Филологические
науки/Актуальные проблемы перевода
Mykytiuk
I.M., Ph.D.
Chernivtsi National University, Ukraine
Belles-Lettres
Translation as a Means of Intercultural Communication
Modern
society is characterized by considerable intensification of international
communication. Today peoples of different continents live in the integrated
political and economic context. The processes of globalization are most
palpable at international conferences dedicated to various problems of human
activity and welcoming specialists from all countries of the world. Needless to
say, such multi-national collaboration involves the participation of
translators and interpreters.
Creative
activity of translators enables people speaking different languages to get
acquainted with philosophy and culture, scientific and economic thought, as
well as with literary heritage of other nations.
The
development of modern translation studies is determined by its
interdisciplinary character, its close connection with Linguistics (Pragmatics,
Discourse Analysis, Cognitive Linguistics), Literary Studies, Poetics,
Sociology, Psychology, Stylistics, Semiotics.
A great number of
publications that have appeared in recent years are dedicated to the general
and special aspects of theory and practice of translation. Yet, some debatable
problems and issues connected, in particular, with literary translation need
fundamental coverage which presents the topicality of this research. The
objective of this article is to acknowledge the circle of issues connected with
the problems of translation as a peculiar type of human activity and to lay
foundation for further and deeper study of the subject.
Translating activity is undoubtedly highly
diverse. But there are important similarities that exist between all types of
translating. It is the task of the theorist to discern regularities and patterns
of different text-types, to incorporate diversity of function within an overall
model of the translating process.
Translator
works with texts (oral or written) and translation is a creative process of
re-encoding the source language information by means of the target language.
“The original text is polysemantic and the translator’s interpretation is only
one of the many possibilities of its comprehension” [3, p. 98].
Translation
is closely connected with the issue of the role of language in social life. In
creating a new act of communication out of a previously existing one,
translators are inevitably acting under the pressure of their own social environment
while at the same time trying to assist in the negotiation of meaning between
the producer of the source-language text and the receiver of the
target-language text, both existing within their own, different social
frameworks. The study of this complex process at work takes the scholar beyond
translation itself towards the relationship between language activity and the
social context in which it takes place. As
E. Nida [4, p. 112] puts it: “Translators are constantly aware of language
as a means of communication. But their primary concerns are not structures of
the language but the creative potential to transfer concepts from the source to
the addressees”. Similar
view is expressed by O. Ivasiuk, who considers that the aim of the
translator is not to copy the elements and structures of the original, but to
reproduce the effect of their functioning in the target language [3, p. 118].
Translation
of a literary text as a complex structure embracing different and at the same
time interconnected levels: ideological, compositional and language proper,
presupposes a kind of exchange between the two cultures, the two social systems
including exchange of emotions, associations and ideas. According to
R. P. Zorivchak, literary translation is of utmost importance for
culture, national mentality and language [1].
Literary
translation involves the skill of a perfect mastery of both the native and
foreign languages that makes adequate apprehension of the emotional and
stylistic colouring of the message possible.
The
crucial challenge for the belles-lettres text translator is the necessity to
adapt the translation for the target audience.
In
literary translation, the following things are important: preservation of form,
content, structure and aesthetic influence of the original with specific consideration
of all source and target languages peculiarities.
No less
important challenges of the literary translation are: phonetic expressive means
and stylistic devices (alliteration, assonance, onomatopoeia, graphon),
vocabulary characteristics (obsolete expressions and archaisms,
occasionalisms), a large number of lexical and syntactic stylistic devices. The
translator should have enough imagination and creativity to render the totality
of senses, colors, and emotions of a literary text making it clear and readable
for the target audience.
A debatable issue in
translation studies is the possibility to retain in an absolutely correct and
complete way the ideas expressed in the source language by means of the target
language.
Thus,
the work of belles-lettres texts translators becomes of crucial importance for
the establishment of international communication.
Bibliography:
1.
Зорівчак Р. Боліти болем слова нашого… / Р. Зорівчак. – Львів: ЛНУ ім.
І. Франка, 2005. – 296 с.
2.
Івасюк О. Я. Сучасне українське перекладознавство на шляху до філологічної
інтердисциплінарності / О. Я. Івасюк // Актуальні проблеми германської філології:
Матеріали III
Міжнародної наукової конференції, присвяченої 70-річчю від дня народження
професора, доктора філологічних наук Левицького В. В. (10-12 квітня 2008 року). –
Чернівці: Книги-XXI,
2008. – С. 117-118.
3.
Кияк Т. Р. Теорія та практика перекладу (німецька мова).
Підручник для студентів вищих навчальних закладів / Кияк Т. Р., Огуй О. Д., Науменко А. М. – Вінниця: Нова книга, 2006. – 592 с.
4.
Nida E. A.
The Sociolinguistics of Interlingual Communication / E. A. Nida. –
Bruxelles: Joseph Hazard, 1996.