The translator’s choice

:Terms to identify
Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source language text by means of an 
.equivalent target language text
.Source language is the language being translated from

.Target Language is the language being translated into

False friends are those confusing words that appear or sound identical or similar to words in their
.own language, yet have different meanings or senses
For example; gift in German means poison
gift in Norwegian means married
 :Terms to identify

Translationese’ is a term used to characterize stretches of a‘ 

translation in which the structure of the language of the source
text is clearly evident and unusual or inappropriate in light of
.the conventions and rules of the language of the translation
A translated text is made on the basis of a translator’s 
understanding of another text, but sometimes translators can
hardly help displaying aspects of their understanding in their
translation. This is most evident in cases of ambiguous source
.text

 Making a translation

A translator (i) creates semantic resemblance out of linguistic 

.variance
Selects target language norm conforming forms that are as )ii( 
close as possible to the source text formalities
Decides how to deal with cultural and contextual )iii( 
;variance
Considers the purpose of and audience for the )iv( 
translation – all against the background of (v) his or her
.understanding of the source text
 Domestication & Foreignization

Domestication means taking the text to the reader, which 

means including cultural and contextual markers from the
.original
Foreignization means taking the reader to the text, which 
means adjusting to the norms of the culture where the
.translation is to function
 The text to be translated was written in 1835 by the
.Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen
The story’s title, Prindsessen paa Ærten, means, 
.’straightforwardly, ‘The princess on the pea
Translators through the 173 years that separate us from the story have also 
:chosen (earliest use only mentioned)
.The princess and the peas (three in Boner’s translation) 
.princess and the parched pea (De Chatelain) 
.The real princess (Peachy, picking up a story theme) 
.The princess on the bean (Wehnert – unclear why a bean should be preferred) 
The princess and the pea (Paull – ‘and’ is chosen regularly, despite the original 
.and despite the princess clearly being on the pea)
 Der var engang en Prinds

.)’There was once a prince‘(

The text is of the genre known in English as the fairy tale, and der var
engang is the standard opening for the corresponding Danish genre. In
English, the standard opening is ‘Once upon a time’, so the translator
may decide between domesticating the text, choosing ‘Once upon a
time’ or foreignizing it, using the semantically much closer ‘There was
once’. The existing translations are evenly split among the two
 han vilde have sig en Prindsesse

)’he [the prince] would have himself a princess‘( 

He opted for
.’he wanted to have a princess‘ :
men det skulde være en rigtig Prindsesse

.)’but it should be a real princess‘( 

Quite obviously and unproblematically, in 
compliance with English linguistic conventions,
‘it’ becomes ‘she’, ‘should be’ becomes ‘would
have to be’, and he selected ‘a real princess’ for
.the rest, making
’but she would have to be a real princess‘ 
Saa reiste han hele Verden rundt, for at finde
,saadan en
then travelled he the whole world around for to find‘( 
)’such one

:He made out of this 

’Then he travelled all around the world to find one‘ 

 men allevegne var der noget i Veien, Prindsesser vare der nok
af, men om det vare rigtige Prindsesser, kunde han ikke ganske
komme efter, altid var der noget, som ikke var saa rigtigt

but everywhere was there something in the way, princesses were there enough‘( 
of, but whether it were real princesses could he not quite come after, always was
)’there something which not was so right
He made out of this this 
but everywhere something was wrong, there were plenty of princesses, but he‘ 
could never be quite sure whether they were real princesses, there was always
’something that was not quite right about them
Saa kom han da hjem igjen og var saa bedrøvet, for
.han vilde saa gjerne have en virkelig Prindsesse

then came he da home again and was so sad, for he wanted so fain to‘ 
’have a genuine princess

,So he chose 

So then he came home again and was very sad, because he wanted so‘ 
’much to have a genuine princess
 En Aften blev det et da frygteligt Veir; det lynede og
tordnede, Regnen skyllede ned, det var ganske
forskrækkeligt! Saa bankede det paa Byens Port, og den
gamle Konge gik hen at lukke op
One evening became it then a terrible weather; it thundered and lightened, ‘(
the rain poured down, it was quite frightful! Then knocked it on the town’s
)’.gate, and the old king went along to open up

: He made out of this

Then one evening the weather turned truly awful; there was thunder and
lightning and pouring rain, it was quite terrible! Then there was a knock on
.the town gate and the old king went along to open it
Det var en Prindsesse, som stod udenfor. Men Gud hvor hun saae ud af
Regnen og det onde Veir! Vandet løb ned af hendes Haar og hendes Klæder,
og det løb ind af Næsen paa Skoen og ud af Hælen, og saa sagde hun, at hun
.var en virkelig Prindsesse

It was a princess who stood outside. But God how she looked from the rain and the ‘( 
evil weather! The water ran down from her hair and her clothes, and it ran in through
the nose of the shoe and out through the heel, and then said she that she was a
) genuine

: He made out of this 

It was a princess who was standing outside. But God what a sight she was with the rain ‘ 
and the evil weather! Water was running down her hair and her clothes, and in at the
’toes of her shoes and out at the heels, and yet she said that she was a genuine princess
 Ja, det skal vi nok faae at vide!« tænkte den gamle Dronning, men hun sagde ikke
noget, gik ind i Sovekammeret, tog alle Sengklæderne af og lagde en Ært paa Bunden
af Sengen, derpaa tog hun tyve Matrasser, lagde dem ovenpaa ærten, og saa endnu
tyve Edderduuns-Dyner oven paa Matrasserne. Der skulde nu Prindsessen ligge om
.Natten
Yes, that shall we nok get to know!’ thought the old queen, but she said not‘( 
anything, went into the bedroom, took all the bedclothes off and laid a pea on the
bottom of the bed, thereupon took she twenty mattresses, laid them on top of the
pea, and then yet twenty eiderdown-quilts on top of the mattresses. There should
). now the princess lie at night
:He selected 
Well, we’ll soon see about that!’ thought the old queen, but she didn’t say anything, ‘
went into the bedroom, took all the bedclothes off and put a pea on the bottom of the
bed, then she put twenty mattresses on top of the pea, and then another twenty
eiderdown-quilts on top of the mattresses. That was where the princess was to lie
.that night

Om Morgenen spurgte de hende, hvorledes hun havde sovet. »O forskrækkeligt slet!«
sagde Prindsessen, »Jeg har næsten ikke lukket mine Øine den hele Nat! Gud veed, hvad
der har været i Sengen? Jeg har ligget paa noget haardt, saa jeg er ganske bruun og blaa
«!over min hele Krop! Det er ganske forskrækkeligt

In the morning asked they her how she had slept. ‘Oh terribly badly!’ said the ‘( 
princess, ‘I have almost not closed my eyes the whole night! God knows what
there has been in the bed? I have lain on something hard, so I am quite brown
!and blue over my whole body

In the morning they asked they her how she had slept. ‘Oh terribly badly!’ 
said the princess, ‘I have hardly closed my eyes the entire night! God
knows what was in that bed? I’ve been lying on something hard, so that I
’!am black and blue all over! It is quite terrible
Prindsen tog hende da til Kone, for nu vidste han,
.at han havde en rigtig Prindsesse

The prince took her then to wife, for now he knew‘( 

)that he had a real princess

: He translated this way 

So the prince took her as his wife, for now he knew that‘
’.he had a real princess