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Translators are faced with formidable problems. Many writers and poets thought it necessary to voice their opinion of how one should approach proverbs. V. A. Zhukovsky[16] stressed that translators "should produce the effect of the original." Not a few writers likewise opposed literal, word-for-word translations of proverbs (and we know this to be true), the question however remains: how should they be translated? V. G. Belinsky said that "the internal life of the translated expression should correspond to the internal life of the original."[17] This is true again. It seems therefore that we should do this, that and the other. We agree to do this, that and the other... But, apparently, we must focus our attention on figurativeness when translating proverbs.[18] Thus, our translation of a proverb must either be, in fact, an English proverb or an idiomatic sounding metaphor. And this seems to be the right answer to the question of what we must do above all, especially because "The corresponding image as well as the corresponding phrase do not always present a visible adequacy of words."
The translation difficulties usually arise in cases when (a) there happens to be no corresponding English proverb that we can use for our translation or (b) when the existing "ready-made" equivalent (e.g., an English proverb) cannot be used as it is because, for example, the Russian proverb is innovated in speeсh and, thus, may convey a specific additional meaning.
An analysis of translators' work shows that we may have the following means at our disposal in order to overcome these difficulties and to ensure the figurativeness of our translation: (1) use of rhymed and/or rhythmically arranged metaphors, (2) use of English phrases, proverbs and their components as a basis of one's translation, (3) utilization of the structures of English proverbs, (4) use of innovation as a means of adequacy, (5) use of colloquialisms and special introductions , etc. It is the соmplex use of these means which could guarantee the desired result.
Rhymed Metaphors
A rhyme alone is a supplementary means. For instance, the rhymed words "Winston tastes good like a cigarette should" have a meaning which is in no way metaphorical. These cigarettes are real, and one cannot say the same of the words "Либо дождик, либо снег—либо будет, либо нет". Both "дождик" and "снег" are metaphorical. This Russian saying was once translated as "Who knows — maybe rain and maybe snow, maybe yes and maybe no."
And a rhymed metaphor made this sound proverbial.
Of course, it is hardly possible to make a satisfactory rhymed metaphor in the process of interpretation (not translation). However, it is good to know a number of rhymed metaphors by heart so that they could be used as "ready-made" equivalents of some of the 'difficult' and frequently used Russian proverbs.
Naturally translators must often translate Russian proverbs that do not have their "ready-made" English equivalents. Translations show that some of our colleagues seem to think that one should try to convey only the meaning of such proverbs. Thus, the proverb "Дело не медведь, в лес не убежит" was once translated as 'Business is no bear, to run away to the forest'. (And Prof. M. M. Morozov praised this particular translation.[19]) Yet, the process of this translation was actually terminated at the stage of 'transposition'. It could have been continued: "Дело не медведь, в лес не убежит" -»- (Transposition:) 'Business is no bear, to run away to the forest' (Idiomatization by way of making the metaphor rhymed and by means of grammatical restructuring:) 'Business is no bear, it won't go nowhere'. One can see that we have excluded the word 'forest' as an obviously redundant detail, and used the grammatical colloquialism "won't go nowhere" (double negation).
Suppose we have to construct a pun. As soon as our translation is figurative (i.e. has an idiomatic background), we would have no problem at all in making a play on any of the metaphor's components. Example:
Это неправильно говорится: «Дело — не медведь, в лес не уйдет». Дело и есть медведь, уходить ему незачем, оно облапило и держит. Дело человеку- барин. (Горький, Дело Артамоновых)
It is not true that 'Business is no bear, it won't go nowhere.' Business is a bear, and there's no reason for it to go. It's got too good a hold on us. Man is a slave of his business!
Use of Proverbs' Structures
Here is an example of an attempt to translate the English proverb "Make hay while the sun shines". This proverb was used in speech being innovated grammatically and lexically: 'to make hell while the sun shines'. The lexical innovation ('hell' instead of 'hay') presents a problem in translation. And life shows[20] that the translation practice does not exclude the following way of solving this problem. Example:
I positively refuse to understand those who anywhere and everywhere wish "to make hell while the sun shines."
Я решительно отказываюсь понимать людей, которые везде и повсюду стремятся к тому, чтобы, "пользуясь благоприятны» ми обстоятельствами, натворить как можно больше бед".
True enough, the translator cannot use here the Russian proverb "Куй железо пока горячо" but... we can use its structure to make the 'transposed' translation figurative, that is, to make a solid metaphor out of it.
The Russian proverb consists of two parts: "(1) Куй железо (2) пока горячо". The 'transposed' translation also consists of two parts: (1) пользуясь благоприятными обстоятельствами (2) натворить как можно больше бед.
The process of our translation would be as follows: 'to make hell while the sun shines' (Transposition:) → "пользуясь благоприятными обстоятельствами натворить как можно больше бед" → (Restructuring by means of using the Russian proverb's structure:) "ковать железо пока горячо" → "делать что-л. пока возможно" → "творить как можно больше бед пока возможно" → (Idiomatization by way of making a rhymed metaphor:) "вредить безбожно пока возможно". Thus:
I positively refuse to understand those who anywhere and everywhere wish "to make hell while the sun shines."
Я решительно отказываюсь понимать людей, которые везде и повсюду стремятся к тому, чтобы "вредить безбожно пока возможно."
The conclusion is that one should better not stop at the stage of 'transposition'. One should move farther, till the end of the translation process. As a poet said, "The inn that shelters for the night is not the journey's end."
See the following example of a translation from Russian into English, which is based on an American proverb's structure:
У русских есть такая поговорка: «Всяк кулик свое болото хвалит».
We Russians have a proverb which says that every snipe praises its own bog.
It is easy to see that the translation process was as follows: "Всяк кулик свое болото хвалит" -> (Transposition:) 'Everybody speaks well of one's own home [or the like]' -> (Restructuring and idiomatization by way of using the structure of the proverb 'Every cook praises his own broth') 'Every smb (smth) praises his (its) own smth' -> 'Every snipe praises its own bog.'
Metaphors Based on Phrases
The method of making a metaphor based on a "ready-made" phrase (or two), is both productive and substantial. It is substantial to the extent that it does not necessarily need rhyming a metaphor based on an English phrase. For instance, Y. Katzer and A. Kunin made it a point in their book on translation[21] that the Russian proverb "Москва не сразу строилась" could be translated as 'Moscow was not built in a day', that is, they say, it could be constructed "according to the pattern" of the English proverb 'Rome was not built in a day'. In fact, they pointed to the method of making the proverb's translation based on an English saying (i.e., "Москва не сразу строилась" → 'Rome was not built in a day' → 'Moscow was not built in a day').
Some translators might say that to convey the subject-logical content of the information is what we should really want. And some others might say that we can consequently translate, for example, the proverb "Little pitchers have long ears" as "Дети любят слушать разговоры взрослых". However, the emotive-and evaluating content of the information must not be ignored and should be translated. And one can see that "Дети любят слушать разговоры взрослых" does not convey any emotive evaluation. Besides, this translation does not sound proverbial.
The question is what would you feel if you happen to hear the statement "Дети любят разговоры взрослых"? 'So what?' would be your most probable reaction.
Let us make this translation figurative and evaluating: 'Little pitchers have long ears' → (Transposition:) "Дети любят слушать разговоры взрослых" → (Idiomatization on the basis of Russian phrases:) "У [этих] деток слишком длинные уши" or: "Бойтесь детей → у них на макушке любопытные ушки". Thus, we have based our first translation on the Russian phrase "у кого-л. слишком длинные уши" for the purpose of conveying negative overtones? And we based our second translation (a) on the Russian phrase "y кого-л. ушки на макушке", (b) we also added "Бойтесь детей" as a resume and a negative exaggeration bringing positive reaction, (c) and we used the internal addition "любопытные" (which is particularly used in the Russian phrase "Любопытной Варваре HOC оторвали"). As a result, we have got "Бойтесь детей — у них на макушке любопытные ушки" which is a cause-and-effect relation statement : "Бойтесь детей [because] у них на макушке любопытные ушки". (This can be compared with the metaphor 'Who knows — maybe rain and'maybe snow, maybe yes and maybe no' which is also a cause-and-effect relation statement.) And now one can make an experiment and check one's possible emotive reaction while comparing the following:
Original: Little pitchers have long ears.
Translation variants:
(1) Дети любят слушать разговоры взрослых. (2) Бойтесь детей — у них на макушке любопытные ушки. (3) У [этих] деток слишком длинные уши.
Here is an example of a good and illustrative translation from Russian into English. The translator (Olga Shartse) had managed to make the proverb's translation figurative (by means of utilizing the English phrases 'to be brave as a lion' and 'to be like a lamb') which served, then, as a solid basis for her making a pun (and for conveying irony):
— Люблю парня за ухватку. Сразу видно, что молодец среди овец. (Ю. Герман, Я отвечаю за все)
"I like a good chap for his brave ways'. I can tell right away that you'd be brave as a lion with a lamb."[22]
Use of Colloquialisms
The linguistic means to be used in the metaphorical translation of proverbs are lexical and grammatical colloquialisms.
I. K. Sazonova[23] suggested the following examples of the different kinds of "stylistic colouring" which are (a) neutral, (b) bookish and (c) colloquial:
K- Sazonova's examples:
(a) Чтобы не было недоразумений, пойди, пожалуйста, туда и узнай, в чем дело.
(b) Во избежание недоразумений пойди, пожалуйста, туда и выясни, в чем дело.
(c) Сбегай туда и узнай, пожалуйста, что там, а то как бы чего не вышло.
Translations:
(a) Would you please go -and see what is wrong there before something happens.
(b) In order to avoid misunderstanding, would you please be so kind as to clarify the situation there.
(c) Go find out what's wrong, or there may be trouble.
The Russian colloquial-style example presents the said means (lexical: the verb "сбегать", the phrase "как бы чего не вышло"; grammatical: the subordinate clause "что там"). The translation of this example contains English colloquial means (lexical: 'trouble'; grammatical: 'go find out-', 'what's', 'or there may be').
Let us compare now the stylistic colouring of the two translations (given earlier); "пользуясь благоприятными обстоятельствами, натворить как можно больше бед" and "вредить безбожно пока возможно". One can see that their stylistic colouring differs. On the one hand, the words "пользуясь обстоятельствами" sound bookish. On the other hand, the word "безбожно" is a colloquialism and so is the word "пока" (compare: "Коси коса пока роса", "Куй железо пока горячо").
We may also compare the two translations (see this Task): "Business is no bear, to run away to the forest" and "Business is no bear, it won't go nowhere". The first translation has no colloquialisms and its stylistic colouring is neutral. The second translation employs them and all of them are grammatical: "won't" is used instead of the neutral "will not", to say nothing1 of the double negation "won't go nowhere".
Incidentally, there is a very interesting and instructive story of how one translation by M. Lozinsky was once criticized by I. Kashkin as being "stylistically artificial".[24] Here is M. Lozinsky's translation (of a Roman proverb used by Prosper Merimee in his "Carmen"):
En vetudi panda nasti abela macha. En close bouche n'entre point mouche.
В рот, закрытый глухо, не залетит муха.
What do we find in this translation? The phrase "(туда) и муха не залетит" is colloquial. But this colloquialism is literally depressed by the bookish grammatical means (причастный оборот) "закрытый глухо". Besides, M. Lozinsky did not observe the requirements of proper collocation of words: Russian people never "закрывают рот глухо", they "закрывают рот плотно", if any. The "artificial" way of saying so also makes a bookish effect. (Where neutral-style means may pass being in one sentence with colloquialisms, the bookish-style words or expressions must never be used in a proverb's translation, for they would easily spoil the whole broth). And this is why, it seems, I. A. Kashkin had to suggest his own translation of that proverb:
"В закрытый рот и муха не попадет".
One can see that this translation employs the colloquial phrase "(туда) и муха не попадет" whereas other linguistic means are neutral there.
It is common knowledge that English (and Russian) proverbs may be not only rhymed:
Birds of a feather flock together. (Рыбак рыбака видит издалека.)
Well begun is half done. (Доброе начало полдела откачало.)
but also arranged rhythmically:
God helps those who help themselves. (На бога надейся, а сам не плошай.)
Once bitten twice shy. (Пуганая ворона куста боится.)
Making our proverbs' translations arranged rhythmically or/and rhymed is also a productive method. Example:
— И какая странная идея пришла в голову этому Привалову... Вот уж чего никак не ожидал. Какая-то филантропия...
— Это нам на руку: чем бы дитя ни тешилось, лишь бы не плакало. (Мамин-Сибиряк)
"Besides, what has gotten into Privalov? Who would think of it? Philanthropy!"
"He" s playing into our hands. As the saying goes, whatever toy or play makes the baby gay..."
And such translations as "Leave the child its toy — as long as it's amused" or "It does not matter what you do to humour your child as long as it does not cry" (etc.) speak for themselves. They do not sound proverbial.
The analysis of translators' works shows that this method is frequently neglected by or remains unknown to a number of translators. Here is just one example of how such 'difficult' proverbs happen to be translated. Let us see some of the published translations of the proverb "Это—цветочки, ягодки впереди":
(i) It was only the beginning, the rest was still to come.[25]
(ii) That is mere blossoms, we'd like to show you the fruit and how it grows.[26]
(iii) This is only child's play to what is ahead of us.[27]
We have to say (in all fairness) that the last (iii) translation compensates the lack of rhythm (and rhyme) in it considerably by using two English expressions: (1) "to be child's play" and (2) "to be (or: lie) ahead (of smb)". The phrase 'to be ahead' has a neutral colouring. Its synonym 'to be in store (for smb)' is a bit more idiomatic to suit our aims:
"This is only child's play to what is in store for us."
Now, if we ensure proper rhythm in it, the translation may sound proverbial:
"It's child's play to what's in store."
This translation seems almost satisfactory. Yet, we can do more. We can try to make it rhymed:
"It is child's play: it's not as bad compared to what lies ahead."
Stop! That won't do. The words 'compared to' are bookish. They spoil the beans. Let us make another try:
"It's child's play: it's not as bad as what lies ahead."
The stylistic means are correct here. But the rhythm leaves much to be desired, to put it mildly. Besides the translation is too long. Let us make still another try:
"It's-only child's play to what is on the way."
Now, we can call it a day. The translation is all right. In other words, we have managed to arrange rhythm and rhyme.
We wouldn't say that these translation variants are absolutely tiptop. Yet, they are better than those quoted above. And they can be an example of several methods of translating used in complex: rhythm and/or rhyme, colloquialisms and English phrases. All of these taken together help to provide our translation with the necessary idiomatic background, that is, to make it figurative.
A rhythmically arranged translation of a proverb might be still in need of a preliminary 'introduction' like "as the saying goes", "as we in Russia say", etc. (Such an 'introduction' is, in fact, an "appeal" to the listener or reader: "Please understand that this is said figuratively!"). And a rhymed translation may nоt need this at all.
Epigrams and translation.
"А ларчик просто открывался" (which is a quotation from the fable "Ларчик" И. А. Крылова) is a stylistic device termed an epigram. Such quotations from writers' works have become proverbs. Consequently, this permits us to treat epigrams as proverbs in the process of translation.
This means 1hat our translations of epigrams should be rhymed and have rhythm as proverbs often should (and be brief as proverbs should, too, because proverbs are used mostly in monologues and dialogues and not in author's narration). And this is why we have to foresee the possibility of translating epigrams in the form of two-line rhymed verses.
For instance, the translation
Нельзя ли для таких прогулок Подальше выбрать закоулок?
Could you not choose, When forth you sally, Some more remote And proper alley?
...is the translation of the epigram made as a verse and not proverb-like. (It is too long in space to be used in one's interpreting, say, a conversation or speech without difficulty.) We have to make it sound brief and, thus, proverbial. For instance, the variant:
"It's no place for your parades. It's no place for promenades."
...may satisfy us because the epigram really means "Never choose this place for your promenades" or "It's net a proper place for your promenades," or the like. However, this epigram sounds sarcastic ("Нельзя ли...") and this effect should be reproduced in our translation:
"It's no place for your parades, nor for Sunday promenades."
Another specific point in translating epigrams is that 'transposition' itself may not convey the idea of the epigram in full for the reason that a Russian listener takes in not merely what an epigram says but what is behind it, what it means being a small part of a bigger context.
One of K. S. Stanislavsky's ideas was that an actor (i.e. a translator, in our case) should know well not only the words he had to say (i.e. the meaning of the epigram's components,, in our case) but also what events had taken place behind the stage (i.e. the situation that had given life to the epigram) prior to the moment he started acting accordingly. And this may be applicable to our translating epigrams more often than not.
Hence, our proverb-like translation should better convey the highlights of the general situation in which the epigram gets its specific meaning. For instance, life shows that one might translate the epigram:
"Раззудись, плечо! Размахнись, рука!"
...as (a) "Don't hustle, don't bustle, But strain every muscle!"
This is sure to convey the idea of the epigram's components, of the words ("Strain every muscle") neglecting the situation of 'cutting hay' as is actually described in the whole verse (and which the English listener, unlike the Russian one, will never presuppose nor understand upon hearing the epigram's words only). This is why we suggest the variant:
(b) "Swing and sway — Cut the hay!"
We could not ignore the bigger context ('hay-cutting') which is always presupposed by the Russian people when they use this epigram.
Classification of translations
As far as the results of our translation process are concerned, they can be classified as follows.
(1) Translation by an English absolute monoequivalent.[28]
Example:
время — деньги - time's money
(2) Translation by an English relative equivalent.
Example:
семь бед — один ответ - we might as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb
(3) Translation by a synonymous equivalent.
In the original: выносить сор из избы.
In translation: to tell tales out of school;
(4) Translation by a translator's equivalent.
(a) being an innovated English proverb, example:
Ларчик открывается просто.
It's easy to open this poke and see the pig.
(b) based on English phrases or/and their components; example:
— Молодец! — сказал Цветков.— Люблю парня за ухватку. Сразу видно, что молодец среди овец. (Ю. Герман, Я отвечаю за все)
"Good chap," Tsvetkov said. "I like a good chap for his brave ways. I can tell right away that you'd be brave as a lion with a lamb."
(c) based on an English proverb's structure; example:"
Всяк кулик свое болото хвалит.
Every snipe praises its own bog.
(d) arranged rhythmically or/and rhymed; example:
На войне, чтобы обмануть врага, чтобы нанести ему неожиданный удар, придется совершать марши подлиннее и потяжелее, чем этот. Это — цветочки, а ягодки будут впереди. (А. Бек, Волоколамское шоссе)
In war, to surprise the enemy, and to deal him a blow from an unexpected quarter, we will have to make much longer and more difficult marches than this one. It's only child's play to what is on the way.
(e) by metaphorical explanation; example:
Вот уж воистину голодной лисе всё куры снятся!
This is really a case оf a hungry fox dreaming about chickens.
Translating by English equivalents
Translating by English equivalents (being relative more often than riot) seems to be the most productive way of making our proverbs' translations figurative.
When using this method, translators and interpreters have to observe that an equivalent is properly selected from the dictionary, that is, the chosen equivalent:
(a) should be able to convey the Russian proverb's indices for interpretation: meaning, usage, overtones and style;
(b) it should particularly answer the obligatory requirement that its meaning could be understood even by those who hear the English proverb for the first time.
(c) Besides, it is preferable that the equivalent itself should not be archaic,
(d) and its image should be as close to that of the Russian proverb as possible.
(e) The equivalent should not have undesirable connotations.
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