The Oblique and Literal Translation in the English Fable Books Entitled Penny Polar Bear
Applying Direct and Oblique Strategies when dealing with a literal translation of a poem
Transcript of Applying Direct and Oblique Strategies when dealing with a literal translation of a poem
UNIVERSITY OF EAST ANGLIA
Applying Direct and Oblique Strategies when dealing with a literal translation of a poem.
Translation and Theory LCS - MA03-10
20th December 2010
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Contents
Page
1. Introduction 3
2. A Methodology for Translation 4
2.1 Direct Translation Techniques in context 6
2.2 Oblique Translation Techniques in context 10
3. Other criticism and response 18
4. Conclusions 19
5. References 21
6. Appendices i
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1. Introduction
This essay is a presentation of some of the linguistic aspects of translation
supported by theoretical framework mostly drawn from Jean-Paul Vinay and
Jean Darbelnet’s methodology around the topic of different translational
strategies. Data used as a source of examples and criticisms is a Polish
translation of a 1971 poetic song lyric ‘Thick as a brick’ by Jethro Tull
translated by Jędrzej Polak (1999), a well-known and respected literary Polish
translator, text of which and its back translation are included in the Appendices
section of this essay.
Firstly, an introduction of Vinay and Darbelnet’s work and terminology will
be presented followed by an in-depth analysis of some of the translation
strategies proposed by their understanding of equivalence (1958). At this point
the seven proposed methods of translation will be presented and examples will
be provided. I will share some interesting findings and try to investigate some of
the translator’s decisions as to which techniques he used and why. Criticisms
made by others will be drawn upon and my personal views and possible
solutions will be presented alongside the theory and examples as well as in the
final part of the essay.
2. A Methodology for Translation
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A duo of French linguists Vinay and Darbelnet’s perception of the linguistic
aspects of translation deserves recognition in the field of translation studies.
Their 1958 Comparative Stylistics of French and English: A Methodology for
Translation introduces many translation processes and gives guidelines and
examples for practising translators working in English-French language pair. At
the same time, universal as their methodology became it was adopted by
theorists from other cultures and nationalities. One of the most interesting and
practical part of Vinay and Darbelnet’s concepts of dealing with substitution of
Source Text (ST) with Target Text (TT) in another language is their catalogue
of seven procedures translators follow in order to ‘establish relationships
between specific manifestations of two linguistic systems’(1958:30). The
concern focuses on translator’s task to create an equivalent piece of message. In
some cases, the discovery of the appropriate Target Language (TL) unit is very
sudden and comes ‘naturally’ or ‘easily’, which means that ST automatically
reveals TL solution. Such almost instinctive substitution may, however, lead to
gaps (or lacunae) in the TL which should be filled with corresponding elements
in order to create similar impression between the two languages. This is where
linguistics and translations studies meet.
Vinay and Darbelnet (1958) introduced seven translation techniques, which
they divided into two groups. First group is Direct Translations (DT) and it
consists of the following techniques: loan, calque and literal translation. Their
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feature is that they are used when structural and conceptual elements of the SL
can be transported into TL ‘element by element’ simply because they are based
on either parallel categories or concepts. Second group is Oblique Translations
(OT) which are used when the elements of the SL cannot be directly translated
without altering meaning or upsetting the grammatical and stylistic elements of
the target language, these include: transposition, modulation, équivalence (also
called reformulation or correspondence) and adaptation. The order in which all
techniques had been listed above mirrors the level of difficulty in use, according
to Vinay and Darbelnet the easiest being loan and most difficult adaptation
(Pym, 2010: 13). Such bold statement that ‘one thing is easy and the other
difficult’ poses a question of the level of comprehension of the text and perhaps
reveals a note of doubt in translator’s knowledge of SL and TL. Therefore, next
section of this essay will focus on the actual methods and try to analyze the
techniques visible within the translation of the song lyric ‘Thick as a brick’.
In order to put the main focus of this essay into context I will present the
techniques and extracts taken from my data and provide either critical
alternative to translator’s choice or I will analyze the translation on the grounds
of theoretical framework. The lists of procedures tend to make perfect sense
when they are presented alongside carefully selected examples. At the same
time, as the text gets analyzed it becomes clear that some procedures overlap
and more than one category can be assigned to one rendering, which will be
confirmed and more clearly visible in further stages of this essay.
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2.1 Direct Translation Techniques in context
The ‘easy’ Direct Techniques can simply be described as literal (Wilss,
1982). The translator can borrow the word directly from the source language to
the target without changing its form or even translating it. This technique seems
very unproblematic and works particularly well when thinking of translating
proper names, branding or when target culture does not have a word for
something. In this retrospect borrowing is somewhat similar to the calque
approach when a phrase is taken from SL and each of its elements gets
translated literally. As a result the target language gains a fixed calque, which
after a period of time may become a part of the culture. These may however,
become faux amis. A very clear example of such calque is visible in the ‘Thick
as a brick’ lyric.
English-Polish (also see Appendix 1)
(1) to play Monopoly – grać w Monopole – gloss: play monopoly
Non-English speaking Polish person would first of all question the
capitalization of the word ‘Monopole’ as in Polish it is a noun describing a type
of ‘an organization or group which has the power of control which is not shared
by other people or groups especially in business, etc.’ In Polish, nouns do not
get capitalized unless they are proper nouns, names or branding. In this case
‘Monopoly’ obviously refers to the board game (branding), however, Polish
version of ‘Monopoly’ the board game is - and has been called for at least
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twenty years - ‘Eurobiznes’. In poetry, it often happens that not only the
meaning of the text needs to be conveyed but also the rhyme. Here, this could
not have been the case as ‘Monopole’ does not rhyme with anything. Also, as
far as equivalent effect is concerned, in this case such play with foreign word
within the text does not do any justice for the reader as ‘Monopole’ only brings
confusion for a non-English speaking reader. The whole Monopoly-gate is an
example of a bad calque or (attempted) borrowing. Simple and straightforward
as DT may have seemed, in this case Fawcett’s remarks on whether there is a
need to adapt, borrow or translate product’s name into target culture will be a
‘balancing act between the need to find appropriate sounds and connotations,
the need to mark the nationality of the product (...) may be seen as cultural
imperialism’ (1997:35). In other words, taking the literal approach may
facilitate foreignization and disturb the naturalness of the target text. The main
criticism concerning linguistic strategies for dealing with the unknown is that
calquing and borrowing terms which had already been awarded their
equivalents in the target culture, especially when dealing with poems; disturb
the reader who already devotes most of his/her attention to the aesthetic values
of the composition.
On the other hand, Vázquez-Ayora justify the application of literal strategies
whenever there is a precise correspondence of ‘structure’ and ‘signification’
between two utterances in two different languages and equivalence is achieved
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word by word ‘literal translation can be applied without risk’ (1977:257) which
will result in what he calls ‘degree zero of translation’ (ibid.), some examples
can be found within the poem.
English – Polish (also see Appendix 1 - examples 2,3,4)
(2) thick as a brick – tępy jak cegła – gloss: thick like brick
(3) animal deals – brudne interesy – gloss: dirty business
(4) And the poet sheaths his pen while the soldier lifts his sword - A poeta
chowa pióro, podczas gdy żołnierz podnosi swój miecz – gloss: Poet sheaths
pen while soldier raises (his) sword
All of the above idiomatic phrases are typical to the English language and
they do not exist in Polish in the same form. The translator made a decision to
translate each of them literally even though Polish equivalents could have been
applied. ‘Brick’ could have become ‘oak ’, ‘animal deals’ is actually ‘dirty
business’ and ‘soldier pulls his weapon’ not ‘sword’ (Simbrimowicz, 2000).
What happened in those cases was closest literal substitution of SL with TL.
Interestingly, unlike Monopoly, the three idiomatic expressions can be
comprehended by a Polish reader without detecting any ambiguities. Having
conducted a simple, yet extensive, experiment with the use of Google search
engine and Polish Online Corpora it became apparent that all mentioned options
do appear in Polish texts even though they are not of Polish origin. Surprisingly,
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‘thick as a brick’ saying does actually appear in a 2005 edition of one of the
English –Polish idiom dictionaries and the entry features a link to, perhaps now
old fashioned ‘thick as an oak’ idiom. The 1997 edition of a similar publication
(Radziejewski, 1997) does not feature both entries – only the ‘thick as an oak’
one. Therefore, could it be that the mentioned calques have successfully become
a part Polish language? Or are they simply on their way to becoming ‘full
equivalents’?
Another question that comes to one’s mind is why the translator did not opt
for the slightly freer methods and applied the pre-existing Polish versions of the
above examples since the meaning would have remained the same and it would
have only been the form at a word level that would have been changed. Perhaps,
Vázquez-Ayora’s dire warning that ‘the translator should not alter this process
(of literal translation) out of an itch to change things or out of simple fear of
criticism that the translation is literal in the pejorative sense of the term’
(1977:257) would be a good enough reasoning for the decisions taken.
However, not being able to go into translator’s thoughts or guess his motivation
(which is not the purpose of this essay anyway) it will be even more interesting
to investigate more examples that are almost complete opposites of the ones
already mentioned or are the same utterances but looked at from a different
angle.
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2.2 Oblique Translation Techniques in context
Pym (2010:14) suggested a model for translation, which is possible when the
translator can first try the Direct Techniques when, neither of those bring
satisfactory results because of lexis, grammar or textual differences then he/she
can move on to the Oblique methods, which involve the procedures of real
interest to the linguists due to the complexity and number of complicated
problems with concrete definitions.
The technique of transposition is how Vinay and Darbelnet deal with
grammatical changes in translation. They devote some attention to the task of
demonstrating how parts of speech change their sequence within the text when
dealing with different language. In other words, it is a shift of word class.
Transposition often happens between English and Polish because of preferred
position of the verb in the sentence. Any changes of such nature require the
translator’s knowledge that it is possible to replace the word category in the
target language without altering the meaning. Interestingly, however, in the case
of the poem the translator kept the Polish sentence structure very closely to the
original without even creating any gaps in the flow of the passage. The only
example of a different kind of transposition visible within the poem is that of
interchange - a special case of transposition (1958:103) in the very first verse.
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English-Polish (also see Appendix 1 – example 5)
(5) Really don’t mind if you sit this one out – Możesz to sobie odpuścić, to
naprawdę nie ma znaczenia. – gloss: You can let it go, it really doesn’t matter.
Here, we can observe how the sentence structure changed and for the sake of
stylistic values the utterance got converted into a compound sentence. The
English first states the abstract feeling/emotion (result) and then the means. Had
it been translated literally without what Malone (1988) refers to as ‘reordering’
the Polish structure of conditional sentences would have sounded obscure. It is
proper grammar of the Polish language that dictates the position of action single
sentence against the result sentence. On the other hand, it must be underlined
that ‘obscure’ in this case does not mean ‘incorrect’. The reason this needs to be
addressed and clarified is that there is a slight chance of possible confusion
between two important techniques, namely, the already mentioned transposition
and modulation. The latter one is also considered to be ‘variation of the form of
the message, obtained by a change in the point of view. This change can be
justified when, although literal, or even transported translation results in a
grammatically correct utterance it is considered unsuitable, unidiomatic or
awkward in TL’(Vinay and Darbelnet, 1958: 36). The striking difference
between the two definitions is the point of view of a translator on the subject of
correctness of the utterance. In the case of the example number five above, it
depends on whether we would consider the literal translation awkward or not
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that defines its status of either having undergone transposition or modulation.
This is where Malone’s view concerning the division of Vinay and Darbelnet’s
becomes valid. According to his own new taxonomy from 1988 transposition,
modulation, correspondence and adaptation are no longer completely separate
processes and he simply re-names them as ‘Reordering’ (Malone capitalizes the
words) and as an example provides a simplified formula ‘in which the translator
introduces what is called a co-reference chain’ (Fawcett, 1997:41) and all the
changes are down to substituting parts of sentences (AB →BA). Different and
simplistic as Malone’s proposal may seem, it still clearly distinguishes between
what Vinay and Darbelnet first proposed in 1958, that is literal vs free (or OT vs
DT).
Moreover, staying on the topic of modulation and possible shifts in
definitions and usage of terminology it is worth going back to the ‘thick as a
brick’ case (example 2), which does, to a certain extent, fit in what Vinay and
Darbelnet include in their further definition of fixed and free modulation. They
claim that :
Cases of free modulation are single instances not yet fixed and sanctioned by usage, so that the procedure must be carried out anew each time (...) when carried out as it should be, the resulting translation should correspond perfectly to the situation indicated by SL. (...) (1958:37)
So far, from the citation we can fit the case of ‘thick as brick’ (not as an ‘oak’),
which as far as we know from my research had not yet been fixed into the
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modulation criteria. Aware of its appearance in one of the dictionaries and
having acquainted ourselves with the rest of Vinay and Darbelnet’s renderings
on modulation which states that:
‘as soon as free modulation is used often enough, or is felt to offer the only solution (this usually results from the study of bilingual texts (...) or from a famous translation which claims recognition due to its literary merit) it may become fixed until its referred to in dictionaries and grammars (...)’ (ibid.)
A statement can be made that ‘thick as a brick’ is a case of (as mentioned at the
end of the section 2 of this essay) overlapping procedures as it could be classed
as one of the direct methods or as a process of oblique techniques. Whichever
label we choose I must stress that the way the phrase made it to the dictionary
had not yet been confirmed and the situation remains hypothetical.
Meanwhile, Wilss (1982:102) who also talks about problems with classifying
translation procedures (especially modulation) in English-German language pair
gives an advice to his readers and suggests that many of the difficulties with
classification of Vinay and Darbelnet’s methodology can be avoided by ‘staying
away from the linear arrangement used in the taxonomy and choosing instead a
hierarchical principle of arrangement which better illustrates the relationships
between categories’ (see Figure 2 - appendix 2). Interestingly, he completely
omits the last two remaining techniques: correspondence (équivalence) and
adaptation. According to him the term équivalence is too problematic as in
principle every translation process is aimed at equivalence and is meant to be
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achieved no matter which strategy is used. When it comes to adaptation he also
rejects the term as it ‘denotes a general state of affairs guiding every non-literal
translation process and establishing correspondence between SL and TL
according to given contextual and situational communication in each case’.
As far as Wilss’ uncertainty about the very flexible and somewhat
controversial definition of equivalence is concerned, his point can be justified as
there still exists an ongoing and controversial debate on what equivalence
actually is. Vinay and Darbelnet point out that équivalence (French spelling)
occurs when the same situation can be rendered by two texts using different
stylistic methods in order to produce equivalent text. The focus mainly falls on
examples of idiomatic expressions and onomatopoeia when the equivalence
cannot be achieved by calque. The term itself, even though kept in its French
form seems to be the biggest bone of contention for the critics and other
linguists as it now has a much wider meaning in translation. While Vinay and
Darbelnet positioned the concept of équivalence in the bottom two of their
taxonomy and considered it to be the more free technique, where the translator
applies ‘the method of creating equivalences’ (1958:38) they still refer it back to
more direct techniques (e.g. claque). They give examples of translating idioms
and culture specific phraseology and then they conclude with advice that ‘in
translating it is advisable to use traditional forms of expression, because the
accusation of using Gallicisms, Anglicisms, Germanisms, Hispanisms, etc. will
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always be present when translator attempts to introduce a new calque’
(1958:39). This is where, critics voice their opinions on the fact that equivalence
is rendered as the ‘freer’ method. Being such a wide and flexible concept it
would be advisable to break the équivalence down to different types, just like
Nida (1969) did when he introduced his formal vs. dynamic equivalences
definitions. Where the formal one would probably take its place on the very top
of Vinay and Darbelnet’s table (somewhere between calque and borrowing) and
the dynamic one would equal adaptation on the very bottom.
On the other hand, looking at other critics’ approach and separating
équivalence as a concept to be dealt with on its own merits, could be a better
solution. To my understanding of the most of the equivalence concepts and
definitions, it should remain a separate topic and it should not be regarded as
a linguistic strategy. This is exactly what Wilss suggests (1982: 101, 134)
and treats it as a completely different chapter of translation studies.
At the same time, Pym (2010) puts the last two techniques of équivalence
and adaptation together and concludes that at the end of the day, the two
procedures are all about cultural adjustments. The very famous example given
by Vinay and Darbelnet of translating ‘Friday the thirteenth’ as ‘Tuesday the
thirteenth’ in a different language does illustrate the idea of cultural adjustment
very clearly. Yet, adaptation remains the one most open to controversy. At the
lexical level Vinay and Darbelnet propose some unusual and risky translations,
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for example one of the most striking ones is how they translated what for French
is ‘cyclisme’ (cycling) to the British is ‘cricket’. First of all, why cricket not
football or polo? The initial critical reaction was perhaps justified when finding
out this particular case, however, when dealing with a different example from
‘Thick as a brick’ where the translator misses a chance to apply adaptation
strategy it did make me think twice about the reasons for turning cycling to
cricket.
English-Polish (Also see Appendix – example 6)
(6) Where the hell was Biggles? – Gdzie do cholery był Biggles? – gloss:
Where the hell was Biggles?
This is a very problematic piece of translation. To begin with, who is
Biggles? To a Polish reader of that text Biggles will not probably ring any bells
at all. After looking Biggles up it becomes clear that the character is very much
connected with British culture (he is a fictional character, a pilot and adventurer
in a youth oriented adventure book series). Any English reader will recognize
Biggles straight away as the book series dates back to mid-twentieth century but
has also been referred to in the media, comedy and TV shows on numerous
occasions throughout the years. The translator of ‘Thick as brick’ chose to leave
the name of that character as it appears in the original, in other words, he
borrowed the name and its function (which in this case was a hint of sarcasm
and humour when the author asks Biggles for help). When reading the poem in
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Polish, the reader will have to do what I did when I met Biggles and that is look
it up. One could say that a bit of owns research and getting to know other culture
cannot hurt anyone and I agree. However, to my understanding of the poem and
that particular verse the possible solution of using the name Pirxie would be a
perfect example of adaptation. The similarities between the two characters are
very striking, Pirxie is a fictional character, a pilot and adventurer in a very well
known youth oriented adventure book series by a Polish author Stanisław Lem,
which was first published in 1968. Referring to Pirxie rather than Biggles in the
translated version would most definitely have the equivalent effect of humour
and sarcasm on the Polish reader without making him/her go through the
background of British literature. Just like when Vinay and Darbelnet changed
cycling to cricket and yet managed to remain within the topic of sport, here the
change would have been seemingly large in terms of form but, in my opinion,
much more rewarding in terms of comprehension of the text. The exact same
type of adaptation could have been used in case of previously discussed
Monopoly and Eurobiznes example (1). However, in that example there is a
chance that the reader would guess the meaning of the board game from the
context. As far as Biggles is concerned, the unfamiliarity with the character does
not denote anything. Yes, we can guess he is a human being and a hero but not
more than that, moreover from the context the reader could wrongly take him for
a celebrity sportsman. In this case the thought that bothers me the most is
whether translators decision to keep Biggles name was an intended one or not.
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Vinay and Darbelnet do admit that adaptation carries some risks of
overtranslation if the translator fails to recognize the relations between two
different concepts within the text. At the same time, they suggestively warn that
‘the refusal to make an adaptation is invariably detected within translation
because it affects not only the syntactic structure, but also the development of
ideas’, which in case of a poetic text can be very disturbing.
3. Other criticisms and response
Having presented the translation strategies and provided some substantial
examples I can now sum up most frequently expressed criticisms which have
not yet been mentioned. Kelly (1979:133) and Pym (2010: 165) state that some
of the strategies like e.g. borrowing and calque cannot be called translation
techniques at all as they are on the verge of mistakes and attempted tones.
Another similar argument criticizing Vinay and Darbelnet’s taxonomy is that
they are ‘just fancy names for what translators already do (or think they do)
intuitively; learning them would be a waste of time’ (Fawcett, 1997: 51).
I strongly disagree with those statements. As shown in some of the above
examples, the literal methods could become very successful and enrich the TL.
Also from the linguistic point of view, such simple techniques are a good
starting point to further language (and culture) exploration. Another important
factor in favour of loans and calques is that in their work translators sometimes
do come across terminology that simply cannot be translated in such cases they
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need not be afraid to foreignaize their text a bit. After all, on many occasions
borrowing proves much better than for example omission or creation of a
completely new term that no one will be able to comprehend. Whether we call
them strategies, methods or techniques it is important that translators are well
acknowledged with all of them.
The one feature of the taxonomies I disagree with is the classification of the
techniques as going from the easy to difficult linear diagram. It all depends on
the translator’s viewpoint he/she either knows or not how to translate
something. If not and the dictionary does not come to the rescue then no amount
of theory will help. This statement could be supported with examples of
attempted ‘easy’ calques, which (at least in my view) failed and on the other
hand the ‘difficult’ adaptations seemed almost intuitive. Again, that is a
personal opinion of mine.
4. Conclusions
It is clear to me that the translation of ‘Thick as a brick’ sways towards the
literal approach. When comparing the original version with the gloss it is
striking how literally the translator approached the text. Almost word-for-word
with only few exceptions of course.
As a native Polish speaker I know that the criticised examples are not right
or wrong and they simply have other alternatives to them. Linguistic methods of
translation only help us name and identify some translational occurrences.
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However, what happens in the mind of a translator when dealing with literature,
poetry and other creative texts can only be explained by him. I must say that
such analysis of methods of somebody else’s translation and applying linguistic
theories onto what had already been done does teach viewing what at a first
glance does not appear to have much to do with theoretical framework and
finding out how interestingly relevant methods proposed over fifty years ago are
today.
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References:
- Fawcett, P. (1997) Translation and Language. Linguistic Theories
Explained. St Jerome Publishing: Manchester, UK.
- Kelly, L (1979) The True Interpreter. A History of Translation Theory
and Practice in the West. Oxford; Basil Blackwell.
- Malone, J.L. (1988) The Science of Linguistics in the Art of Translatio:
Some Tools from Linguistics for the Analysis and practice of Translation.
Albany: State University of New York Press.
- Nida, E. And C. Taber (1969) The Theory and Practice of Translation,
Leiden: Brill.
- Pym, A. (2010) Exploring Translation Theories. Routledge: London and
New York.
- Radziejewski, D. (1997) Angielsko-polski tematyczny słownik idiomów,
zwrotów i wyrażeń z dodatkiem przysłów i sentencji. Atravox Pres:
Bydgoszcz, Poland. Translation of a title: English-Polish thematic
dictionary of idioms, expressions and proverbs and maxims.
- Simbirowicz, L. (2005) Nowy angielsko-polski słownik idiomów i
zwrotów, Harald G Dictionaries: Warsaw, Poland. Translation of a title:
New English-Polish Dictionary of Idioms and Pharses.
- Vázquez-Ayora, G. (1997) Intruduction a la traductologica, Washington
D.C.: Georgetown University.
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- Vinay, J.P. , and J. Darbelnet (1958) Comparative stylistics of French
and English: A Methodology for Translation. trans. and ed.J.C. Sager and
M.J. Hamel, (1999) John Benjamin Publishing Co.: Amsterdam.
- Wills, W. (1982) The Science of Translation: problems and methods.
Gunter Narr Verlang: Tübingen, Germany.
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