The guiding parameter to decode the original is a good understanding of its pragmatic dimension. Likewise, the original's communicative purpose, what the author wants to say, should always be the key translating parameter. New York: First Perennial Classics edition. 16661. http//:www.sub.uni-hamburg.de/opus/volltexte/2008/3726. Chicago: U of Chicago Press.. Reddy, M.J. (1979). 397-416). But this does not suffice. These are the issues I intend to discuss in this paper, based on Gregory Rabassa's views on his prolonged professional activity as a multilingual (from Spanish and Portuguese into English) translator. Translated by N. Butririna & V. Stolbov. Bogotá: Editorial Oveja Negra. In order to keep up with the almost-culturally-ingrained metaphors of the Spanish, ... “No Two Snowflakes Are Alike: Translation as Metaphor.” n.d. Valery, Paul. Translated by Claude et Carmen Durant. This is done in order to get a 'feeling' of the text to be translated or to pinpoint any technical, unknown or difficult words to translate. In case there are no explicit instructions by the translation commissioner, it is up to the translator to decide what translation strategies are to be implemented in his work. [ Links ], Komissarov, V. N. (1999). An attempt to translate it into Japanese through a computer program produced a sentence meaning approximately "Confined to an insane asylum". E. p. 4 When he became an expert in the use and manipulation of his instruments, he conceived a notion of space that allowed him to navigate across unknown seas, to visit uninhab­ited territories, and to establish relations with splendid beings without having to leave his study. Welcome to the No Two Snowflakes Blog, dedicated to the late Gregory Rabassa, hero and guardian Angel of this site. It implies, 'How do you do ice?' E. p. 9 Since his house from the very first had been the best in the village, the others had been built in its image and likeness. Rudduck, J (1999) Teacher practice and the student voice. The most important linguistic peculiarity here is that the same or a similar meaning can be expressed by using several diverse linguistic forms of the different languages spoken in the world. The competence to solve problems ensures that a translator can do his work as efficiently and as accurately as possible. (1989). We are faced with the same interpretive dilemma as the translator of the Aeneid as he starts off with Arma virumque cano. At first Rabassa thought it was a good idea, but then he changed his mind: Later on, after the book had come out, I had second thoughts. Read a literary translation article: No two snowflakes are alike: translation as metaphor by Gregory Rabassa 1. Rabassa, Gregory; In The Craft of Translation. Later today I … 11-29). Finally, as to the translation of the original term 'conocer el hielo', Rabassa does a semantic analysis: García Márquez has used the Spanish word ['conocer'] here with all its connotations. There are some universals and some peculiarities in both processes. Leipzig: VEB Verlag Enzykoplädie. [ Links ], Shveitser, A. D. (1988). There is much to be gained in this endeavour. Preface for the Third Printing. It helps to 'latinize' the English translation, thereby raising its stylistic level compared to the original. Write an abstract of at least 200 words. Often vernacularisms, proverbs and similar expression also imply metaphors. New York: PEN American Center, (pp. In his essay; "No Two Snowflakes are Alike: Translation as Metaphor" Rabassa cites sound, curses, and articles as problems in literary translation, but then focuses on three larger issues that make translation a quixotic enterprise. P. p. 14 Posto que a sua casa fosse desde o primeiro mo­mento a melhor da aldeia, as outras foram arranjadas à sua imagem e semelhança. For instance, commenting on the translation of Shakespeare's works, he claims that: It is obvious that the translator will have to take liberties with the text in order to preserve the spirit of what Shakespeare 'wants to say' [...] Therefore, when we translate a curse, we must look to the feelings behind it and not the word that go to make it up. MELUS: The Journal of the Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States 16.2 (1990): 77-89. En este artículo me propongo presentar y discutir sus puntos de vista respecto de la definición de la traducción (prestando atención al concepto de equivalencia), el papel del traductor (un modelo hablante-oyente del texto meta) y algunas de las estrategias de traducción que utiliza en su labor traductora (predominio del original, resolución de problemas, extranjerización, ficcionalización y redes semánticas). Are translators cooperating in postcolonial and imperialistic agendas of the dominating social actors that happen to commission translations? entirely of apocrypha, of false attributions, of It is generally assumed that translation should have some kind of preparatory stage where the totality or at least the first paragraphs of the original are read. Berkely: University of California Press. This pre-eminence of the pragmatic nature of translation equivalence helps to understand the limitations of wrongly oriented theoretical approaches that still maintain, rather naively, that semantic meanings and grammatical structures should be kept identical in the translation process, thereby ignoring the complex relationship between thought and language, on the one hand, and the richness and diversity of expression means of the different languages of the world, on the other hand. verbalized and categorized through language will depend on the surrounding reality itself and on aspects of it which turn out to be essential to satisfy certain survival needs such as food and shelter and to perform social-cultural activities. (ibid, p. ix). Since we are used to thinking of an expression like 2 = 2 as correct, we do not realize that "the second 2 is obviously a hair younger than the first and therefore not its equal"2. Rabassa also resorted to foreignizing not as a general but as a punctual translation strategy to be used whenever the original's transparency may help to reproduce a specific effect on the target language audience. If not, he had best return to the original urge of writing something of his own inspiration and bust out. Key Words: Gregory Rabassa, translation equivalence, translational problem solving, fictionalizing, semantic networking. In A. Neubert (Ed), Grundfragen der Übersetzungswissenschaft (pp. The Colombian flora used in the novel helps to depict some of the common plants used for feeding purposes in the Caribbean region where most of the novel's plot takes place: (8) S. p. 9 Fue ésa la época en que adquirió el hábito de hablar a solas, paseándose por la casa sin hacer caso de nadie, mientras Úrsula y los niños se partían el espinazo en la huerta cuidando el plátano y la malanga, la yuca y el ñame, la ahuyama y la berenjena. While in our reality the two triangles face one another, and the only vertex they don't share, but have very close, is the sign vertex, through which pass, first the interpretive act and, then, the translation act. Now, let's review some of the reasons why equivalence in translation is not a mathematical term. No Two Snowflakes Are Alike: Translator as Metaphor. In The Craft of Translation. 1st edition in the series Biblioteca de Literatura Colombiana. On Definiteness: a Study with Special Reference to English and Finnish. 35-52). [ Links ], All the contents of this journal, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License. Der Begriff der Äquivalenz in der Übersetzungswissenschaft. He defines translation by resorting to the crucial translational concept of equivalence. G. p. 10 Als er mit seinen Instru­menten leidlich umzugehen verstand, kannte er sich so weit im Weltall aus, daß er imstande war, unbekannte Meere zu durchschiffen, unbewohnte Gebiete zu besu­chen und Beziehungen zu herrlichen Wesen anzuknüp­fen, ohne dafür sein Arbeitszimmer verlassen zu müssen. A similar solution was also provided by the Russian translators by translating the captain's last name . In this case Rabassa applied a foreignizing strategy by keeping the term Carnicero in English, but added an explanation 'which meant butcher', intended for readers not familiar with the Spanish language. To do so would be to produce some kind of gibberish that would be unintelligible to both sides. F. p. 12 Quand il se fut rompu à l'usage et au maniement de ses instruments, il acquit une certaine connaissance de l'espace qui lui permit de naviguer sur des mers incon­nues, d'explorer des territoires vierges, de rencontrer des créatures extraordinaires, sans même avoir besoin de quitter son cabinet de travail. Chicago, University of Chicago Press, pp. "The author who knows his language inside out" (8) is the first. Cien años de soledad. G. p. 8 Gegen Zahlung von fünf Reales preßten die Leute das Auge an das Fernrohr und sahen die Zigeunerin zum Greifen nahe. This is a huge responsibility that is reflected on the different translation choices made by the translator throughout the target text. Menos conocidas son sus opiniones sobre la traducción. [ Links ], Venuti, Lawrence (Ed.) 1: Poem 145 of Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz. Many poststructuralist and postcolonial authors would disagree with Rabassa on this idea, as they would like the translator to intervene and interfere in the translated text as much as possible. The Translation Studies Reader. 221-232). He speaks of the words expressing "dog" in various cultures, about the Muslim culture's contempt toward this animal (that has negative connotations as soon as it is named, for this reason), about peculiar connotations in each different, not only national, but also individual culture: just think of the different interpretants of "dog" in two persons that as children had, one, important affectionate relationships with dogs and, in the other case, has been bitten, for example. 1-12. In kurzer Zeit füllte er nicht nur sein eigenes Haus, sondern auch alle anderen des Dorfes mit Turpialen, Kanarienvögeln, Meisen und Rot­kehlchen. stylistic resources thought to be typical of a 'literary' text and therefore recreated by the translators even if they did not appear in the original. He is a prisoner: And in keeping with the image, he must always be aware that in a very deep sense he is the prisoner of his author, convicted on any number of counts. Second, any intervention in the translation by the translator should be weighed against these boundaries. Within this framework then the key aspect in translation definition is to define equivalence above all as a pragmatically oriented communicative, intercultural and interlinguistic activity. Similar Articles: Similar Articles: View all > German Translation Theory: Legacy and Relevance . A word is nothing but a metaphor for an object…like words, no two metaphors are alike regardless of similarity… Consider dog vs. perro (meaning, sounds, culture, connotation) Limb and branch are legitimate translations, but the nuance of Zrama [as arm or leg does not exist in Spanish. `` No Two Snowflakes are Alike: translation as metaphor. de cinco,... Sl socio-cultural context spezialisierte Chef des Kommandos hatte einen Namen, der nicht zufällig war: er Hauptmann! Literary translations: Models and Methods ’, in some cases, for instance of! Reflected on the nature and definition of translation according to recent developments in translation manuals for.! Da mão, 1989, p. 1-12 spezialisierte Chef des Kommandos hatte einen Namen, der nicht war. The communicative purpose expressed by the translator 's stance towards the original author is also discussed Rabassa... Author 'wants to say, should always be the key translating parameter sum up I... 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