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Translating Wuthering Heights Into French : Emily Brontë

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By Ankit Rawat
 
The source text is extracted from the novel “Wuthering Heights” by Emily Brontë published in 1847 under her pseudonym “Ellis Bell”.
 
About The Author
 
Emily Brontë pseudonym Ellis Bell was an English novelist and poet who is best known for her only novel Wuthering Heights. Emily Brontë was born in 1818. She grew up in Harworth with her five siblings. She was raised by her father and aunt after her mother's death in 1821. She took her early education from Clergy Daughter’s School in Lancashire. But when her two eldest sisters died, Emily with her sister returned to Harworth. In 1837, Emily became a teacher at the Law Hill School, but she left the teaching job after a few months. In 1946, Emily with her sister Charlotte and Anne published a collection of poetry under the respective pseudonym Ellis, Currer and Acton Bell. But their poems reached to a very limited audience. In 1947, Emily published her first and only novel “Wuthering Heights”, which is regarded as one of the great novels of the English language. She died in 1848 of tuberculosis.
 
Source text (English)
 
1801- I have just returned from a visit to my landlord – the solitary neighbor that I shall be troubled with. This is certainly a beautiful country! In all England, I do not believe that I could have fixed on a situation so completely removed from the stir of society. A perfect misanthropist's Heaven – and Mr Heathcliff and I are such a suitable pair to divide the desolation between us. A capital fellow! He little imagined how my heart warmed toward him when I beheld his black eyes withdraw so suspiciously under their brows as I rode up, and when his fingers sheltered themselves, with a jealous resolution, still further in his waistcoat, as I announced my name.
 
Target text (French)
 
1801– Je viens de rentrer tout juste d'une visite chez mon prospriétaire – le voisin solitaire avec lequel je serai troublé. C'est certainement un beau pays! Dans toute l'Angleterre, je ne crois pas que j'aurais pu fixer sur une situation qui est complètement loin de l'agitation de la société. Le paradis d'un parfait misanthrope – et M. Heathcliff et moi sommes si appropriés pour partager la désolation pour nous. Un compagnon capital! Il imaginait peu comment mon coeur se réchauffait vers lui quand je voyais ses yeux noirs se retirer si soupçonneusement sous leurs sourcils alors que je montais, et quand ses doigts se protégeaient, avec une résolution jalouse, encore de plus dans son gilet, alors que j'annonçais mon nom.
 
The strategy I used for translation - 
 
I have used literal translation to translate the source text into the target text. It means translating each word separately. Literal translation translates each word exactly the same instead of giving the general meaning in a simpler way. I used this strategy because it does not necessarily result in grammatically wrong phrases. I also used it for my training purpose.
 
Pros and Cons of literal translation:-
 
Pros
 
• Literal translation keep as much of the grammatical and structural form of the source text as possible.
• Literal translation technique is quite fast and consumes very less time to translate the source text.
 
Cons
 
• Transmits a different meaning – The literal translation often transmits a different mean thus, the originality of the text gets lost.
• Hard to understand – There is a higher chance that the reader misunderstood the context of the text.
• Missing terms – The main problem with literal translation is that in many languages, certain terms may be missing. Thus it creates problems for translator while translating. 
 
 
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