translation studies - Facultatea de Litere - Dunarea de Jos

TRANSLATION STUDIES: RETROSPECTIVE AND PROSPECTIVE VIEWS. 2 nd Edition.
1 – 2 November 2007. Galaţi, Romania
text. Therefore, a translation is the result of a conjecture or of a series of conjectures. The
best conjecture having been made, the most adequate linguistic decisions are taken by the
translator. “Thus, given the whole spectrum of the content displayed by the dictionary entry
(plus all the necessary encyclopedic information), translators must choose the most suitable
or relevant meaning or sense for that context”, as Eco (2003: 20) puts it.
The translator may change some details of the original text in order to overcome the
problems they face in their own language. This holds valid especially with the nonequivalence
situations, i.e. with troublesome words, collocations, constructions and set
phrases, idiomatic phrases and with culture specific elements. This is because it is such
structures and elements that mark the greatest differences between the source language
culture (SLC) and the target language culture (TLC). As it is generally known, they are the
greatest difficulties to be overcome in translation. That is why a literal translation similar to
the original is by no means recommended. The content is rendered by means of the
translator’s capacity of interpretation. Therefore, interpretation is essential at different
levels of sense. At this point of our discussion some pairs/groups of cultural troublesome
words can be considered (Croitoru 2004):
� centenary, centennial
centenary n. (of) (BrE) the common word used in BrE for the day or year exactly 100
years after a particular event: They are celebrating the town's centenary this year: centenar.
centennial n. 1. (AmE) a centenary. adj. 2. celebrated on such an occasion: Soon they will
organize the town's centennial celebrations: sărbătoare prilejuită de împlinirea a 100 ani.
� charted, chartered
charted past tense and past participle of to chart t.v. 1. to make a chart or mark on a chart:
He pointed to the charted areas of the continent: a trece/ marca pe hartă. (fig.) 2. to point
out, deal with: The book charted his rise to fame and fortune in Paris: a marca.
chartered t.v. past tense and past part of to charter 1. to give a priviledge to, to establish by
means of a charter: They were glad to have been chartered before the others: a acorda un
privilegiu. 2. to rent out (a ship, plane, etc) for a special use: Only a few chartered ships
are available to carry the coal. He gave the party on a chartered yacht: închiriat. 3.
chartered accountant/ engineer, etc. (= an accountant, etc who passed the examinations of
the Institute of Chartered Accountants etc.: She knew her friend's father was a chartered
accountant: contabil cu anumite drepturi speciale, expert contabil.
� cheveret, chevret, chevrette
cheveret n. a small English table of the 18th century, with one or two rows of drawers:
măsuţă englezească din sec. al 18-lea, cu un rând sau două de sertare şi cu picioare subţiri
unite la bază printr-o scândură.
chevret n. a French cheese made from goat's milk: brânză franţuzească făcută din lapte de
capră..
chevrette n. a soft thin kidskin. Her handbag was made of chevrette: piele moale şi subţire
de ied.
� chink, Chink, Chinkie, Chinky
chink n. 1. a narrow crack: He watched what was going on inside through a chink in the
wall: spărtură. 2. a narrow beam (of light) shining through such a crack: There was a
chink of light in the dark corner: geană/ rază de lumină. 3. (fig.) a small but dangerous
fault or weakness: At first he didn't realize that there was a tiny chink in her argument. He
was aware of the fact that any chink in his armour (=weakness in his defence or argument)
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