LESSON 6 (Unit 3 HM continued)
Now translate this passage from a literary text. Think about
the appropriate unit of translation for words and phrases
that are obscure or ‘heavy’, and difficult to translate.
This was the terrible thing, the quiet in the hopelessness.
To believe the human race lost and not to feverishly want
to do something about it, a desire in me, for example, to be
lost with it. I was troubled by abstract furies which were
not of the blood and I was quiet, I desired nothing. It did
not matter that my girlfriend was waiting for me: to go to
her or not or to leaf through a dictionary was all the same
to me; and to go out and see friends, to see the others, or to
stay at home was all the same to me.
Vittorini E. 1966: Conversazioni in Sicilia:
Questo era il terribile: la quiete nella non speranza.
Credere il genere umano perduto e non aver febbre di
fare qualcosa in contrario, voglia di perdermi, ad
esempio, con lui. Ero agitato da astratti furori, non nel
sangue, ed ero quieto, non avevo voglia di fare nulla.
Non mi importava che la mia ragazza mi aspettasse;
raggiungerla o no, o sfogliare un dizionario era per me lo
stesso; e uscire a vedere gli amici, gli altri, o restare in
casa era per me lo stesso.
Questo era il terribile: la quiete nella non speranza.
This was the terrible thing, the quiet in the hopelessness.
era il terribile  was the terrible thing (noun 
adjective)
la quiete nella non speranza  the quiet in the
hopelessness
(negation through a separate word in Italian (‘non’) but
morphological negation in English ‘lessness’)
non aver febbre ( noun) di fare qualcosa in contrario
not to feverishly ( adverb) want to do something about it
(requires pronoun ‘it’)
Ero agitato da astratti furori
I was troubled by abstract furies
English translator has added meaning which is not
really present in the original Italian, namely that
‘furies’ recall mythological beasts of vengeance
which in Italian are ‘furie’ not ‘furori’ (Dodds 244)
non avevo voglia di fare nulla. (fixed phrase)
I desired nothing (no equivalent fixed phrase in
English)
Non mi importava che la mia ragazza mi aspettasse
It did not matter that my girlfriend was waiting for me
(requires dummy subject ‘it’).
This is an example of ‘end weighting’, the
‘heaviest (longest or most difficult) unit to process is
placed at the end of the sentence. Here, it will attract
attention as new information (the rheme) (Leech
134). However, it would also be possible to use
fronting, the unit is moved to the front of the
sentence: ‘That my girlfriend was waiting for me did
not matter’ or ‘My girlfriend was waiting for me but
it did not matter. The purpose of fronting is usually to
stress that the information is already known, given
and accepted as true (the theme).
a vedere gli amici, gli altri, o restare in casa…
to go out and see friends, to see the others, or to stay
at home
The phonological equivalences of ‘gli amici, gli
altri’ is not lost in the English translation. The
English translator uses a strategy of compensation:
the phonological equivalence is transferred to the ‘s’
in ‘see friends, to see the others, or to stay…’
Alliteration: the close imitation of the sound of one
syllable (or part of one syllable) in another syllable
…at the beginning of words (Dodds 28)
English national newspaper (The Observer)
A breath of fresh Eire
The time: a balmy October evening. The place: the National
Film Theatre, London. An audience of several hundred
people, most of them English, are sitting spellbound,
listening to a small man talking animatedly about film,
cultural hegemony, the information society and the future.
‘We don’t have to lie down,’ he says, ‘before a culture that
is driven by greed.’ There is a collective sigh of approval.
‘It is surely wrong,’ he continues, ‘that all the images of the
world should come from one place.’ A ripple of agreement
runs through the audience, like a breeze running over a field
of ripening corn.
(Italian translation in Internazionale)
Una boccata di pura Irlanda
Tempo: una mite serata d’ottobre. Luogo: il National Film
Theatre, Londra. Un pubblico di parecchie centinaia di
persone, in maggioranza inglesi, ascolta rapito un uomo di
bassa statura che parla animatamente di cinema, di
egemonia culturale, di società dell’informazione e del
futuro. ‘Non dobbiamo inchinarci’, afferma, ‘di fronte a
una cultura dominata dall’avidità’. Si sente un generale
sospiro di approvazione. ‘È’ senza dubbio sbagliato’,
continua, ‘che tutte le immagini del mondo provengano da
un solo posto’. Questa volta un mormorio di assenso
attraversa la sala, simile alla brezza che pettina un campo
di spighe mature’.
Eire (a homophonic pun). Eire/air = same sound but
different spellings (graphology) and different
meanings (semantic values). Eire = the original and
therefore ‘pure’ Irish Gaelic name for Ireland. This is
a vital part of the context of situation and should be
captured in translation.
Many of the translation units here are in a relation
of equivalence. They include October evening /
serata d’ottobre, cultural hegemony / egemonia
culturale, information society / società
dell’informazione, sigh of approval / sospiro di
approvazione.
Others require fairly limited modificiations: An
audience of several hundred people / Un pubblico
di parecchie centinaia di persone.
In terms of grammatical units:
‘The’ in ‘The time’ and ‘The place’ is eliminated (typical
note style of Italian journalism)
The relative clause that is implicit in the ing form of
‘talking animatedly’ (= who was talking animatedly) has
to be rendered by ‘che parla…’ in Italian.
In terms of lexical units:
mite = nearest equivalent of ‘balmy’. It belongs to a
lexical field that includes soft, warm, calm, temperate.
Translation of the more figurative use of language could
cause difficulties:
‘sitting spellbound, listening’  ascolta rapito = trans.
strategies of reduction and reordering. Another possibility
might be ‘se ne sta seduto, affascinato, ad ascoltare’
The simile in: A ripple of agreement runs through the
audience, like a breeze running over a field of ripening
corn.  ‘simile alla brezza che pettina un campo di spighe
mature. The efficacy of ‘breeze’ lies in the meaning of
movement it shares with ‘ripple’.
Taylor (205) suggests that a better translation might have
been: ‘un mormorio di assenso serpeggia tra il pubblico,
simile ad una brezza che fa ondeggiare un campo di
spighe mature’. Would you agree?
CONCLUSION OF UNIT 3: THE TRANSLATION
UNIT
Vinay and Darbelnet reject the word as a unit of
translation and instead define the unit as ‘the smallest
segment of the utterance whose signs are linked in such a
way that they should not be translated individually’ (HM
18, 137-141). Instead of defining the unit in terms of
syntax (a word, a clause, a sentence), they define it in
terms of meaning, reasoning or intonation ((H&M:
138).
Translate the following tourist text from The Rough
Guide to Germany (2012). In what sense does the
translation of ‘The cappuccino classes’ have to take place
at the level of culture? How would you translate
‘cappuccino’ for the Italian target audience?
Dresden: the Äussere Neustadt. After reunification, artists
and radicals moved into its then tatty nineteenth-century
quarter and so began this urban village’s transition into
the home of the city’s alternative arts and nightlife
scenes. The cappuccino classes have certainly arrived,
but the area remains multicultural and nicely scruffy – a
place of funky galleries and independent boutiques, and
the best bar scene south of Berlin.
Homework:
1) Translation: see previous slide.
2) Read about the concept of ‘translation shift’. HM 2633. (‘Translation shift’ defined on p.28. ‘Formal
correspondence’ defined on p.27).