Imagery in Translation
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________ Практикум по художественному переводу______
EXERCISES FOR COMPARJSON
• Read the text and analyse the mood of the episode and
relations between characters.
• Howdo the characters differ in their speech and behav
iour?
• Analysethe difference in the emotive force of words and
phrases inthe source andtarget texts.
• What is lostand what has become explicit in translation
and why?
• Read the text aloud so that you could catch the rhythmic
pattern of it. Compare rhythmic features of the source and target
texts.
• Comment on various means of transformation used by
the translator. Which of them seem necessary and inevitable? What
seems to be done at the translator's will?
Task for translation:
LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT (Act Three)
Tyrone(Abruptly as he hears the pantry door opening.): Hush, now! Here comes Cathleen. You don't want her to see you crying. (She turns quickly away from him to the windows at right, hastily wiping her eyes. A moment later Cathleen appears in the back-parlor dooi'way. She is uncertain in her walk and grinning woozily.)
Cathleen(Starts guiltily when she sees Tyrone — with dignity): Dinneris served, Sir.(Raising her voice unnecessarily.): Dinner is served, Ma'am. (She forgets her dignity and addresses Tyrone with good-natured familiarity.): So you're here, are you? Well, well. Won't Bridger be ina rage! I told her the Madame said you wouldn't behome. (Then reading accusation in his eye.): Don't be looking atme that way. IfI've a drop taken, Ididn't
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steal it. I was invited. (She turns with huffy dignity and disappears through the back parlor.)
Tyrone(Sighs — then summoning his actor's heartiness.): Come along, dear. Let's have our dinner. I'm hungry as a hunter.
Mary(Comes to him — her face is composed in plaster again and her tone is remote.): I'm afraid you'll have to excuse me, James. I couldn't possibly eat anything. My hands pain me dreadfully. I think the best thing for me is to go to bed and rest. Good night, dear. (She kisses him mechanically and turns toward the front parlor.)
Tyrone(Harshly): Up to take more of that God-damned poison, is that it? You'll be like a mad ghost before the night's over!
Mary(Starts to walk away — blankly): I don't know what you're talking about, James. You say such mean, bitter things when you've drunk too much. You're as bad as Jamie or Edmund. (She moves off through the front parlor. He stands a second as if not knowing what to do. He is a sad, bewildered, broken old man. He walks wearily of through the back parlor toward the dining room.)
CURTAIN
EXERCISES FOR TRANSLATION
• Read more about Eugene O'Neill and his plays and dis
cuss the aesthetics and visions of the time.
• Read the rest of the Journey to feel the context of the
scene on a wider scale.
• Study the language of the characters and their manner of
speech to reconstruct the rhythmic melody of each of them in the
dialogue.
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_____ Практикум по художественному переводу______
• Analyse the moods of characters and reconstruct the gen
eral atmosphere of the dialogue.
• Read the text aloud (do role reading) and assess the time
every character takes in the scene.
• Study the vocabulary of the text to identify translation
problems and ways to their solution.
• Study the syntax of the speech to be performed and iden
tify translation problems.
• Analyse stylistic variants of the characters' speech and
reconstruct them in Russian.
• Translate the text literally, read it aloud and see whether
the result is performable.
• Try to follow the rhythmic pattern of each character as
identified in English. Do necessary amendments to your literal
translation.
• Use the experience of the comparison task.
• Discuss the result.
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