Special Problems in Finding Lexical Equivalents
197
Generic components - shelter, used for religious purposes by Jews
Generic class
kinds of shelters used for religious purposes by Jews
Specifying components:
tabernacie
temple
synagogue
(a) Place where God
met the poople
(a) Place where God
met the peopie
(a) Piace where Jewish
people met for
religious teaching
(b) Temporary
(portable)
(b) Permanent
(b) Permanent
(c) Only one
(c) Only one
(c) Many in different
places
(d) People went to
make sacrifices
(d) People went to
make sacrifices,
pray, teach, learn,
(d) People went for
reading of the law,
teaching, prayer
burn incense
In choosing a term to translate any one of this set, the term to be
used to translate the others of the set will need to be considered also.
This is true of any semantic set. Display 17.1 shows examples of
lexical equivalents used in several languages; that is, a literal back-
translation into English of the receptor language equivalent. Not alf
the contrastive components listed in the analysis above are included
in the lexical equivalents given in Display 17.1. Enough is included
to make clear the distinction between the three key terms.
tabernacle
temple
anBosvuAs
Aguaruna
(Peru)
big house built of
skins and cloth
place t0-worship
God
Jews' gathering place
cloth gathering
house where
they sacrificed
Jew people's gathering
house for hearing God's
talk
(New Guinea);
asnoy
Gahuku
cloth house of
large house of
Jews' house of religion
(New Guinea):
uotšias
cloth religion
house
Nark
large religion
house
Jews' religion house
(Philippines):
Dispiay 17.!
198
NODIXIT EH
Key words which refer to parts of the material culture are usually
not too difficult to translate. Social and political relationships may be
more complicated. However, terms which deal with the religious
aspects of a culture are usually the most difficult, both in analysis of
the source vocabulary and in finding the best receptor language
equivalents. The reason is that these words are intangible, and many
of the practices are so automatic that the speakers of the language arc
not as conscious of the various aspects of meaning involved. Here
again, it is often helpful to consider words in sets rather than
individually.
In looking for the best equivalent for priest, the translator would
consider the whole system of religious activity and try to match up
the functions of each person who has a religious role in order to find
the one that would most closely equate with priest. It might be
necessary to make a modification of some kind to the word chosen in
order to be more accurate and convey the samc meaning as the source
ext word. What at first might look like a good equivalent, may actually
represent a person with a very different role in the two cultures. For
example, the functions of a Jewish priest in Israel are not the same as
those of a Brahma priest in India. This would probably not be too
important in translating the word priest in some texts. However, if
priest is a key word in the source text of a translation being made
from Hebrew into a language of India, careful attention would need
to be given to the term used.
In the previous chapter, the possibility of using a loan word (a
word from another language) was discussed. This may sometimes
need to be done for key words. Loan words may be necessary
when there is a great deal of difference between the two cultures.
This can be especially applicable for such words as the names of
religious and political groups and for religious offices. It is some-
times better to use a loan word, and modify it so as to communicate
the right meaning, than to try to use a receptor language term which,
although partially overlapping in meaning, has components which
will give a very wrong meaning. For example, if the word for priest
had implications of sorcery or idolatry in the receptor languagc, it
might be better to use the source language word and indicate in the
context through modification the role of the source culture priest.
Somctimes it is possible to use the receptor language ternm and
modify it to correct lack of acceptable equivalence. "Languages can
combine terms in new ways to express new concepts or to avoid
negative denotations and connotations" (Beekman 1980:38).
Whenever a loan word is used, or a new combination developed,
for a key term, even though the term or combination is new, it must
be completely natural both semantically and grammatically. That is,
Speciał Problems in Finding Lexical Equivalents
661
even if the concept is new, the manner in which the words are
combined should be completely natural. Occasionally, it will be
necessary to use a receptor language tem which is missing some
desirable componcnts or which has some components of ineaning
which are not desirable. When this is true, the difference in total
meaning will need to be cared for by the corrective influence of the
context. This is preferred to loan words for most key terms.
In some texts, there will be "token words" which are best kept
as loan words. These would include such things as "the characteristic
words of a time period that denote a fact of civilization, such as the
name of a fashionable dress, a new product or invention, or a current
fad" (Newmark 1974:71). "Token words" arc often transliterated in
order to retain a sense of time in history. This is often done in novels
and short stories. For example, in translating Spanish novels into
English, words like plaza and patio arc often used as "token words"
to give a Spanish flavor to the translation. However, words should not
usually be transliterated in religious, political, or historical documents.
Newmark makes the following suggestion concerning key words
(Newmark 1981:15):
...The appropriate equivalents for keywords should be scru-
pulousiy repeated throughout a text in a philosophical text;
theme words are the writer's main concepts and terms of art;
in literary works, the stylistic markers are likely to be an
author's characteristic words...in an advertisement... they may
be token-words... In a non-litcrary text, there is u case for
transcribing as well as translating any key-word for linguistic
significance.
Symbolic words
In many texts, there will be some key words which will acquire
symbolic value. They come to carry figurative or metaphorical
mcaning as well as the basic mcaning of the word. When this occurs,
it may be necessary to adjust it in the translation.
Newmark (1981:153) states that:
In imaginative writing all key-words acquire symbolical
value, and become potential metaphors grounded in the
culture. Like key-words in a technology, they are suddenly
forced to bear figurative meaning. When such words are
translated they may have to be supported wvith an attribute
uniess there is a strong cultural overlap between source and
target language countries.
THE LEXICON
007
Special attention needs to be given to key words which are also
symbolic words so that the metaphorical intent of the source text
author is not obscured. "These symbols may be retained in the
translation without sacrificing meaningfulness by giving a slight cue
to the sense intended or by accompanying the imagery with its
nonfigurative sense" (Beekman and Callow 1974:136). Religious and
political documents are very likely to have key terms which have
symbolic meaning as well as literal meaning. This may occur in other
literary documents as well, and the translator needs to be conscious
of this symbolic meaning as he translates so as not to eliminate the
symbol by translating only with the direct meaning.
Word combinations and false literal translation
In most languages, there are groups of words which function in
the same way as a single word. For example, the French phrase livre
de classe (literally, "book of class") is equivalent to English textbook.
The Russian expression for desk is pis 'mennyj stol (literally, "writing
table"). In languages with a literary history, many of these combina-
fions come to be entries in the dictionary of the language. A glance
down a page of an English dictionary will reveal such entries as minor
premise, mint julep, minus sign, and house of representatives. Each
phrase consists of two or more words and may involve various parts
of speech. Hence, there are combinations such as miracle play, home
loan office, pale blue, and lock up.
Words also combine to form compounds in many languages. A
compound is a new word which is created by stringing together simple
words, which are the constituent parts. There is almost no limit to the
kinds of combinations which can be formed. Some examples in
English are armchair, driveway, horsepower, pickpocket, outlook,
kindhearted, habysitter, undertaker, and overtake. Gcrman and Hun-
garian have an unusual propensity for compounding and pursue its
possibilities a good deal further than English.
The above mentioned types of word combinations deserve the
closest attention by the translator. The meaning of a combination as a
whole cannot always be determined by the meaning of the individual
constituent parts. For example, a translation from the French pomme de
terre would be potato in English and not the literal apple of earth
suggested by the French. The meaning of many word combinations
must be learned, as if they were individual simple words. For example,
a translation into English stated that “Bulgaria is now a synonym of our
industrial might, a major center of bluck metallurgy." This combination
is meaningless in English. Iron and steel industry would be better.
Sometimes a translator may settle for the literal translation of
a word combination because he does not know that there is another,
Special Problems in Finding Lexical Equivalents
107
more idiomatic form. If the literal translation sounds plausible, the
translator may miss a better rendering. For example, the literal
translations naval infantry and war fleet might seem all right for
English, but the more correct translation would be marines and
navy, respectively. In translating technical terminology, where many
word combinations of this kind occur, the translator must always
be on the alert so that he does not fall into the error of a false
literal translation.
False friends
One of the major causes of translation error on the lexical level,
when translating into related languages, is that of faise friends.
False friends may be defined as words in the source language
which look very much like words in the receptor language because
they are cognate with them, but in fact mean something different.
For example, the Spanish word asistir is a false friend to the
Spanish-English translator because its real meaning is to attend and
not to assist. But to assist is the word which immediately comes
to the mind of the translator when he first hears or reads asistir.
But it is the wrong meaning. The Russian word vizit is a false
friend to a Russian-English translator because it really means of-
ficial call (as by a doctor or clergyman) rather than any ordinary
visit. The translator must be careful not to assume that because the
words in two languages look alike they have the same meaning. In
the development of languages, the meanings will change. Some or
all of the semantic features of the source language word may be
lost. They may retain one special feature or may change meaning
completely.
False friends are most often thought of in terms of languages
which are historically related. But in addition, there may bc false
friends as a result of borrowing. For example, many of the Amer-
indian languages of Mexico have borrowed Spanish words but often
the loan word then shifts in meaning from the original Spanish
word. The Spanish word plaza refers to the town square. But among
the Mixes it has been borrowed and refers to any group of peopie
selling things. This is because most of the selling of goods takes
place in the town square on market days. In the same way, the
Chols have borrowed the word patio, which in Spanish refers to
an open courtyard. In Chol, it refers to a place for drying coffee.
This is because the wealthier Mexican homes often used the patio
for drying coffce. "The translator must be careful not to assume
that a loan word has the same meaning as the same word in the
language from which it was borrowed" (Beekman and Callow
1974:198).
202
THE LEXICON
There may also be some concepts in the source lext which seem
to be similar to the concepts which are known in the receptor culture,
but which, on closer examination, may be found to have very different
functions or significance. The speakers of the receptor language wil!
interpret these in light of their own culture, and the meaning may
become distorted. Here, again, the importance of form and function
comes into play. The form may be the same, but if the function is
different, the meaning may be lost in the translation process. For
example, a text which talked about cutting branches from trees and
spreading them on the road to honor an approaching person was easily
translated into a certain African language. Cutting branches and
spreading them on the road was a familiar concept. But in the African
culture, it was associated with blocking the road to prevent an
unwanted person from approaching. However, in the source text the
significance had been to honor and welcome someone coming down
the road. In the African language translation, the misunderstanding
was finally corrected by saying palm branches and indicating the
function.
Implicit and explicit components of meaning
Throughout these chapters on lexical equivalents, it has become
clear that the lexical items of the source language seldom match
exactly the lexical items of the receptor language. It would secm that
there is more mismatch than match. How, then, is it possible to
translate at all? The answer comes in the fact that it is not the word
that is being translated, but the total meaning of the words in
combination. That is why, after having discussed lexical cquivalents,
we have only begun to discuss translation. The next part of this text
will deal with larger units combinations of words into clauses, sen-
tences, paragraphs, and texts.
In discussing clauses and sentences, the matter of implicit and
explicit information will come into focus again and again. But it
is also important to mention, before leaving our emphasis on lexi-
cal itens, that in the transiation process, some components of
meaning of the sourcc text will no longer be explicit and some
components which are not explicit in the source text will be made
explicit in the translation. This is because of the very nature of
languages. Categories include
different. Some will be obligatory in one language and different
ones obligatory in another. In order to find an equivalent lexical
item, the translator may need to make components of meaning
explicit which are implicit in the source document. Therc will
always bc some loss and some gain of meaning. No two language
systems match exactly.
arious semantic sets will be
Special Problems in Finding Lexical Equivalents
203
However, a translator, who desires to communicate the same
information as lound in the source text, will come close to reaching
his goal by a constant awareness of the differences between languages
by a careful analysis of the source text meaning, both referential and
situational, and by choosing only natural and clear forms in the
receptor language translation.
EXERCISES – Speeial Problems in Finding Lexical Equivalents
A. Find three short articles, one in a magazine, one which is a chapter
in a book, and one in a newspaper. Identify the key words of the
article. How might these key words be translated in a language
which you speak, other than English?
B. In each of the following translations into English, the italicized
words have bcen translated literally and inay or may not be
idiomatic or correct. Evaluate the italicized words as translations.
Improve them if you can, substituting words and, if necessary,
changing grammatical structures.
1. The agrarian reform called for a second distribution of the
land.
2. This was unfi for drinking water.
3. Let us take a look into the future. The year is 1980. Vitosha,
the immortal beautiful adornment of Sofia, Bulgaria, has been
made into a national park with numerous hoists, tour bases,
hotels, and restaurants...
4. In 1961 Galati started building a number of completely new
micro-districts. We went to see one of them, Tiglina, noted
for the wide use of industrial building methods...Two years
after construction bcgan, some 18,000 families were already
living here. And another such micro-district, Tiglina 2, is
going up nearby.
C. In each of the following translations from French into English,
the italicized words have been translatcd literaliy and may or imay
not be idiomatic or correct. Evaluate the italicized words as
translations, in each case, comparing them with various alternative
translations which are given in parentheses. Choose the bcst
translation. Improve them if you can, substituting words, and, if
necessary, changing grammatical structures.
