- •Imagery
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- •Introduction
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- •Introductory Notes
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- •Isk for comparison: mrney of the Magi
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- •* * * *
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- •4 Зак. № so
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- •Into russian
- •Introductory Notes
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- •Introductory Notes
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- •Introductory Notes
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- •Introductory Notes
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- •8Зак. N° 50 225
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- •191023, Санкт-Петербург, а/я № 103.
- •191023, Санкт-Петербург, маб. Р. Фонтанки, 59.
Imagery in Translation
осипли, и контрабас не ладил со скрипкой. Над двориком протянулся внезапно легкий запах гари.
Беня, — сказал папаша Крик, старый биндюжник, слывший между биндюжниками грубияном, — Беня, ты зна ешь, что мине сдается? Мине сдается, что у нас горит сажа...
Папаша, — ответил Король пьяному отцу, — пожа луйста, выпивайте и закусывайте, пусть вас не волнует этих глупостей...
И папаша Крик последовал совету сына. Он закусил и выпил. Но облачко дыма становилось все ядовитее. Где-то розовели уже края неба. И уже стрельнул в вышину узкий, как шпага, язык пламени. Гости, привстав, стали обнюхивать воздух, а бабы их взвизгнули. Налетчики переглянулись тогда друг с другом. И только Беня, ничего не замечавший, был безутешен.
— Мине нарушают праздник, — кричал он, полный отчаяния, — дорогие, прошу вас, закусывайте и выпивайте...
В это время во дворе появился тот самый молодой человек, который приходил в начале вечера.
— Король, — сказал он, — я имею сказать вам пару слов...
Ну, говори, — ответил Король, — ты всегда имеешь в запасе пару слов...
Король, — произнес неизвестный молодой человек и захихикал, — это прямо смешно, участок горит, как свеч ка...
Лавочники онемели. Налетчики усмехнулись. Шестидесятилетняя Манька, родоначальница слободских бандитов, вложив два пальца в рот, свистнула так пронзительно, что ее соседи покачнулись.
— Маня, вы не на работе, — заметил ей Беня, — хо- лоднокровней, Маня...
Молодого человека, принесшего эту поразительную
новость, все еще разбирал смех.
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EXERCISES FORTRANSLATION
Identify words and forms that may cause a problem for translation. Study the nature of the problem and think of the way of its solution.
Study the stylistic devices of irony in the Russian text and assess the possibility of their transformation in English.
Consider colloquialisms and their functions in the text and think of the means of translating.
Mind the expressive functions of such phrases as Мине нарушают праздник, пусть вас не волнует этих глупостей, я имею сказать вам пару слов, etc. Think of English substitu tions to them.
Study the syntactic arrangement of the text and think over English transformations.
Study the rhythmic pattern of the text and its emotive functions.
Translate the text and discuss the result.
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SECTION 3: TRANSLATING DRAMA
DRAMA TRANSLATIONTECHNIQUES
Translating dramat, we face a number of specific problems. A drama text differs from any other fiction text because it is meant not for reading but for performing; it consists of a dialogue, which is connected with the proper sound and fitness. Thus it should be assessed from the point of view of time and intelligibility for the supposed audience. The text is to be pronounced and performed, and this action differs from the ordinary conversation. In everyday speech we may act resolutely or shyly, confidently or thoughtfully, indifferently or affectionately — and use whichever sentence structures and accents. But when a text is meant for scenic performance, the playwright selects sentences so that they should predetermine the way of utterance. When the character is shy, he uses shy, uncertain, "shaky" constructions; when he is authoritative, his syntax must be authoritative too. When, in an English play, a personage commands Off you go! we need to choose between a few Russian variants, and the ultimate decision should be based not so on linguistic principles as on the mood and character judgement. In Russian, he may say: «Пошел вон!» — «Прочь отсюда!» — «Убирайся!» — «Вали отсюда!» Each of them manifests a different degree of self-confidence and, preferred by a translator, will form different characters; Убирайся reveals an irritated and defensive mood, while Вали отсюда implies a rude and aggressive personality; Прочь отсюда is too intellectual, and Пошел вон may be too archaic for a contemporary. When a personage is rude and aggressive, by the author's grace, it is dif-
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ficult for a Russian spectator to perceive him as such if he uses phrases like «Прочь отсюда!» or «Убирайся!» though they may be quite equivalent from the grammatical point of view.
Timing and intonation are essential for a drama text. Too many words in a phrase necessary to restore its grammatical meaning may not have serious consequences when we translatet a novel but in a play or film such a transformation will make the scenic speech incomprehensible. Very often, to translate some syntactic structures from English into Russian, one must enlarge the space of the sentence, which becomes a complication in a drama text. The English phrase (Gwendolen, from "The Importance of Being Earnest") "If you would care to verify the incident, pray do so" may be presented in different forms in Russian:
Если вам угодно проверить, действительно ли это событие имело место, прошу вас убедиться.
Если вам угодно это проверить — пожалуйста.
In the first variant, the semantics of the source text is translated more explicitly but the phrase becomes twice as long in Russian. The second variant compresses the spacious phrase into one word это and thus economises on the syntactic space. Certainly, the second variant is more convenient to use on the stage, from the phonic point of view. Yet there is another aspect, the stylistic one. Gwendolen is said to be very polite, which means her speech may be perceived as next to caricature, something exaggerated. With this, the first variant seems more expressive, though it takes more time to pronounce the remark and to perceive it in Rassian.
To translate a drama text is to reconstruct an adequate basis for performance, which includes proper timing and audible comprehension, cultural and linguistic stereotypes to be perceived as authentic. Translated dramatic works, there sometimes reveal conflicts as follows: in a dialogue it is mentioned that this or that personage is rich or elegant, while a puzzled spectator can see the mentioned rich person wrapped in something like rags. Such a situation was actually reconstructed in the stage version of Chek-
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