Paragraphs on Translation (Topics in Translation) by Peter Newmark

by Peter Newmark

Excellent Book

Paperback

First published May 1, 1993

About the author

He was one of the main figures in the founding of Translation Studies in the English-speaking world in twentieth century. He was also very influential in the Spanish-speaking world.

He is widely read through a series of accessible and occasionally polemical works: A Textbook of Translation (1988), Paragraphs on Translation (1989), About Translation (1991), More Paragraphs on Translation (1998).

He was associated with the founding and development of the Centre for Translation Studies at Surrey. He was chair of the editorial board of the Journal of Specialised Translation. He also wrote "Translation Now" bimonthly for The Linguist and was an Editorial Board Member of the Institute of Linguists.

Reviews

[Melvyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have now reread Peter Newmark’s Paragraphs on Translation some twenty years after his common-sensical yet also sometimes whimsical insights first grabbed my attention. They have proved increasingly relevant as the years of translation have gone by. Occasionally dated content but timeless truths.

Just a taster:

Write idiomatically?
'We ask for your understanding', the Swissair captain was speaking over the intercom, probably letting his German (Wir bitten um Ihr Verständnis) interfere with his English. Would not 'Please bear with us', or 'Please make allowances' be more idiomatic or more natural?
Maybe, but I prefer the literal translation, which is fresh, accurate and elegant.

Context is not necessarily everything
A translator learns most from the typical -- the exceptional is merely a warning. Joad's 'It all depends what you mean by. . .' is often a cop-out; the inquirer usually just wants the typical meaning of the word, and [...] there almost always is one.

Metaphors in economic texts
A Revue des Valeurs ('securities review') article in Le Monde opens: Après avoir soufflé trois semaines, le vent de la baisse, à l'image des bourrasques de l'hiver, s'est éloigné ces derniersjours des rives de la Bourse de Paris, non sans s'être retourné, comme à regret, pourfaire encore un peu plier la cote.
As for all metaphors, there is a choice, in principle, of two translations:
1. 'In the last few days, the wind of price falls (financial decline?), (like the squalls of winter?), after blowing for three weeks, has moved away from the Paris Bourse, but has returned (rather reluctantly?) and slightly brought prices down again.
2. 'After a three weeks decline in prices, the market stabilised, but recently there has been a slight downturn.'

Although the metaphor is prolonged and may be considered picturesque, I think it is rather daft, so I prefer the second version.

Slang and Idioms
In principle, the translator uses the modern language in the appropriate register, whatever the period when the original was written. However, slang in general, and some idioms are so closely related to the present, linguistically rather than culturally, that they sound bizarre when used in translations of texts of a previous period. Thus in 1894 Monet wrote to a friend: C'est entendu pour mercredi. To translate this as 'Wednesday is alright', is, I think, acceptable; 'It's on for Wednesday' is not. II doit être remonté is better as 'We must cheer him up' than 'We must buck him up'. Certainly this illogically goes against the principle that translation should be into the modern language, possibly because
modern slang including its 'taboo' component is exclusively associated with modern characters.

Personal and social
Some words are too personal for 'social' texts. Thus 'need' (personal) and 'requirement' (social) both translate besoin. Compare 'eat' and 'consume' and probably many more.

The despair and relief of translating
Sometimes when I translate, I am hoping to release better words from my unconscious, my memory hold, I go on repeating the start of a sentence and stop, expecting something fresh to emerge, to pop out.

Sometimes it does: it's a relief, and I start my smirk. More often it doesn't, and I despair.

Dictionaries
Dictionaries are notorious repositories of mothy idioms.

A Translator's Mark
Vorsätze dieser Art schleppt man durch die Zeit, Einmal hat man es eilig, bei nächster Gelegenheit, fehlt die Lust.
Literal translation: 'Intentions of this kind one drags through time. Sometimes one is in a hurry, at the next opportunity, the inclination is lacking.
Close translation: 'You keep putting off resolutions like these. Either you're in too much of a hurry, or, next time, you can't be bothered.'

A translator's mark, in non-authoritative informal passages, is to bring out the contrasts more clearly.

Phrasal verbs
Basically, phrasal words restore to English its physical, nonabstract, Anglo-Saxon monosyllabic strength. They are also a resource for translating foreign reflexive verbs. Thus: s'effriter, 'crumble away'; se coucher, lie down; se coincer, wedge in; s'enfiler, 'make off into'.

Asterix or Getafix
Since Asterix seems to have an unfailing fascination for translation post-graduates (Spurius, Odius Asparagus), it may be helpful to quote some of Anthea and Derek Hockridge's golden rules for translating comic strips:

1. Keep the feel of the original [Stylistic register?]
2. Don't try to translate puns literally. Make a different joke to fit the spirit of the French one. [What if Romance and English puns coincide?]
3. Make sure the English fits the drawings [and diagrams, for technical texts], particularly facial expressions [and in children's stories].
4. Have roughly the same number of jokes, knock about and literary, even if they aren't quite in the same places as in the original strip.
[Compensation, as in translations of light comedy or farce]

Latin tags
I have the impression that Classical tags and phrases are more common in Romance and German than in English texts. Thus I often translate a priori (F or G) as 'in principle'; in a popular text, I would translate Calvet rencontre son alter ego as 'Calvet meets his equal'; (the English 'alter ego' meaning 'second self' or 'close friend' -- the reference is to Mitterand! -- would be a mistranslation);

Impostor
Translation is to some extent the trade of an impostor pretending to be the author of the translated text.