B. Jigjidsuren

Principles of translation

In his book The Art of Translation, Savory (1957)

says that a translation should be able to pass itself off as

an original and show all the freshness of an original

composition. According to him a translation must be

such as may read with ease and pleasure (Savory

11957:52). He says that translation, the surmounting of

the obstacles, is made possible by the equivalence of

thought that lies behind its different verbal expressions

(p.13). Savory also suggests that a mere linguistic

knowledge and literary capacity will not ensure the best

translation.

A degree of sympathy, and even, more, a degree of

familiarity with respect of the work that is being translated

are almost essential (p.34). He thinks that the translator's

task is much harder than that of the original author. For the

original author to expresses his experience or thought, he

has many words available in his own language and he can

choose one of those words easily. But the translator has to

opt for the nearest equivalent, taking into consideration the

probable thoughts of the author, the probable thoughts of

the author's readers and of his own readers and the period

of history in which the original author lived, etc

(p.26)Savory suggests that when the translator faces a

passage in the SL text, he must ask himself the following

questions:

1. What does the author say?

2. What does he mean?

3. How does he say it?

This method of analysis may be applied to the

paragraph, to the sentence, or even to the phrase. From the

possible alternatives the translator must make his own

choice. Savory opines that the translator's knowledge of the

translated language (SL and TL) must be wide; it must also

be critically applied so that no detail is likely to be missed.

He says that a statement on the principles of

translation in sufficient form impossible. This is because

there are different schools of thought about the basic things

in translation. He has given six sets of different opinions of

the translations theoreticians as follows:

1. A translation must give the words of the original.

2. A translation must give the ideas of the original.

3. A translation should read like an original work.

4. A translation should read like a translation.

5. A translation should reflect the style of the original.

6. A translation should possess the style of the translator.

7. A translation should read as a contemporary of the

original.

8. A translation may never read as a contemporary of the

translator.

9. A translation may add to or omit from the original.

10.A translation may never add to or omit from the

original.

11.A translation of verse should be in prose.

12.A translation of verse should be in verse.