Second lecture

Errors in translation

1. Translations are still bound to be

full of errors.
2. Different languages have different
problem areas. What might be
difficult when translating an English
text into German does not necessarily
have to be difficult when translating
the same English text into French.

Articles and definiteness

Definiteness is a feature of a noun phrase
selected by a speaker to convey his
assumption that the hearer will be able to
identify the referent of the noun phrase,
usually because it is the only thing of its
kind in the context of the utterance or
because it is unique in the universe of
discourse.

This definition must be put into a larger context of semantics in

order to actually understand what it is about.
Thus one of the basic concepts semantics is dealing with is the
concept of reference which is usually defined as the relationship
between a linguistic utterance and a referent outside language.
e.g. dog /dog/ - a hairy four-leg animal with a tail able of
making a specific sound referred to as barking.
The speaker uses a particular linguistic utterance so as to refer to/
point to/ single out an object or entity.

The speaker can refer to an object already singled out, that is familiar
to the audience so that this process is not identification as in the case
when the speaker mentions an object for the first time; it is rather the
process of defining/ specifying when more information about the object
is needed.
Only if we have properly identified and defined/ specified an object can
we be sure that our communicative intention has been realised
properly.

In English and in other languages where there are articles,

the process of defining/ specifying may be twofold:
1. use defining referents or definite articles
2. undefining referents or indefinite articles.
e.g. a man
the referent is undefining because the indefinite article a/
an refers to any man, some man, a man we dont know.
But: the man when mentioned for the second time, and
any time after that, because now it is the man that we
have already mentioned!
e.g. I went to the newsagents and bought a
newspaper and a magazine. As soon as I get home, Ill
read the newspaper and later Ill read the magazine.

Otiao sam do kioska i kupio novine i asopis. im stignem kui

proitau novine, a kasnije u proitati asopis.
There are NO ARTICLES!!!
WHY???
As far as this example is concerned, we can ignore the articles. The
Serbian newspaper-and-magazine example is in fact correct only if the
articles are not translated into some unfortunate forms of neki/ jedan
or taj/ ovaj as may be done in some other case.
We have adjusted the definiteness of the English nouns to the Serbian
language which does not have the same sense of definiteness.
Conclusion: The Serbian language does not need the semantic
feature known as definiteness because the context of every particular
noun clearly indicates whether it is definite or indefinite.

A man crossed the street and asked me some

disturbing questions about the murder in the
house next-door.
The several articles occurring in this sentence, if translated
literally, will give us the following rendering:
Jedan/ neki ovek je preao tu ulicu i postavio mi neka
uznemirujua pitanja o tom ubistvu koje se desilo u
toj susednoj kui.

A much better translation would be:

Jedan/ neki ovek preao je ulicu i postavio mi
nekoliko uznemirujuih pitanja o ubistvu koje se
desilo u susednoj kui.

What we are faced with when translating definiteness is a

matter of context and only in the sense of context can we
actually have accurate renderings.
A short and precise definition of context would be that it is
the environment of a word including all other linguistically
and extralinguistically important elements that may refer to
that particular word.

1.
2.

3.

The stars lit the sky and we all loved the sight.
Analysis!!!!!
There are 3 NPs with a definite article
Only the sight can be analysed according to
definiteness because the sentence provides the
context for a definite article
There is no linguistic rule for the stars and the sky
but there is the extralinguistic context of the sentence!

A proper translation into Serbian would be:

Zvezde su obasjale nebo i svima nama se dopao taj prizor.

1. As in the case of the newspaper and the magazine there is no

way by means of which we could indicate the definiteness of the
first two NPs.
2. It is simply a matter of grammar in the Serbian language
suggesting we know that there are no other stars or sky except the
ones we mention in our sentence.
3. What about the NP taj prizor? The quasi-article in front of the
noun head is clearly indicating definiteness and without it the
sentence might seem incomplete in Serbian.
4. The article is obviously indicating that we are referring to the
prizor of the zvezde in the nebo although the NPs themselves do
not contain a definite article.

Verb forms
Errors concerning proper verb forms, especially when
translating a text from the Serbian into the English language, are
mainly based on the fact that there is no direct correspondence
between most of the verb forms in the two languages. The most
common mistakes occurring in translations from the Serbian into the
English language are the following:

A) The sequence of tenses

There are mainly two cases of improper sequence
occurring in translations:
1. in indirect speech and
2. in conditional clauses.

What a translator must bear in mind is that there is a

concept of sequence which might not be so important in
Serbian as it is in English.

On je rekao da je ve uradio domai.

He said that he had already done his
homework.
* He said that he already did his homework.
Kada bih imala para, kupila bih nova kola.
If I had the money, I would buy a new car.
*If I would have the money, I would buy a
new car.

B) Infinitives, gerunds and participles

I posmatrao je svog sina kako uzima loptu i baca je u bazen.
And he watched his son take the ball and throw it into the pool.
*And he watched his son how he takes the ball and throws it into
the pool.
Devojka je nastavila da ide putem ne obazirui se na ljude oko sebe.
The girl kept on walking along the way without looking at the people
standing around.
*The girl kept on to walk along the way without looking at the people
standing around.
Certain expressions should be translated by means of a perfective infinitive.
Svi su smatrali da je sudija doneo nepravednu odluku.
The judge was generally considered to have made an unjust
decision.
Correct but probably not as strong as the above:
Everybody thought that the judge had made an unjust
decision.

C) The subjunctive

After phrases, such as as if, as though, I wish, Its high

time etc. the subjunctive form, present or past, is
obligatory.
Voleo bih da imam mnogo prijatelja.
I wish I had many friends.
*I wish I would have many friends.
Ponaao se kao da je u najmanju ruku kralj.
He acted as if/ as though he were at least a king.
*He acted as if/ as though he is at least a king.
Krajnje je vreme da preduzmemo neto u vezi sa
ovom situacijom.
Its high time we did something about this situation.
*Its high time we do something about this situation.

D) Modal verbs
Modality in English is a very specific area and most Serbian speakers
might not be aware of the particular types of modality referring to
certain meanings.
Moda je ve otiao na stanicu, a mi ga nismo videli.
He might already have gone to the station and we didnt
see him.
Also correct but not expressing the meaning of probability as strongly
as the modal construction:
Perhaps he went to the station and we didnt see him.
Pokuao sam da joj objasnim da situacija mora da se sagleda
sa raznih stanovita.
I tried to convince her that the situation had to be
considered from different points of view.
*I tried to convince her that the situation must to be
considered from different points of view.