By Prachi Kukreja
The selected English text is an extract of the novel The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green in 2012.
John Michael Green is a 42 years old American author and YouTube content creator. His writings majorly revolve around the young adult fiction genre. Some of his renowned books include Looking for Alaska, Paper Towns, Turtles All The Way Down, and many more. He has won two Printz Award, one in 2006 for his debut novel (Looking for Alaska) and the second for his fourth solo novel (The Fault in Our Stars). He has even received recognition by being debuted at number one on The New York Times Best Seller List in January 2012.
Source Text
Late in the winter of my seventeenth year, my mother decided I was depressed, presumably because I rarely left the house, spent quite a lot of time in bed, read the same book over and over, ate infrequently, and devoted quite a bit of my abundant free time to thinking about death. Whenever you read a cancer booklet or website or whatever, they always list depression among the side effects of cancer. But, in fact, depression is not a side effect of cancer. Depression is a side effect of dying. (Cancer is also a side effect of dying. Almost everything is, really.)
But my mom believed I required treatment, so she took me to see my Regular Doctor Jim, who agreed that I was veritably swimming in a paralyzing and totally clinical depression and that therefore my meds should be adjusted and also I should attend a weekly Support Group.
Target Text
À la fin de l'hiver de ma dix-septième année, ma mère a décidé que j'étais déprimé, probablement parce que je quittais ma maison rarement, passais beaucoup de temps au lit, lisais le même livre plusieurs fois, mangeais rarement, et consacrais une bonne partie de mon temps libre abondant à penser à la mort. N'importe quand vous lisez un livret sur le cancer ou un site Web ou tout ce que vous voulez, ils toujours listent la dépression, parmi les effets secondaires du cancer. Mais, en fait, la dépression n'est pas un effet secondaire du cancer. La dépression est un effet secondaire de la mort. (Le cancer est également un effet secondaire de la morte. Presque tout est, vraiment).
Mais, ma mère croyait que j'avais besoin d'un traitement, alors elle m'a emmené voir mon médecin régulier Jim, qui a convenu que je nageais vraiment dans la dépression paralysante et totalement clinique, et que pour cette raison, mes médicaments devraient être ajustés et aussi je devrais assister à un groupe hebdomadaire, Support Group.
The strategy used for Translation
The strategy chosen by me for this specific extract was a literal translation. I chose this method because I found the extract to have one simple meaning, instead of having a superficial and a deeper meaning, separately. It was facile since the meaning could be comprehended with ease and in one go.
Critical Analysis of Literal Translation
1. Pros
-It allows literature to be enjoyed by more people throughout the world (especially for the people with completely different mother tongues.) and acts as a helping hand for newcomers.
- Here, the translator has to perform the word-to-word translation which is much easier than sense-to-sense translation or the mixture of the two.
-It is less time-taking as we just have to translate the text by using the word-to-word trick.
-Helps you learn new vocabulary.
2. Cons
-Sometimes, the translated text becomes unpleasant or obnoxious to read.
- While performing literal translation, the translator has to put his skills at stake so that he doesn't miss out on the main sense or the gist of the content.
- Literal translation can involve translating the words from the source language, which does not have any prominent presence in the target language. The Hindi word मौसी in English would mean 'aunt' which, on the other hand, in Hindi means काकी or आंटी and not मौसी.
- It can often lead to mother-tongue interference. For example- an idiom in Hindi such as बदर क्या जाने अदरक का स्वाद would mean 'the monkey doesn't know the taste of ginger' if literally translated, which doesn't exist in English. Here, the cultural aspect gets lost and misunderstood.Conclusion
There are numerous strategies that one can use for translating the text from the source language to the target language. Every strategy underpins its advantages and disadvantages. Since I've performed literal translation for this specific extract, one thing that a translator needs to keep in his mind is that this type of translation cannot be used for prose and poetry holding deeper meaning with it. This is because they have an interpretation which is more than the peripheral comprehension. In order to keep the gist and the meaning intact, one must acquire sufficient knowledge about the history and th culture of the source as well as the targeted language.
