Subj : Anecdotes about translators
To   : Alexander Koryagin
From : Ardith Hinton
Date : Wed Oct 20 2021 23:58:08

Hi, Alexander!  Recently you wrote in a message to Ardith Hinton:

ak>  I am not sure I know the correct word [...].

AH>  When I looked up "twit" in THE FREE DICTIONARY I found quite 
AH>  a lot of stuff you might find useful, including definitions 
AH>  & synonyms.  In summary... a twit is a foolish, stupid, 
AH>  annoying, and/or insignificant person.  I'm guessing that is 
AH>  more or less what you were thinking of here.

AK>  Did you use "twit" as "beep" when somebody on TV swears? 
AK>  Is "goat" so indecent?


          I don't consider either to be a "swear word"... but I do consider it rude to describe anybody that way within their hearing.  If the director spoke in Russian, assuming none of his visitors would understand, he was wrong.

          Because the word "goat" often has negative connotations in English I understood what you meant.  Because you were asking about synonyms, however, I chose one which might elicit more useful information from a desk dictionary... and in this case THE FREE DICTIONARY didn't disappoint me.  It reports the way people actually speak, yet gives us fair warning about "coarse slang"....  :-)



ak>  The director sees them into his cabinet
AH>                                  |private office

AK>  Yea, there are many words in Russian when we are sure that 
AK>  they mean the same in English. :)


          I've had the same experience myself... but this usage is more common in French than in English & may not be listed in English\English dictionaries.



AH>  a tense change in mid-paragraph, unless the logic is 
AH>  obvious to me, still sounds wrong according to what 
AH>  I was taught.  :-Q

AK>  I agree. Although I saw many examples of it in the modern
AK>  literature. 


          In modern literature you'll also see things like dangling modifiers, sentence fragments, and what I'd call "wrong word" errors.  During the 1960's, some influential linguists deemed it unnecessary to teach grammar to e.g. kids in junior high school whose major goal was to fit in with their contemporaries on the assumption that native speakers pick up on it intuitively.  As a "front line worker" I can tell you this idea doesn't always work in practice....  :-Q



ak>  and says to his secretary girl, "Well dear --               
AH>                  |female secretary

AK>  Although such informal "dear" can be applied to the girl 
AK>  only. 


          His use of the word "dear" in such a situation implies the secretary is female... and maybe we needn't specify there... but in general, I would not expect to hear any employee addressed that way in a business office.  IMHO the informality could be taken to mean there's some extracurricular activity going on which she feels she must participate in if she'd like to keep her job.  The relationship may be more of a father-daughter one, but we can't be quite sure.

          My objection, though, was to the use of the word "girl" in reference to a grown woman doing what some people consider to be a menial job.  Although not uncommon, it does imply a feeling of superiority in various cases....  :-)
                                                            
    
                                                 
AK>  It is not necessary that the translator wanted to drink
AK>  alcohol. 


          Agreed.  What matters is that the translator knew what was going on, and had the power to make or break any prospective business deal... [chuckle].



AK>  The understanding depends on our feeling of black humour.


          Yes.  IMHO black humour depends for its effect on having an audience with life experiences similar to one's own.  Russians often seem to imply they enjoy alcoholic beverages, but I hear this about others too.  Such details may be most amusing when the joke is told by a Russian to a Russian audience.  :-)




--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+
 * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)

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