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writing, i.e. independently of its original (Newmark 188).
Finally, the translation's future and its potential importance within the
target language culture should be assessed. However, this stage is required mainly in
cases of serious texts, e.g. a novel, a poem or an important book (Newmark 189).
4.4 Translation of dialect
Although translation of dialect is sometimes presented as an ultimate
impossibility, there are several ways how to cope with this difficult aspect of
translation. According to Peter Newmark, the translator's main job is to decide on the
functions of the dialect: "Usually, this will be: (a) to show a slang use of language;
(b) to stress social class contrasts; and more rarely (c) to indicate local cultural
features" (195).
Jiří Levý suggests differentiating of local dialect of countrymen from
language of more educated characters (who use common language) by using
indication. Further, this should not be done by using a concrete dialect, but rather by
phonetic, lexical or syntactic features which are shared by several dialects.
Consequently, the final version is not connected with one particular region, but
evokes more general idea of countryside. Substitution is possible only when the
general meaning prevails the meaning in the local dialect or national language,
because these are too closely connected with certain district or country and therefore
cannot be substitute (Levý 127-128).
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5 TRANSLATION ANALYSIS
This is the practical part of this bachelor thesis. The translation
analysis is based on equivalent effect theory and structurally follows Peter
Newmark's plan of translation criticism which is widely described in chapter 4.3.
Thus there are five stages which I am going to pay attention to. These stages are
represented by five sub-chapters; each of them is centred on the appropriate topic
and they are put in the order according to the Newmark's plan.
The first part aims to describe the analysed text from the author's point
of view, i.e. the point is to state his intentions and desired effect on the readership, as
well as language devices he used to achieve it. On the contrary, the second part
centres on the translator's intentions and in general describes the method he used in
order to fulfil them.
The third part is purely practical and contains the corpus I created
with indicated method of work which I used. In addition, there is the most important
part, the translation analysis itself. I chose number of items suitable for comparing
and grouped them according to their common features. Within these groups I
compare each item of source language text (Czech) with its target language
counterpart (English) and made notes on the appropriateness or inappropriateness of
the translation.
Overall quality of translation is assessed in the fourth sub-chapter with
remark on the translator's ability to achieve his own intentions. Additionally, the
translation's quality is assessed from my personal point of view.
Finally, I tried to evaluate the future of the translation within the target
language culture and guessed how successful and comprehensible it could be for its
readership.
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5.1 Source language text analysis
The intention of the author is to describe his own memories from
childhood and at the same time to sketch the atmosphere of that time, i.e. the second
decade of the twentieth century. Considering the leitmotif of the novel, it is
obviously the theme of passing time and changeover of the eras. The ending era is
connected with anything long (hair, skirts, journeys), while the upcoming one makes
these things shorter. The author expresses sentimentality towards the old times but
also enthusiasm for anything new.
It is the language of the novel, which makes it remarkable in the first
place. It is very lively and colourful thanks to frequent usage of colloquial
expressions, idioms and dialect. Moreover, the language helps to etch the
characteristic features of the characters and to distinguish them from the others. Thus
there are frequently used phrases typical for certain character. For example, Uncle
Pepin is very loud, energetic and quite irresponsible; his speech is full of vulgarisms,
dialect words or similes. On the other hand, another character, Pepin's brother
Francin, is an example of a decent man, successful manager of a brewery and a loyal
husband. Consequently, his speech is influenced by his character and is much more
formal than Pepin's.
In general, thanks to these facts the language of the novel is very
readable, though the author often uses long sentences and long lines of words. On the
other hand, this is another device which makes the novel original and interesting and
creates the very special mood.
5.2 Translator's intention and general method
The greatest intention of the translator is to create a translation with
the same effect as the original. As this is a vocative text, the main point is to transfer
not only the plot, but also the emotive component of the novel, i.e. to achieve the