Article.
MASTER CLASS IN TRANSLATION: OPENING UP NEW VISTAS
Review of the
monograph :
Bednárová-Gibová K. “Non-Literary and Literary Text in
Translation”. – Filozofická fakulta Prešovskej universzity. – Prešov, 2012. –
100 pp. – ISBN 978-80-555-0612-8
“Non-Literary and
Literary Text in Translation” by PhDr. Klaudia Bednárová-Gibová, PhD is a
valuable contribution to language education and translation studies in
particular. It is a worthy addition and an instrument in helping translation
trainees develop their theoretical background and practical skills and
techniques to produce high-quality translation on their own.
The book addresses
the essential facets of translation procedures in two typologically different
text genres. It covers the key considerations concerning the translation
techniques in the non-literary and literary text corpus and finds out their
pertinent text genre characteristics. The empirical data are from an EU
institutional-legal text Council
Directive 2004/114/EC and a Christian novel excerpt The Shark by Canadian author William P. Young. K. Bednárová-Gibová
points out that “the reason why these two case texts have been chosen is
because the relationship of ostentatious contrast obtaining between them is
more or less evident and as such suitable for investigating translation
procedures in two, already at first glance, quite dissimilar text types”
(Bednárová-Gibová 2012: 12).
In a concise yet
comprehensive manner the author studies the selected non-literary and literary
texts from the point of view of text linguistics and translatology, having
reviewed and mutually contrasted their properties. In order to accomplish the
goals of the comparative translatological research, the methods of contrastive
textual analysis, analytical-deductive and corpus analysis methods have been
employed.
It should be
stressed that the book contains a good balance of theory and data. As the
author states, “the conducted research has not been planted exclusively into
the theoretical plane of the systemic contrastive description”
(Bednárová-Gibová 2012: 93). By having proposed enhanced construct of
translation procedures which can be applicable to a much larger and diverse
empirical text material the author of the monograph suggests successful
solutions for numerous translation problems and highlights some ideas as to
further research. Much subtle and complex evidence is considered and the data
are analyzed at each point in a thorough and explicit fashion.
The book consists
of three chapters. There is a detailed table of contents, a list of tables and
charts, which support the author’s observations and discussion of the results.
There is a list of abbreviations and symbols, too.
Chapter 1 outlines
the contemporary state of knowledge in the given research area, basic research
aims as well as overall publication methodology including a whole range of
research questions. Chapter 2, being essentially theoretical, explores the
principal features of non-literary and literary text as such and their
translation including their mutual contrasting. In such a way
K. Bednárová-Gibová takes us step-by-step to the corpus analysis,
preparing the indispensable ground for that. Successfully blending the
theoretical and empirical in Chapter 3 the author presents the actual
quantitative analysis of translation procedures across the non-literary and
literary text, searching for isomorphic as well as allomorphic features. K.
Bednárová-Gibová provides a few exemplifying instances of the respective
translation procedure to illustrate the points raised in this chapter. The
monograph ends up with a detailed and convincing review of the crucial results
obtained and the main observations made in the course of the analysis.
With “Non-Literary
and Literary Text in Translation” K. Bednárová-Gibová has presented language
educators and translators with an invaluable tool, which will help to navigate
in translation procedures. The book is written in a precise and clear style,
well organized at each level. The explanations of translation concepts are
clear, concise, and the examples are enlightening.
In conclusion it
should be mentioned that the book is appropriate for a wide audience, but it
will be of a particular interest to scholars engaged in translation studies, to
translators for translation practice, and to language educators who want a
working knowledge of translation techniques to be used in the classroom and to
inspire language learners to choose and pursue translation as their University
major and future career.
Olga Byessonova (Donetsk, Ukraine)
Available 1 October 2013.
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