THE LOGOPHILE LEXICON
PART II: DEFINITION AND MEANING
IN THIS SECTION
2.1: Definition and Meaning
2.2a: Parts of Speech
2.2b: Types of Words
2.3a: Translating the Untranslatable
2.3b: Translating Creativity and Words
2.4: Naming Conventions
THE LOGOPHILE LEXICON >> HOME >> INDEX
Download the Complete Lexicon
2.1: Definition and Meaning
2.2a: Parts of Speech
2.2b: Types of Words
2.3a: Translating the Untranslatable
2.3b: Translating Creativity and Words
2.4: Naming Conventions
THE LOGOPHILE LEXICON >> HOME >> INDEX
Download the Complete Lexicon
Part 2.3: Translating the Untranslatable
We have a colorful and beautiful array of languages in our world with so many words to add to our vocabularies. It is not the intention of these lists to teach a language, but to introduce you to the beautiful words you will find within. If you need help with pronunciation, a great resource is Google Translate - you can hear the word spoken out loud.
Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source language
by means of an equivalent target language. English draws a distinction (which does not exist in every language) between translating (a written text) and interpreting (oral or signed communication between users of different languages); under this distinction, translation can begin only after the appearance of writing within a language community.
The English word "translation" derives from the Latin word translatio, which comes from trans, "across" + ferre, "to carry" or "to bring" (-latio in turn coming from latus, the past participle of ferre). Thus translatio is "a carrying across" or "a bringing across": in this case, of a text from one language to another.
The Ancient Greek term for translation, μετάφρασις (metaphrasis), meaning "a speaking across", has supplied English with metaphrase meaning “literal or "word-for-word", translation,” contrasted with paraphrase meaning "a saying in other words", from παράφρασις or paraphrasis. Metaphrase corresponds, in one of the more recent terminologies, to "formal equivalence"; and ‘paraphrase’ meaning “to dynamic equivalence.
Discussions of the theory and practice of translation reach back into days and nights of antiquity and show remarkable continuities.
FIDELITY AND FELICITY
Fidelity meaning "faithfulness" and felicity meaning “transparency,” are dual ideals in translation and are often at odds. A 17th-century French critic coined the phrase "les belles infidèles" to suggest that translations can be either faithful or beautiful, but not both.
John Dryden (1631–1700) wrote in his preface to the translation anthology Sylvae:
“Where I have taken away some of [the original authors'] Expressions, and cut them shorter, it may possibly be on this consideration, that what was beautiful in the Greek or Latin, would not appear so shining in the English.”
Unlike a metaphrase, which represents a "formal equivalent" of the source, a paraphrase represents a "dynamic equivalent" thereof. A metaphrase attempts to translate a text literally but a paraphrase conveys the essential thought expressed in a source text at the expense of literality.
LOST IN TRANSLATION
We often hear people use the term ‘lost in translation’ when referring to mishaps or mistakes in translating from language to another. Some languages are simply unable to capture the true essence of a word when it has been translated from another language.
These words are known as untranslatable words.
ORIGINS
As a distinct branch of the Indo-European language tree, English dates back to the migration of Germanic tribes to the British Isles around the 5th Century CE. Ever since, it has enthusiastically embraced words from diverse languages and voraciously added them to it’s lexicon. Words were often being anglicized so people were easily unaware of the extent to which English has been assembled using parts taken from other languages. So many words which seem English actually have their roots in Arabic for example, algebra, algorithm, zenith or zero. If we dig into our rich lexicon we will find English is a veritable menagerie of ‘borrowed’ words.
UNTRANSLATABLE WORDS
There are a lot of feelings and emotions that we don’t have a word for in English. So we look to other languages to fill that need. These words are called untranslatable because they describe something we can’t translate into English. A text or utterance that is considered to be "untranslatable" is considered a lacuna, or lexical gap. You may have also heard it referred to as a loan-word.
When translators talk about the untranslatable, they often reinforce the notion that each language has its own 'genius', or an 'essence' that naturally sets it apart from all other languages and reflects something of the 'soul' of its culture or people. Travel affords is the opportunity for a brief stay in another land to experience languages first hand. But there are only so many trips we can take and many of us may never get to take any. But by learning untranslatable words, we get to explore these different worlds from our comfy couch in the den.
What happens when there is a need for a word to define something and no such word exists?
Is “close enough” good enough?
DIRECT TRANSLATION
Translation begins with an attempt to find a literal or direct translation. This process is called formal equivalence and is commonly known as word-for-word translation. It is a straightforward process and results are clean and accurate.
The problem is when translation results in nonsensical text. Technical accuracy in etymology may not be the best way to convey the correct meaning. Some words and expressions cannot be translated literally without distortion of the meaning. A common example would be translating a culture-specific event. Imagine explaining the holiday Thanksgiving to a person whose culture has no frame of reference to this American holiday. How can you translate terms of cultural untranslatability without losing the impact of the meaning completely? The translator must go beyond the literal words to convey the idea in the target language.
ADAPTATION
When direct “word for word” translation fails, translators use adaptation. This process involves using other words or phrases in the target language to convey the meaning and connotation. Some argue that this method is subjective but it is still recognized as a viable solution.
Adaptation is used when words or phrases cannot be translated literally between different languages like when cultural differences cause confusion. For example, the previous Thanksgiving holiday is often adapted in other languages to mean a “Day of Gratitude.” This translation captures the core meaning of the holiday and so it demonstrates a successful use of adaptation.
CREATIONWhen literal translation and adaptation both fail, translators may turn to simple borrowing. Borrowing is a translation procedure in which the translator uses a word or expression from the source text in the target text unmodified. In English text, borrowings not sufficiently anglicized are normally in italics.
The borrowing process involves taking words from another language and adjusting the usage to align with the rules and grammar of the target language. Spelling may change. English has borrowed many words from Latin, French, and other languages. For example, bona fide and hors d’oeuvres are borrowed words.
CALQUE entails taking an expression, breaking it down to individual elements and translating each element into the target language word for word.
Word-by-word translations may have comic value, but can be a means to save as much of the original style as possible. This is especially true when the source text is ambiguous or undecipherable.
PARAPHRASING, sometimes called periphrasis, is a translation procedure in which the translator replaces a word in the source text by a group of words or an expression in the target text.
Human language is always evolving, growing, and changing. As long as we continue to invent words, people of all languages will be able to understand the meaning of them. Every language demonstrates linguistic untranslatability. While words may defy translation, the languages cannot. Accuracy will always depend on how users of a particular language convey the meaning.
There are over 7,000 living languages to explore and they all offer fascinating and intriguing glimpses into different cultures through the beauty of their words.
Some argue that no words are technically untranslatable since you can usually explain a word’s meaning in just a few words. Others argue that since all words have complex meanings, all words are “untranslatable.”
By learning new words like these we can identify with various cultures thousands of miles away based on the context and meaning of the words. This unites us as one world and reminds us of our common humanity.
We may not have an English equivalent for the Tagalog word ‘gigil’, but we know exactly how it feels to have the urge to squeeze the cheeks of our child because we love them so much.
Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source language
by means of an equivalent target language. English draws a distinction (which does not exist in every language) between translating (a written text) and interpreting (oral or signed communication between users of different languages); under this distinction, translation can begin only after the appearance of writing within a language community.
The English word "translation" derives from the Latin word translatio, which comes from trans, "across" + ferre, "to carry" or "to bring" (-latio in turn coming from latus, the past participle of ferre). Thus translatio is "a carrying across" or "a bringing across": in this case, of a text from one language to another.
The Ancient Greek term for translation, μετάφρασις (metaphrasis), meaning "a speaking across", has supplied English with metaphrase meaning “literal or "word-for-word", translation,” contrasted with paraphrase meaning "a saying in other words", from παράφρασις or paraphrasis. Metaphrase corresponds, in one of the more recent terminologies, to "formal equivalence"; and ‘paraphrase’ meaning “to dynamic equivalence.
Discussions of the theory and practice of translation reach back into days and nights of antiquity and show remarkable continuities.
FIDELITY AND FELICITY
Fidelity meaning "faithfulness" and felicity meaning “transparency,” are dual ideals in translation and are often at odds. A 17th-century French critic coined the phrase "les belles infidèles" to suggest that translations can be either faithful or beautiful, but not both.
- Fidelity is the “extent to which a translation accurately renders the meaning of the source text, without distortion.”
- Transparency is the “extent to which a translation appears to a native speaker of the target language to have originally been written in that language, and conforms to its grammar, syntax and idiom.”
John Dryden (1631–1700) wrote in his preface to the translation anthology Sylvae:
“Where I have taken away some of [the original authors'] Expressions, and cut them shorter, it may possibly be on this consideration, that what was beautiful in the Greek or Latin, would not appear so shining in the English.”
Unlike a metaphrase, which represents a "formal equivalent" of the source, a paraphrase represents a "dynamic equivalent" thereof. A metaphrase attempts to translate a text literally but a paraphrase conveys the essential thought expressed in a source text at the expense of literality.
LOST IN TRANSLATION
We often hear people use the term ‘lost in translation’ when referring to mishaps or mistakes in translating from language to another. Some languages are simply unable to capture the true essence of a word when it has been translated from another language.
These words are known as untranslatable words.
ORIGINS
As a distinct branch of the Indo-European language tree, English dates back to the migration of Germanic tribes to the British Isles around the 5th Century CE. Ever since, it has enthusiastically embraced words from diverse languages and voraciously added them to it’s lexicon. Words were often being anglicized so people were easily unaware of the extent to which English has been assembled using parts taken from other languages. So many words which seem English actually have their roots in Arabic for example, algebra, algorithm, zenith or zero. If we dig into our rich lexicon we will find English is a veritable menagerie of ‘borrowed’ words.
UNTRANSLATABLE WORDS
There are a lot of feelings and emotions that we don’t have a word for in English. So we look to other languages to fill that need. These words are called untranslatable because they describe something we can’t translate into English. A text or utterance that is considered to be "untranslatable" is considered a lacuna, or lexical gap. You may have also heard it referred to as a loan-word.
When translators talk about the untranslatable, they often reinforce the notion that each language has its own 'genius', or an 'essence' that naturally sets it apart from all other languages and reflects something of the 'soul' of its culture or people. Travel affords is the opportunity for a brief stay in another land to experience languages first hand. But there are only so many trips we can take and many of us may never get to take any. But by learning untranslatable words, we get to explore these different worlds from our comfy couch in the den.
What happens when there is a need for a word to define something and no such word exists?
Is “close enough” good enough?
DIRECT TRANSLATION
Translation begins with an attempt to find a literal or direct translation. This process is called formal equivalence and is commonly known as word-for-word translation. It is a straightforward process and results are clean and accurate.
The problem is when translation results in nonsensical text. Technical accuracy in etymology may not be the best way to convey the correct meaning. Some words and expressions cannot be translated literally without distortion of the meaning. A common example would be translating a culture-specific event. Imagine explaining the holiday Thanksgiving to a person whose culture has no frame of reference to this American holiday. How can you translate terms of cultural untranslatability without losing the impact of the meaning completely? The translator must go beyond the literal words to convey the idea in the target language.
ADAPTATION
When direct “word for word” translation fails, translators use adaptation. This process involves using other words or phrases in the target language to convey the meaning and connotation. Some argue that this method is subjective but it is still recognized as a viable solution.
Adaptation is used when words or phrases cannot be translated literally between different languages like when cultural differences cause confusion. For example, the previous Thanksgiving holiday is often adapted in other languages to mean a “Day of Gratitude.” This translation captures the core meaning of the holiday and so it demonstrates a successful use of adaptation.
CREATIONWhen literal translation and adaptation both fail, translators may turn to simple borrowing. Borrowing is a translation procedure in which the translator uses a word or expression from the source text in the target text unmodified. In English text, borrowings not sufficiently anglicized are normally in italics.
The borrowing process involves taking words from another language and adjusting the usage to align with the rules and grammar of the target language. Spelling may change. English has borrowed many words from Latin, French, and other languages. For example, bona fide and hors d’oeuvres are borrowed words.
CALQUE entails taking an expression, breaking it down to individual elements and translating each element into the target language word for word.
- For example, the German word Alleinvertretungsanspruch can be calqued as "single representative claim", but a proper translation would result in "exclusive mandate".
Word-by-word translations may have comic value, but can be a means to save as much of the original style as possible. This is especially true when the source text is ambiguous or undecipherable.
PARAPHRASING, sometimes called periphrasis, is a translation procedure in which the translator replaces a word in the source text by a group of words or an expression in the target text.
- For example, the Portuguese word saudade is often translated into English as 'the feeling of missing a person who is gone'.
Human language is always evolving, growing, and changing. As long as we continue to invent words, people of all languages will be able to understand the meaning of them. Every language demonstrates linguistic untranslatability. While words may defy translation, the languages cannot. Accuracy will always depend on how users of a particular language convey the meaning.
There are over 7,000 living languages to explore and they all offer fascinating and intriguing glimpses into different cultures through the beauty of their words.
Some argue that no words are technically untranslatable since you can usually explain a word’s meaning in just a few words. Others argue that since all words have complex meanings, all words are “untranslatable.”
By learning new words like these we can identify with various cultures thousands of miles away based on the context and meaning of the words. This unites us as one world and reminds us of our common humanity.
We may not have an English equivalent for the Tagalog word ‘gigil’, but we know exactly how it feels to have the urge to squeeze the cheeks of our child because we love them so much.
THE LOGOPHILE LEXICON IS PART OF A
SERIES OF BEAUTIFUL WORDS
A collection of Vocabulary Words & Terms By Kai of www.bykairos.com
The Collection Includes:
A Beautiful Word: Web | Download (beautiful words)
The Logophile Lexicon: Web | Book (words about words)
Defining New Ideas: Web | Book (creativity & design)
Defining the Brain: Web | Downloads (terms of the mind)
INTRODUCTION | TOPIC INDEX | DOWNLOAD
www.logophilelexicon.com
SERIES OF BEAUTIFUL WORDS
A collection of Vocabulary Words & Terms By Kai of www.bykairos.com
The Collection Includes:
A Beautiful Word: Web | Download (beautiful words)
The Logophile Lexicon: Web | Book (words about words)
Defining New Ideas: Web | Book (creativity & design)
Defining the Brain: Web | Downloads (terms of the mind)
INTRODUCTION | TOPIC INDEX | DOWNLOAD
www.logophilelexicon.com