Translation
Translation for me is a creation of a new textual world, as identical as I can make it to the original, even though that is only rarely possible. It is interesting to see how much a culture's history influences the vocabulary of a language.
Slovenia has little sea and never had any sort of a functional navy, especially compared to English flottilas spanning the globe. So it is great fun receiving a nautical text with plenty of ropes and sails and masts and starboards and portholes and so on, and then translating into 'broad front sail', 'narrow front sail' and so on.
Since the vocabulary of English is 10 times as large as the vocabulary of Slovenian you frequently come across such problems. How to differentiate between a sabre, a sword, a cutlass, a rapier, a broad sword a bastard sword a katana, a wakizashi, a stiletto and so on.
The problem also arises when translating into English, as if you don't know the field you are translating you can't be sure which of the many available terms to choose, so take heed and do not trust the first entry in the bilingual dictionary.
posted by Zandi @ 8:26 PM
2 Comments:
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I have no idea how to edit my own comments :)
That's true, the swords were just the first example I thought of. A bastard sword is 'a European sword used primarily in the late 14th and the 15th centuries. The Bastard Sword is a long, straight bladed weapon with a rather plain, undecorated grip. While the blade could be used for thrusting, most often the wielder would swing it like a baseball bat.'
Browsing this page, http://www.members.aol.com/dargolyt/TheForge/WPNMAIN.HTM, I only know what 3/4 of them are, and I think I'm fairly knowledgeable about things you can stab a person with. So it must be a joy translating those old medieval romances :) I'll have to look up the three musketeers one day and see how they did it.
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