Phraseology is a domain of linguistic study which, to a certain extent, demonstrates the correlation between language and culture. At the same time, it is a source of information concerning the speakers’ world view. However, different phraseological units are used in different languages. Hence, when it comes to their understanding, it becomes particularly difficult to comprehend their meaning without the reference to their lexicographic description. The aim of this paper is to outline the treatment of selected idioms in several dictionaries in order to: (i) identify how idioms are lexicographically presented, (ii) find equivalence of some expressions of that kind in English/Polish, (iii) investigate how the recorded parallels correspond with the functional view of idioms proposed by Dobrovol’skij (2000).
Unlike the Canon law texts available in the Romanian principalities – Moldavia and Wallachia – falling under the Slavic influence, the first legal acts which are subscribed to the secular law and which appear in 1646 [“Carte Românească de Învățătură” (en. Romanian Book of Learning) or “Pravila lui Vasile Lupu” (en. Vasile Lupu’s Code of Laws)] and in 1652 [“Îndreptarea legii” (en. The Law’s Rectification) or Pravila lui Matei Basarab (en. Matei Basarab’s Code of Laws)] fall under the Greek-Byzantine influence. The present article aims to provide some information regarding the translation mechanisms applied by the Moldavian and Wallachian scholars of the 17th century who aimed at transposing the Byzantine Legal Standard to the everyday life of the two above mentioned Romanian principalities by means of fundamental procedures, such as “analysis (with the underlying meaning determination), transfer, restructuring, and testing” (Nida, 2004: 85) of the source message. The most precious information related to the translation process of those times is provided by the cases of untranslatability generated by the legal and terminological gap between the Receiver and the Transmitter. The identification and classification of these cases, but also the highlighting of the solutions the translator found to solve them, represent important steps in understanding the equivalenting process of two unequal legal systems that took place centuries ago in Eastern Europe, as illustrated by the case of the two Romanian principalities and the Greek-Byzantine one.
The aim of the paper is to establish the functional equivalence between the terms 'football fan' in German and Polish. Functional equivalence presupposes that lexemes occur in the two languages in a convergent syntagmatic environment. The analysis of co-occurring lexemes will be based on establishing the correlations of German units using the DWDS Wortprofil tool and the DWDS corpus, and for the Polish language – WordSketch and the plTenTen corpus. Detailed analysis and comparisons of co-occurrence (co-occurring adjective and verb groups with the highest frequency are analysed according to their syntactic functions and semantic groups) allows for establishing partial equivalence between the analysed lexemes and to state that the German terms ‘Fan’ and ‘Fußballfan’ cover the meaning of the neutral lexeme ‘kibic’ as well as the meaning of the lexeme ‘pseudokibic’ with negative connotations
The choice of the editors of the Common English Bible (CEB) to translate Greek, Aramaic and English phrases as either “The Human One” or “the human being” has been controversial. However, it renders the “literal” meaning of a stock idiom that was in use both in the Aramaic of Jesus’ day and in the Hebrew and Aramaic language in the OT. For those who are not taught the literal meaning of the idiom, the traditional literalistic word-for-word translation of ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου as “the Son of Man” is either meaningless or misleading both in terms of Christology and for following the narrative of the Gospels. An accurate translation of the sense of the Aramaic and Hebrew idiom was virtually a necessary choice for semantic accuracy, and reflects the CEB’s purpose and translation theory. It is also a missional choice to render the Word of God in a way that is understood in the target audience’s language. However, the majority of the public that purchases Bibles has religious and theological commitments and tends to expect or even demand specific theological vocabulary and technical terms that are part of a specialized religious register, even though it is misunderstood. Therefore, the CEB engages in “norm-breaking” by attempting to choose vocabulary from registers that are currently in use in the English language in comparable contexts as those that are represented in the source text.
Equivalence was a central concept in the early stages of modern translation theory. Despite being criticised in later periods, mainly in literary translation, its usefulness in specialised translation remains undoubted. I first examine the aspects of equivalence described in the literature on legal translation, arriving at no less than 32 different equivalent types. Building on these findings, I propose a detailed, multidimensional typology of legal equivalents, using four orthogonal criteria: translation procedure, degree of equivalence, conventionality and register. Translation procedures are divided, on the one hand, into canonical and non-canonical, and, on the other hand, into language-oriented, language- and function-oriented, and function-oriented. The different categories, defined as non-exclusive, are characterised with respect to their documentary vs. instrumental nature, and supplemented by French-Czech and Czech-French translation examples. The analysis also raises a certain number of specific questions that have received only limited attention so far. These include the role of register in terminology, the evaluation of the degree of equivalence in the case of language-oriented equivalents, and the directional symmetry of equivalents. The typological proposal is language-independent, and may serve as both a theoretical framework and practical tool in translatorial decision-making.
The following article shows what from a legal point of view appears as more important in a translated term; either its fidelity or message. It includes reasons for literal translation of legal texts and the consequences of its unjustified use. Starting with the meaning of the Napoleonic codifications in English there appears a process of identifying and establishing functionally equivalent terms in the Polish civil code and the Louisiana civil code exemplified by the terminological field: drobne nakłady, nakłady konieczne, inne nakłady and naprawy konieczne. The analysis indicates that the legal comparison enables finding the right equivalent.
PL
Artykuł pokazuje, co z prawniczego punktu widzenia, jest wartością nadrzędną w translacie: wierność czy komunikatywność. Autor przedstawia motywy stosowania tłumaczenia dosłownego tekstów prawnych oraz skutki jego merytorycznie nieuzasadnionego stosowania. Wychodząc od znaczenia anglojęzycznych kodyfikacji napoleońskich pokazuje się proces poszukiwania i ustalania terminów ekwiwalentnych funkcjonalnie w polskim kodeksie cywilnym i kodeksie cywilnym Luizjany na przykładzie pola terminologicznego: drobne nakłady, nakłady konieczne, inne nakłady i naprawy konieczne. Z przeprowadzonej analizy wynika, że warunkiem znalezienia adekwatnego ekwiwalentu jest dokonanie porównania prawniczego.
Artykuł prezentuje analizę przemówienia Baracka Obamy po wygraniu pierwszych wyborów prezydenckich oraz jego polskiego tłumaczenia. Analiza skupia się na wyeliminowaniu powtórzeń w tłumaczeniu, co zmieniło wagę i efekt przemówienia. Zastosowano kilka koncepcji teoretycznych w celu wyjaśnienia, w jaki sposób te zmiany prowadzą do strat w tłumaczeniu, a przez to strat w przekazie przemówienia: przekład jawny (overt translation), ekwiwalencja funkcjonalna oraz utrata znaczenia/wagi (loss of materiality). Głównym źródłem motywacji do napisania tej analizy była chęć prześledzenia sposobów, w jakie cel, któremu służy dyskurs polityczny w języku oryginalnym oraz kontekst socjo-polityczny są potraktowane w tłumaczeniu i czemu to służy.
EN
The paper presents an analysis of Barack Obama’s first presidential victory speech and its Polish translation. The analysis focuses on loss of repetitions in translation, resulting in modified meaning and effect of the original speech in the target text. Several theoretical vehicles are employed in the paper to explain how those shifts lead to loss in translation and, hence, affect Obama’s message: overt translation, functional equivalence and loss of materiality. The main motivation behind this paper was a desire to investigate ways in which the purpose that political discourse serves in the original language and socio-political context is handled in translation and to what ends.
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