This piece of paper will examine the problem aspects of the Bulgarian translation of chapter 1 of Willa Cather’s My Mortal Enemy.
1. Cultural Aspects: the transmitting of the clothes Myra and her husband wear might be a bit problematic. In the original text, the reader saw Myra Henshaw in black, velvet dress. The translator decided to put on Mayra not velvet but a silk dress (“жена в черна копринена рокля”). Perhaps, this was done because the image of a velvet dress in the Bulgarian reader’s mind would not evoke elegance (which is implied by the author). The Bulgarian reader connects the velvet more with curtains than with clothes, especially elegant clothes. Mr. Henshaw wears an overcoat, which is translated as балтон. An overcoat could have …show more content…
Linguistic Aspects of Translation: The first part of the following sentence: “My mother and sister were asked to dinner at Aunt Lydia’s on the night of the Henshawes’ arrival, (…)” implies that it is about protagonist’s mother and sister. If the translator had translated literally, not minding the grammatical points in Bulgarian, it would have sounded like this: “Моята майка и сестра/Майка ми и сестра бяха поканени на вечеря у леля Лидия в нощта на пристигането на семейство Хеншоу”. If one says in Bulgarian Моята майка и сестра, he or she will mean my mother, which happens to be my sister – that is impossible, and if he or she says Майка ми и сестра, nobody will understand whose sister. Thus, the Bulgarian grammar requires Майка ми и сестра ми. The usage of diminutive in Bulgarian when it has not been used in English is another example of a possible problematic linguistic aspect. In the expression “a short, plump woman”, the word plump indicates that the woman is закръглена or пълничка. The translator decided to translate it as пълничка. The word short does not require the usage of diminutive, but for better sounding, the translator transmitted it as нисичка, using again diminutive. Later on, in the same sentence we have the word softly (used to describe Mayra’s playing the guitar), which is translated as тихичко, and not as тихо. The diminutive тихичко leaves the impression that the music is low and pleasing for the ears, which is one of the meaning of the word softly. Another example for the proper usage of diminutive in Bulgarian is the translation of the word corner as ъгълче in the following expression “…drew me into the corner of the sofa and sat down beside
1. Cultural Aspects: the transmitting of the clothes Myra and her husband wear might be a bit problematic. In the original text, the reader saw Myra Henshaw in black, velvet dress. The translator decided to put on Mayra not velvet but a silk dress (“жена в черна копринена рокля”). Perhaps, this was done because the image of a velvet dress in the Bulgarian reader’s mind would not evoke elegance (which is implied by the author). The Bulgarian reader connects the velvet more with curtains than with clothes, especially elegant clothes. Mr. Henshaw wears an overcoat, which is translated as балтон. An overcoat could have …show more content…
Linguistic Aspects of Translation: The first part of the following sentence: “My mother and sister were asked to dinner at Aunt Lydia’s on the night of the Henshawes’ arrival, (…)” implies that it is about protagonist’s mother and sister. If the translator had translated literally, not minding the grammatical points in Bulgarian, it would have sounded like this: “Моята майка и сестра/Майка ми и сестра бяха поканени на вечеря у леля Лидия в нощта на пристигането на семейство Хеншоу”. If one says in Bulgarian Моята майка и сестра, he or she will mean my mother, which happens to be my sister – that is impossible, and if he or she says Майка ми и сестра, nobody will understand whose sister. Thus, the Bulgarian grammar requires Майка ми и сестра ми. The usage of diminutive in Bulgarian when it has not been used in English is another example of a possible problematic linguistic aspect. In the expression “a short, plump woman”, the word plump indicates that the woman is закръглена or пълничка. The translator decided to translate it as пълничка. The word short does not require the usage of diminutive, but for better sounding, the translator transmitted it as нисичка, using again diminutive. Later on, in the same sentence we have the word softly (used to describe Mayra’s playing the guitar), which is translated as тихичко, and not as тихо. The diminutive тихичко leaves the impression that the music is low and pleasing for the ears, which is one of the meaning of the word softly. Another example for the proper usage of diminutive in Bulgarian is the translation of the word corner as ъгълче in the following expression “…drew me into the corner of the sofa and sat down beside