Literal translation
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Literal translation of individual words from one language to another is often misleading because words derive meaning from their context and culture. While a word-for-word translation seems close, it may not accurately convey the intended meaning without understanding how words are used together in phrases, sentences, and the broader context. When translating texts, especially creative works like poetry, the goal is often to create a new independent work in the target language rather than a strictly literal translation. For terms like names of institutions or concepts, a direct translation may be confusing if the term has a different meaning or function in the target culture. The translator must consider these differences and how to best communicate the intended sense to the target audience.
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Literal translation
- 1. LITERAL TRANSLATION “A translator is essentially a reader and we all read differently, except that a translator's reading remains in unchanging print” Lida Berisha 2013
- 2. • The present excessive emphasis in linguistics on discourse analysis is resulting in the corresponding idea in translation theory that the only unit of translation is the text, and that almost any deviation from literal • translation can be justified in any place by appealing to the text as an overriding authority. The prevailing orthodoxy is leading to the rejection of literal translation as a legitimate translation procedure • . Thus Neubert (1983) states that one word of an SL text and a TL word in the translation rarely correspond • semantically, and grammatically hardly ever. •
- 3. Varieties of close translation • Each SL word has corresponding TL word ,but their primary (isolated)meanings may differ. • Literal translation ranges from one word to one word ( ‘garden’ – ‘kopsht’) • Through group to group (‘a beautiful garden’- ‘kopsht i bukur’) • Collocation to collocation ( ‘make a speech ‘- ‘mbaje fjalimin’) • Clause to clause ( ‘when he went there ’-’kur ai shkoi atje’) • Sentences to sentences( ‘the girl was in the street’- ‘vajza ishte ne rruge’)
- 4. THE TRANSLATION OF POETRY • The translation of poetry is the field where most emphasis is normally • put on the creation of a new independent poem, • and where literal translation is usually condemned. •
- 5. • Me ka marre malli per Shqiperine tone; Per ate qiell te madh, te gjere e te thelle, Per vrapin e kalter te dallgeve adriatike Per rete qe ne muzg si keshtjella digjen, Per alpet mjeker bardha e mjekergjelbra, Per netet e najlonta qe nga flladet fergellojne, Per mjegullat qe si indiane te kuq muzgjeve shtegtojne. • Per lokomotivat e kuajt, Qe te djersitur avullojne e hungerojne, Per qiparisat, kopete, e varret Malli me ka mare, malli me ka mare, per shqiptaret. “Ismail Kadare” 1993
- 6. • I was filled with longing for Albania, For that great, wide and deep sky, For the azure course of the Adriatic waves, For clouds at sunset ablaze like castles, For the Albanian Alps with their white hair and green beards, For the nylon nights fluttering in the breeze, For the mists, like red Indians, on the prowl at dawn, For the locomotives and the horses That huff and puff, dripping in sweat, For the cypresses, the herds and graves I was filled with longing. I was filled with longing For the Albanians.
- 7. FAITHFUL AND FALSE FRIENDS • However, my main point is that we must not be afraid of literal translation, or, in particular, of using a TL word which looks the same or nearly the same as the SL word. At school and university I was told I must never do this, but 'theatre is theatre is Theater is teatro is teatr 1 only in Czech is it divadlo .The translation of objects and movements is usually more literal than that of qualities and ways of moving.
- 8. THE WORDS OF THEIR CONTEXT • All the same, we do translate words, because there is nothing else to translate; there are only the words on the page; there is nothing else there. We do not translate isolated words, we translate words all more or less (and sometimes less rather than more, but never not at all} bound by their syntactic, collocational, situational, cultural and individual idiolectical contexts. • While, we must translate the isolated words. • One notices first how close these translations are; and they could even be closer, being in some cases elegan t (and unnecessary)variations on the original, which is presumably English
- 9. Elegant variations • Elegant variations on literal or one-to-one translation are common, and sometimes satisfy the translator's understandable wish to write in a style or phrase that is entirely natural to him. It aimed to produce the beautiful translation product
- 10. • As production continued to expand ,however ,the owner had to work the equipment harder and longer each day.This caused more breakdowns and led to additional repair expenses . • Pasi prodhimi filloi te zgjerohej, pronari u detyrua ti perdore pajisjet me shume dhe me gjate. Kjo shkaktoi avari te pajisjet dhe si pasoje edhe shpenzime shtese per riparim.
- 11. ACCEPTED TRANSLATION • Some transparent institutional terms are translated literally • in at least Western European languages even though the TL cultural equivalents have widely different functions: thus 'President', 'Senate', 'Prefect', also that concept-words such as 'radicalism' or 'realism are translated literally and often misleadingly, as their * local' con notations are often different. incorporated at once into the target language. However, for • now institution all terms, a translator must be careful about translating the terms • directly • into the TL, if they already exist but have quite different functions in the TL culture. •