SUNK IN TRANSLATION. SOME REMARKS ON THE TRANSLATOR’S (IN)COMPETENCE WHEN CONFRONTED WITH THE READER’S KNOWLEDGE Cover Image

Zatopione w tłumaczeniu. Kilka uwag o (nie)kompetencji tłumacza w konfrontacji z wiedzą czytelnika
SUNK IN TRANSLATION. SOME REMARKS ON THE TRANSLATOR’S (IN)COMPETENCE WHEN CONFRONTED WITH THE READER’S KNOWLEDGE

Author(s): Ewa Kujawska-Lis, Andrzej Lis-Kujawski
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Translation Studies
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Warmińsko-Mazurskiego w Olsztynie
Keywords: translation; translator’s competence; meta-competence; specialist language; military and naval terminology

Summary/Abstract: This article attempts to revise a thesis concerning an equivalent status of various translator’scompetences (linguistic, encyclopaedic, logical, psychological, rhetoric-pragmatic). When discussingmistakes made in the Polish translation of Escape from the Deep, relating the fate of a submarine,we demonstrate how the lack of specialist knowledge (insufficient encyclopaedic competence) andlinguistic knowledge influence a negative reception of the translation by a reader whose knowledgeof the subject-matter is rather extensive. We suggest that a broadly understood psychologicalcompetence, embracing the translator’s readiness to extend his/her knowledge, may be treated asa kind of superior competence (meta-competence) that conditions a creation of a high qualitytranslation in terms of the subject-matter.

  • Issue Year: 1/2015
  • Issue No: XVII
  • Page Range: 71-86
  • Page Count: 16
  • Language: Polish