Translation on the Level of Text

Finally there are the cases, when even sentences fail to be the units of translation, and then the whole text becomes the unit, in which the whole group of independent sentences is combined within the framework of one text. Such phenomenon in prose is improbable or rare exception; however in such specific type of translation as translation of poetry it is quite ordinary. Let us compare Shakespeare’s sonnet No 49 in the SL and in S. Y. Marshak’s translation:

Against that time, if ever that time come,
When I shall see thee frown on my defects,
When as thy love hath cast his utmost sum,
Call’d to that audit by advis’d respects;

Against that time when thou shalt strangely passs
And scarcely greet me with that sun, thine eye,
When love, converted from the thing, it was,
Shall reasons find of settled gravity is

Against that time do I ensconce me here
Within the knowledge of mine own desert,
And this my hand against myself uprear,
To guard the lawful reasons on thy part:

To leave poor me thou hast the strength of laws,
Since why to love I can allege no cause.

В тот черный день (пусть он минует нас!),
Когда увидишь все мои пороки,
Когда терпенья истощишь запас
И мне объявишь приговор жестокий,

Когда, со мной сойдясь в толпе людской,
Меня едва подаришь взглядом ясным,
И я увижу холод и покой
В твоем лице, по-прежнему прекрасном,

В тот день поможет горю моему
Сознание, что я тебя не стою,
И руку я в присяге подниму,
Все оправдав своей неправотою.

Меня оставить вправе ты, мой друг,
А у меня для счастья нет заслуг.

Here it is impossible to set correlation between the original text and the translated text either on the level of isolated words (except for only the words: defects – пороки, hand – руку and leave – оставить), or on the word-combination level, or even on the sentence level, because none of the sentences of the Russian text, taken separately, outside the given context, can be considered as equivalent to the meaning of the sentence of the English text. Here the whole translated text is the unit of translation: in spite of the absence of correlation among their parts, the Russian poem as a whole, can be considered as an equivalent to English one, because in general, both of them impart one and the same content and figurative information.

Questions for discussion:

1. Why are cliches and formulas translated on the level of sentence?

2. In what way do the types of proverbs differ from each other?

3. What are the characteristics of relative mono-equivalents?

4. What are the characteristics of antonymic equivalents?

5. Why are poems sometimes translated on the level of text?

Translate the following text paying attention to Geographical Names on the Map of the USA in italics:

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