LECTURE II
Translation Theory and Sociolinguistics I
Pragmatic adaptation: the adjustment of the translated work to the needs of the
target language reader (Voltaire’s Zadig, ou La Destinée, ‘Zadig, or The Book
of Fate’ 1747 → András Dugonics: Cserei, egy honvári herceg)
Sociolinguistic research in TT studies the relationship between translation and
society against the more general background of the relationship between
language and society.
II/1 Translating the idiolect, i.e. how to translate individual language features
Aristophanes’ Lysistrate: the ‘boorish’ Doric dialect of Spartans vs the urbane
Attic speech of Athenians. Lysistrata is one of the few surviving plays written
by Aristophanes. It is a comic account of one woman's extraordinary mission
to end the Peloponnesian War. Lysistrata persuades the women of Greece to
withhold sexual priviliges from their husbands and lovers as a means of
forcing the men to negotiate peace — a strategy, however, that inflames the
battle between the sexes.
LECTURE II
Translation Theory and Sociolinguistics II
II/2 Translating dialectal features
Mikhail Sholokhov’s novel And Quiet Flows the Don → Csendes Don,
by Imre Makai (from Russian); the problem of translating the Cossack
dialect into that of the Hajdúság area.
II/3 Rendering social relations of superiority/inferiority
Can the Russian –s marker be translated?
The T/V problem
II/4 Translating words without equivalents
Culture-bound terms, „realia”: studied in the framework of language
contact as a process of recognizing and naming the emblematic objects
of the other.
Adstratum influence: two-way,contact between linguistic communities
at the same social/economic level;
Substratum/superstratum influence: unidirectional, contact between
unequal communities
LECTURE II
Translation Theory and Sociolinguistics III
II/5 Translatability – intranslatability
relationship between language and reality:
rich wordstock describing
- snow in Eskimo languages,
- camel-breeding in Arabic,
- fish in Russian,
- shipping in English,
- various kinds of pasta in Italian, etc
LECTURE II
Translation Theory and Sociolinguistics IV
II/6 Culture-bound terms and intranslatability
- simple transliteration: will remain incomprehensible without a
footnote,
- use of some equivalent culture-bound term: role of translator as
transmitter between cultures will be lost.
- the role of language contact: a community accumulates some
knowledge of what the culture-bound terms of the other actually mean
(the growing prestige of Russian culture-bound terms in the 50s, the
soaring prestige of anything American today).
A sociolinguistic approach: translators should rely on what the TL
community actually knows about them and how they evaluate them.
II/7 What has TT to offer to sociolinguistics?
- new research topics, e.g. forms of address and their historical aspects
LECTURE II
Translation Theory and Sociolinguistics V
1/ The you-problem in literary translation
• Reagan to Gorbachev: Call me Ron!
• The thou/you morphological contrast in ME and EModE: see the tables
in the following slides
LECTURE II
Translation Theory and Sociolinguistics VI
Forms of the 2nd pers. personal pronouns in Early Middle English
(11th-12th c.) – the initial situation
Plural
Singular
Nom.
Nom.
ye
thu ~ thow
Acc.
Acc.
you ~ yow
the(e)
Poss.
Poss.
thy(n)
youre(s)
LECTURE II
Translation Theory and Sociolinguistics VII
Forms of the 2nd pers. personal pronouns in Early Modern English
(16th-17th c.)
Early Modern English (16th-17th c.)
Rot 1992: 352-353
Plural
Singular
Nom.
Nom.
you (ye)
thou, you
Acc.
Acc.
you (ye)
thee, you
Poss.
thy, thine, your, yours
Poss.
your, yours
LECTURE II
Translation Theory and Sociolinguistics VIII
• Totally fallacious conclusion: it is easier to translate Shakespeare and
his contemporaries or Middle English-speaking predecessors like
Chaucer, for the thou/you distinction will automatically generate the
Hungarian informal or formal address.
• Despite overlaps, however, the situation is not at all unambiguous:
• 1/ In Shakespeare’s time you had already firmly established itself as
the general form, therefore the use of thou always conveyed some
special meaning or was of particular, mostly emotional, significance.
2/ There is a seemingly illogical flight between two characters from
one form to the other even within one and the same scene, which
hardly corresponds to the social conventions governing their use in
Hungarian.
LECTURE II
Translation Theory and Sociolinguistics IX
Views concerning the thou/you contrast and its functions in
Renaissance English:
The you of respect and politeness began to spread from about
the 14th century, under French influence. In Chaucer’s
works the new role of you is well detectable (Burnley
1989: 17-22). You was used by inferiors to address their
superiors in rank or age: servants addressing masters,
children addressing parents, city-dwelling (lower) middle
class addressing nobles, nobles addressing the sovereign,
whereas thou worked in the opposite direction of social
relationships (Barber 1997: 152).
LECTURE II
Translation Theory and Sociolinguistics X
Views concerning the thou/you contrast and its functions in Renaissance
(Early Modern) English(from early/mid 16th century)
•
•
•
1/ you increasingly becoming general and neutral, reflecting human
relationships exempt from any extremity, especially in the upper middle class
and nobility. Unexpected thou in a situation: some emotional surplus
the deviation from the common you: expression of tenderness and intimacy
OR outbursts of anger, dislike or contempt (Quirk’s famous unmarked/marked
contrast: 1971: 70-73).
2/ In Renaissance dramas and, naturally, in Shakespeare, the choice between
you and thou often serves as a device to characterise dramatis personae
(McIntosh 1963).
LECTURE II
Translation Theory and Sociolinguistics XI
Views concerning the thou/you contrast and its functions in Renaissance
(Early Modern) English (from early/mid 16th century)
3/ Brown and Gilman (1960): the „power and solidarity” principle
nobleman to servant: thou of condescension
servant to nobleman: you of respect
nobleman to nobleman: mutual you of solidarity
lower classes: reciprocal thou of solidarity
stranger to stranger: reciprocal you of non-solidarity
4/ Sociolinguistic and text linguistic aspects in the historical study of language
thou/you contrast: temporary (and often tacitly negotiated) social status of the
characters in contact (Calvo 1992); transition from you to thou or vice versa:
discourse marker indicating a change in the mood and/or in the topic of the
conversation.
LECTURE II
Translation Theory and Sociolinguistics XII
The relationship between the main characters in As You Like It:
Orlando – Oliver I
Act I, Scene I
Orlando to Oliver:
I am helping you to
mar that which
God made...
Oliver to Orlando:
Now sir! What
make you here?
Wilt thou lay hands
on me, villain?
Wert thou not my
brother, I would
not take this hand
from thy throat...
You shall hear me.
My father charged
you in his will to
give me good
education: you
have trained me
like a peasant...
Well, sir, get you
in: I will no longer
be troubled with
you; you shall have
some part of your
will:
I pray you, leave
me.
I. felv. I. szín
Orlando Olivérhez:
Csak segítek neked
rontani, amit Isten
csinált...
Ne volnál csak a
testvérem, nem
venném el a
kezemet a
torkodról...
...most hallgass
végig. Atyám
meghagyta
végrendeletében,
hogy jó nevelést
adj: te parasztnak
neveltél...
Olivér Orlandohoz:
No, úrfi, mi jót
csinálsz itt?
Kezet emelsz rám,
gazember?
De hát jó, úrfi,
menj csak be: nem
akarok sokat
küszködni veled;
majd kapsz valamit
a jussodból: ugyan,
eressz már!
LECTURE II
Translation Theory and Sociolinguistics XIII
The relationship between the main characters in As You
Like It:
Orlando – Oliver I
Cool and reserved distancing with acidic mockery hardly concealed: you;
fits of fierce anger: thou;
Orlando’s solemn calling Oliver to account: you;
Oliver’s fear generating involuntary respect for his younger brother: you.
The same tone of respect mingled with envy later in the same scene: „Yet he’s
gentle, never schooled and yet learned, full of noble device, of all sorts
enchantingly beloved, and, indeed, so much in the heart of the world, and
especially of my own people...that I am altogether misprised. But it shall not
be so long; this wrestler shall clear all...”
„Brotherly” relationship, however wrong, does not tolerate anything but
informality in Hungarian.
LECTURE II
Translation Theory and Sociolinguistics XIV
Orlando – Oliver II
Act V, Scene II
Orlando to
Oliver:
Is’t possible that
on so little
acquaintance you
should like her?
That, but seeing,
you should love
her?...
You have my
consent.
Oliver to
Orlando:
...consent with
both that we may
enjoy each other:
it shall be to your
good; for my
father’s house
and all the
revenue that was
old Sir
Rowland’s will I
estate upon you...
V. felv. II. szín
Orlando
Olivérhez:
Lehetséges, hogy
alig ismerkedtetek
össze, máris
tetszik? Hogy
alig láttad, már
szereted?
Áldásom rátok.
Olivér
Orlandohoz:
...egyezz bele,
hogy egymásé
legyünk: javadra
fog válni; mert
atyám házát és
ami jövedelme
csak volt az öreg
Sir Rolandnak,
rád hagyom...
LECTURE II
Translation Theory and Sociolinguistics XV
The relationship between the main characters in As You Like It:
Orlando – Oliver II
Having made peace, the two brothers quietly converse with each other. Such
scenes, free from intense emotions, seem to verify better than anything else
that by the end of the 16th c. you had already become the unmarked form of
address (Quirk 1971), at least in the (upper) middle class and the nobility.
Lőrinc Szabó, however, maintained the tone of informality, since in Hungarian
this is the only acceptable form and affected politeness would be marked.
LECTURE II
Translation Theory and Sociolinguistics XVI
Orlando - Adam
Act I, Scene I
Orlando to Adam:
...as thou sayest,
charged my brother on
his blessing, to breed
me well...
...for call you that
keeping for a
gentleman of my
birth...(!!!)
Adam to Orlando:
Yonder comes my
master, your
brother.
I. felv. I. szín
Orlando Ádámhoz:
...s ahogy te mondod,
lelkére kötötte a
bátyámnak, mikor
megáldotta, hogy jó
nevelést adjon...
Vagy tán
születésemhez illő,
nemesi nevelés az...
Ádám Orlandohoz:
Ott jön a gazdám, a
bátyád.
Oliver – Adam Act I, Scene I
Olivér – Ádám I. felv. I. szín
Oliver to Adam:
Get you with him,
you old dog
Olivér Ádámhoz:
Kotródj vele te is, vén
eb!
Orlando – Adam Act II, Scene III
Orlando to Adam:
Why, whither, Adam
wouldst thou have me
go?
Adam to Oliver:
...O you memory of
old Sir Rowland!
Why, what make you
here? Why are you
virtuous? Why do
people love you?
Orlando – Ádám II. felv. III. Szín
Ádám Orlandohoz:
Az öreg Roland úr jut
eszembe rólad! Mit
csinálsz itt? Mért
vagy becsületes? Miért
szeretnek?
Orlando Ádámhoz:
Mit akarsz hát, jó
Ádám, hova menjek?
LECTURE II
Translation Theory and Sociolinguistics XVII
The relationship between the main characters in As You Like It:
Orlando - Adam
In the English text, everyone knows their place: the lord uses thou, which the servant returns
with you, even if the relationship between them can be compared to one between son
and father. That is why Oliver’s you is striking: it sounds either as if the momentum of
you to Orlando is maintained or active contrast (Quirk 1971) is at work: if thou is
expected in a situation, you can produce an even more dramatic effect. Here Lőrinc
Szabó makes no distinction whatsoever: everyone adresses everyone else informally
(though Adam does not enter into a conversation with Oliver). It would really sound
farcical to pair off the rude phrase vén eb (’old dog’) and a Hungarian verb form of
formality. Besides, Oliver may be unwilling to undertake any solidarity with the love
between Orlando and Adam (Brown and Gilman 1960). The !!! means that in that
utterance the you is not directed toward Adam but is a general subject rendered by
Lőrinc Szabó in the appropriate way.
•
What is much less noticeable for the Hungarian reader is the „Hungarian”
Adam’s using the informal address with regard to Orlando. We may instinctively
attribute it to the considerable age gap between them (Adam might be father or even
grandfather to Orlando) as well as to their patriarchal relationship
LECTURE II
Translation Theory and Sociolinguistics XVIII
Orlando-Rosalind I
Act I, Scene II
Orlando to Rosalind:
No, fair princess; he is
the general
challenger;
Orlando to Rosalind
and Celia:
I beseech you, punish
me not with your hard
thoughts…
Rosalind to Orlando:
Young man, have you
challenged Charles
the wrestler?
...your reputation shall
not therefore be
misprised.
The little strength I
have, I would it were
with you.
Now Hercules be thy
speed, young man!
Did you call, sir? Sir,
you have wrestled
well, and overthrown
more than your
enemies!
I. felv. II. szín
Orlando
Rosalindához:
Nem, szép
hercegkisasszony, ő
hívott ki mindenkit…
Rosalinda
Orlandohoz:
Maga hívta ki a
bajnokot,
fiatalember?
…nem fog csorba esni
miatta jóhírén;
Orlando Rosalindához
és Céliához:
Könyörgök, ne
ítéljenek meg túl
keményen…
Szeretném magának
Adni azt a kis erőmet,
amim van.
Herkules védjen,
fiatalember!
Szóltál, lovag? Sir, jól
küzdöttél, és többet
legyőztél, mint
ellenfeledet!
LECTURE II
Translation Theory and Sociolinguistics XIX
The relationship between the main characters in As You Like It:
Orlando – Rosalind I
A young nobleman, well-mannered by birth, not by education, politely converses
with two princesses: you (Its having been translated into Hungarian maga
evokes the middle-class milieu of early last century and sounds anachronistic,
although ön would be no less anachronistic, see below). But it is also in this
scene that love kindles in their breasts, to which a mythological reference is
also added: thy. In the renewed dialogue, Shakespeare returns to the more
neutral and polite you. It is all the more interesting that Lőrinc Szabó,
replacing formality with informality at the same point as Shakespeare,
maintains the latter tone throughout the whole scene and applies it even to
Celia. This is one of the few loci (for others, see below) where Lőrinc Szabó
makes any use of this capacity of Hungarian, otherwise he does not
overcomplicate his own work with the you-thou contrast.
LECTURE II
Translation Theory and Sociolinguistics XX
Orlando – Rosalind II
Act III, Scene II
Orlando to
Rosalind:
Very well: what
would you?
Rosalind to
Orlando:
Do you hear,
forester?
I pray you, what
is’t o’clock?
You should ask me,
what time o’day;…
Fair youth, I would
I could make thee
believe I love.
Me believe it! you
may as soon make
her that you love
believe it!
III. felv. II. szín
Orlando
Rosalindához:
De még mennyire:
mit akarsz?
Rosalinda
Orlandohoz:
Hallod-e, vadász?
Hány óra, kérlek?
Azt akarod tudni,
hogy hány az óra:
itt az erdőben nincs
egy se.
Szép kis cimborám,
bár meg tudnálak
győzni, hogy
szerelmes vagyok.
Engem meggyőzni!
Éppúgy
meggyőzheted azt,
akit szeretsz;
LECTURE II
Translation Theory and Sociolinguistics XXI
The relationship between the main characters in As You Like
It:
Orlando – Rosalind II
Orlando does not recognize Rosalind when they meet again in the forest.
The dialogue hits the tone of two educated young men of equal social
status talking to each other and begins with Rosalind’s hackneyed trick
of a kerbcrawler. Mutual you is maintained until Rosalind describes
what a really „love-shaked” (sic!) youth should look like. This may
arouse Orlando’s passion, who switches over to thou, whereas
Rosalind continues the cool and distancing you. This little play has not
any reflection in the Hungarian translation – and the remark should not
be taken as one of criticism.
LECTURE II
Translation Theory and Sociolinguistics XXII
Orlando – Rosalind III
Orlando – Rosalind III
Act IV, Scene I
Orlando to Rosalind:
I take some joy to say
you are.
And wilt thou have
me?
I take thee, Rosalind,
for wife.
For these two hours,
Rosalind, I will leave
thee.
Rosalind to Orlando:
Am not I your
Rosalind?
I do take thee,
Orlando, for my
husband.
I will be more jealous
of thee than a Barbary
cock-pigeon over his
hen;
Alas, dear love, I
cannot lack thee two
hours.
…go your ways;
…beware my censure
and keep your
promise.
IV. felv. I. szín
Orlando
Rosalindához:
Szeretlek annak hívni.
És akarsz engem?
Én téged, Rosalinda,
feleségül veszlek.
Most két órára
elhagylak, Rosalinda.
Rosalinda
Orlandohoz:
Nos, nem vagyok a
Rosalindád?
…én férjemül
fogadlak, Orlando…
És féltékenyebb leszek
rád, mint egy hím
gerle a párjára…
Jaj, drága szerelmem,
nem bírok meglenni
nélküled két órán át!
…csak menj, csak
menj…
…óvakodj attól, hogy
megrójalak, és tartsd
meg, amit ígértél.
LECTURE II
Translation Theory and Sociolinguistics XXIII
The relationship between the main characters in As You Like
It:
Orlando – Rosalind III
It is in this scene that the banter of feigned courtship begins, with mutual
you. Then they come to be increasingly pervaded by the spirit of the
love game, especially Rosalind, as Orlando cannot have an idea who
she actually is. This is reasserted by the religious elevatedness of the
text of the wedding ritual, resulting in reciprocal thou. It is maintained
by Orlando throughout the scene, while Rosalind sinks back into grief
paired with reprimand and warning, which makes her return to you.
LECTURE II
Translation Theory and Sociolinguistics XXIV
Rosalind – Celia I
Rosalind – Celia I
Act I, Scene II
Rosalind to Celia:
…and would you yet I
were merrier?...
Celia to Rosalind:
I pray thee, Rosalind,
sweet my coz, be
merry.
Herein I see thou
lovest me not with the
full weight that I love
thee. …
Well, I will forget the
condition of my estate,
to rejoice in yours.
… now thou goest
from Fortune’s office
to Nature’s…
Act I, Scene III
…thy words are too
precious to be cast
away upon curs…
O, a good wish upon
you! you will try in
time, in despite of a
fall.
I. felv. II. szín
Rosalinda Céliához:
s te még kevesled?
Célia Rosalindához:
Kérlek, Rosalinda,
édes hugocskám, légy
jókedvű.
Ez is mutatja, hogy
nem szeretsz úgy,
ahogy én téged.
No jó, felejtem a saját
szerencsecsillagomat,
hogy örvendezhessek
a tiédnek.
Vigyázz, a Szerencse
hivatalából ezzel
átugrasz a Természet
munkakörébe..
I. felv. III. szín
… a te szavaid túl
drágák ahhoz, hogy
kutyákra paza-roljuk.
Ó, az Isten akárhová
ne tegyen! Egyszer
mégiscsak ki kell
állnod, ha te maradsz
is alul.
LECTURE II
Translation Theory and Sociolinguistics XXV
The relationship between the main characters in As You Like It:
Rosalind – Celia I
Theirs is the most problematic relationship from the point of view of linguistic expression,
and the flight from you to thou and back the most conspicuous. There have been several
suggestions as to how this should be interpreted. McIntosh (1963) holds that thou would
be the expectable form of address between them, therefore the devation from it must
convey some hidden content (see active contrast later in Quirk 1971). That is to say that
Celia’s affection, not burdened with any complications, is perfectly represented by the
prevalence of thou, whereas Rosalind, with her father being banished and her presence
being hardly tolerated at the court, is much more reserved. When Celia succeeds in
making her forget about her misfortune, Rosalind also switches over to thou, and in
Scene III it is Celia who takes up you in a sudden fit of intense emotion. All this said,
there may be an element of thruth in the statement that in the usurper duke’s court the
use of you is typical of Rosalind, who seems to be a little over-idealised anyway, while
Celia, somewhat rash and impetuous by nature, is aptly characterised by the
proliferation of the instances of thou, which can be taken as the linguistic evidence
supporting the image having generally been formed of them. To reflect this in Hungarian
by means of contrasting informality with formality would be absurd, considering the
relationship between two teenage female friends.
LECTURE II
Translation Theory and Sociolinguistics XXVI
Rosalind – Celia II
Rosalind – Celia II
Act III, Scene II
Rosalind to Celia:
I prithee, who?
…dost thou think,
though I am
caparisoned like a
man, I have a doublet
and hose in my
disposition?...I would
thou couldst stammer,
that thou mightst pour
this concealed man
out of thy mouth, as
wine comes out of a
narrow-mouth’d
bottle… take the cork
out of thy mouth, that
I may drink thy
tidings.
What did he when
thou sawest him?
Celia to Rosalind:
Didst thou hear these
verses?
Trow you who hath
done this?
…Change you colour?
III. felv. II. szín
Rosalinda Céliához:
Férfiember?
Azt hiszed, mert
férfinak vagyok
felszerszámozva,
zekében és nadrágban
jár a természetem is?
...Bárcsak dadogni
tudnál, hogy úgy
buggyanna ki a szádon
a titkolt férfi, ahogy a
bor a szűknyakú
üvegből… Vedd ki,
kérlek, a dugót a
szádból, hadd igyam a
híreidet.
So you may put a man
in your belly.
You must borrow me
Gargantua’s mouth
first..
Célia Rosalindához:
Hallottad ezt a verset?
Sejted, hogy ki
csinálta?
Elpirulsz?
Hogy férfi kerülhessen
a hasadba.
Mit csinált, amikor
láttad?
Előbb add nekem
Gargantua száját…
LECTURE II
Translation Theory and Sociolinguistics XXVII
The relationship between the main characters in As You Like It:
Rosalind – Celia II
The reverse of the one above: Rosalind using much more instances of thou and Celia adhering to you.
Possible explanations:
a/ in the forest of Arden Rosalind is in power, she is the „man”, even if disguised, her father is the ruler in the forest and her
lover is nearby: too many reasons for her to feel too self-confident over Celia, who has lost her dominant position.
McIntosh (1963: 75-77): Rosalind’s suddenly changing the forms can be attributed to her being distracted by Orlando’s
presence;
Celia’s overuse of you: her impatient character and worry, tinted with a shade of jealousy, about Orlando and Rosalind’s
relationship.
McIntosh: the main function of the contrast is the expression of the difference in the two girls’ characters.
b/ Calvo (1992: 14): active contrast (reference to Quirk 1971); opposed to the general and neutral you, reflecting a cool and
reserved attitude tinged with irony, with which the characters demarcate themselves from the situation their partner is
in, is thou, emotionally (over)loaded even between Rosalind and Celia. All this is supported by forms of address other
than thou and its grammatical accompaniments: „O coz, coz, coz, my pretty little coz” (Ó húgom, húgom, húgom,
szépséges kis húgocskám, Act IV, Scene I), „sweet my coz” (édes húgocskám, Act I, Scene II), „my sweet Rose, my
dear Rose” (édes Rózsikám, drága Rosalindám, Act I, Scene II).
c/ Calvo (1992: 16-19) : one of the reasons why Celia uses thou in Act I is that she does everything she can to involve
Rosalind in the group she belongs to and the more expressive the form, the more suitable for the purpose. Rosalind,
on the other hand, stays aloof from that group with what can be called negative politeness and sticks to the unmarked
you. In the forest is just the opposite: Rosalind chooses thou to get Celia involved in the game. Celia, however, puts
on the affected airs of a witty courtier and remains outside Orlando and Rosalind’s relationship. Consequently, both in
Act I and III the message the two characters send to each other during these ingenious exchanges of ideas, which
sometimes have the sharpness of a sabre blade edge, is that I do not want to interfere with your affairs, this your
business alone and I cannot identify myself with it.
d/ The sudden pronoun switches can function as discourse markers: in the above example, when they start the conversation
by chatting about the poems only, Celia also uses thou. When, however, she touches upon their author, she comes up
with you, which is immediately sensed by Rosalind, who takes the lead in the argument, by putting questions herself
rather than just answering Celia’s
e/ All this is totally lost in the translation and, of course, it is not Lőrinc Szabó who is at fault: the Hungarian forms are
incapable of expressing these subtleties. Being on formal or informal terms means that one cannot change positions in
a situation at will.
LECTURE II
Translation Theory and Sociolinguistics XXVIII
Conclusions
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
1/ The possible interpretations and theories of Early Modern English and, of course, Shakespearean thou/you contrast,
from the traditional description (e.g. Barber 1997: 152-156) to Calvo’s discourse analysis, do not contradict but
complement each other with either the one or the other(s) being more applicable to the evaluation of a particular
situation. What seems to be the most probable, however, is that a combination of all these approaches holds in most
cases.
2/ The analysis of the Hungarian translation from this point of view does not require too much effort, since Lőrinc
Szabó has hardly translated anything of the subtleties detectable in the English text of As You Like It.
3/ Neither he, nor any other Hungarian translator of Shakespeare can be blamed for this, because – as mentioned
above –
a/ in (modern) Hungarian society the social rules governing the use of the forms of informal and polite
address are completely different;
b/ Shakespeare is a 16th century Renaissance author, in whose language the distinction was still alive,
although on the verge of becoming extinct, whereas in contemporary Hungarian the pronouns of polite address like
(te) kegyelmed, (te) nagyságod, accompanied by 2nd or 3rd person verbs existed only in their germs. The first
sporadic occurrences of maga are dated with the mid-17th century only (see Kertész 1931: 102-125 for details).
4/ Consequently, all Hungarian translators commit the act of anachronism if they apply (present-day) polite forms. It
cannot be by chance that the most thorough analysis of Lőrinc Szabó’s (and others’) translation(s) of As You Like It
(Vargha 1991: 25-82) does not give a single word of consideration the reflection of the thou/you contrast as a problem
of either translator or translation.
Translating habits vary from play to play and translator from translator. Those interested in how all this stock
of problems is being fought with in the translator’s study room are referred to the noted Shakespeare-translator and
expert Ádám Nádasdy’s essay, attached to his translation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, published in 1995.
LECTURE II
Translation Theory and Sociolinguistics XXIX
What has sociolinguistics to offer to TT?
• adequate and well grounded description of :
• the relation of the SL and SL society to the TL and TL society;
• Helping to solve problems of translation/interpreting deriving from
cultural/social differences (case studies of court trials in Sweden and
Israel