Commentary: The meaning of the
Hungarian translational equivalent Nem
csalás, nem ámítás = ‘everything is open
and above board’, ‘there is no hocus-pocus
about it’ (lit: no cheating, no deception).
English ST: There was no point in calling
on the prosperous. (Dahl 118)
Hungarian TT: Jómódúaknál kopogtatni
kész időfecsérlés. (Borbás 119)
Commentary: The meaning of the
Hungarian translational equivalent kész
időfecsérlés =‘loss of time’, ‘waste of time’
(lit: sheer waste of time).
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