R. Gary „europietiško auklėjimo” norminis vertimo ekvivalentiškumas

A. LeonAvičienė. R. Gary The Equivalence of the Normative Translation of European Education 257 AURELIJA LEONAVIČIENĖ Kaunas University of Technology vytauto Didžiojo universitetas Every year, an increasing number of translations of literary and non-literary NORMINIS VERTIMO EKVIVALENTIŠKUMAS works are published in Lithuania. Translations of artistic texts open up different cultures to readers, creating a continuation of aesthetic thought in a different linguistic environment. The language of the translated texts develops the sense of language and the perception of style of readers, especially children and adolescents, so the translation of artistic texts is first of all a cultural and only then a commercial act. This assertion is supported by the thought expressed by the literary scholar Vytautas Kubilius at the founding meeting of the Translation Centre that the decisive influence on Lithuanian thinking and the possibilities of literary expression was not made by original books, but by translated ones1. In 2008, Vytautas Magnus University hosted an international scientific conference “Romain Gary – a man of Eastern and Western Europe: a resistance writer, a lyrical comedian, a visionary”, dedicated to the work of one of the most famous French writers of the 20th century, R. Gary (e. Ajar). Literary scholars and critics from various countries (D. Bellos, N. Gelas, N. Rocton, V. Skrupskelytė and others) discussed the peculiar variety of styles, themes, genres and motifs in R. Gary’s works, the relevance of his work in contemporary society2. The writer’s work has not gone unnoticed by Lithuanian publishers, who in a relatively short time hastened to publish translations of many of his works: La vie devant soi (1992, 2008, 2009); La promesse de l’aube (1999, 2009); Éducation européenne (2001); Au-delà de cette limite votre ticket n’est plus valable (2008); Clair de femme (2009); Les Cerfs-volants (2010) and others. This article examines the translation of the first novel that made the writer famous, European Education, which reached Lithuanian readers as one of 1 K u b i l i u s v. 2003: translators are a heavy burden on culture. Speech given during the founding 2 See for more details. Works and Days 51, 2009, 61–249. vertėjų centro susirinkimą. – Literatūra ir menas, 2003 11 07. 258 LANGBoS Kultūra | 83 first (a few years earlier was published a translation of the book Life still before my eyes). The aim of this study is to analyze the normative equivalence of the translation of this 227-page novel and, by comparing it with the original text, to determine whether the translation by translator Algirdas Krančiukas allowed R. Gary’s European education to speak to Lithuanian readers in a semantically and stylistically equivalent way – to convey the text’s aesthetic communication, the peculiarities of the individual artistic style. Taking into account this aim and the object of the research, when choosing the expression of the aforementioned work and its translation, several tasks are posed: 1) theoretically discuss the equivalence of the translation text and one of its types – normative translation equivalence, 2) examine the research material (translation and original text) with regard to normative equivalence, collect the analysis data, evaluate them quantitatively and qualitatively, 3) analyze and summarize the results of the research. The study was conducted using comparative, quantitative, linguistic analysis and descriptive methods. The theoretical part of the article is based on the fundamental and recent works of various translation theories (e. nidos [naidos], W. Koller, P. Newmark, B. Osimo, M. Baker and others), stylistics researchers (K. Župerka, v. Žilinskienė and others), language culture specialists (A. Pupkis, R. Miliūnaitė and others). The relevance of this study is determined by the great popularity of R. Gary’s works in Lithuania, the considerable attention of literary critics to this author’s work and language, the need to promote the development of critical thinking in translation in the country and the quality of translation. Translation theories attempt to establish and define certain criteria for a good translation that corresponds to the original text, and therefore the question of translation equivalence inevitably arises. The concept of equivalence depends on what is considered as the unit of translation, the object of translation, how the translation process is treated, the purpose of translation and which philosophical position (Aristotle or Plato) is used when discussing language in one or another theory of translation. The theory of translation based on regular equivalents, which had long traditions in Lithuania (i. e. Recker), and the theory of translation based on structural linguistics (A. v. Fiodorov, G. Mounin, W. Koller, etc.) regarded as equivalent translation such a text whose individual linguistic units were equivalently translated from the original language, taking into vertimo kultūros ypatumus ir teksto stilių. Minėtose vertimo teorijose teksaccount that the equivalence was understood as the text-interpretative theory A. LeonAvičienė. R. Gary The equivalent of European education is the sum of 259 units. Structuralistic approach to translation did not always allow for the path of overly formalized translation. teikti viso teksto prasmę, dvasią, papildomas teksto reikšmes, kėlė pavojų The creator of the dynamic theory of translation equivalence, e. nida, having raised the importance of semantic components and theoretically justified the transformational model of translation and the method of component analysis, believed that equivalent translation is a text that conveys the original with the closest natural equivalents firstly semantically and then stylistically, taking into account the addressee and his reaction (1989: 229–231). The equivalence of translation is described in a slightly different way in situational translation theory: the equivalence of the original and the translated text is based on the equivalence of linguistic situations in different cultures, drawing attention to the importance of the linguistic and non-verbal (extralinguistic) situation (j. P. vinay, j. Darbelnet, v. G. Gak, j. C. Catford). Representatives of sociolinguistic translation theory (M. Pergnier and others) relied on the provision that the historical and social conditions of the language of the participants in communication, the speech codes are different, therefore, in order to achieve equivalence of the original and the translation, it is necessary to strive for the social codes of the message to coincide, i.e., that the reader properly understands and recognizes the translation. The translation equivalence of this theory was based on the identity of social language codes. of translation (M. Lederer, D. Seleskovitch, etc.), unlike previous theories of translation, which were based on the theory of the Aristotelian sign, and translation was considered as a movement from means to end, relied on the hermeneutical concept of language and considered language as a creative activity (logos) in the Platonic sense, therefore treated translation as interpretation and reproduction of the text. The representatives of this theory raised and still raise (F. israël, F. Herbulot) the questions of translation equivalence, the importance of text meaning, text interpretation and consider that the equivalent translation text is the original text expressed in cognitive and emotional equivalents (Lederer 1994: 50–55). A different concept of translation equivalence was presented by the communicational theory of translation (o. Kade, P. newmark and others). its representatives as if re-divided all translation theories into two groups: a) semantic theories of translation, influenced in one way or another by the theoretical thought of e. nida, and b) communicational theory of translation. In the latter theory, the equivalence of the original and the translated text is associated with the aim of communication efficiency, the channel of communication between the addressee and the recipient, which allows to clarify the meaning of the text, to expect a certain time, the reaction of the public addressee. this provision shows that in the communicational theory of translation equivalence is based more on semantic 260 LANGUAGE CULTURE | 83 rhetorical equivalence. A similar approach is used in other pragmatic theories of translation, where attention is paid to the internal and external reality of the text, the various contextual layers: a) context of communication circumstances, b) situational, c) interactive, d) epistemic, etc. context. The equivalence of translation in these theories is characterized by certain pragmatic criteria, for example, the equivalence of translation in the theory of scope translation (K. Reiss, H. j. vermeer and others) is based on the realization of the purpose of the original text. no matter how different the concept and interpretation of the equivalence of the text in translation theories may be, the text is always realized through certain linguistic means. therefore, inevitably becomes an important problem of language quality. Translation criticism works often raise questions about the appropriateness of language and stylistic (postil, genre) means, the problem of compliance with general language norms, the purposefulness and appropriateness of choosing a social language code, etc. Current translation criticism, assessing the general equivalence of the translated text, examines the whole text, its purpose, communicative content, pragmatic aspects, sociocultural context, semantic content of the translation, language quality. This makes it possible to link together several types of translation text equivalence: 1) content, 2) functional, 3) communicative, 4) pragmatic, 5) situational, 6) formal, 7) normative (Leonavičienė 2010: 16–20). 2. NORMATIVE EQUIVALENCY – one of the types of evaluation of equivalence, the term normative equivalence needs to be examined in more detail. It has long been discussed in translation theory that the translation of a text is not merely a linguistic act, that the text cannot be considered an objective given, and the reader – an independent subject. The purpose of translation and, as asserted in phenomenological philosophy, “interpretation involves a dialectical process that encompasses the interests of the reader and the independence of the text. To sacrifice one of the poles of this continuity means not to understand the text. <...> but the task of interpretation is not to attempt to reconstruct the world of the text, but to allow the text to speak in the interests of the reader” (Mickūnas, Steward 1994: 173). In order for the text to speak to the reader and be properly understood, the translator must use the most important tool – language. its use cannot be chaotic, self-serving, regardless of the laws of the translation language system, norm, usage tendencies and language A. LeonAvičienė. R. Gary The Equivalence of the Normative Translation of European Education 261 stylistic and genre means of expression. compliance with all these things helps to achieve effective communication with the reader (addressee), satisfy his expectations, which in turn determines the normative equivalence of the translation. one of the most important criteria for the equivalence of normative translation is compliance with language norms. Some language norms are codified (established by scientists), others are uncodified (certain established rules and laws of language use – actual language use). a translation language error is a violation of codified linguistic norms. These violations may occur due to the influence of sociolect, professional dialect, dialects and foreign original language. The latter type of error – the transfer of formal elements of the original language into the text of the translated language – has been discussed by the classic of translation theory e. nida. Based on extensive translation practice, the creator of the theory of dynamic equivalence in translation stated that formal elements of the original language in the translation text most often appear when: 1) translators are “foreigners and not sufficiently familiar with the language of translation” and therefore, unaware of the structures of the language of translation, inevitably transfer to the translation structures of the original language known to them, 2) the translator may be characterized by linguistic bias: feeling excessive respect for the original language, “he tries to include too many formal equivalents in the translation text”, so “value comes out of such a translation”, 3) the translator has a tendency to exoticism and gives preference to the original language, which required great effort to learn, so by emphasizing the form and expression of the original language, he also transfers a number of formal elements (nida 1989: 232). The formal elements mentioned in e. nida, or formal equivalents, are values of various linguistic conjugations taken from the original language that do not comply with the norms and usage of the translation language. normative translation equivalence includes not only the norms of the general language, but also of individual styles, their variants (postils, genres). “Stylish norms are the linguistic habits of society to use means and methods of a corresponding functional style in the relevant spheres of communication. they are internal, partial norms of the general language: they differentiate that language in more detail, define the areas of use of its units.” (2001: 95). The stylistic norms of individual posts and genres are variants of the norms of some functional style, a specific realization of the variant of the style norm. The norms of styles, posts and genres are not as strict as the norms of language, they are perceived as a tendency to use certain differential means of style, a more frequent quantitative distribution of marked and unmarked means of language, determining the stylistic characteristics of language (Žilinskienė 2005: 28–44; Leonavičienė 2007: 85–96). 262 LANGUAGE CULTURE | 83 usage norms of mathematical features. The stylistic norm of lexical is usually inclined. As stated by L.ajj. Calvet (1994), styles and speech visų funkcinių stilių kalbos reikalavimai apima tam tikras leksikos ir graregisters do not have an anti- (morphological and syntactic) means selected from lengviau apibrėžti nei gramatinių formų, konstrukcijų, sakinių tipų vartojimo the general language system, only their selection and frequency of use differ. kirų sintaksinių sistemų, todėl konkrečioje kalbos realizacijoje gramatinės More frequent usage tendencies or codification of stylistic norms are presented in dictionaries, works on grammar, stylistics, language culture. This allows the translator to translate the text in a stylistically equivalent way. and vice versa – failure to comply with partial language norms (style requirements) damages the style of the text, prevents achieving equivalence of the normative translation, and in the long run, carelessly changing any partial language norm can cause damage to the entire system of common language. Whether a translation text is equivalent or not in normative terms can be judged by the linguistic quality of the whole text or a larger part of it. This is what the German translation theoretician W. Koller (2001) says about the normative equivalence of translation. In his view, normative equivalence is only one of the types of equivalence of a translation text that allows the assessment of the general equivalence of the text. The question of the normativity of the translation language is raised by the well-known translation theoretician M. Baker (1993, 1999). By applying textbook linguistics methods and studying multilingual texts, she has found that translated texts are often clearer, more unequivocal than the original and more consistent with grammatical norms than texts in the original language. The quality of translation is also emphasized by the Italian translation theoretician B. Osimo in his book Translation and Quality. Translation in academic and professional settings. Among many other requirements, it raises the issue of maintaining the author’s style, urges the translator to carefully evaluate the text’s grammar and syntax, recognize the peculiarities of spelling and graphic imagery, and properly convey them in the translation (osimo 2004; referenced: Klioštoraitytė, Mažeikaitė 2009: 105). The artistic style is not a social stereotype of language, so its relationship with the general language and its partial norms is somewhat different. individuality, the NORMINIS VERTIMO EKVIVALENTIŠKUMAS aesthetic function of language sometimes allows deviation from the norms of A. LeonAvičienė. R. Gary The normative translation equivalence of European education 263 syti some common language usage rules. K. Župerka says: “Individual style is not prescribed. The norms of the sphere of artistic language are generally difficult to define.” (2001: 96). How, then, can one of the types of translation equivalence – normative equivalence – be determined? if it is impossible or unreasonable to expect it, then do translators of artistic texts can translate as appropriate and, unlike translators of technical texts, do not place high language requirements on themselves? These questions are answered by the provision of translation theories: the translator is not the creator of an independent text, he must convey the style of the author by means of another language, maintaining the same stylistic level. Therefore, it is appropriate to distinguish copying of the expressive means of the original language, i.e., the efforts to convey the style of the author and enrich the stylistic capabilities of the translation language, from unmotivated irregularity of the translation language: copying of the grammatical structures of the foreign language, disregard for the semantics of the language unit(s) and lack of knowledge of the translation language. Of course, irregular language can be a means of characterization or other stylistic function, so in an artistic text foreign words, dialects, slang, curses, etc. can be used motivatedly. When examining the quality of the language of the translated text, it is always necessary to refer to the original and assess whether there are deliberate deviations from the norm in a specific place of the foreign language text and in the text in general, performing some stylistic function. if such deviations are not present in the original, they should not be present in the translation. More than fifty general language and style errors were found when examining the form in which R. Gary’s work is presented in Lithuanian and the language that the reader is taught by European education. The translation text was examined in terms of normative equivalence, so each non-normative case was examined in the general context of the work, compared with the original text and raised the question of its purposefulness. The language errors found are divided into several groups: lexical, grammatical (morphology and syntax) and stylistic errors. 3.1 Lexical translation errors The study material mainly found lexical translation and usage errors (in the text examples they are distinguished by dų, tai sudaro apie 40 proc. visų pastebėtų kalbos ir stiliaus netikslumų bold font). When reading the translation, many questions arise about the reasons for choosing non-normative vocabulary (foreign words, semantics, translations). unclear why the general French zų kalbos norminiai leksikos vienetai vertime perteikti nenormine leksika: 264 Language Culture | 83 (1) He wiped his feet, showed them in a biblical gesture to the assembled crowd, and said, pointing his big thumb at Dobransky: “You see… I am absolutely innocent of the death of this righteous man! (81) He wiped his feet, with a biblical gesture, showed them to the audience and said, pointing at Dobranski with an oversized toe: “See... For I am not responsible for the death of this righteous one! (103) (2) The partisan, with his head shaken, said seriously: – We will be strict, but fair. (52) The supporter with his head covered in bandages said seriously: “We will be strict, but just. (68) The French noun geste and the word combination couverte de bandages are stylistically neutral, originally used in the stylistically unmarked language of the author (not the protagonist!). Therefore, foreign words used by the translator in gesture and bound should be considered unmotivated, because in order to achieve stylistic equivalence between the original and the translated text, it would be necessary to choose normative lexical units: gesture or bound and bound or bound. The Italian writer and translation critic umberto eco argues that the translator does not have to try to “beautify” and improve the original text and take the place of the author. When reading a translation, readers should feel and see the original as it is. „if a poor and poorly written work is translated, let it remain that way, so that the reader of the translation can judge for himself what the author’s work is worth.“ (eco 2003: 118). We could also consider the discrete use of the international word as lexically unmotivated: (3) Janeck coughing discreetly; immediately a tall young man appeared from the bushes and walked towards him. He recognized him. (45) Janek coughed quietly; immediately a large silhouette of a teenager emerged from the bushes and came to meet him. Janek recognized the young man. (59) (4) The door closed discreetly. Young Krylenka turned to his father and began in a peaceful voice: “All right, don’t shout like that. You're gonna get everyone on their feet. Of course, I'm very happy to see you... (178) The door closed quietly. Le jeune Krylenko se tourna vers son père et commença, conciliant: in the translation examples under consideration, it would be more A. LeonAvičienė. R. Gary The Equivalence of European Education in Normative Translation 265 – Allors, ne gueulez pas comme ça. You're going to stir up everyone. Naturally, I am very happy to see you... (220) The dictionary of contemporary Lithuanian language defines the meaning of the word discrete as follows: "worthy of trust, keeping a secret: D. person, behaviour" (2000: 126). it is common in the Lithuanian language. The French adverb discrètement has a broader meaning, with more diverse contexts of use: "d’une manière discrète, qui n’attire pas l’attention. Do something. discreetly (Cf. fam. En cachette, en catimini, en sournois). Discreetly watching someone: sneaking. Discreetly allude to something. <…> Dress discreetly. v. Overwhelmingly. <…>“ (Le petit Robert 1978: 550). The bilingual French–Lithuanian dictionary gives the following meanings of discrètement: “moderately, modestly; faire qch ~ to do something secretly, in silence” (2004: 291). appropriate to use ordinary Lithuanian words that allow for a semantically equivalent description of a non-verbal situation: the door closed quietly or silently, and janis quietly coughed or coughing. languages identify the same non-verbal situation differently, using different, familiar vocabulary. the content of international words, their meanings often differ in languages, so they cannot be directly transferred to the translation text without taking into account the semantic content and usual usage. In artistic texts, international words are often too heavy, so in general “the competition between native and international words in usage, if it is equal (i.e., if there are no shades of meaning or otherwise special purposes), should end in favour of native words in fictional texts” (Miliūnaitė 2006: 128). a considerable number of lexical errors in the research material consists of vertices – negatively codified values. The following words, word combinations, which are not characteristic of Lithuanian, are used to make the pronunciation of a foreign language (in this case – French): (5) His companions waited respectfully, holding their hats in their hands, and spitting from time to time to preserve their dignity. (33) His companions were waiting for him with respect, caps in hand, spitting, from time to time, to give themselves a containment. (44) (6) From time to time he would look at his friend’s body and cry like a miserable, unfortunate child. (129) From time to time he looked at his friend’s body and began to sob, with all the abandonment of an unhappy child. (159) 272 Language Culture | 83 25–30), the translator could have been more specific. In many cases, the verb was could be replaced by sklido, tvyrojo, etc. (for example, Tai nebuvo šiluma vien iš ugnies... (= It was not only heat from the fire...). In the quoted and other translation examples, such changes would prevent stylistic impoverishment of the text, help to equivalently convey the author’s style, described situations and comply with normative translation equivalence. CONCLUSIONS Although the language of artistic style is not normative, the principle of equivalence of the normative translation of an artistic text should not be rejected. it can be understood more freely than an administrative or scientific style text and treated as loyalty to the individual language style of the author, as responsible use of translation language means to convey the meaning and meaning of the text. The results of the translation study show that R. Gary’s translation of European education into Lithuanian cannot be considered as normatively equivalent to the original text. The lexical, morphological, syntactic and stylistic errors found are neither stylistically nor otherwise motivated, since there are no errors in the French language system or style made by the author in the relevant places and context of the original. so the translation errors were not due to the original text. of all translation language errors, the most common are lexical (40%) and grammatical (37%) errors. Not only do they incorrectly convey expression, they distort the content: expression errors change the meaning of the sentence, ambiguities arise. When the original text is translated from the original language to the translation language, its content is changed. No translation theory or methodology foresees these changes in content that arise from the plan of expression. When translating the individual style of the author, the semantic combinations of the components must be the most important for the translator, therefore changing certain meanings is possible only for pragmatic, communicative, situational context considerations or cultural adaptation of the text. Lexical and grammatical errors in the translation language indicate that the translator does not take into account the different nature of the French and Lithuanian language nominations. The results of the study allow us to say that the original text, compared to the translation, is smoother, more stylistic in terms of language tools. It can be concluded that language errors in the translation of an artistic text impede aesthetic communication, prevent the text from performing its most important function. The translation of an artistic work is a cultural act, the creation of a world translation library, an opportunity to expand the stylistic capabilities of the translation language, but A. LeonAvičienė. R. Gary The normative equivalence of European education 273 deprives it of the possibility of being equivalently šio R. Gary kūrinio lietuviško vertimo kalbos ir stiliaus klaidos iš dalies understood and properly accepted naujoje komunikacinėje aplinkoje – lietuvių kultūroje. ŠALTINIAI G a r y R. 1956: Éducation européenne, Paris: Gallimard. G a r y R. 2001: Europietiškas auklėjimas. vertė A. Krančiukas, Kaunas: vada. LiteRAtūRA B a k e r M. 1993: Corpus linguistics and translation studies: implications and applications. – M. Baker, G. Francis and e. togniniBonelli. Text and Technology: In honor of John Sinclair, Amsterdam: john Benjamin, 17–45. Ba k e r M. 1999: the Role of Corpora in investigating the Linguistic Behavior of Professional translators. – International Journal of Corpus Linguistics 4 (2), 281–298. C a l ve t L. j. 1994: L’argot, Paris: Presses universitaires de France. e c o u. 2003: Dire quasi la stessa cosa: esperienze di traduzione, Milano: Bompiani. 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GARY’S ENGLISH LANGUAGE Summary translation theories often bring up the issue of translation quality – the equivalence of the text to the original. one type of text equivalence is text normative translation equivalence, which permits a judgement about the quality of the translation in the target language. this article offers a theoretical discussion of the relationship between normative equivalence and the overall equivalence of a translation followed by an examination of the normative equivalence of the Lithuanian language translation of R. Gary’s work, Éducation européenne. the analysis based on the data from the material under examination allows to evaluate the concept of literary normative translation equivalence more accurately, to highlight the actual use of language norms and to consider the importance of the style of an individual author when selecting literary means in the target language. A quantitative and linguistic examination of the target language text has revealed numerous translation errors in lexicon, morphology, syntax and style. the results of the analysis of the translation suggest that there are deficiencies in aesthetic communication and application of translation methodology arising from the failure to take into account differences in the French and Lithuanian nominative and the nature of the grammatical systems. the performed examination, which was based on empirical data, casts doubts on the equivalence of Europietiškas auklėjimas to the original text (Éducation européenne) and raises the question of whether this translation could be publicly presented as a good example. AuReLijA LeonAvičienė Kaunas Institute of Technology Gedimino g. 43, Lt44240 Kaunas, Lithuania [email protected] vytauto Didžiojo universitetas Donelaičio g. 52, Lt44244 Kaunas, Lithuania [email protected]