“Translation is the performative nature of cultural communication. It is language in actu (enunciation, positionality) rather than language in situ (énoncé, or propositionality). And the sign
House, quoted in Kiraly, quoted in Kelly (under heading “What not to do!”), paraphrased by me: Don’t set translation students a text to translate that is full of traps, let them prepare it and then go through it sentence by sentence, student by student, eliciting alternative translations for each sentence before plumping for the one […]
“Translation is the performative nature of cultural communication. It is language in actu (enunciation, positionality) rather than language in situ (énoncé, or propositionality). And the sign
After the years of whinging about lack of recognition, low status and how people think that anyone who knows two languages can translate translators – at least in Poland – are finally gaining some ground on their mortal enemies: original artists. Today’s Gazeta Wyborcza reports how a translator, Hanna Szczerkowska, forced (by use of the […]
Thirteen translators of Ryszard Kapuściński contributed their stories to a book that came out last year. It was to have been birthday present, but Kapuściński died before it appeared. The contributions vary widely in subject matter, some not referring at all to translation making it less than essential reading for the student of the subject. […]
“Zakłócenia w ruchu powodują zmiany w czasów odjazdu” reads the sign pinned immediately below the summer bus timetables in the Polish town where I have been spending the holidays. Now some old sticks in the mud may tell you this means “Traffic disruption will cause changes in departure times” but there are more efficient, informative […]
Friday’s Gazeta Wyborcza carried a story under the above headline (more or less) on its front page. In it Bartosz Węglarczyk calculated how much time Kaczyński would have to talk to Bush on the latter’s visit here. The answer: 40 minutes, and since an interpreter would be needed that should be halved. Consecutive interpreting Węglarczyk […]
In the case against Dr. G, the doctor falsely and publicly accused by Poland’s minister for justice of murder, the prosecution intends calling on expert witnesses, from abroad if necessary. Marek Celej has this to say about it in last week’s Polityka Nie bardzo sobie wyobrażam, jak taki biegły miałby zeznawać w sądzie. Przecież język […]
How much money would the marketing department of a posh vodka manufacturer have to spend on translating their slogan into English would you think? Maybe ten, twenty euros? Surely enough, anyway, to avoid this one: “The king is only one.” Yes and we are many so let’s kill the king. I presume they meant “there […]
The following is a first draft of a translation of an episode from Bruno Jasie?ski’s novel Pal? Pary? (I Burn Paris – the title arose from a misunderstanding on Jasie?ski’s part of the French idiom). In the novel, Paris is cordoned off after being hit by a plague and ascends into anarchy. There are different […]
Perhaps I should make this a regular feature – if I could be bothered buying Rzeczpospolita regularly. Today’s paper, as usual, contains translations of editorials from foreign papers on page two. One is from the Daily Telegraph. The Rz writes: “Tymczasem teoria, ?e za kryminalne zachowania obywateli odpowiedzialne jest spo?ecze?stwo, jest nieprawdziwa.” This means: “The […]