What is lost and gained in translation

AuthorSilvana Dervishi
PositionUniversity of Tirana
Pages71-75
Vo
l.
6
N
o
. 2
Jul
y
, 2020
ISS
N 2410-391
8
A
cces online at www.ii
p
ccl.or
g
71
A
cademic Journal o
f
Business,
A
dministration, Law and Social Sciences
II
PCCL Publishin
g
, Graz-
A
ustria
What is lost and gained in translatio
n
M
Sc. S
il
v
a
n
a
D
e
rv
i
s
hi
niversity o
Tirana
Abs
tr
ac
t
O
nce t
h
e
p
rinci
pl
e t
h
at e
q
ua
l
it
y
b
etween two
l
angua
g
e
s cannot exist is accepted, it
b
ecomes possible to approach the issue of what is lost and what is gained during the translation
p
rocess.
A
gain this shows the low status of the translation, as a lot of time must have been spent
d
iscussin
g
what is lost durin
g
the transfer of a text from the source lan
g
ua
g
e to the translation
l
anguage, while ignoring what can be gained, because the translator can o en enrich or clarify
the text in the Source Language, as a direct result of the translation process. Moreover, what is
o en seen as a “loss” from the context of the Source Language can be replaced in the context
o
f
the Translation Language, as occurs in Petrarch’s translations by White and Surrey
.
Ke
y
words
:
languages, equality, translation process, loss and gain
.
I
ntr
odu
ct
io
n
E
ugen Nida is a rich source o
f
in
f
ormation on the
p
roblems o
f
loss during translation,
e
s
p
eciall
y
f
or the di
culties encountered b
y
the translator when con
f
ronted with terms
o
r conce
p
ts in the Source Language, which do not exist in the Translation Language.
H
e cites the case o
f
the South Venezuelan language, where the translator has some
d
i
cult
y
nding satis
f
actor
y
terms instead o
f
E
nglish ones:
f
atigue, stealing, l
y
ing,
e
tc., but where terms
f
or good, ugl
y
, beauti
f
ul cover a ver
y
wide
eld o
f
di
erent
meanings.
A
s an exam
pl
e,
h
e
p
oints out t
h
at t
h
is
l
anguage
d
oes not corres
p
on
d
to
the dictatorial classi
cation o
f
“good” and “bad”, but the trictomic one, as
f
ollows
.
(
1
)
Good -The good includes desirable
f
ood, killing enemies, chewing drugs to keep calm,
b
eating one’s spouse to teach one to obey, and stealing
f
rom anyone who does not belong to
t
he same
g
an
g.
(
2
)
B
a
d -
E
vil includes ro en
f
ruit, an
y
object with a cane, the murder o
f
a member o
f
the same gang, the the
b
y
a member o
f
the honorable
f
amil
y
, and the dece
p
tion o
f
a
n
yo
n
e
.
(
3
)
V
iolatin
g
taboo - Violation o
f
the taboo includes incest, a
pp
roaching the mother-in
-
l
aw, eating the ta
p
ir b
y
a married woman be
f
ore the birth o
f
the
rst child, and eating
ro
d
ents
by
t
h
e c
h
i
ld
ren.
I
t is also not necessar
y
to look
f
ar be
y
ond
E
uro
p
e to
nd exam
p
les that carr
y
such a
d
i
erentiation. The large number o
f
terms in Finland
f
or snow variations, in
A
rabic
f
or as
p
ects o
f
camel behavior, in
E
nglish
f
or light and water, in French
f
or the t
yp
es
of
bread the translator has to deal with, and this, on a
p
lane, constitutes a
p
roblem
of
untranslatabilit
y
. Translations o
f
the Bible have documented other additional
d
i
culties, such as the conce
p
t o
f
the Trinit
y
or the social signi
cance o
f
p
arables in
c
ertain cultures.
I
n addition to lexical
p
roblems, there are de
nitel
y
languages that do
n
ot have a time s
y
stem or conce
p
ts o
f
the time, which can match one wa
y
or another

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT