1.

Introduction

We do translate words, because there is nothing else to translate.

Peter Newmark

Translation is a kind of art. It must be admitted that it does not mean to create

something out of nothing, such as writers do; on the other hand it certainly is a way of

creating. The translator produces a new matter, a text that was not here before. They put into it

their personality, their individual understanding of things, their own words. The heart of the

text remains the same but the clothing is different. It could be said that the translator is a tailor

and depends only on their abilities whether the new dress will be shabby or of haute

couture.

In the case of specialised translation the necessity of a well-made dress is maybe not

such as with the literary translation. The translator of the former has to keep in mind the

informative function of the text, in the first place, and consequently transmit the main ideas

and arguments clearly and intelligibly. On the other hand, they have to attempt at preserving

the individual style of the writer, therefore, if we accede the idea of the tailor, the translator is

a kind of apprentice at the authors workshop, they should follow the given style (of course,

there are cases when the style is not worth following, the translators work is much more

difficult then as they have to refashion the original into a prettier shape).

The essay that was translated for this thesis is taken from the field of cinematography.

There are many works written in (or translated into) Czech concerning film but not so many

that would treat with the specific phenomenon of film noir. As a result, I had to deal with

many still unestablished technical terms or film titles and films that the Czech audience have

not had a chance to see. Consequently, this thesis is meant to be a kind of description of the

translational process with a deeper insight into the technical translation and again yet deeper

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into certain elements of culture. I would like to show how to treat such texts, from the first

meeting with them till the final polishing of the translation. The following pages should

communicate both the theoretical background of technical translation and its practical aspect.

I chose to proceed from the former to the latter, as it displays the factual translating procedure.

And although the thesis is based mainly on the given essay I hope it will contribute in a way

to the area of translation of cultural issues, especially the issue of cinematography.

If not said otherwise, all the given examples are taken from the essay Film Noir and Women.

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2. About the Author and the Essay

The author of the essay Film Noir and Women is Elizabeth Cowie BA (Hons), PhD,

professor of film studies at the University of Kent in Canterbury, where she has been teaching

since 1982. Previously to that she worked for a film journal, Screen, from 1972 to 1976,

edited the 1978 catalogue of films for the British Film Institute Production Board and also

taught film at various institutions in London. Together with other experts, Parveen Adams,

Rosalind Coward and Beverley Brown, she founded a feminist theory journal, m/f, that

published 12 issues between 1978 and 1986.

The author herself says

The central focus for my research and writing was to understand how representation

works to produce meanings and identities in relation to political and cultural questions

of gender and sexual difference.

(http://www.kent.ac.uk/sdfva/film/stafflist/ecowie.html)

Her current research is based on the documetnary film and its spectator.

The essay Film Noir and Women was published in 1993 in a collection of film essays

Shades of Noir, edited by Joan Copjec.

3. Cultural Background

Translator can not translate a text without some knowledge of the subject matter that is

being discussed. Either they choose a text describing issues of their field or and this is

probably much more frequent they have to widen their knowledge by reading books and

3
articles, basically anything related to the topic of the text. In other words, before they start

working on the translation, they have to acquire a deep insight in the subject otherwise they

could miss important details, data, terms or allusions to other works within the given field or

even outside it. If the translator has the slightest suspicion that what is written might have yet

additional or secret meaning, they are obliged to attempt at finding it out. If the translator

misses something in the process, the reader would be deprived of a possible important

moment. As a result it should be appropriate to include a short note on the cultural

background of film noir in this work, as it is the subject matter of the essay in question and,

furthermore, the Czech audience is not well familiarised with this topic.

3.1 Film Noir

As the classical period of the film noir are seen the 1940s and 1950s, for the boundary

years are defined by 1941, when The Maltese Falcon by John Huston, the first film noir

although usually described as atypical was released, and 1958 when the premiere of Orson

Welless Touch of Evil took place. In spite of the fact that this cultural phenomenon has its

origin in the United States of America, it has a French name. The reason for this was the

unawareness of the American film-makers and critics that there is a new style being born.

Only in 1946, when the new, strange thrillers or crime films arrived to France, they were

labelled as films noirs, i.e. black films. The name is due to certain darkness, both in the story

and in the visual style.

Film noir tends to revolve around flawed and desperate characters in an unforgiving

world. Crime, usually murder, is an element of most films noirs, often sparked by

jealousy, corruption, or greed. Most films noirs contain certain archetypal characters

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 (such as hard-boiled detectives, femmes fatales, corrupt policemen, jealous husbands,

insurance agents, or down-and-out writers), familiar locations (downtown Los

Angeles, New York, or San Francisco), and archetypal storylines (heist films, detective

stories, and court films). (Wikipedia 2006)

Also the morality is subjective here, the characters that usually suffer from maltreatment and

logically would like to break free from it, very often use illegal or immoral means.

The visual style of films noirs is characterised by atypical lighting. The majority of

them are shot in black and white. The fill-light that usually balances the contrasts is

reduced and consequently there emerge sharp, dramatic changes form light to darkness. Low

key-lightning creates shadows where are hidden both villains and plot twists.

After the 1930s films that are full of social optimism, sentimental humanism and

patriotism as a remedy for economic and social crisis (Kuera 2002), films noirs bring

questions of current social issues, the after-the-war problems, as well as the threat of the

feminist movement.

Since the 1960s there have been appearing pictures that continue the idea of film noir.

As examples can be seen Roman Polanskis Chinatown (1974), Ridley Scotts Blade Runner

(1982), many a film by Joel and Ethan Cones (such as Fargo [1996], Big Lebowski[1998] and

Blood Simple[1984]), and David Lynch (Blue Velvet [1986], Mulholland Drive [2001]) or

Quentin Tarantinos Reservoir Dogs (1992).

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4. Type and Style of the Text

4.1 Type of the Text

To be able to translate a text properly, the translator has to determine correctly the type

of the text and its character. This helps them to decide which translation method is best to

apply. When setting the type of the text we should proceed from the functions of language and

from the information which constituent i.e. sender, message or addressee is represented

the most.

According to Karl Bhler there are three functions of language: the expressive, where

the main role is ascribed to the sender or the author, the informative (also called the

representation) with the emphasis on the message or the information and finally the vocative

function with the text being openly directed at the addressee, the reader.

The linguist Peter Newmark made a set of various text types that are characteristic for

each category, as shown in the following scheme (Newmark 2003: 40):

Function Expressive Informative Vocative

Core Writer Truth Readership

Authors Status Sacred Anonymous Anonymous

Type Topic Format

Serious imaginative Scientific Textbook Notices

literature Technological Report Instructions

Authoritative statements Commercial Paper Propaganda

Autobiography Industrial Article Publicity

Personal correspondence Economic Memorandum Popular

fiction

Other areas

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 of knowledge

He classifies the form of essay as something between the expressive and informative text

because it includes both idiolect, personal elements and the facts of a certain topic, objective

information. By the prevailing components the essay is then classed into one of the categories.

As for Film Noir and Women, there seems to predominate the informative function for the

author does not use many personal features (it is social reality that produces crisis in my

masculine identity, I want to examine), she is not judging. We can find a great deal of data

there as well as quotations from various works of other authors both from the

cinematography and other fields everything written in a formal or neutral style with the

utilization of such grammatical features as passives or linguistic devices as Latin and Greek

vocabulary (what must be explained, post hoc analysis, iconography).

However there are more linguists with various approaches to texts and therefore more

than just one way to classify them. For example Mona Baker distinguishes two types of

packaging. The first type

is based on the contexts in which texts occur and results in institutionalized labels such

as journal article, science textbook, newspaper editorial or travel brochure.

(Baker 1994: 114)

The second type is less objective and is predominantly employed only to parts of a text.

Typical labels used in this type of classification include narration, exposition,

argumentation, and instruction. The first classification abstracts across contexts, the

second abstracts across such factors as nature of the messages involved or the

addresser/addressee relationship. (ibid.)

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Mona Baker's classification may seem slightly more popularizing and therefore accessible for

normal people. If we apply this classification to Film Noir and Women, we would get labels of

cultural essay and exposition.

4.2 Character of the Text

As for the character of the text, there are according to Newmark three different

stylistic scales. The scale of formality that varies from officialese to neutral to taboo, the scale

of generality or difficulty where we can find levels such as simple, educated or opaquely

technical, and ultimately the scale of emotionality with degrees going from intense to

understatement. It is believed, however, that this last scale is not really applicable with formal

texts as they tend to be factual and deal with the given issues objectively. (Newmark 2003:

14-15)

If these scales are to be employed to Elizabeth Cowies essay, it will be found that

within the formality scale it dwells on the edge of formal and official (the definition of a

genre as an adherence to a fairly fixed set of conventions has given rise to a tendency to see

genre works as stereotyped and formulaic) with few hints of neutral language (genre studies

in films has many pitfalls). In the generality scale it would be described as educated or

technical, for the author uses many a technical term from the field of cinematography (film

noir is said to be identified by its visual style: low-key lightning; the use of chiaroscuro

effects; strongly marked camera angles, either low or high) and not only English but also

French (mise en scne) and Spanish ones (aficionados). As was said before, the

emotionality scale is in fact not very appropriate for formal works, nevertheless pro forma the

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factual or understatement levels would fit as in the essay there are safe for minor exceptions

(extremely successful) no intensifiers.

4.3 Specific features of Film Noir and Women

Every author has his or her specific way of writing, certain typical, original and

individual elements with the help of which the reader may distinguish the given author from

others. Although this is characteristic predominantly for fictional literature, it is sure to be

found to a certain extent even in non-fictional texts.

What seems to be typical of Elizabeth Cowie is the use of syntactical devices such as

clefts, i.e. breaking up of a single clause into two with the use of a wh-word or the pronoun

it: Whether it is a genre, a cycle of films, a tendency or a movement, film noir has been

extraordinarily successful as a term., What is centred by this fantasy is almost always a

masculine scenario. or inversion: Though only ever realized in some incomplete form, the

true form is nevertheless discerned across a series of films. This device is bound to be

found in many essayistic texts in general, but it should be pointed out that this author applies

it abundantly. It is, together with the tool of italics (I would like to emphasize their psychical

reality) employed usually to emphasise what is being said.

Another typical feature for the author is the utilization of atypical or rare collocations:

categories which (...) had already been fundamentally undermined as discrete forms, the

violent retribution so often enacted upon the femme fatale by the plot. It is something that

enlivens or animates the formal text but on the other hand it is not always easy to translate

effectively.

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5. Intention of the text and its Readership

When writing a text, the author has in mind the presentation of a certain subject matter

to the audience. According to the purpose and the readership of the text, the writer has to

choose a proper style, that is to say they have to decide whether it will be humorous or

educational, descriptive or flowery. This is generally governed by the readership it is aimed at.

If literary texts are left out, the style and lexis chosen with non-literary works would be

probably different when you write a textbook for children and when you write an academic

paper for an international conference of doctors.

As the title suggests, the essay Film Noir and Women is written on a specific kind of

phenomenon within the cinematography field. And the question is now, from which point of

view has the author decided to handle it (as the style is dealt with in other chapters). It is

definitely not meant for film laymen. The text assumes at the audience a certain level of

knowledge or insight into the film subject. The experience that the reader had already gained

should be the basis from which he or she should proceed to acquire even broader knowledge

of the given issue. In other words, the essay is intended to provide information; not for the

academic film-makers neither for people who go to the cinema once a year but for those who

are interested in motion pictures, either professionally or out of a pure entertainment.

Moreover, it is not concerned with film noir in general, it describes one particular issue and

that is the position and role of women characters in this genre. This thematic narrowing,

however, does not necessarily breed narrowing of the audience. For, among other reasons,

feministic issue is rather fashionable nowadays, which could attract the attention of more

people, on the other hand it is recognised that it is more than legitimate to deal with this topic

within the film industry.

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 Therefore the readership would likely consist of both men and women with the

concern in cinematography, but also of people from psychological or sociological fields, as

the issue discussed interferes in these domains as well. Furthermore, the readers in question

would be doubtless rather young because apart from some exceptions among the cinema

audience and the film aficionados are counted mostly young people.

6. Translating Non-fiction

The approach to translating non-fiction is different from the way of translating fiction,

basically because there are dissimilar specific problems and difficulties rising from the two

unlike fields. As the author of majority of non-literary works is anonymous, it might seem

that it is not necessary for the translators to follow certain personal style of the author of the

original (which is, however, essential with literary texts). Notwithstanding, they should not

impose on the text a somewhat specific style of their own. The resulting product has to be

loyal to the model, which means that the wording can slightly differ in order to preserve the

argument of the original:

The important thing is to set aside all the words of the [original] text and see the

picture clearly. Having seen the picture the translator must write down what he sees in

the simplest [target language]. It is the idea or the picture that has to be communicated,

and not equivalents of the actual words. (Bell 1994: 110)

On the other hand, the translator must preserve not only the picture but also the register and

character of the text. Otherwise it would be rather rephrasing or imitation but certainly not

translation.

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 To some extent, the translators of non-fiction have to focus on other elements of the

text than those who translate fiction. They do not need to deal so much with metaphors or

with the divergence in the source and target culture. Doubtless the greatest difference lays in

the representation of imagination versus that of reality, non-literary translation may always be

put to the test in the real world. Nevertheless, translation of these two kinds of text has also

something in common: they both have to preserve the level of naturalness and loyalty. As

Peter Newmark says,

you have to ensure a) that your translation makes sense; b) that it reads naturally, that

it is not written in ordinary language, the common grammar, idioms and words that

meet that kind of situation. (Newmark 2003: 24)

For keeping the sense of a translation we have to maintain the style coherence as well as be

aware of the overall context.

Another pitfall of the non-fiction translation is the terms. Because specialised

translation is a specific kind of transferring the information, there are specific ways of

translating the individual terms. And if it was said before that the translator has to be aware of

the context, with technical terms it is in a certain manner special. For these expressions are

autonomous, defined units, independent from the context. (Kufnerov 1994: 22)

Nevertheless, if the translated term does not work within the particular context, it was

probably chosen wrongly. There has to be found a word then that would render the same idea

as the original and moreover would fit into the given subject field. However, there is also

many a term nowadays that has an international character and is understood all over the

world, which makes the life easier for translators.

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 Yet, as the subject of this thesis is a film essay, it should be pointed out that,

unfortunately, this is not always the case with the terms from the field of cinematography.

With the exception of a small number of words that are widely comprehended, to begin with

cinematography itself, and some others, such as film, western, thriller, and if we detach the

different spelling, also genre, the majority of terms from this field has to be translated. As an

example we can see words like close-up, night-for-night and screen. This issue, however, will

be dealt with later in a greater detail in the section of individual problems of translation.

Generally speaking, non-fiction or specialised translation is supposed to explain the

ideas and arguments of the original as clearly and accurately as possible, it has to be loyal to

the original and understandable for the readers.

6.1 Specialised Translation

Peter Newmark distinguishes two kinds of specialised translation: technical and

institutional. The former type is potentially non-cultural, therefore universal(Newmark

2003: 151). In other words, it is not bound to one specific culture, for various sorts of

technology are to be found all over the world. As a result of this, the specialised terms that are

included in it should be translated. This is not the case, however, with the latter kind of

translation, that is, the institutional one. This is seen as cultural and covers the area of

politics, commerce, finance, government etc.(ibid.) Here, in most cases, the terms should be

transferred because they refer to a certain cultural phenomenon, characteristic for a particular

society. Thus the question may arise of what type the translation of an essay that deals with

cinematography is. On one hand it copes with certain cultural especially American

characteristics but on the other hand the film industry is not confined to only one country. No

matter how much various national filmmaking differs, the essence is everywhere the same

13
moving pictures with a story. Therefore the answer is rather easy: what we are dealing here

with, is a technical translation. Consequently, the specialised terms should be translated and

not transferred, although the terminology of film noir is not that well-established in the Czech

environment or among Czech film aficionados.

6.2 Organization of the Text

To be recognized as a text, the group of sentences must possess certain organization.

Moreover, this organization has to be chosen correctly for every individual language, as the

features that make the text a text are specific both for language and culture. In case of

translation this is mostly important for if the reader is to accept the translated work as a text

by itself and, although aware that it is not original, not to be cautioned to this fact (which is

basically the aim of the translator), the text has to sound natural in the target language.

Otherwise, even if it is grammatically and lexically correct, the reader will see it as foreign,

without knowing why.

The features that persuade the readers that what they are reading is a text are

fundamentally connections within and among the sentences of the text. According to Mona

Baker, these connections are of several kinds:

First, there are connections which are established through the arrangement of

information within each clause and the way this relates to the arrangement of

information in preceding and following clauses and sentences. (...) Second, there are

surface connections which establish interrelationships between persons and events. (...)

Finally, there are underlining semantic connections which allow us to make sense of

a text as a unit of meaning. (Baker 1994: 113)

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In other words, these connections have much to do with thematic and information structures,

cohesion and coherence and as a whole thus help to better understanding of the given text and

its natural sound. Without the application of these, the translated text would not be a

translation of the original but a mere non-homogeneous clutter of words and sentences,

without any sense to the target reader.

6.3 Word Order

Every language has its specific word order, which is something the translator has to be

aware of. It is very important because it helps the readers to orientate themselves in the text.

In English the order is strictly given, in other languages, especially those that have the system

of case inflections (for example Slavic languages, such as Czech), this is not so. In the

inflectional languages the core of the information does not need to lie at some specific place.

Owing to the endings, the reader should be able to recognize what the predicative is and

where the subject is. We can thus translate the sentence Film noir as a genre is in a certain

sense a fantasy. both as Film noir je jako nr v jistm smyslu iluze and V jistm smyslu

je film noir jako nr iluze. In Czech language the point of the message depends principally

on the emphasis, that is, where the translator wants the emphasis to be. This concerns the

concept of Functional Sentence Perspective that is based on the opposition of theme and

rheme, where the sentence follows the pattern of going from the least new information to the

newest. Czech language can take advantage of this device, as there is as was said before

no rigid word order and it can be seen well especially in translating.

As Mona Baker says:

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 In languages with elaborate case inflections, word order is largely a matter of

stylistic variation and is available as a resource to signal emphasis and contrast and to

organize messages in a variety of ways. Word order is extremely important in

translation because it plays a major role in maintaining a coherent point of view and in

orientating messages at text level. (Baker 1994: 110)

What difference it would make if the sentence While he appeals to a social reality

which gives rise to these fantasies, I would like to emphasize their psychical reality was

translated as A zatmco on se odvolv na spoleenskou realitu, kter tmto iluzm dv

vzniknout, j bych rda zdraznila jejich psychologickou realitu instead of A zatmco on se

odvolv na spoleenskou realitu, kter tmto iluzm dv vzniknout, j bych rda zdraznila

jejich realitu psychologickou. Here we can see how, within the sentence, Czech can shift

words together with the emphasis without fundamentally changing the sense. For this purpose

English usually uses the device of italics whith which the pointed word acquires an additional

accent (for further details see chapter 7.2 The Use of Italics). Therefore, in English it is only

the context what informs us about the old or new piece of information.

6.4 The Writer Reader Relationship

Technical texts usually tend to be impersonal, although individual works differ in the

level of impersonality. If a comparison should be drawn between English and Czech technical

texts, it would transpire that the Czech works incline to be more personal than the English. It

seems that the Czech authors are disposed to create a closer relationship with the reader,

especially with the assistance of more personal reference (particularly the first person plural

forms), whereas

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 English texts contain more impersonal reference, especially passive forms and neuter

pronouns (the dummy-IT). Academic writers in English do not feel the need to

establish some kind of empathy between themselves and the readers, and the latter

accept that much empathy will not be overtly established, and they do not expect it

either. (Urbanov 1986: 110)

But the level of impersonality differs not only in compliance with a national tradition

but also according to the level of formality. Peter Newmark distinguishes three varieties of

technical style:

1) Academic, that (based on medical vocabulary) uses transferred Greek and

Latin words associated with academic papers, e.g. phlegmasia alba dolens

2) Professional, which includes formal terms used by experts (epidemic

parotitis)

3) Popular, with layman vocabulary that may include familiar alternative terms

(chicken-pox) (Newmark 2003: 153)

Following these hierarchies, Film Noir and Women should be located into the

professional variety of technical texts, for there are no highly formal words and despite the

fact that there can be found some latinised vocabulary, it is not something that a literate reader

would not understand. Nevertheless, on the other hand it is not written in a simple or popular

manner. The text includes many formal terms (e.g. milieux, voice-over or night-for-night

filming on location) and yet they are still comprehendible and accessible for an averagely

educated reader.

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 Typically for English technical writing, the author takes advantage of the passive

forms and it-constructions, as in it must be admitted that melodrama is a highly imprecise

genre or it is seen as portraying the masculine problem of the forties. As far as the

translation into Czech is concerned, the style of the author of the original should be preserved,

which means that, notwithstanding the product will be designated for the Czech audience, the

translator is not allowed any tendencies toward a greater personality.

7. Individual Problems of Translation

7.1 The Use of Loan Words

As virtually every language (Czech is no exception), also English utilises loan words

in many texts. Nevertheless, according to Mona Baker:

the use of loan words in the source text poses a special problem in translation. Quite

apart from their respective propositional meaning, loan words (...) are often used for

their prestige value, because they can add an air of sophistication to the text or its

subject matter. (...) Because it is not always possible to find a loan word with the same

meaning in the target language, its stylistic effect would almost certainly have to be

sacrificed. (Baker 1994: 25)

What is typical of English texts are loan words from French. They occur also in the

essay Film Noir and Women. The denomination of the genre itself is French, but this is a

specific case (as was explained in the chapter Cultural Background). English (educated)

readers are much more familiar with French than the Czech readers would be, therefore it is

18
necessary for the translator to either find a word in Czech with the same or at least similar

meaning or explain the expression as closely as possible. Thus the greatest problem presented

the phrase mise en scne that is something like setting of the scene. There exists a Czech

word mizanscna which is, however, used in a more theatrical context. Finally I decided for

simple scna because I found it better not to complicate the sentences and, moreover, I

think that this word gives a true picture of the essence of the French phrase. Consequently

the mise en scne of these fantasies is provided by elements from the contingent social

reality was translated as Scna tchto fantazi je vybavena prvky z dan spoleensk

reality and Celia is not an innocent player in this mise en scne of murderous desire as

Celia v tto scn vraedn touhy nen nevinnou hrkou.

Other French words could be translated into Czech without much difficulty. Thus

amor fou became len lska (characters feel compelled by forces and passions beyond

their reason to act as they do in a form of amour fou as postavy maj pocit, e je takto nut

jednat sly a vn, nad ktermi nemaj moc, e je to jako druh len lsky), histoire

according to the context turned not into historie but pbh (there is no subsequent

marking of the whole film as flashback, so that the rest of the film appears as histoire as

dn dal nznaky, e by cel film byl flashback, u nejsou patrn, take jeho zbytek je

chpn jako pbh) and ultimately jouissance again following the context developed into

rozko (the fantasy that Celia must go through is that of enjoyment or jouissance that Rick

signifies as fantazie, kterou Celia mus prot je poten nebo rozko, je pro ni Rick

pedstavuje).

All the same, there are loan words from more languages than just French in the essay.

One of them is the term aficionado, taken from Spanish. It is already integrated in English

for it can be found as an entry in the Longman dictionary of Contemporary English with the

definition someone who is very interested in a particular activity or subject and knows a lot

19
about it (Longman 1999), on the other hand it is still perceived as foreign, as the author uses

it written in italics. The closest word in Czech is fanouek, and although it does not

embrace the whole signification of the original there seems to be no better possibility. As a

result, from a devotion among aficionados became naden mezi fanouky.

Ultimately, there are Latin words, and not only in the form of latinised vocabulary that

is as was said before typical for technical texts, but also pure Latin forms, such as post

hoc. There is assumed certain knowledge of Latin at the Czech reader and therefore it seems

unnecessary to translate or explain these expressions.

7.2 The Use of Italics

The words that the writer wants to emphasise in English are often marked by italics.

This is common both in fictional and non-fiction works. In Czech, however, there is no such

tradition because we have other means of expressing the emphasis. Therefore, when

translating an emphasised word from English, originally in italics, the translator should

attempt at finding alternative way of transferring it. This is usually done with the help of

Functional Sentence Perspective, theme and rheme.

Consequently, the sentence taken from a quotation of Sigmund Freud: neurosis (...) is

apt (...) to attach itself to a piece of reality (...) and lend to that piece a special importance and

a secret meaning which we (...) call a symbolic one should be translated without the

application of italics as neurza m tendenci pipojit se ke kousku reality a propjit mu tak

zvltn dleitost a skryt vznam, jen nazvme symbolickm, instead of unnatural

accentuation by different typeface.

Nevertheless, the italics are used also in other cases. For instance, to show a loan word

(e.g. aficionados) or an expression that the author wants the readers to remember or even

20
learn. As for the latter, in Czech texts it is either inserted into quotation marks or left in italics

as well. The former, although it was mentioned before that loan words in English are not

always translatable as loan words into Czech, most of the times preserves the original type of

font (we can see that for example at the Latin words). On the other hand, in the case of the

phrase film noir which is in the essay used remarkably often, it does not look very natural if

left in the original type. It may appear as an overuse in the Czech text and accordingly

unnecessarily distract the reader. As a result I have decided for using the unmarked typeface

here.

Specific case of italics employment is its usage with the titles of films and books. As it

is understood that these have to be highlighted in a way, distinguished from the surrounding

text, they, on the contrary, need distinct print. In Czech texts, there are no given rules what

kind of print it should be therefore italics can be applied without reservation.

7.3 Proper Names

There are different problems with proper names in literary and non-literary works. In

fiction you have to, apart form standard names, solve the translation of invented names that

may have a special meaning within the text (as it is for example at Terry Pratchetts or J.R.R.

Tolkiens books). Notwithstanding, the situation is usually different with non-fiction. There

appear mostly names of people who really exist(ed), so the translators do not need to trouble

themselves with making up imaginative denominations. Generally speaking and according

to Peter Newmark the peoples names are transferred, not translated, thus preserving their

nationality, and assuming that their names have no connotations in the text. (Newmark 2003:

214)

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 If the translator has any doubts of the familiarity of the person among the target

readers, the name

has to be glossed, inside or outside the translation, depending on its occasion. It should

not be left as it is simply because it is unglossed in the source text, this being

irrelevant. (Newmark 1998: 90)

Consequently, for the Czech audience it is not necessary to explain who Sigmund Freud is but

in case of people like James Damico, Marc Vernet or Richard Maltby it should be clarified

that they are film critics and essayists. Moreover, as the Czech language unlike English

distinguishes the grammatical gender, for the translator it is a must to ascertain whether the

person mentioned is a man or women. And not only when the name is not familiar to them but

also with names that seem to clearly show the gender, for that matter remember the writer

Evelyne Waugh.

7.4 Technical Terms

The terms are probably the most significant issue within the technical translation.

Without regard to their independence of the context, it is sometimes difficult to find the right

denomination of the described phenomenon, either because the concept is unknown in the

target culture or because the target language does not have a specific term for it. The notion

should be to some extent delineated or explained to the target reader.

Furthermore, in Elizabeth Cowies essay, the terms are not only from the field of film

industry but also from psychology, as there are included quotations from the works of

Sigmund Freud.

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 There is a long tradition of film-making in the Czech Republic and as a result the

terminology is quite well established, though on the other hand, the genre of film noir has not

been one of the most employed, so there may occur certain problematic points. Generally

speaking, as a source for the individual expressions it is inevitable to use technical

dictionaries or even academic texts written in the target language as the fixed expressions

should not be transformed.

Thus, after consulting the available sources (including film experts), I reached the

following results. Owing to the infiltration of English into Czech there are a few terms that are

used in their original form (e.g. flashback). Most of the words, however, need translation.

Consequently, tough thriller became drsn thriller, marked camera angles turned into

zvraznn hly kamery and tight framing was translated as tsn rmovn. Nonetheless,

there were also expressions that had to be explained, rather than translated. This was the case

of the phrase night-for-night, that is shooting the night scenes at night, first, because it is

cheaper and second, for gaining a special light effects. Thus I incorporated it in the sentence

as non scny se tak to v noci pmo v exterirech. Still, this is only a short account of

otherwise long list of specialised terms used in the work.

There are also some culture-specific concepts to be found in the essay. One of them is

the expression Production Code. There is no Czech word for it and what is more, the Czech

reader is not familiar with this concept. The necessity to adumbrate it turns however veiled

to accommodate the Production Code into jakkoli zasten, aby vyhovla autocenzue

Hollywoodu, tak zvanmu Production Code. The reader is thus able to understand the basic

idea of it.

As was said before, another subject matter was the terms from the domain of

psychology. The best solution for determining them right is usually to find a Czech translation

of the texts mentioned in the essay and trace them there. Consequently, world of phantasy

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was translated as svt fantazie and rescue-phantasy as zchrann fantazie. Banal as it

may seem it is not because these terms are established within the psychological area and using

any other words would lead to confusion.

On the whole, the specialised terms form an important part of every specialised text.

Actually, if there are no technical terms, there is no technical text. For the sake of both the text

and its reader, they should be translated as loyally as possible.

7.5 Film and Book Titles

As the translated essay is written on the topic of film noir, there are bound to be some

film titles. Some of the films mentioned could have been seen in the Czech Republic, some

are unknown to the Czech audience. When dealing with the films titles I derived the Czech

ones from the internet page esko-Slovensk Filmov databze (www.csfd.cz), probably the

most reliable and certainly the most extensive source of internet information from the

cinematography field among the Czech websites (see the internet version of the film magazine

Cinepur, http://www.cinepur.cz/odkazy.php). Nevertheless, there were some films the names

of which have not been translated yet. In that event I had to find a suitable title by myself.

Ideally, I would watch the picture first and than, according to the story, I would attempt at

detecting the right name for it. Unfortunately, the overwhelming majority of the pictures are

not accessible for a Czech viewer; therefore I was forced to be guided only by the descriptions

by film funs on the internet (apart from the already mentioned webpage also the International

Movie Database, www.imdb.com).

The following list includes the titles that have not the Czech version so far:

Caught V pasti

Dead Reckoning Odhad

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 The Pitfall Skryt nebezpe

Raw Deal Rna pod ps

The Reckless Moment Okamik lehkomyslnosti

Secret Beyond the Door... Tajemn dvee

There were also cases where the English title was a collocating phrase and then I chose

rather the direct Czech equivalent of this collocation, as for instance in The Reign of Terror,

made into Hrzovlda. A special case was the title Murder, My Sweet which depicts one of

the stories of the famous detective Philip Marlowe, familiar also to the Czech readers. It is

based on Raymond Chandlers novel Farewell, My Lovely and the title of the film was

changed for the American market to prevent film-goers mistaking it for a musical. As there is

no such musical on the Czech stages, I thought it best to preserve the original title of the book

and thus make it easier for the audience to recognize one story of the Marlow series. As a

result, I called it according to the Czech title of the book Sbohem bu, lsko m.

Apart from the film titles, there appear also book and essay titles. The essays are by

Sigmund Freud, therefore it was necessary to search for the Czech translation which I found

in the book Sigmund Freud: Spisy z let 1909-1913 (Kocourek, 1997). As for the book title, it

is that of Foster Hirschs Film Noir: The Dark Side of the Screen (Hirsch: 1981). It has not

been translated into Czech yet so I decided for Film noir: temn strnka pltna.

25
8. Conclusion

Technical translation brings about certain aspects that are excluded from the literary

translation. These are the special terms, the level of background knowledge that the translator

has to obtain or the preservation of the given information value of the original, to name a few.

The translator has to treat the text as a whole, howsoever it may induce them to deal with it in

separate segments.

The intention of this thesis was to elucidate the process of specialised translation. It

has exposed some of the particular stages of the translation of a technical essay, as well as it

demonstrated the practical aspects of it. During the process of translating, I came to the

conclusion that in the case of the translation concerned with cultural, namely cinematographic

issues, the translator will find also nearly "literary" matters, such as paraphrasing the film

titles, or that even with the language being not necessarily highly flowery it may arrange

many a pitfall for the translator. Another topic was the technical terms from the film noir field

for which there exist no equivalents in Czech. I attempted to translate them as loyally and

comprehensibly as possible. I believe that my work may be percieved as the initital impetus

for further research into the obscure and mysterious field of film noir and that it has also

contributed to a certain propagation of this genre in general

In Appendix I it is possible to find the translated part of the essay Film Noir and

Women, called Film noir a eny, and in Appendix II the same part in original.

26
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